The Los Angeles Lakers finally have an opponent in the second round of the 2020 Western Conference semifinals, after the Houston Rockets emerged victorious over the Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game classic.
At one glance, it’s not hard to see the stark contrast between the two Western Conference powerhouse teams. The upcoming showdown might just be a David versus Goliath type of battle due to the massive size difference between both team’s starting frontline.
The Purple and Gold, of course, employ the best big man in the game in Anthony Davis, while pairing him up with behemoths JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard. H-Town, meanwhile, raised a lot of eyebrows in the regular season by fully embracing going small. Robert Covington and PJ Tucker, who started their careers as wing players, now play at the interior full time.
The Mike D’Antoni-led team still found success despite being undersized and actually won their regular-season series with the Lakers, 2-1.
However, the pace usually slows down significantly come playoff time – which greatly plays in LA’s favor. The Rockets are expected to field in the only 7-footer in their line-up against the Lakers to try and keep up underneath. Seldom-used back-up center Tyson Chandler will likely be given valuable minutes in this series. As good as LeBron James is for LA, Houston’s defenses will no doubt key in on The Brow. With that said, the Lakers’ other bigs will have an opportunity to feast in this series, with the Rockets' attention focusing on stopping Davis.
While JaVale McGee is indeed capable in spurts, it’s their 8-time All-Star center who will be the true x-factor for the Lakers in this series.
Dwight Howard wasn’t even supposed to return to La La Land if not for the torn ACL DeMarcus Cousins suffered at the beginning of the 2019-20 campaign. Proving his critics wrong, Superman reinvigorated his career this season and showed he still has what it takes to be an effective player in this league.
While his numbers of 7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 69 regular-season games were a far cry from his All-Star averages, Howard proved that he can still be a major contributor at this stage of his career. His interior presence off the bench was a big reason why the Lakers were arguably the best defensive unit in the league this year. In fact, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel usually leaves Howard on the floor come crunch time, with his starter McGee on the bench. Howard’s physicality down low will no doubt be a game-changer for the Lakers against the Rockets' thin frontline. His rebounding, shot-blocking, and screen-setting will be crucial, but Howard will indeed have an opportunity to score more in this series.
An aggressive Howard will spell trouble for Houston, especially if he manages to put pressure in the interior and force opposing bigs to get into foul trouble. This puts the fourth-seeded Rockets at a bigger disadvantage than they already are, to begin with. Howard was still an efficient scorer against the Blazers in the first-round despite going up against two 7-footers in Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside. He'll likely be the biggest player on the floor most of the time against Houston.
LeBron must find a way to feed Howard early and often in Game 1 to build his confidence for the rest of the series.
Judging by Howard’s latest Instagram post, it seems that he also understands how big of an impact he can have against his former team.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEsbmjlngVb/
While no one expects Howard to flash his pre-injury self against Houston, he could still do a lot of damage for LA with his current state.
The Rockets did have a bit of trouble handling OKC center Steven Adams in the first round. If all goes as planned for the Lakers, Howard will be an even bigger thorn on the side of Houston.
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