LOS ANGELES -- No matter what happens in Sunday's Game 7, no matter if the Lakers wake up from the malaise that's made their triangle offense look as sharp as a pool ball rack, no matter if Los Angeles takes a page from its D-League team and actually D-fends, no matter if Kobe & Co. light up the scoreboard and lead by a few dozen points, the Houston Rockets will still be the winners when it comes to this series.
The Lakers were supposed to breeze through the Western Conference en route to the NBA Finals. Houston has made them sweat.
The Rockets were supposed to fizzle out, or even explode prematurely like their mercurial leader Ron Artest's temper. Yet here they are, pushing L.A. to the brink.
Think of the ways they've already won.
While Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson was left calling his team a "Jekyll and Hyde" squad, Houston coach Rick Adelman boasted to reporters that he never has to worry about his team's effort and coming ready to play.
While Derek Fisher has tanked and is losing playing time to unproven Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown, Aaron Brooks has soared and has proved his name belongs in the conversation with Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose when talking about the league's next generation of bright young stars.
While 7-footer Andrew Bynum can't seem to do anything right at the center position, Chuck Hayes is fearlessly plugging his Charles Barkley-esque frame in the middle to make up for Yao Ming's absence.
If the whole Rockets team is the little engine that could, then the 6-foot Brooks and 6-foot-6 Hayes are the little gear and the little piston inside of the little engine.
"After Game 6, we all went to go eat, and me and Aaron's girl were kind of messing around talking trash to each other," Hayes said with a wide smile at the team's brief practice on Saturday. "I was like, 'Did you see the shortest point guard in the league and the shortest center [tonight]?' She was like, 'Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!' and I was like, 'Yeah, they can't hold us!' and we were just acting silly."
What's silly is the thought that after all the years of postseason disappointment in Houston with Tracy McGrady and Yao in the lineup, it's this squad that is just 48 minutes away from the conference finals.
"It's going to be a fun atmosphere for the fans," Artest said. "I think L.A. fans will enjoy themselves tomorrow. You know, it takes two to make a thing go right so the Rockets are here and we will enjoy ourselves." Artest talked to reporters after emerging from the locker room in just his boxers and an undershirt and dressing on the court. It's funny that the guy who was singing the Subway "Five Dollar Footlong" song after Game 6 and channeling Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock on the eve on Game 7 is leading the team that's caught the Lakers with their pants down.
The Rockets haven't just won three games, they've won fans. Game 6 got the best television ratings for a basketball game in the history of ESPN. America loves a winner. It wasn't tuning in just to see the Lakers lose.
Shane Battier even won an offensive battle against Bryant, scoring 23 to Kobe's 15 in Game 4, vowing to frame the box score afterward.
Houston's practices during the series were like a variety show. One day it was Von Wafer giving Artest or the Rockets Web site writer a Mohawk. Another day, Hayes was engaging in an around-the-world half-court shot competition. The next it's Brooks and backup big man Brian Cook throwing up trick shots off the wall and into the hoop like they are Michael Jordan and Larry Bird in one of those old McDonald's "nothing but net" commercials.
"That's just who we are," Battier said. "We're kind of goofballs."
Even when the series took a turn for the worse, with the Rockets trailing 2-1 and facing a Game 4 without Yao, the Houston locker room remained loose.
"[Before Game 4] if there was an inside joke, we still joked with each other," Hayes said. "We weren't all straight like we were in private school or anything. We can get focused mentally, but socially we're always going to be uppity, smiling, laughing with each other. We're going to find a way to joke about something."
Just as they've found a way to have fun, they've found a way to win, shocking the Lakers in Game 1 on their home floor then routing them in Games 4 and 6 at the Toyota Center.
The Lakers have all the pressure on them on Sunday. The Rockets get another chance to have fun together.
That's winning already, right?
What will you do if houston rockets win game 7 @ LA?
Originally Posted by revolt!
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