This series should be a walk in the park for the Lakers, but the Rockets have the NBA world and the Lakers thinking twice about that remark. The Rockets outplayed a tough and young Portland squad in six games, which included three games to one series lead.
Houston right now is playing at another level, and is doing all this without a definitive scorer. In the first round, Houston got an amazing dose of balanced scoring from their staring five to and bench. Three key players led the way for the Rockets. Starting with their centre Yao Ming, who is finally playing with some grittiness in his game. If Yao plays that way all the time, there is no one on the Lakers that could stop him. Just ask Portland’s Joel Przybilla who had a major problem in keeping Yao in front of him. Although, Greg Oden was able to stop Yao at times, by getting in front of him first and made him take a jumper instead of driving the ball to the basket.
Ron Artest and Shane Battier came through in big ways on the defensive end, and even though they really didn’t have an answer for Brandon Roy, those two still kept LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw in check. Artest and Battier were able to score more than their season average, which was a huge plus, and will need to keep their playoff averages up if they want to score against the Lakers.
As for the Lakers, they look unbeatable, and were beat just once en route to a relatively easy five game series win over the Jazz. That lone loss can be attributed to Deron Williams who spread the offense, and pretty much set the defensive tone for his team. Luckily for the Lakers, they won’t have to deal with such a high caliber point guard, as the Rockets really don’t have one. This will make life easier on Derek Fisher, who can now take a few more shots, and ease the pressure on Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom.
Oh yeah, Kobe Bryant, he is pretty much unstoppable, and if Brandon Roy was able to average at least 20 plus points a game, imagine how many Kobe will? The Rockets will have no answer for Bryant, and Ron Artest’s scoring production will drop significantly with all the running around he’ll have to do guarding Kobe.
The Lakers are pretty much a better team than the Rockets in all facets of the game. No matter what the Rockets do, and how well they match their first round performances, they will not stop the Lakers from winning this series. The only conceivable way the Rockets could win, is if they shut down Kobe Bryant, which will not, and probably can’t happen.
SERIES PREDICTION --> THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS WILL WIN THIS SERIES IN A SWEEP, OR IN FIVE GAMES, MAX. IF UTAH WAS ABLE TO SQUEEZE OUT A VICTORY, THEN MAYBE HOUSTON COULD TO.
*THE HOUSTON ROCKETS COULD WIN THIS SERIES IF THEY DON’T ALLOW KOBE BRYANT TO SCORE MORE THAN 20 POINTS A GAME (WHICH ISN’T HAPPENING), AND IF THEY CAN WIN AT LEAST 2-3 GAMES ON THE ROAD.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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