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

Really nice that for once it was one of our role players who stepped up and played out of his mind in a big game. Great job by Kennard who stood out on a night that the whole team stepped up.

 

Big win with plenty to clean up. LeBron toyed with them most of the way. Good sign of what is to come.

 

I'm really not trying to sell you anything. We should win this series and hopefully get Luka and AR back for the next. The playoffs are so much different than the regular season anything can happen. The way LeBron is playing I'm not scared of OKC. Let's enjoy the ride bro.

 

Good ball movement and GREAT win .

 

Thank you @LALakersFan4Life

 

Massive win, just an all around amazing game from everyone involved.
Great mindset, effort, execution, grit. Just awesome to see

Kudos to all the guys, notably JJ and Bron as leaders of this group by instilling belief in them and finding ways to win this tough challenge

We did our job this first game. Still non-favorites but going to this 2nd game in a great position, a LOT of pressure to Houston

 

Rockets don't seem like the most connected group. If we can find a way to steal Game 2 and go up 2-0...I think we could start to see them mentally check out a bit.

Their chemistry has been weird all year with the KD burner stuff, Udoka taking not so veiled shots at Sengun in post game pressers, Udoka benching Sheppard at times when its pretty obvious they need him to play a lot because no one else can dribble the ball. I think everyone on that team knows they're pretty good but ultimately don't have it this year, so if they're in an 0-2 hole with Luka maybe coming back I could see them pack it in rather than try to rally past us just to get lit up by OKC.

 

If we were playing again tomorrow, I'd be pessimistic about Game 2. I don't know if last night was the best punch this group without Luka/Austin can throw, but I think it was close to it. JJ had a really nice tactical game, I like the increase in organized offense and initiating offense with LeBron at the elbows, rather than beyond the arc. Amen's prowess as a perimeter defender is mitigated quite a bit if he's guarding LeBron at the elbow with his back to the basket, rather than guarding a ballhandler beyond the arc.

If I were Udoka, I'd shuffle the matchups to put Jabari on LeBron and Amen on Luke. Use Amen to shut off all of those Luke P&Rs and off the dribble threes and force LeBron into more of a scoring role against a bigger defender. If that's what they do, I like that we're getting LeBron two days off between games.

 

Yep. I thought Udoka was better than this, prior to the last year or 2, but apparently he's not. The front office failed the Rockets the most though. How do you know that Van Vleet is out for the year and never add a PG? Pure stupidity.

I do mean to. I'm greedy. And I believe. It's at least a 50-50 game. When Durant was expected to play, I thought we were 40-60 Game 1. Hearing he was out, it flipped to 60-40 in our favor imo. After seeing Game 1, I think if you re-run that game over and over again, we're more like 70-30 or better.

Moving on to Game 2, if Durant is out, then given the different motivations (and the Lakers tendency to let up sometimes when not as desperate), I would still favor us, but less so, maybe 55-45. If Durant is playing but semi-hobbled, like 80% or worse, then it's back to 50-50, and if Durant is 99%, then we're back down to 40-60 imo. Yes, all of this flies in the face of gambling odds and "expert" opinions, but it did for Game 1 also, and look what happened. So, yes, I believe. Let's get greedy.

I can see everything you're saying, and it's possible that those matchups hurt us. But the Lakers definitely have a higher gear. It's called LeBron going super saiyan for one game. He's still capable of a 40 point triple double. We'll see if anything close to it eventually happens or not, but it's definitely within the range of possiblities.