I think on paper the Rockets are a matchup issue for the Lakers. They have no one to guard Harden. Forget Rondo, they'll try to drag his corpse onto the court for this series but he's going to get smoked by our guards. I mean that's the thing, the Rockets have not had the issues that people think they would have with the Lakers. They are a much bigger team but they are a slower team and they had issues with the Trailblazes backcourt until they got basically hurt. OKC matched up better with us, thanks to Dort and their guard play and they were only playing one big. Lakers have a stable of bigs and they are all going to get torched over and over again. They are all going to be frustrated as they are isolated at the top of the key against Rivers, Gordon, Westbrook, and Harden. I know people think "Oh man, you can barely beat the Thunder!" OKC was a tough team, they'd give ANY team in the west issues. NO ONE wanted to play them. Everyone always says " (Insert other teams center) is going to feast against the Rockets!" But they never do. You know what hurts the Rockets? Teams with great guard play that could put Harden and Russ on skates and test our interior defense...the Lakers don't have that. ALSO, AD basically folded pretty hard when those games were close.
Both teams are newly constructed. If you give us the benefit of the doubt, you have to do the same to the Fakers. Regular season wisdom does not mean much in the Playoffs. What if both AD and LBJ have another gear to go to? What if Kuzma goes insane.... It's only fair to say it goes to 7 until one team dominates or figures out a formula. The Rox do not have the stamina and focus to go all out on D and O for 48 minutes. Every other team still left in the Playoffs got a deeper team.
You think the officiating was lopsided last series this one will be worse. Its Lebron and LA .... Lakers in 5 , Scott Foster and Tony Brothers share MVP honors.
Lakers played okc in the bubble and lost by 19. Dont know if it was they cared to win, but the lakers may be different playoff team. When it comes to playing serious, heck they had 50+ wins like bucks and raptors. There part of the elite or top 2 best in west. Could be the best , and maybe will beat Bucks/Celtics/Heat/Raptors for the ring. Be funny if there Lakers vs Celtics classic this year.
The Rockets start off better than most teams into a series, but get complacent during a series. They normally win Gm1 or sometimes Gm 2 or both. Even the Mergady and Yao team did that.
Celtics play small ball with bigs on the bench, this should get interesting. Kemba turned into Hornets Kemba.
I think the Rockets will play loose in this series...the pressure is off they are definitely not the favorites, and the league definitely will not want us to advance, so I say just go out there, play your game, and see what happens my feeling right now is just thank God they beat OKC the fckery in this series will be off the charts
Just too many factors going against the Rockets in this series I think unfortunately. It'd be a significant upset (to the league as much as anyone) if they somehow won.
Rockets in 7...Lakers go up 3-1 in the series, but Rockets come roaring back in the final 3 games. League and Refs do everything they can to cause the Rockets to lose Game 7, but the Rockets win by 2 after Westbrook makes a 3 to win it at the buzzer.
I have no idea how this series could go. If Lakers size beats up the Rockets too much, they could win in 6. If the Rockets frenetic defense and guards cause the Lakers problems, they could win in 6. Or maybe those two things cancel one another out and it's a 7 game series. So my prediction it will at least go 6 but I don't know who will win.
Lakers in 6. I’ll be happy if it’s another 7 game series and Rockets lose. I’ll be ecstatic if Rockets win.
This year's playoffs reminds me of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with the Rockets being Pilgrim. Ex #1: Chris Paul Ex #2: Dwight Howard Ex #3: Beverly/Morris/Harrell/Williams Ex #4: Could be Lowry, could be Dragic