WCSF: (1) Los Angeles Lakers vs (4) Houston Rockets, Part 1 | Series Tied 1-1

[nzahir]

But we have a big guy who can actually score the ball unlike Adams

AD and Lebron should actually average 65-70, easily, on good efficiency.

If you say that than Houston can say there not throwing the corpse of Melo or a 6’4 Trent on lebron either

No you are putting 6’5 PJ Tucker on AD. yipppeee scary. Or the corpse of Jeff Green. And we get to watch 5 games of Westbrook blowing shots around the rim, turnovers and bricking 3s without a defender within 10 feet of him.

Who the hell is guarding Bron and Dwight/Mcgee then?

No rim protection for Lebron and AD...

[Nacho Bidness]

When the Lakers can get their mismatches sure they'll score rather easily but the Rockets will oddly win by defense. The way they switch everything and disrupt passing lanes and are just overall very pesky, the Lakers will become discombobulated. The rebounding advantage is negated by turnovers. That's what nobody is seeing.

Both the Lakers and the Rockets turn the ball over around 15 times a game.

And both the Lakers and the Rockets opponents turn the ball over about 16 times a game against them.

There is a statistical insignificance when it comes to turnovers between the two teams.

This seems to be a hope and prayer scenario you are throwing out here.

Are these head to head stats?

I doubt it.

This version of the Rockets is 2-0 against this Lakers team.

Does that mean we for sure win? Of course not, but to pretend the Lakers are just going to walk all over Houston seems like hubris to me. Silly hubris at that.

People want to point to the OKC series as proof we're not ready but truth is we struggled against them in the regular season too. Teams with small good quick guards gave us problems all year. That is not the Lakers.

[Young Stapler]

So now I'm told the Rockets are a defensive juggernaut. Makes sense they did sweep OKC

[SK21209]

If Westbrook is healthy/back in rhythm I can see a long, close series.

[TheDiesel36]

Just keep in mind that only team that has defeated this Rockets team were the mighty Warriors and even they struggled.

[mademan]

Just keep in mind that only team that has defeated this Rockets team were the mighty Warriors and even they struggled.

Just keep in mind that the Rockets were a PJ Tucker floater away from losing in the first round against OKC

[TheDiesel36]

Just keep in mind that only team that has defeated this Rockets team were the mighty Warriors and even they struggled.

Just keep in mind that the Rockets were a PJ Tucker floater away from losing in the first round against OKC

But they won didnt they? And OKC had the only guy that can bother Harden. I think this will turn out to be a referendum on big men in the NBA and I think that many bigs will lose their jobs over this series in the upcoming years.

Im going Houston in 6.

[hoosierdaddy34]

When the Lakers can get their mismatches sure they'll score rather easily but the Rockets will oddly win by defense. The way they switch everything and disrupt passing lanes and are just overall very pesky, the Lakers will become discombobulated. The rebounding advantage is negated by turnovers. That's what nobody is seeing.

Both the Lakers and the Rockets turn the ball over around 15 times a game.

And both the Lakers and the Rockets opponents turn the ball over about 16 times a game against them.

There is a statistical insignificance when it comes to turnovers between the two teams.

This seems to be a hope and prayer scenario you are throwing out here.

Are these head to head stats?

I doubt it.

This version of the Rockets is 2-0 against this Lakers team.

Does that mean we for sure win? Of course not, but to pretend the Lakers are just going to walk all over Houston seems like hubris to me. Silly hubris at that.

People want to point to the OKC series as proof we're not ready but truth is we struggled against them in the regular season too. Teams with small good quick guards gave us problems all year. That is not the Lakers.

So the argument here is that the the Lakers are going to just start turning the ball over like 21 times a game (6 more than usual, and 5 more than the Rockets D normally generates) while the Rockets become master caretakers of the ball and only turn it over like 12 times (4 less than the Lakers D normally generates and 3 less than the Rockets typically make) magically creating a significant statistical advantage in the area of turnovers. That seems ummm based in reality

So you are going to just leave out that LeBron didn’t play one of those games? You beat us one time and you think that foretells what will happen this series? Oh man this is great stuff you are convincing yourself of.

[Galloisdaman]

LOL at Lebron flipping out over Jay Williams tweet about Lebron and Pippen. He is so sensitive.

[CelticSooner]

I keep seeing that AD is going to dominate in this series. When has AD ever shown he is willing to stay inside and punish anyone? He like most of the bigs of today and stays on the edge a little too much. I think Tucker can do a decent job on him.

[NPZ]

Series history (all 1st round series noted). Not as bad as Porty's history. Only their fourth 7 gm series, Rockets were an Eastern Conf team for a number of years.

1981 HOU (R1, best of 3 gms)
1986 HOU
1990 LAL (R1, b/o 5)
1991 LAL (R1, b/o 5)
1996 HOU (R1, b/o 5)
1999 LAL (R1, b/o 5)
2004 LAL
2009 LAL
2020 (???)

[ShotCreator]

This is gonna be a very memorable series.

Tons of era defining names in this.

LeBron, Harden, Westbrook, Davis, Rondo, D’Antoni.

Lakers should crush them for long stretches but if they slip up, Houston can devastate them.

Slipping up being bad strategy.

Now that I think about it, I expect this to be a close series.

[Nacho Bidness]

Both the Lakers and the Rockets turn the ball over around 15 times a game.

And both the Lakers and the Rockets opponents turn the ball over about 16 times a game against them.

There is a statistical insignificance when it comes to turnovers between the two teams.

This seems to be a hope and prayer scenario you are throwing out here.

Are these head to head stats?

I doubt it.

This version of the Rockets is 2-0 against this Lakers team.

Does that mean we for sure win? Of course not, but to pretend the Lakers are just going to walk all over Houston seems like hubris to me. Silly hubris at that.

People want to point to the OKC series as proof we're not ready but truth is we struggled against them in the regular season too. Teams with small good quick guards gave us problems all year. That is not the Lakers.

So the argument here is that the the Lakers are going to just start turning the ball over like 21 times a game (6 more than usual, and 5 more than the Rockets D normally generates) while the Rockets become master caretakers of the ball and only turn it over like 12 times (4 less than the Lakers D normally generates and 3 less than the Rockets typically make) magically creating a significant statistical advantage in the area of turnovers. That seems ummm based in reality

So you are going to just leave out that LeBron didn’t play one of those games? You beat us one time and you think that foretells what will happen this series? Oh man this is great stuff you are convincing yourself of.

With or without LeBron, did you or did you not still have this vaunted height advantage? Did you not lose with said height advantage?

Last matchup they turned it over 24 times. There's also the math advantage of 3>2.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Are these head to head stats?

I doubt it.

This version of the Rockets is 2-0 against this Lakers team.

Does that mean we for sure win? Of course not, but to pretend the Lakers are just going to walk all over Houston seems like hubris to me. Silly hubris at that.

People want to point to the OKC series as proof we're not ready but truth is we struggled against them in the regular season too. Teams with small good quick guards gave us problems all year. That is not the Lakers.

So the argument here is that the the Lakers are going to just start turning the ball over like 21 times a game (6 more than usual, and 5 more than the Rockets D normally generates) while the Rockets become master caretakers of the ball and only turn it over like 12 times (4 less than the Lakers D normally generates and 3 less than the Rockets typically make) magically creating a significant statistical advantage in the area of turnovers. That seems ummm based in reality

So you are going to just leave out that LeBron didn’t play one of those games? You beat us one time and you think that foretells what will happen this series? Oh man this is great stuff you are convincing yourself of.

With or without LeBron, did you or did you not still have this vaunted height advantage? Did you not lose with said height advantage?

Last matchup they turned it over 24 times. There's also the math advantage of 3>2.

So the argument for Houston now includes “with or without LeBron”, insinuating he is insignificant. This is a rabbit hole you’ve gone down.

[Up-And-Coming]

Read on Twitter

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Lebron should be the one that’s the aggressor on offense, not AD imo. AD should just continue to play his game and move without the ball and have Lebron set him up. AD is not meant to be a big post up player. That hasn’t worked so far the first couple games and becomes too predictable

The point was there was a massive lane for a lob that OKC didn’t take advantage of. That LA bigs are just going to roll and get dunks all day on because Houston kept leaving the lob open.

I see. I hope so. Houston has some pretty stout and pesky players that were good at being physical w/ AD and the Laker's bigs the first time we played them (although that's such a small sample size).

I think it's also important that Houston has zero shot blockers at the rim. Lebron should have straight line drives available to him at a premium. IF things don't go well, I would be tempted to pull a "Morey" and bench Javale and Dwight and space the floor for Lebron to have the paint all for himself (a la Westbrook) w/ AD, Green, KCP, and Caruso/Kuz/Cook for shooting.

[Nacho Bidness]

So the argument here is that the the Lakers are going to just start turning the ball over like 21 times a game (6 more than usual, and 5 more than the Rockets D normally generates) while the Rockets become master caretakers of the ball and only turn it over like 12 times (4 less than the Lakers D normally generates and 3 less than the Rockets typically make) magically creating a significant statistical advantage in the area of turnovers. That seems ummm based in reality

So you are going to just leave out that LeBron didn’t play one of those games? You beat us one time and you think that foretells what will happen this series? Oh man this is great stuff you are convincing yourself of.

With or without LeBron, did you or did you not still have this vaunted height advantage? Did you not lose with said height advantage?

Last matchup they turned it over 24 times. There's also the math advantage of 3>2.

So the argument for Houston now includes “with or without LeBron”, insinuating he is insignificant. This is a rabbit hole you’ve gone down.

Not exactly since they lost with him too but it's convenient you want to make that insignificant. The one variable everyone is orgasming over is the height advantage and that was a constant in both match ups, yet the advantage did not play out like everyone predicted. Now all you arm chair analysts seem to be making the same prediction but not much to back it up other than old cliches that keep getting disproven.

[hoosierdaddy34]

With or without LeBron, did you or did you not still have this vaunted height advantage? Did you not lose with said height advantage?

Last matchup they turned it over 24 times. There's also the math advantage of 3>2.

So the argument for Houston now includes “with or without LeBron”, insinuating he is insignificant. This is a rabbit hole you’ve gone down.

Not exactly since they lost with him too but it's convenient you want to make that insignificant. The one variable everyone is orgasming over is the height advantage and that was a constant in both match ups, yet the advantage did not play out like everyone predicted. Now all you arm chair analysts seem to be making the same prediction but not much to back it up other than old cliches that keep getting disproven.

I’m just enjoying the stock you are putting into one game and all these fantasy advantages you are creating in your head.

I know the Lakers are taking this in 6, possibly 5. There are just far too many matchup disadvantages for Houston and LAs defense and rebounding is too good. And going into a series with zero rim protection is a major problem for Houston. Vogel and LeBron have had all this time to just prepare for them and I don’t have much faith in the Rockets being a very smart or mentally tough team. Teams can force their will on them which is exactly what LeBron does best.

[Nacho Bidness]

So the argument for Houston now includes “with or without LeBron”, insinuating he is insignificant. This is a rabbit hole you’ve gone down.

Not exactly since they lost with him too but it's convenient you want to make that insignificant. The one variable everyone is orgasming over is the height advantage and that was a constant in both match ups, yet the advantage did not play out like everyone predicted. Now all you arm chair analysts seem to be making the same prediction but not much to back it up other than old cliches that keep getting disproven.

I’m just enjoying the stock you are putting into one game and all these fantasy advantages you are creating in your head.

I know the Lakers are taking this in 6, possibly 5. There are just far too many matchup disadvantages for Houston and LAs defense and rebounding is too good. And going into a series with zero rim protection is a major problem for Houston. Vogel and LeBron have had all this time to just prepare for them and I don’t have much faith in the Rockets being a very smart or mentally tough team. Teams can force their will on them which is exactly what LeBron does best.

When you have guys like Covington being among league leaders in blocks since the trade it's pretty hyperbolic to say we have no rim protection. It's not traditional, but with tweener types and schemes we've scrapped together some rim protection.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/8/12/21363868/in-the-middle-of-a-revolution

"Since Covington joined the Rockets, the only players to block more shots per game (2.2) are Hassan Whiteside, Brook Lopez, and Anthony Davis—each a monolith towering over the court."

[Up-And-Coming]

Not exactly since they lost with him too but it's convenient you want to make that insignificant. The one variable everyone is orgasming over is the height advantage and that was a constant in both match ups, yet the advantage did not play out like everyone predicted. Now all you arm chair analysts seem to be making the same prediction but not much to back it up other than old cliches that keep getting disproven.

I’m just enjoying the stock you are putting into one game and all these fantasy advantages you are creating in your head.

I know the Lakers are taking this in 6, possibly 5. There are just far too many matchup disadvantages for Houston and LAs defense and rebounding is too good. And going into a series with zero rim protection is a major problem for Houston. Vogel and LeBron have had all this time to just prepare for them and I don’t have much faith in the Rockets being a very smart or mentally tough team. Teams can force their will on them which is exactly what LeBron does best.

When you have guys like Covington being among league leaders in blocks since the trade it's pretty hyperbolic to say we have no rim protection. It's not traditional, but with tweener types and schemes we've scrapped together some rim protection.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/8/12/21363868/in-the-middle-of-a-revolution

"Since Covington joined the Rockets, the only players to block more shots per game (2.2) are Hassan Whiteside, Brook Lopez, and Anthony Davis—each a monolith towering over the court."

Yes, it's true that the Laker's hadn't capitalized on their size advantage the first couple of games that we played the Rockets (although that is such a small sample size and in the 2nd game, Lebron didn't even play). Instead, the Houston defenders got into the chest of AD and the Laker's bigs and either stripped the ball or drew an offensive foul.

However, the Lakers have a team that's more flexible than you think. The game plan to post-up AD nonstop hasn't worked because that's not his strength and is too predictable which lead to turnovers. Houston does not have any traditional shot blocking bigs protecting the paint. Lebron's biggest strength has always been his ability to drive and attack the rim. If I was the Rockets, I wouldn't be confident in Covington consistently providing help-side defense on Lebron's straight line drives.

IF the traditional "height advantage" doesn't work, the Lakers can pull a "Morey" and bench Javale and Dwight and leave the paint open for Lebron (a la Westbrook) to drive all game w/ AD, Green, KCP and Caruso/JR/Kuz for spacing.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Not exactly since they lost with him too but it's convenient you want to make that insignificant. The one variable everyone is orgasming over is the height advantage and that was a constant in both match ups, yet the advantage did not play out like everyone predicted. Now all you arm chair analysts seem to be making the same prediction but not much to back it up other than old cliches that keep getting disproven.

I’m just enjoying the stock you are putting into one game and all these fantasy advantages you are creating in your head.

I know the Lakers are taking this in 6, possibly 5. There are just far too many matchup disadvantages for Houston and LAs defense and rebounding is too good. And going into a series with zero rim protection is a major problem for Houston. Vogel and LeBron have had all this time to just prepare for them and I don’t have much faith in the Rockets being a very smart or mentally tough team. Teams can force their will on them which is exactly what LeBron does best.

When you have guys like Covington being among league leaders in blocks since the trade it's pretty hyperbolic to say we have no rim protection. It's not traditional, but with tweener types and schemes we've scrapped together some rim protection.

Per nba.com stats...


The roll man shot 58.2% from the field on the Rockets this year that doesn’t bode well from stopping LeBron and AD/Dwight/Javale pick and roles.

The Rockets also were one of the worst teams in the league in transition defense. The Lakers one of the best scoring teams in transition. That doesn’t bode well for all those missed threes that will lead to transition opportunities for LeBron in company. Especially with LAs rebounding advantage...they are going to get a lot of easy buckets.

Lakers are also one of the top teams scoring off cuts. Those are typically bigs diving to the basket. Good luck Covington stopping AD, Dwight and Javale at the rim. That’s not going to work out well.

The Lakers arent, and don’t need to rely on postups...and honestly shouldn’t. There are far more effective ways to use their height, which they will.

Lakers are also one of the top teams scoring off of put backs. The Rockets smurfs are going to have a tough time with that.

There are just a lot of different ways the Lakers can attack Houston. The Lakers defense will make the Rockets offense depend on a lot of contested 3s. Vogel is a great defensive mind and the Lakers have a lot of good defenders...as Portland found out.