The Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers will face off in the Western Conference Semifinals.
After a thrilling Game 7 victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Houston Rockets will face the number one seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the NBA playoffs. This Rockets squad is completely different from any other team in the league, as head coach Mike D’Antoni has adopted the “small ball” playstyle.
Through this playstyle, the Rockets have surrounded several similar role players to support superstar players Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
The Lakers are coming off a great 4-1 first-round victory against the red hot Portland Trail Blazers, even though several members of the media expected the series to go six or seven games. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are both playing their best basketball of the season at the perfect time, but they will need to keep up their spectacular play in order to get past the Rockets.
Now there’s no doubt in my mind that the Lakers will take this series in six games or less, however there are a couple of players on the Rockets who could potentially cause the team some problems.
Russell Westbrook and James Harden are excluded from this list because the whole world knows what those two are capable of. Instead, this list focuses on some of the role players on Houston, whose performances could negatively affect the Lakers in the semifinals.