Lakers vs. Rockets: Game 5 Preview

I walked away from our overwhelming Game 3 victory thinking this series was over. I thought we might not win game 4, and who knows, maybe the series would go 7, but the Lakers were a lock. Then Yao went down, I cried a little inside, cried a little on the outside when I saw him sitting there at the end of the bench during the beginning of game 4, and I was sure the Lakers would do it in 5. Look at that depleted roster. You couldn't hit 100 points if you added that starting 5's career highs.

But then on Sunday it was proven again why I love basketball. This game really is about chemisty, motivation, history, personalities, and more than any other sport, synnergy. The Rockets on Sunday were more valuable on the court than the sum of their parts. There was a little bit of NBA Finals 2004 in the air. A team came together with a higher calling to destroy a super power, and we crumbled, ashamed of ourselves.

“We didn’t understand the type of energy Houston was going to come with,” Kobe said after Game 4. “We didn’t have that type of energy.” Will they find it tonight for Game 5? A better question might be whether the Rockets bring the same level of energy to Staples that they summoned on Sunday. Personally, I don't think it's possible. Neither does Vegas, which has put the line at Lakers -12. Yes, you read that right. The Lakers are the overwhelming favorite despite L.O.'s uncertain status following Sunday's flying hip flop onto the court. Phil and the trainers are calling it a bruised back, and I'd give the man a %50 chance of playing tonight. I'd give Kobe a %97 chance of playing like an MVP tonight. He was out-scored 23 to 15 by Shane "The Kobe Impeder" Battier on Sunday, and if you know Kobe, you know he's not going to let that happen again.

But who else is going to show up? Can we even play Bynum more than 9 minutes against a team that rocks a 6'6" starting Center? Probably not. But we will play Pau and play him hard. We sorta tried to do that on Sunday but very quickly abandoned our strategy once the Houston electrons started spinning us in circles. You better believe Pau will put up at least 20 points tonight, perhaps 40 if Lamar doesn't play. But hope he does. Especially if you put your money on the Lakers -12.