May

12

Lakers Lack Of Toughness Will Cost Them The NBA Crown

Posted by Jeff Sack under NBA Analysis, NBA PLAYOFFS 

I have been hinting at this for about the last month; I am now going to state it clearly. Barring injury the Cleveland Cavaliers will bring an end to the curse of Cleveland this June as they win their first NBA Finals. Boston is not as strong this year with an injured Kevin Garnett and the Lakers just do not seem hungry enough to win the Title.

Sometimes You Skip The Battle To Win The War! 4/16/09 

Almost one month later my prediction seems to be holding up pretty well. Of course the Cleveland Cavaliers still do have the small matter of the Eastern Conference Finals to get through before they can even contemplate winning their first NBA Title. However as Cleveland is the only team so far not to suffer a loss in the Playoffs, it would seem momentum would be weighing heavily in their favor presently.

The team that looked like a lock to come out of the Western Conference for the second consecutive year has not had smooth sailing in their second round series. On paper the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets should be a blowout; especially after Houston lost their go-to player center Yao Ming for the season after suffering a stress fracture to his left foot.   

The Rockets are now missing their two key players as guard Tracy McGrady was lost to injury earlier in  the season. Not long after losing McGrady they traded their staring point guard Rafer Alston to the Orlando Magic a move which appeared at the time that they were conceding the rest of the campaign. It has not turned out that way for the team from the “Lone Star State.”

The Rockets remind me of the legends of the “Russian Mad Monk” Rasputin. According to the stories Rasputin survived numerous attempts on his life in a myriad of different manners. The Rockets by all rights should be a team getting ready for the Summer. Instead Sunday with 6′6″ Chuck Hayes playing center for Houston they went on to defeat the Lakers 99-87.

The defending Western Conference Champions after the game blamed their loss on a lack of energy. I agree that was a factor in the loss; but they also looked very tentative on the floor and unsure of themselves. This has been caused by the physical play of Rockets veteran forward Ron Artest as well as others. The Lakers look like a boxer with a glass jaw; that boxer may hurt you in the ring but all you need is for one punch to land there to end the fight.

There has been talk over the last few years that the Los Angeles big men Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are soft. Houston has been able to exploit that weakness and are still very much alive in this series as it is all knotted up as of this writing at 2-2.

Will the Lakers get by Houston? I will truly be shocked if they do not, the Rockets depth has been taken away. But unless they find that inner toughness they may not get past the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. And if they do get past them without it, it will not occur again against the Cavaliers in the Finals.

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