Clash of the MVPs
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers pushed aside one of the NBA’s best backcourts in the first round. Here comes another. James Harden, Russell Westbrook and the Houston Rockets are the opponent when the top-seeded Lakers open the Western Conference semifinals Friday night.
James, Harden and Westbrook have combined to win six of the league’s last 11 most valuable player awards.
The Rockets’ debut of their small-ball style was a big success when they beat the Lakers 121-111 in Los Angeles on Feb. 6 behind 41 points from Westbrook. Now they have to see if their lineup, all 6-foot-8 or shorter, can beat James, Anthony Davis and the bigger Lakers four times.
“I’ve played against all different types of lineups before since I started playing basketball when I was 9 years old, so there’s nothing strange about it,” James said. “It is what it is and we have to prepare for it. We have to be great every night in order to win and if we’re not we’ll lose. It’s that simple.”
The Lakers have been resting since finishing off the Portland Trail Blazers last Saturday, winning the final four games of the series after dropping Game 1. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum had fueled one of the most potent offenses in the seeding games, but the Lakers smothered the Blazers for much of the series.
Now they have to slow down a team that starts recent MVPs at both guard spots but has to find some energy after a draining firstround series.
The fourth-seeded Rockets outlasted Oklahoma City in seven games, winning the series Wednesday with a 104-102 victory. Harden struggled offensively but made the biggest play of the game with a blocked shot with 4.8 seconds remaining.
It will take defensive plays like that to make up for the size disadvantage the Rockets will be giving up against a Lakers frontcourt in which the 6-8, 250-pound James is the smallest starter.
“There’s advantages and disadvantages and I think they know where our weakness will be,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’ve got to mask that.”