5-08-2009. Semis, Gm 3, series tied 1-1. HOU had taken HCA away from LA in a mildly surprising Game 1 win at Staples. Big Yao was a handful, but he came up a giant gimp thereafter, thus giving the Lakers an excuse to lazily play around w/ HOU to 7 games. It wasn't a close 7 gm series as LA won two by 40 and 19 (with a largest lead of 33). Therefore, don't believe the hype that HOU almost did this, that, or the other. Matter fact, if Yao remained uninjured, the Rockets were a much more conventional post-up team for obvious reasons. Slow and plodding while Yao was in there. The Rox had the advantage in the post, but that was still a style the Lakers' played well against. When he went out hobbled, Adelman used hodgepodge lineups and rotations and sometimes Nellieish lineups. They became harder to scout against, but the Lakes lead by the great Trevor Ariza (one of my fave Lakers ever) were never in REAL danger of losing. That's not to say that I, nor we, weren't annoyed w/ that old shit habit coming back to life on us. We thought we had gotten rid of allowing teams to come back from series deficits in 2000.

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