2026 Playoffs: (4) Lakers Vs (5) Rockets - Discussion

How we feeling? Lakers start the series without Luka and AR have to assume they won’t be back till the second round if somehow we get out of this series.

Game 1 is Saturday 7:30 pm on ABC

 

Rockets, pockets, sockets, it doesn’t matter - lakers in 5.

But honestly, we have to match the Rockets energy if we’re going to have a shot. If we aren’t careful, Thompson, Eason, Jabari Smith can run over us. We need Jake, Rui and Smart to match their physically. I’d even throw Adou out there for 10 mins.

I think slowing down the tempo and having LeBron and Smart play bully ball from the post will be used a lot, kicking it out to shooters when they get doubled. We need a bit of luck with from our shooters. If Rui, Kennard and Jake can get hot for a few games we can pull out some wins.

Ayton also needs to raise his level, we need him protecting the rim and fighting for offensive boards. We’ll probabaly put him in a lot of pick and rolls with Kennard and Smart - because they’ll probably have Sheppard and Sengun defending that set.

I wonder if we’ll have any deep bench guys win us a game, Knecht is possible.

Lastly we need to really be on a string defensively, Houston isn’t a team with lots of ball handling, if we can turn them over successfully like we did when we doubled KD, we can have success out in transition where Lebron is still the best in the league.

 

Let's hope for a 2009 playoffs type of series in reverse !

 

Gonna say if the Lakers are to win, it will be a game 7 dogfight. If not we capitulate in 5 with all the injuries

 

they don't stand a chance without luka and reaves

lebron might turn back the clock one game, but that'll be it

rockets in 5

 

I think we can get a game at home. That put us in position to win game 5 and stretch this series.

I have to say I've a bit of sneaky confidence we can steal the series. Maybe I'm delusional lol but kudos to the guys for making me believe and for making these playoffs mean something

Ayton-Bron-Jake-Smart-Kennard-Rui is a solid playoff 6-man rotation. Add Jax and Vando and it can at least make it competitive games, then it's all up to the execution

Great opportunity for JJ to take his coaching to another level. If we win it will massively be because of him and finding the right schemes to exploit HOU defficiences on both ends

We gotta defend and rebound extremely well. We need a couple nights of hot shooting too.
Key will be to bring doubts to the Houston team, they don't seem a cohesive group and creating some arguments and disbelief may be enough for it to fall apart. Winning game 1 would make wonders for that

We also need Ayton to own Sengun and make KD fight the turkish guy, he hates him

f*** it, Lakers in 7

 

This is the key right here

If DA comes to play and gives a full 100% effort on both ends we stand a good chance

We need to be strong on getting rebounds and set the tone

 

he hates smith, too. if you can find ways to exploit those guys' weaknesses (hoop iq/playmaking for smith, defense for sengun), you might get kd deathglaring them and ruin their vibe.

both teams have a real problem with ballhandling/pg play right now, but houston's got a MUCH better defense to lean on and the two best halfcourt scorers in the series. if they don't win comfortably, they should be thinking about making some pretty significant roster and/or coaching changes.

must admit it's a bit fun to be the underdog for once, though. last year sucked hard because we were favored against like, the hottest team in the league, who went to the conference finals the year before (and then went on to do it again!). when we lost, everyone was like "ha ha choker lakers", and i'm like...but...that was a good team? sometimes you lose playoff series?

anyway, as others said, this is pure house money. get weird with it, jj!

key matchup for me is rui/lebron vs. sengun. kd's going to give us problems no matter who's out there, but if rui and lebron can make it to where we can play sengun straight up and go at him on the other end, it could be more interesting.

 

We might win one game (the first one) and that's about it. That's why neither Luka or AR should be doing anything stupid.

 

It's an uphill climb for certain. But I think we got the best team we could be matched up against in this first round. Especially with the issues the Rockets have had.

 

hoping for Rockets in 6 - probably be a sweep
But one can hope Lebron can swing back the clock a bit to give ar and luka a chance to get back

 

We would need Rui to have one of those Mathurin-Pacers or Gabe Vincent-Heat role player playoff runs to even stand a chance.

 

Rockets in 4 or 5.

 

-Rockets don't have a PG.
-are the most likely team to fracture out of the playoff teams (where's a KD text when you need one?... FIRE UP THE BURNER).
-it's a better Bron match up than Minny.
- if we limit turnovers, force them the play half court basketball we can win those games.
- JJ made KD look like someone who can't handle any defensive pressure against him
- JJ outcoached Ime so far


The bad:
- they have a lot of athleticism
- Luke is going to be hounded full court
- they're great rebounding team
- Ayton gave Capella all the fuel he needs
- we're missing two of our best 3 players
- if we pull off the ultimate underdog win in this series, our reward is white flag series against OKC


If I was to put money on it, I think we win game 1 and Houston wins in 5. Bron and Marcus can get us a game.

The obvious wrinkle in all this is if Luka can come back (I don't think he should). If we reach a game 6 and he comes back for that and even that should only happen if our losses are close, then who knows what happens. That probably pushes us into the 3 game series against OKC.

 

amen thompson is the guy the lakers will have the most trouble with in this series. not really worried about KD or sengun, but they really don't have anyone who can match thompson's athleticism

 

Amen lacks a lot of shot creation. I'm more worried about Reed getting hot though

We had success doubling KD and making the others beat us, I think we will hunt that at least in game 1