Los Angeles Lakers: The ideal matchups for the NBA Playoffs
By Jason Reed
3. Round two for the Los Angeles Clippers: The Houston Rockets
This has nothing to do with the Los Angeles Lakers but has everything to do with them at the exact same time. The Lakers’ most ideal scenario if the Clippers finish with the second seed in the Western Conference is for the Rockets to finish with the sixth seed and play the Clippers in the second round.
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Heck, the Rockets could easily fall to the seventh seed and play the Clippers in the first round, which would not be bad either, but it would be better for the Lakers if the Rockets got a series to get hot before going into a series with the Clippers.
The Clippers just creamed the Rockets last Thursday but that was because a historically bad shooting night from the Rockets, which will lead to a blowout as that is all the team has to go off of.
However, when the Rockets are hitting their shots they are a team that could beat any team on any given night. Do I think that they could beat the Clippers? No, probably not, but I would not be surprised in the slightest if the Rockets take the Clippers to six or seven games and absolutely wear them out in the process.
It would be even better if the Clippers have to play the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. That is a team that the Clippers will beat but with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, the Mavericks are a team that could absolutely steal two games from the Clippers.
The perfect situation for the Lakers is that they get to the Western Conference with no more than 10 games played while the Clippers have had to play 12-13, with 2-3 of those games having significant stakes and being physically draining.
Next. Anthony Davis has a sneaky case for MVP. dark
When you have two elite teams like the Clippers and Lakers, who will be playing in the same building for all seven games, it really is splitting hairs and things like this could make a huge difference.