So the Los Angeles Lakers lost Game 1 against the Houston Rockets.
People will throw the statistic that 80% of the time Game 1 winners take the series. Fans will praise the defense the Rockets are committed to. Basketball pundits will point to the Lakers' lack of killer instinct.
Big deal!
The Lakers definitely got a rude awakening from a team that the beat four times in the regular season. But the Lakers are far away into form.
The Lakers' lack of aggressiveness showed in Game 1: they were killed in the boards, they shot less free throws, and settled for jumpers (made far too less of them). But I think this is the type of wake-up call the Lakers need. The Jazz were small fry. The Rockets present a much bigger (7-foot-6 bigger) challenge.
The Lakers made the cardinal mistake of letting Kobe Bryant do it alone. Rockets forward Shane Battier looked like a genuine Kobe-Stopper (or a new age Bruce Bowen), but the Lakers are more than Kobe. I see the Lakers having better balance where Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum figure in bigger roles in Game 2. Phil Jackson can use this as a motivator to lift the Lakers in Game 2.
I was baffled by the Lakers' unwillingness to play their tempo, and it cost them. I see no letdowns in Game 2, with the Lakers playing a crisper offense and better contributions from the team members.
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I expected the Lakers to lose the first game; they had way too much time off and they had no offensive rhythm to show for it. They will win the next four games in my opinion. Third quarter was more representative of what the Lakers should have been doing all game.
ReplyDeleteI do however give props to Yao. He was a true fighter.
To be honest, I expected the Lakers to win convincingly. But this is a much needed wake up call for the Lakers. If they win out of the West, the Lakers have a good shot of winning it all. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree, Lakers should win, after all they achieve in the last past years. Go Lakers GO!!!
ReplyDeleteYes Go Lakers go!
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