ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 4/21/2026 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 2)

I think the talent gap outside of LBJ would still be worth 1 or 2 Wins .....we shall see.

It is tragic what Ime and Stone did to this season, I have no words for that.

 

Agreed, That is why you need to play players that can shoot. Why would you ever play Amen, Sengun (or clint) and Tate at the same time.

I have been a big fan of Alpi. I think he can be the offensive motor of a very good team. But I am starting to think that we indeed would have to choose between Amen and Sengun.

 

I am not the lawyer of Alpi and i find that this was not one of his games but in a game where only 1 Bench player Scores, KD did 9 TO's and you had 24% 3 Point shooting, you cannot blame Alpi! Yeah he missed few eaay lay ups what made me angry too but what tell me what you feel about the very bad bench performance! We saw tonight, how important a good Pointguard is! You cannot compete without a strong PG! The Series are not over in my opinion but the season is over because if you manage to win this series, you will finally lose 0:4 against OKC!

 

I was one of those people awhile back talking about “give me the Lakers”

that the Lakers were the one team I felt confident we could beat, and that was with Luka and Reaves healthy

looking back, I have no idea wtf I was thinking…the joke is on me

even heading into this series, once word got out that the Lakers would be without Luka and Reaves, I was calling the Lakers a 1st round bye…I was calling them postseason preseason…they were basically a warmup

and I feel like that’s what they would’ve been for every other top 6 team in the Western conference

but not us

being down 0-2 to this Lakers squad is truly inexcusable, but this Rockets team is so pathetic that I’m also like “Wtf did you expect?”

 

Ime strikes again.

Reed not playing? We have no PG. KD turning the ball over in crucial times.

This season is over, and frankly I can't wait for it to be over.

Dont have much faith in that idiot Stone and Ime....smh

 

KD’s legacy would be worse than Harden’s if he never went to GS…but because he did, he is universally viewed as a top 20 player of all time

 

What gets me is this is the offense people are ready to throw away players like Reed for. Like this is the best they could get, Reed at the top with 10 seconds left, a contested deep three...which yeah he hits sometimes but this is one of his 0-4. This is failing Reed.

This is the same coach who runs no plays for Jabari (and who knows who else) and we're running offense through a guy who not only struggles reading double teams, but also struggles passing. That offense is basically let KD get doubled and hope the other team defender just forgets to rotates or is lazy.

No wonder anyone that comes here can't shoot suddenly, they get junk shots, bad looks, never get confidence in this offense.

 

Rare coming from me but the best thing that can happen now is this team gets swept in embarrassing fashion.

This team has 0% chance at beating OKC, even if SGA's leg falls off game 1 and Jalen Williams loses his arm, Chet and the rest of OKC would dice this team up.

 

Sengun was barely decent but main problem was Durant and wack 3PT shooting. Durant's 4th quarter was hideous with the turnovers (all of them live-ball and careless) with NO scoring, and we can't make a shot -- not even Reed in his limited minutes. You can blame scheme and it could be a valid argument but guy's had enough open shots. They missed. Amen/Sengun only took 2. Durant is doing his usual playoff flop/underperformance.

 

Marcus Out-Smart.

 

OKC is better than almost every other team in history so thats a non starter.

Rockets are better than the Lakers on paper thats why everyone was saying sweep. Coaching is the diff between perception and reality.

 

Goat James

 

Amen Thompson looks like a weakling not wanting to guard LeBron James on every possession, looked even worse when he did.

His post up defense on LeBron James is pathetic. Put your one hand and push him back, why are you easily letting him post up and not using your hand to push back.

 

I always thought that the folks claiming to preferred watching team ball and losing over harden ball were dumb.

But watching this team this season, i would prefer we just go back to the tanking seasons with a new coach and new gm bc we are gonna b there eventually. This is like harden 2.0 except kd is more toxic and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I dont even know if even trading Kd will bring hope to this franchise with stone and ime for this team.

 

I want a Lakers Sweep and pressure on Tillman Fertitta to Fire Ime Udoka.

I knew Ime Udoka was a Fraud and backstabber the way he handled Jalen Green and Jalen Green got the full blame when his teammates could not shoot threes. To space the floor.

 

Maybe trying not to foul out.. lol.

James made 3 shots besides 2 all-out fadeaways (that only Wemby could stop) in the 1st quarter, two 3PTs, and that late dunk.

Rockets are goof balls protecting the ball and shooting the ball.

 

Rockets front office rewarded Ime with 6 years extension after 1st round exit last season.

Now what it is this time to reward Ime?

 

The last time Rockets winning title is 31 years ago.

It means Rockets suck.

As fans we just need to chill.

 

Glad KD was back so that excuse cannot be used anymore. It's 90% coaching at this point to why our offense is never going to amount to anything. Reed was basically a zero today. I do have to say, we got rattled from the get go, allowed the Lakers to be physical and never recovered. Not a single player got into the paint with force, except Amen on a fast break and Tari with the odd slithering through the defense. Some plays we played really solid defense, but overall it was quite bad. Leaving Smart & Kennard open, mainly by overhelping and scramling to get out to their players after a double team. Tate getting so many minutes just to foul, pathetic. And we're overall a SOFT ass team and it starts with whiny ass KD. We are clearly losing this series and I hope it's a sweep, embarrassment might force Fertitta to make some drastic changes.