2026 West 1st Round Playoffs: (4) Los Angeles Lakers Vs. (5) Houston Rockets

There are only a few real Americans in this thread: @DaDakota , @MadMax and @Arnel

But the realist Real American who will fight for your right, fight for you life? This man:

 

thinking Smart is better than Amen is also a hilariously bad take

As is completely ignoring the other 5ish rotation players on each team as though they don't matter

Anyone who looks at this playoff matchup minus Luka and Reaves and thinks the Rockets' roster isn't better is a joke and should be put on ignore.

Now, if Luka really does come back in game 3 (we'll see) all bets are off.

 

I’m flabbergasted that some of you are Rockets fans and voted the way you did. Have you watched this team at all this season? Your momma’s must have given you spoiled eggs and crusts of bread for lunch everyday or something to have such negative takes.

 

Rockets in 5.

 

Are the Lakers really going to send Luka out there on one leg?


Dude did a grade 2 hammy for my AFL team on the weekend, he's out 4-6 weeks. Surely the Lakers aren't stupid enough to risk Luka ripping the hammy off the bone?

 

The league is EVERY incentive to extend this series and even help the Lakers. We're also prone to collapses, cannot shoot, are still not used to one starting line-up, have up and down performances from everyone but KD & Amen basically and Ime is still our coach so forgive me for thinking they might lose this series. Badly even.

 

Good luck Rockets!!!! Making it to the second round would highlight our year! Can I get a playoff "Amen" !

 

can easily see us blow game 1 having this series extend to game 7 and Luka doing his best Willis Reed impression...

rockets fandom is rough.

 

If we can't beat lakers without Luka this season is a failure.

 

update:

 

Everyone picking the Rockets are selling Ime short. I think he's about to show the world he's on that Bill O'Brien level.

 

game 3 it is. Silvers NBA takes like a week off after game 2.

 

This is the reason why the schedule hasn’t been released.

 

I'm hoping Amen won't get off to a slow start like he did last year. It seemed like the playoff lights were a little too bright for him, but then he adjusted and locked in and was one of our best players games 4 through 7. If he can just avoid those early jitters and we get good games from KD and Sengun, I think we can put the Lakers away early and avoid any worries about Luka leading them to a comeback.

 

Luka won’t be anywhere near 100%, it’s just not going to happen. This is squarely on the rockets shooting because the strategy will be that…pack the paint and make us hit shots….and either we make them…or don’t. That’s what the series hinges on.

 

Luka coming back at any point would accelerate the series. He needs to pack it up like Adams did. He's already a slow defender. With a bad hamstring the Lakers will be 4v5 on defense and you wouldnt fear blow bys on offense. Have seen too many players try and come back from that injury and takes *months* to look even a semblance of normal.

 

I love that this is the matchup.

If the Rockets find a way to lose this series, there is no reason the team as a whole shouldn't evaluate both Ime Udoka's security as head coach and Rafael Stone's security as the GM.

This rebuild has been underwhelming to say the least and the team's future as is seems very much akin to the Hawks with Joe Johnson and Al Horford or the Raptors before Kawhi came. A nice regular season team that just cannot match with the real stars.

With San Antonio and OKC being as young as the Rockets, there isn't a real scenario where the Rockets will ever be the best team in the West during this iteration barring injury.

Anthony Edwards could be the guy the catapult the Rockets into that tier within the next five years but that would take a collapse by the Wolves and a trade demand.