Tonight’s second round of NBA on TNT action takes place in Tinseltown as the Los Angeles Lakers defend home court against a Rockets team on Thursday night at 10:30 that will look a little…shorter.
That’s no cute sarcasm used by any means, whatsoever. During the rambunctious time before the league-wide trade deadline, Mike D’Antoni is apparently making his new-look Rockets adapt to a run n’ gun brand of ball, prioritizing small-ball lineups in an experiment so wildly bat-stuff crazy that it might just work. And what better way to test out your new experiment in the mad laboratory that is the Staples Center against one of the tallest teams in the league?
The 6’10 Anthony Davis will be more than likely matched up with the much shorter 6’5 PJ Tucker for just about the entire night. Which sounds horrifying. Yes, we’ve been trying to wrap our heads around the same idea as well. But there are some pluses to counter the minuses here as well. Both trade acquisitions in Robert Covington and Jordan Bell will be active tonight, but minutes will be likely and understandably limited.
So Houston is going to be up to their usual ways in their starting lineups, putting Russell Westbrook and James Harden at the top of the key with PJ Tucker and Eric Gordon at the 3 and 4. Since there is no true center, it’s yet to be determined if they’ll send out Danuel House or Ben McLemore at the five, so whoever is matched up with LeBron and AD, it’s going to be a long night, and that just sugarcoating the fact.
And at their longest and tallest, the Lakers will counter that lack of size that the Rockets have with Avery Bradley at shooting guard, Danny Green at the 3, LeBron James at point, Anthony Davis at power forward, and JaVale McGee at the center spot in Frank Vogel’s starting lineup. The Lakers roll into this one confident like an Honors student taking a remedial math class for fun, stomping out the Spurs at home by 27 during San Antonio’s two-game trip in LA.
The last time these Lakers saw the Rockets, they were charged by a second-half comeback behind LeBron’s 31 points and had to overcome James Harden’s 34 points during a Saturday night primetime battle. They lead the season series 1-0, and now have the easiest of opportunities to stau undefeated against Harden’s Rockets that now will have all of the world’s difficulties in trying to win the game on the glass.
They’ll look to advance their two-game winning streak to three games against the best scoring backcourt in the league, and although the Rockets are vastly undersized with their tallest player only clocking in at 6’7 (Danuel House), don’t be surprised if this small-ball brand of hoops that’s eerily reminiscent of the Warriors’ small-ball lineups in the 2010s when they won those championships in the late 2010s reanimates itself in Mike D’Antoni’s new gameplan, starting tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
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