Rockets in 7 is my fan prediction. I think the reality is Lakers in 6 but the Lakers perimeter defense is terrible and if we get hot from three, we can win this series!
During OKC series, Rockets showed way more likelihood of losing a close game than winning one. They started out the bubble great, but just seem off since the Portland game. Plus using Jeff Green as Point Forward won't be as x-factor versus the Lakers. Lakers in 5.
We won 2 of three from the Lakers this year. We know we can win, they know we can win. That’s alll that matters
Rockets in 6! Suggests that Lakers may be better off going with their big lineup against us - we HAVE to punish their bigs when they are switched out on the perimeter. If Gordon and Rivers can burn them in game 1, LA may be forced to go to their suboptimal small ball lineup. And then we eat
Rockets in 6. When we win this series, it's time to start deleting accounts from these scared "fans" that have no faith in our team and talk **** when we lose only to celebrate when we win and pretend they were always down.
Rockets in 6. Lakers are a team built on bigs in a guard driven league. Fools gold. OKC was a much worse matchup as they had guards who could penetrate and shoot and a very unique defender in Dort who did an outstanding job fighting through picks to not be switched off. Lakers are missing their best guard defender in Bradley and they don’t have the shooters. With much improved defense I foresee lots of TOs trying to force it into Howard and AD. Rockets are a really bad matchup for the fakers.
Lakers in 6. They have a great defense and frankly our elite D'Antoni offense hasn't really manifested since the All-Star break, ranking 17th in the last 18 games of the regular season and 10th so far in the playoffs. I think national fans and pundits will be surprised how well the Rockets defend and rebound in this series, but both our stars and our shooters are going to have to demonstrate some peak performance on offense that I haven't seen in months or the Lakers will smother us. I do think if I was a betting man I would absolutely take the Rockets at the +320 odds they opened at. That would suggest we have a less than 25% chance to win, and I definitely would put us more at 35-40%.
More than any playoff I can remember, the outcome of this series depends on how games are officiated. I'm not talking about bias in favor of one team or the other. I'm talking about how tightly fouls are called on contact with bigs, as opposed to contact with smalls. If smalls are mostly whistled for harassing bigs near the basket, we're toast. We absolutely must be able to do that, within reason, or our small ball defense wont work. At the other end, if the Lakers get away with pushing or slapping our ball handlers on drives, we won't get the free throws we need, and we might end up relying too much on attempted threes. My bet is that the officials will let us harass the Lakers big men, because small ball defense is fun to watch, and the league probably wants to encourage it. But I also think that as compensation, the officials will let Harden, Westbrook, and Gordon get mauled on the way to the basket. If that's the deal, we'll just have to take it. It's better for us than if everything is called tight. If we get breaks both ways -- harassment of bigs is tolerated, but pushing and slapping ball handlers isn't -- we can win this thing.
I think this series is a toss up and probably goes seven games. If the Rockets shoot the three well and continue to take 60 or so a game, the Lakers are in trouble because 3 > 2 and the Lakers do not have the perimeter defenders to contain Harden and Westbrook. I think the Rockets win the series if that happens. If the Rockets go cold from distance, they’ll lose this series.
Time to send the last member of the banana boat crew home. Lakers have just one true threat from 3 point line, Green. Just stay with him.
Rockets love 3's, Lakers don't - 3>2. Rockets spread out teams, Lakers do not defend perimeter well. Lakers are at their best in PnR with Lebron-AD. Rockets switch everything defense takes away PnR and encourages Iso. And if Lakers double Harden - game over because all that space will allow Russ, EGo and RoCo to eat at the rim. Rockets in 6. Book it.
kuz is just too poor defensively to guard the perimeter, especially against HOU's ball handlers. BBQ chicken!
True, but those games were a long time ago. Even the one in February when no one really knew what the Rockets would look like. Plus Westbrook still doesn't look like he did then after the injury. Everyone knows the Rockets are a legitimate team and the Lakers cannot sleepwalk through this series. But the Rockets are going to have win some tight "clutch" games to win this series, probably with good clutch-time offensive execution that they haven't really shown enough of. I'd love for them to shut down the Lakers to a bunch of TO's and few points in the last few minutes of a few games (e.g. Game 7 or the Bucks in the bubble). But there is no way to expect that to happen right now.
Lakers in 5/6. Anthony Davis vs PJ Tucker is the biggest mismatch in the NBA playoffs right now. I know Davis didn't play particularly well against us but the playoffs is about matchups and exploiting said matchups. Davis could legitimately average 35ppg on 65% shooting and foul out all 2 of our bigs if the lakers feed him the ball consistently.
My series wishlist: - Austin Rivers and BMac both playable. Not 1-game playable, but series-playable (more confidence on BMac) - Avoid early foul troubles - Harden being Harden - Turnovers - Continue with that #1 defense
All yall talking bout rockets in 6 only seen a half of basketball. Dont forget Portland won game 1 as well. Then look what happened. #slow it down....
