Los Angeles Lakers v Houston Rockets (Lakers lead 3-1)
The Houston Rockets should’ve just come out with a big white flag and saved themselves the stomping they got on Saturday. The Lakers jumped on the Rockets early and never looked back. They won 119-96 to advance to the Western Conference finals and will wait and see whether they face the Los Angeles Clippers or the Denver Nuggets.
The Rockets gave Mike D’antonian an opportunity to run his system and it seems it doesn’t work in the playoffs and he is not willing to make adjustments. He had two superstars, G Russel Westbrook and G James Harden, but they needed some actual frontcourt players and to get away from this small ball mindset.
The Lakers dominated this series, and with G Rajon Rondo coming back to lead the bench; they are the team to beat. They will be well-rested after the little energy this series was nothing to them and they had to exude zero energy to beat the Rockets. I would favor the Lakers against either the Nuggets or the Clippers, but it will be the Lakers’ toughest matchup so far.