(AP) - Preview capsule for the Houston-Los Angeles Lakers Western Conference semifinal series that starts Friday:
WESTERN CONFERENCE
No. 1 LOS ANGELES LAKERS (52-19, 4-1) vs. No. 4 HOUSTON ROCKETS (44-28, 4-3)Season series: Rockets, 2-1.
Story line: There are seven active players with an MVP award and three of them — LeBron James, James Harden and Russell Westbrook — will play in this series. The Lakers will be rested, after playing just one game in an 11-day span. But they haven’t been all that sharp in the bubble, so it’s possible that all that time off could have led to more rust. The Rockets, meanwhile, needed a seven-game grind to get past Oklahoma City and will have less than 48 hours to get ready for Game 1 against the West top seed.
Key matchup: Lakers F LeBron James vs. Rockets F P.J. Tucker. There are going to be times, probably a lot of them, where Tucker has the assignment on James. He won’t stop James, because nobody does, and James has faced the matchup many times before. But if If Tucker can do just enough to not let James turn stretches of every game into personal highlight reels, Houston’s hopes will improve.
Injury watch: Rajon Rondo (thumb) was nearing a return for the Lakers in Round 1, and with all this time off since he would seem likely to appear in this series.
Numbers of note: This is the first postseason meeting between the franchises since the West semifinals in 2009, when the Lakers won in seven. ... The Rockets have been among the best defensive teams in the bubble; of the teams left at Walt Disney World, only Milwaukee, Boston and Toronto have held opponents to worse field-goal percentages in the bubble. ... Houston has outscored opponents by a total of 18 points so far at Disney through 15 games; the Lakers have actually been outscored by a total of three points in their 13 games.
Prediction: Lakers in 7.
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This has to be the most compelling series in the second round, given the contrasting styles and weapons each team has. This might ultimately come down to coaching and strategy, especially on defense. Notwithstanding their lack of size, I think the Rockets make up for it very well with their very active defense, which is underrated. The Lakers didn’t have to worry much about overcoming the Blazers’ defense, but it will be a different story this time. Same issue for Houston, which had to focus on containing the OKC backcourt in the first round. Won’t be the case with the Lakers whose strength is its all-star frontcourt led by LBJ and AD.
Regarding the “rest” v. “rust” issue, IMO the Lakers should have the advantage. Rest is a premium in the bubble. I assume they’ve been practicing hard too. Anyway, malalaman natin bukas.
