The Los Angeles Lakers now know who their second-round opponent will be after the Houston Rockets escaped a hotly contested Game 7 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, 104-102 on Wednesday night. Game 1 of the Lakers-Rockets series will begin on Friday night at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern.
Rockets-Lakers will be a drastic contrast in styles and the Lakers will have to seriously consider taking JaVale McGee out of the starting lineup and putting Kyle Kuzma in the lineup to better matchup against the Rockets, who are playing with essentially no big men in their rotation and start Robert Covington at the center position.
The Rockets were 2-1 against the Lakers in the regular season, including a win during the seeding games on August 6 and a thrilling win at Staples Center on Feb. 6, the first game the Rockets played with Covington in the lineup after they traded for him.
James Harden will face a very different challenge in this series than he did against the Thunder and Lu Dort. The Lakers team defense was phenomenal against the Blazers, but the Rockets will stretch them to their limits. It starts on Friday.
