Rogue
05-04-2009, 08:40 AM
After beating the Blazers in game 6 of their first round series, the Rockets managed to set their foot onto the second round for the first time in this decade. Rockets fans are proud of what their team has done but they are not content, pleased with their progress but the fans are still not satisfied. As a great team with a glorious history and two championships, surely the Rockets are not satisfied just to make a flashing show in the second round and quit, but the LA Lakers won't make it easy for Rockets to move one more step forward.
Although the Rockets were swept by Lakers in the regular season, that doesn't mean the Rockets have no chance to give us a surprise in the second round. Rockets lost 4 games in total to the Lakers in regular season, but none of them was a blow-out. In fact, the Rockets had more or less oppotunities to turn around those loses, Rockets just lost their control in the crunch minutes.
In the old years, the match ups between these two teams were always considered personal contests between tmac and Kobe, for most times Kobe could beat tmac and his Rockets fellows. With tmac done for the season, this Rockets team is no longer the old team the Lakers were used to, which means this series will be more of a new start than the continuation of their old feud.
No matter whether Bynum will jump out of the inactive list for this series, the control of this postion will definitely belong to the Rockets team. Pau Gasol played great in regular season at this spot, but the games in playoffs are significantly different.
Pau is a typical alround power forward that can do everything a guard does, except shooting 3 pointers, but Pau is still more of a power forward than a Center, which means he doesn't feel easy with the tough body touches that are not uncommon in the paint. Around this area, Pau can be dominated even by an average Center like Perkins, which led to their failure in the finals of last season. Yao is not the same type of player as Perkins, but he can only be more pressing to Pau than Perkins.
The 7'6 size isn't the only thing that makes Yao a legendary Center in the NBA history, his shooting work in mid-rang and short-range also add tons of threat to this big weapon. Pau may not be tamed by Yao in this series but his effect will inevitably be limited by the 7'6 monster. And it's not very feasible to expect Bynum to take on this job, as Bynum hasn't played any game since he got injuried a long time ago.
If Phil Jackson continue to reserve Bynum in the second round, then the starting PF still will be the job of Lamar Odom. Odom has a wide range of offensive skills like shooting 3-pointers and breaking in like a guard, but these skills won't enable him to get away from those undersized power forwards of the Rockets team. At the defensive end, Scola's fantastic tricks and Landry's athletism will force a lot of pressure on Odom and other Lakers playing in paint.
At the 3rd spot, the Lakers have two guys in Ariza and Walton to play. Ariza is a little bit better than Walton in defense and somtimes he can also be more dangerous on the other end of the floor, but Walton fits Phil's system better so Phil starts Walton more often. Either of them will face the a dense defense from Shane Battier, but Shane won't make too much trouble on the other end of the floor. Reasonably Phil Jackson will throw Ariza on Ron Artest on the defensive end, in order to save Kobe as much energy as possible for offense, at that point Arize is very likely to get the starting job at SF.
Even though Kobe is unstoppable, Ron still will try his best to make Kobe feel as uncomfortable as possible. Surely it won't be an easy job to drop points on Ron Artest, even for Kobe Bryant. Ron Artest just needs to control his temper and keep alarm of Kobe's fake shots. Kobe has a much faster pace than Ron, which makes it easier for him to penetrate through his legs than simply shooting the ball over his head. If Kobe is to make fouls on the Rockets, on the Rockets side they had better use Lowry or Aaron Brooks to carry those fouls rather than Ron Artest.
Rockets have two decent guys in rotation that can play PG, but they both seem too immature to cope with the veteran Fisher who may shoot the ball at any time and position and very probable to make it. Defensively Fisher may also cause Aaron and Lowry to run out of their rhythm or lose the ball with a turn over. Anyway, Fisher will be much bigger a threat to those young PGs than Steve Blake who is just a simpleton.
Pridiction: Obviously the Rockets are more passionate for their trip in the second round, as this is the first time for most of the Rockets players. But it's well known that experience is more important than anything else in the playoffs... Let alone the OK dynasty members like Kobe and Fisher, the other young Lakers also have gained plentiful experience in the 4 series of last season, including the experience of NBA finals, they lost the finals to Celtics though.
Lakers in 6
Believe.
Although the Rockets were swept by Lakers in the regular season, that doesn't mean the Rockets have no chance to give us a surprise in the second round. Rockets lost 4 games in total to the Lakers in regular season, but none of them was a blow-out. In fact, the Rockets had more or less oppotunities to turn around those loses, Rockets just lost their control in the crunch minutes.
In the old years, the match ups between these two teams were always considered personal contests between tmac and Kobe, for most times Kobe could beat tmac and his Rockets fellows. With tmac done for the season, this Rockets team is no longer the old team the Lakers were used to, which means this series will be more of a new start than the continuation of their old feud.
No matter whether Bynum will jump out of the inactive list for this series, the control of this postion will definitely belong to the Rockets team. Pau Gasol played great in regular season at this spot, but the games in playoffs are significantly different.
Pau is a typical alround power forward that can do everything a guard does, except shooting 3 pointers, but Pau is still more of a power forward than a Center, which means he doesn't feel easy with the tough body touches that are not uncommon in the paint. Around this area, Pau can be dominated even by an average Center like Perkins, which led to their failure in the finals of last season. Yao is not the same type of player as Perkins, but he can only be more pressing to Pau than Perkins.
The 7'6 size isn't the only thing that makes Yao a legendary Center in the NBA history, his shooting work in mid-rang and short-range also add tons of threat to this big weapon. Pau may not be tamed by Yao in this series but his effect will inevitably be limited by the 7'6 monster. And it's not very feasible to expect Bynum to take on this job, as Bynum hasn't played any game since he got injuried a long time ago.
If Phil Jackson continue to reserve Bynum in the second round, then the starting PF still will be the job of Lamar Odom. Odom has a wide range of offensive skills like shooting 3-pointers and breaking in like a guard, but these skills won't enable him to get away from those undersized power forwards of the Rockets team. At the defensive end, Scola's fantastic tricks and Landry's athletism will force a lot of pressure on Odom and other Lakers playing in paint.
At the 3rd spot, the Lakers have two guys in Ariza and Walton to play. Ariza is a little bit better than Walton in defense and somtimes he can also be more dangerous on the other end of the floor, but Walton fits Phil's system better so Phil starts Walton more often. Either of them will face the a dense defense from Shane Battier, but Shane won't make too much trouble on the other end of the floor. Reasonably Phil Jackson will throw Ariza on Ron Artest on the defensive end, in order to save Kobe as much energy as possible for offense, at that point Arize is very likely to get the starting job at SF.
Even though Kobe is unstoppable, Ron still will try his best to make Kobe feel as uncomfortable as possible. Surely it won't be an easy job to drop points on Ron Artest, even for Kobe Bryant. Ron Artest just needs to control his temper and keep alarm of Kobe's fake shots. Kobe has a much faster pace than Ron, which makes it easier for him to penetrate through his legs than simply shooting the ball over his head. If Kobe is to make fouls on the Rockets, on the Rockets side they had better use Lowry or Aaron Brooks to carry those fouls rather than Ron Artest.
Rockets have two decent guys in rotation that can play PG, but they both seem too immature to cope with the veteran Fisher who may shoot the ball at any time and position and very probable to make it. Defensively Fisher may also cause Aaron and Lowry to run out of their rhythm or lose the ball with a turn over. Anyway, Fisher will be much bigger a threat to those young PGs than Steve Blake who is just a simpleton.
Pridiction: Obviously the Rockets are more passionate for their trip in the second round, as this is the first time for most of the Rockets players. But it's well known that experience is more important than anything else in the playoffs... Let alone the OK dynasty members like Kobe and Fisher, the other young Lakers also have gained plentiful experience in the 4 series of last season, including the experience of NBA finals, they lost the finals to Celtics though.
Lakers in 6
Believe.