Good things: 1. Our big 3 are very motivated and effective against LA. 2. Shaq may put his ego before the team when facing YM. 3. Marlone might be unavailable. 4. YM is seldom fronted or doubled. 5. 3 of their starters are in 30's, which means lakers may not have stamina to give out suffocating defense through the game. They usually do it in the 4th quarter. Bad things: 1. I second JVG, lakers have best talent level. 2. Refs are always on their side. 3. Kobe's clutch play 5. Marlone's dirty play 6. Laker's playoff experience. Any comment? -Littlefish
I think the Reffing will make or break this series If they get the Refs from the UCONN v Duke game it will be a LLLOOONNNGGG Series Rocket RIver
If Karla indeed sits out (though I don't expect him to), their weaknesses mirror ours - 2 forward spots.
If the ref is fair, it will be interesting to see which one is fouled out first, shaq or yao, in every game? Maybe Yao will not defend shaq straight up in most occasions. But he still needs to contribute a lot. Kobe will attack hole, Steve will drive to the basket. Two centers will attack each other. It should be fun to watch.
For YAO, Lakers should be the best option in the playoff. He may be physically scared of Shaq, but he is supposed to be mentally motivated by Shaq. It seemed to me that YAO has made progress in one-on-one defending Shaq.
I can't wait for us to beat the Lakers. I hate them with a passion. Their arrogance is unmatched in the league starting from their coach Phillip to Phony Kobe, to Lazy cry baby shaq to talk too much trash but I am too old gary payton to dirtiest/biggest flopper in league history malone + nobody in the world except Rockets fans think we can win. Oh how SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET it will be. Peace.
This was definitely the best possible matchup for the rockets rather then the kings. Lakers are not a running team but more of a half court team. whre as kings are a run and gun team which we typically do not do well against. Yao should have plenty of rest before the first game. I look for the rockets to steal game one @ LA, lose game two. Then we get a long rest until game 3 @ home which we should win. If we do have a chance at an upset it will go seven games and we will need to steal two on the road. don't think we can sweep them in our house all three games. Gonna be a fun series to watch regardless.
Medevenko better not go off on us. He seems to do that. (Yao leaves him open and he can make his jumpshots. )
I don't think that is true. Payton and Malone (un-injured) are still playing like back in the day, hell, Malone runs the court better than half our team. Shaq doesn't seem to have much of a problem with stamina, unlike Yao. Even during lastnights game, Yao was running the floor with his head down. If Yao gets tired, we are in trouble. If the one of the Fakers get tired, they still have 3 future hall of famers backing them up.
