Who has the better frontline? Lakers vs Rockets

I voted both Lakers and the Cucumber..... but I've been livin life so I don't know.

 

backcourt, kinda a tie, we got two guys who can combine for 40 every night but they got kobe who can do the same, especially with or without an elite defender.

front court is still lakers, with or without a healthy ming.

 

Hrmmm... Nice.

Front court:
Shane vs. Ron = Ron
Luis vs. Paul = Hard one. Luis is crafty, but Paul is tall. Tie?
Yao vs. Bynum = If Yao is healthy, Yao. No doubt.

Back court:
Aaron vs. Derek = Aaron. No question.
Kevin vs. Kobe = Kobe.

But I don't think 1v1 match ups are as accurate for our team. The way our offense is set up. I think we have a whole bunch of guys that can knock down open shots with a high fg percent.

I sure hope we beat those guys opening night...

 

I voted for everything just in case.

 

Paul? I think you mean Pau. And Pau wins this matchup.

 

Does this entire argument not hinge on the fact that Joey Crawford is reffing? Because I assume if the Lakers are partaking in any contest in which the outcome matters Crawford is reffing. If somehow Crawford isn't reffing I might take Houston. I wasn't sure what the rules were. I assumed real, not fantasy...

 

Bynum and Gasol are better right now than Yao and Scola, simply because Yao is not 100%, Brooks and Martin are better than Kobe and Fisher, it's essentially a 2 on 1, Kobe may be able to pull it off, but I feel Martin and Brooks can put up more points than Fisher and Kobe.

 

Laker love baby, Laker love.

Front.. probably the Lakers, just based off the uncertainties of the team.
But, if Yao comes back healthy, he's certainly better than Pau or Bynum.
In addition, if Scola was to somehow translate his FIBA performances, into NBA performances....Rockets.

Back...overall I think Houston has better players...but Kobe has a tendency to take over and trump all when need be.

Let's just hope when we meet them in the playoffs (which will probably happen)
the team overall pulls it out.
Does anybody here really want to see the Lakers get to the finals, and win another title?
And have to see Fisher crying, having to hear about Kobe's greatness, Pau looking like and ostrich and hugging people. Seeing Efron, Beckham, Levine, Leo, Denzel, Jack and all the other celebs all happy.........NO.

 

I guess the better question is how do we match up compared to 1 year ago when we took them to 7 games?

Rockets add:
Yao Ming
Kevin Martin
Courtney Lee
Chase Buddinger
Brad Miller
Patrick Patterson
Jordan Hill
---
Jermaine Taylor
Jared Jeffries
Ishmael Smith

Rockets lose:
Ron Artest
Carl Landry
Von Wafer (didn't play)
---
Joey Dorsey (didn't play)
Brian Cook (didn't play)
Brent Barry (did he even play?)

Head, Deke, TMac, and White didn't play mostly due to injuries.

Lakers add:
Andrew Bynum
Ron Artest
---
Steve Blake
Matt Barnes
Devin Ebanks
Derrick Caracter
Theo Ratliff

Lakers lose:
Trevor Ariza
----
Vladimir Radmanovic
Josh Powell
Jordan Farmar

The Rockets have added much more talent than the Lakers since taking them to seven games. They are also much younger than the Lakers from top to bottom.

 

Yao beats Bynum, but Bynum is a fair bit better than he was 2 years ago and Yao may never be the same, so I don't expect it to be another 15 min foul trouble performance by Bynum.

Pau is better than Scola, basically plays a similar game but better at everything.

Kobe will be on Battier to save his energy, plus the defense will be the same to effect Kobe as much as possible.

Martin will play on Artest which is a physical mismatch but Ron doesn't use his physical strength anywhere near enough to get more than 4 or 5 points a game from backing him down, overall an advantage for us.

Brooks is our biggest mismatch, points galore, likely our chance to win the game rests here.

The overall bench will likely be a small advantage for us, but they really only play 10-15 mins in the playoffs and the best bench player on either team is lamar.

 

Lakers have better frontline

Rockets have better backcourt

Cucumbers taste better pickled

'nuff said!

 

Who has a ring? 'nuff said!

 

first, basketball is not just about head to head comparisons in terms of talent. it's about playing as a team and having players that fit a role.

but let's compare...

starting front courts:

on offense the rockets might have a slight advantage. yao should be better than bynum, but gasol is also better than scola. and while artest has cut his boneheaded individual plays on offense down, battier at least knows he's not a great offensive player and acts accordingly. the rockets have the slight advantage if yao comes back strong and scola keeps playing at a high level like last season.

defensively both front courts are about the same. battier is about equal to artest and yao is as much better as bynum as luis is worse than pau.

backup front courts:

on offense the lakers win easily because they have odom coming off the bench. brad miller isn't what he used to be (though still a great role player) and the other players are about equal.

defensively the lakers are better as well. chuck's great, miller's underrated but odom, ratliff and barnes are just better overall.

front court summary:

the rockets need yao at his best to stay competitive here. if he's as good as he was this season at least the starters are as good as the lakers. if not then the lakers have the better starters. but at the end the lakers have the better front court overall even if yao's playing at his old level because their bench is just better.


starting back courts:

on offense the rockets look better. individually brooks is just so much better than fisher that even kobe can't make up for it. advantage rockets.

defensively it's a different story. fisher - even at his age - is a much better defender than brooks will ever be. and the same is true for kobe and martin. it really is no contest, the lakers are just much better defensively.

backup back courts:

this one goes to the rockets. blake is a solid three point shooter and knows how to run an offense but the human bowling ball is just the better player. also, courtney lee is probably a little better than shannon brown. lee is the better shooter while brown is the better athlete and 1-on-1 player. but lee is a very good athlete, too. so the rockets have an advantage on offense.

on defense the rockets backups have the advantage. in lowry and lee the rockets have two very good defenders on the bench. blake on the other hand isn't a very good defender for the lakers.

back court summary:

the rockets have the better back court on offense. but the poor defense of brooks and martin is really a back breaker because they play so many minutes. also, the lakers have kobe who's still a top-3 player in the nba. he makes plays for them in the crunch time. that's an important point because neither brooks nor martin can do this for the rockets. brooks is just too small to be an effective clutch player and martin's shot is just too easily blockable. so overall the lakers win because they can defend and have a true closer.

 

Man, I love being able to click on every choice!