Rockets vs. Lakers, 8:30 ET
Rockets vs. Lakers, 8:30 ET
Of all the first-round series, this has to be the most intriguing. There are several angles you can take on this, and to make it crazier, we don’t really know how good or available certain guys will be. The Lakers are still without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. The Rockets suffered a major injury early in the season and are now looking to make the playoffs after being eliminated in the first round. This is more than just a battle between Kevin Durant and LeBron James as rockets face the Lakers.
Without a doubt, the person who has the most to lose in this series is Kevin Durant. Durant, the star sniper, has been great this season and is the scorer Houston desperately needed a season ago. However, the team was no better than last year and definitely lacked a point guard to lead the team. Fred VanVleet’s injury may not have seemed devastating at the time, but I think it hurt them more than most realize. The team still finished 22 games over .500 and the middle brackets weren’t too far apart, so two games could have made this a home series for the Rockets instead of playing on the road. Ime Udoka will come into the series as a favorite, and probably one who deserves it. After losing to Golden State last year, the rockets We need to move forward this year.
Images by William Navarro-Imagn
It sounds crazy, but LeBron needs to win this series. Look, he’s like 90 years old and he accomplished basically everything in basketball. If he retires at the end of this season (he won’t), losing again in the first round would look bad. They have lost the last two seasons in the first round of the playoffs, barely making it to a series in either of them. The Lakers are just a few years away from reaching the Western Conference Finals. The team is very different now and James is usually a third option. However, with Reaves out he needs to produce at a high level. If Doncic is out, this team is finished anyway. Doncic returned to Los Angeles on Tuesday, but I really don’t think he’ll be back for the series. Even if it is, I can’t believe they use it for 35-40 minutes. He was playing phenomenal basketball before he got injured, so maybe he’ll give it a try.
Even if Doncic can pull it off, I think there will be a strong chance that he will be booked or a decoy. He’s no longer a high-impact player on defense, so unless he’s 100%, he’s probably going to be more of a liability. Once the adrenaline kicks in, who knows? The Rockets are playing strong basketball and Durant will give them the push they need to at least get out of this series. Give me Houston -5.5 on this one.
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