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

Playoff basketball gets a life of its own. Huge underdog but I think it is just in the cards.

 

JJ is doing an awesome job, as is our new big 4 of Lebron, Smart, Luke and Kleber.

 

i think there's no way this defensive strategy works against basically any non-houston team, but jj definitely has found something that really bothers them.

i thought it was strange udoka went away from sheppard when he made 5 threes in game 1. yes, he shot poorly overall, but we just weren't respecting a lot of their guys on the perimeter.

it seems their plan was just to ratchet up the physicality, but...we've kind of seen that, and our guys appear to be all for it (lebron, smart, vando, and laravia in particular).

on our side the second quarter swoons have been weird. during each one, we had a string of semi-forced turnovers that gave houston opportunities in transition that haven't been there for the other 45 minutes of the game.

anyway, will be interesting to see what, if any, changes houston makes. i can imagine them just saying: kennard and smart won't keep basically replacing luka and reaves on offense (lol), but it's happened twice now.

they even did some of the stuff i expected (hounded kennard, got us to make lebron make catches further from the hoop, used durant's midrange to break the quasi-zone early), but didn't win. just another game of full-effort team defense and some serious shot-making from the starting backcourt. i hope luka and reaves are watching this, btw. if you can defend like this with kennard and rui playing 43 minutes, you can keep doing it with luka and reaves.

 

So proud of this team. What a win

 

LET'S F***ING GO!!! If anything, I was UNDER-estimating our team! We're looking like 80-20 or even 90-10 out there!

Realistically, we lose Game 3, but f*** it, let's keep being GREEDY! I honestly think we're still 50-50 or better in Game 3. It's just a question of motivations. Should Houston come out on fire? Of course. But they could also come out deflated, given what's happened so far and how much of a mess they are. Could the Lakers come out soft and slow and fat and happy off these 2 wins? Of course. But they could also come out invigorated, on top of the world, and ready to win another game. If both teams are 100% motivated and on fire and ready to go, I give us 60-40, even in a G3 situation up 2-0, and even on their court. We're the better team with the best player, and in fact, we've looked like we've had the 3 best players! So let's keep being greedy, and let's f***ing go!

 

Smart & Kennard combined in G2: 48 pts, 9 asts, 8 rebs, 8 stls, 1 blk, 8 3's, shooting 8-13 62% from 3, 16-26 62% overall, and 8-9 89% FT's.

Smart & Kennard combined in G1: 42 pts, 11 asts, 6 rebs, 1 stl, 2 blks, 6 3's, shooting 6-10 60% from 3, 14-25 56% overall, and 8-14 57% FT's.

That's 2 players besides LeBron, EACH averaging 22.5 pts, 5.0 asts, 3.5 rebs, 2,3 stls, 0.8 blks, 3.5 3's, shooting 61% from 3, 59% overall, and 70% FT.

Add in LeBron, and that's THREE guys EACH averaging 22.8 pts, 6.7 asts, 5.0 rebs, 2.0 stls, 0.7 blks, 2.8 3's, shooting 57% from 3, 55% overall, and 67% FT.

New Big 3 indeed. Incredible.

 

Yeah. That was really fun to watch.

 

Yeah. F it. All bets are off. Let's go for another win and get these guys out of here.

 

I think Houston is like one 10-0 run from us in Game 3 from 1,2,3 Cancun. I'm thrilled at how we've been playing, but pretty amazed at just how pathetic they are.

 

I’m not the biggest JJ fan, but he and his coaches have shown this rag-tag bunch how to play elite defense against the Rockets. I’m still shocked. Massive bouquet already shipped to Mr. Redick’s home.
I’m not going to get ahead of ourselves and claim the series is over, but we are closing this one out in six.
Austin will be back for Round two. If JJ and co can somehow figure out how to slow down OKC, AND the refs don’t give the Free Throw Merchant every single call, we could beat them.
The way they are playing now, if we had Luka and Austin at full strength, I would be convinced that we could take down OKC.
We shall see…

 

I don't think Udoka gets fired, even if they get swept because of their injuries and management has to look in the mirror and go my-bad over not getting anything resembling a point guard at the deadline. CP3's corpse even would do wonders for them.

But if he doesn't deliver next year and they have these kind of vibes and he continues to f*** up the development of their youth, he's unemployed this time next year.

The lack of a clue, lack of adjustments, and the overall bad vibes he's got going with that team... yucky!

JJ is embarrassing him right now and I love it. The growth from getting worked by Finch (he is much better coach than Udoka, though) and not having us fully prepared for that series to what he's been able to get out of our group in these two games, I've been extremely impressed.

 

Agree.

Imagine if they had been the ones to trade for Kennard. [Shudder] That would solve so many of their problems.

 

We are the better team with one of the all-time greats locked in and leading the way and to this point have had better coaching. Typically that is a recipe for success. Smart is physically and mentally made of steel and Luke knows this stretch with the Lakers is changing the trajectory of his career. He has the spotlight on him with added responsibilities and showing he is up for the challenge. LeBron knows game three is a don't let the opponent off the canvas moment and will have the team playing accordingly.