Rockets-Lakers: Perception Of No Chance Gives Houston One

Don't call the Houston Rockets underdogs. Call them underpuppies.

Don't call this tantalizing second-round matchup David vs. Goliath. Call it KC and the Sunshine Band trying to win a death metal contest, or Carson Kressley attempting to defeat the Roman empire with a blowdryer.

All jokes aside, the Rockets know the enormity of the task ahead.

If 80 percent of the national media picked against them in the first round, 100 percent will bury them in the next.

The Rockets earned this unenviable semifinal opponent when they crashed and burned in Dallas April 15. One win away from clinching their first Southwest Division title, they collapsed against the Mavs and shifted themselves to the wrong side of the bracket.

Conventional wisdom for the Western Conference's other seven playoff teams was "move up and avoid the Lakers until the conference finals."

Instead, Houston blew home-court advantage, and faced a confident Portland squad on the road.

The fact that they blasted the Blazers 92-76 Thursday night and clinched a first-round series when few thought they could do it says something about their resiliency. The franchise last tasted a round one win in 1997.

They will need plenty of it if they hope to scare a team that swept them in the regular season.

Every other Western squad has to believe deep down that its season will end as soon as it plays the Lakers. How can anyone match LA's talent, length and well-known championship ultimatum?

The Lakers, after all, have suddenly become the New York Yankees of the NBA. It's win a title or bust for Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.

Never mind that both Hall of Fame shoe-ins already have three rings in L.A. Call them greedy. They want more.

So do the Rockets.

After sucking on the sweet sugar cane that was a series win last week, this bunch has decided it wants to go for broke and beat L.A., too.

If you watched this Rockets unit grow and mature as injuries seemed to shrink and destroy them, you know they want to go out swinging.

Whether they land any of those punches remains to be seen.

And no, I'm not going for a Ron Artest joke here.

The Lakers boast the game's best finisher in Kobe Bryant. The Rockets trot out a wacky, hybrid guard-forward who sometimes thinks he's Kobe.

He's been in the stands before, too.

If Los Angeles is the team with the most weapons, Houston looks primed to be the test site.

How would you like to die, good sir?

To give the Rockets even two games seems generous. Four-game sweep, right?

They must be perfect and composed.

They must respond every time the Lakers deliver a roundhouse kick or blow to the forehead.

Yet, because no one gives the Rockets a chance, they have one.

The pressure is all on the Lakers to execute the kill everyone anticipates. They enter this series with a singular goal—another Larry O' Brien trophy in an arena filled with them.

So, as the Rockets play for a prize no one, including this writer, believes they can get, they can also play freely.

With no pressure sandbagging them, they can at least compete and show skeptics that grit and resolve count for a lot.

The Rockets are at their best when people expect them to be dreadful and comatose. They wake up to the challenge and dance circles around doubt.

Here then are the keys and questions that will decide this series:

Five Questions the Rockets Must Answer

1. Who closes the deal?

The four losses to the Lakers this season were a lesson in closing. The Rockets stayed within striking distance in three of the four contests, but fell short in winning time.

Kobe had a lot to do with that. The Rockets' inability to generate consistent offense with the Lakers bigs frustrating Yao constituted the rest of the pratfall.

With Tracy McGrady out for the season, the question of who scores the late-game baskets for the Rockets becomes more paramount.

There is a simple solution. Have Aaron Brooks run a pick and roll, basketball's most effective play, or dump the ball to Yao Ming.

Unfortunately, as Rick Adelman often says, these guys don't make anything easy.

2. Which Ron-Ron shows?

If Artest goes through one of those goofy, "I'm as good as Kobe and D-Wade" spells, this series could end quickly.

The Lakers could run a number of defenders—Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza—at him.

If he relegates himself to the perimeter and dribbles down the clock, he is not quick or creative enough to consistently score against Bryant, Ariza and Odom.

Huge advantage, Lakers.

If he operates in the low post, Bryant, Ariza, and Odom are not strong enough to handle his massive frame.

Huge advantage, Rockets.

The Lakers want Artest to do his frenetic Kobe impersonation. They want him to chuck up late-in-the-clock prayers, dominate the ball and crash the offense.

Artest finally showed his post prowess in the Rockets game six clincher against the Blazers. He banged and muscled his way to the basket for 27 points. If he did not score, he drew fouls and swooshed the free throws.

Which version of Ron-Ron shows could determine the series' outcome.

3. Can Scola and Landry take advantage?

If Yao goes off early as he did in the previous round, the Lakers will likely take a blueprint from Portland's tactical book.

With double teams and fronts all but certain for Yao, Landry and Scola will enjoy wide open 16-footers galore. Can either player consistently knock them down?

Scola emerged as the Rockets unheralded star in several first round games. He bagged open jumpers and used his sometimes ugly creativity to manufacture scores in the post.

Spin-move this, up=fake that, there is no way the Lakers can both bottle up Yao and account for Scola and Landry.

Houston's forward tandem will play a monster role in the series' outcome.

4. The Lakers will amass runs. How will the Rockets respond?

L.A.'s defense is as much about offensive execution as getting stops. The Lakers feast on rattling teams who lack the firepower and poise to push back when they get rolling—which describes all 29 other teams.

Inability to get Yao the ball in crunch time. No clue how to run an offense in many second halves. Ron-Ron and his no-nos. Bricked free throws.

This is who the Rockets are. Can they overcome such glaring flaws after 88 games?

When Houston gets rocked with a 10-0 run at Staples Center, will the offense fold, or will such tribulation give way to necessary poise?

The Rockets have the weapons to make this a fierce series. Question is, do they know which trigger to pull when?

5. The bench mobs—brigade or a dud?

The Rockets turned the Blazers' predicted advantage into their own for much of the first round.

When the reserves—namely Von Wafer, Carl Landry, and Kyle Lowry—poured in points, the Rockets won. When they no-showed, the Rockets paid for it.

Houston's bench will be even less of an advantage in this joust.

The Lakers will use Odom, Shannon Brown, Luke Walton and a combination of others to blister the Rockets when Kobe and Pau Gasol rest.

Wafer, Landry, and Lowry had better come with a shovel to knock them upside the head.

Landry's bombastic, athletic game will be particularly important with Walton sure to spend some time on him. He can eat that assignment like a two-dollar breakfast.

Wafer will be streaky, but a few threes and drives to rim would provide a huge boost.

Lowry's speedy attack will pressure the Lakers transition defense. Can he make something out of it?

Five keys for the Rockets to make this a series

1. Don't ever taunt Kobe Bryant. Ever. This includes you, Ron-Ron. This also includes the fans at Toyota Center when the series shifts there.

No "Kobe sucks" chants, please.

Respect is the name of the game.

2. Lowry and Brooks can run rings around 36-year-old Derek Fisher with their quickness. They must attack Fisher on every possession and test the interior mettle.

Good things can happen when they collapse the 'D.'

3. Battier, Wafer, Artest and Brooks must drain any open looks they get. The Lakers weakness continues to be defending the three off screen and rolls.

If the open three-balls clang, the Rockets have no chance.

4. The Rockets must pick a defensive gameplan and stick to it. If they decide to go with single coverage on Bryant, a 20-point quarter from the reigning MVP cannot change that plan.

The Lakers thrive on teams who panic and alter their gameplans after a quarter or two. The Rockets must find something and dare the Lakers to beat it for 48 minutes. If they still lose, well, shake some hands.

5. Yao, Yao, Yao, Yao, Yao.

Self-explanatory, right? No one on the Lakers can defend Yao one-on-one with deep post position. First, he must take full advantage of all single coverage opportunities and look to score.

Second, when the doubles come, he cannot panic and must find the open teammates. This also puts the onus on his teammates to get open.

Reposting Yao is also a key.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Series outlook:

These underpuppies have serious bite, but whether they can chomp through the Lakers championship-level armor remains to be seen.

They will be hard-pressed to win this series, or even two games. The Lakers swept them during the regular season.

Still, with an excitable mix of youth and veteran experience, a post presence, two elite defenders, athletic point makers and the courage to tackle any test, the Rockets may present the only real threat to the Lakers in the Western Conference.

The toughest exam of the decade begins tonight at 9:30 p.m.

You said you love challenges, Rockets. Here's a boulder-sized one.