Game 3 Preview

After two hard-fought, gritty, exiting games in Los Angeles where the Rockets won one more game than the "experts" thought they would, the series comes back to Clutch City for Games 3 and 4. Game 3 is huge for both teams, but is more important to the Rockets, who need to win out at the Toyota Center to win this series.

The Good

- The Rockets are back at home, where we are 3-0 in these playoffs so far. The crowd at the Toyota Center has done a great job helping the Rockets this year, and there's no reason that this should stop.
- Yao Ming will not have another foul plagued game like Game 2, where he only played 26 minutes and took 4 shots.
-The Rockets are once again playing our theme song from the 90s and dynasty days. The version they play at the games doesn't have the singing, so feel free to cut it off at 45 seconds. If you want to hear the vocal talents of Capella, keep listening.


The Bad

-Kobe Bryant is still a memeber of the Lakers, and as we saw in Game 2, that can be very, very, very bad. Keeping him in check is going to be a huge part of who wins Game 3.
-Derek Fisher is suspended. I know what you're thinking: Wait, a team loses a veteran, championsip tested player and gets better? Yes, because FISHER HAS NOT BEEN ALIVE SINCE 2004. This forces them to use a Brown/Farmar combination at the point guard, which will let them match up much better with the speed of Kyle and Aaron.
- Because of Bynum's knee, the Lakers are playing Odom more at the 4, allowing Gasol to play center. Odom has been posing matchup problems for us all series long, and Scola is limited in his effectiveness when he has to guard either Odom or Ariza. How the Rockets handle this change is crucial to our hopes in Game 3 and ultimately in the series.

The Ugly

Lou Adler (R), aka Colonel Sanders' metro cousin

Key Matchups

Point Guard - Now that the Lakers don't have their offense being run by Derek Fisher's Dead Body, they should match up much better with the speed of Brooks and Lowry. If Brown/Farmar can push the tempo match Brooks/Lowry's production, the Lakers have a great shot at winning the game. The Rockets have had an advantage at the point for the whole series, and Fisher's suspension could change that.

Kobe vs. Battier - There's nothing that needs to be said about this matchup. We know what happens when we hold Kobe in check and we know what happens when he's focused. Hopefully Shane's done his homework.

Yao vs. Gasol/Bynum's Injured Knee - The more time Bynum gets on Yao, the better shot we have at winning the game. If the Lakers front Yao like they did in Game 2, the Rockets have to move the ball quickly and maintain the effort and patience to run the offense through him.

Scola vs. his hair - Scola has underpeformed in the first two games of this series, and if the Lakers are going to key their defense on stopping Yao, he HAS to step up. The Rockets playoffs hopes might rest on one Argentenian man's 18 foot jumpshot. He's been solid all year and really stepped up when teams focus too much on Yao, so I'm not worried too much about this.

Benches - The Rockets bench has outperformed the Lakers bench in the first two matchups, and that has to continue for the Rockets to win. Von Wafer will play mainly because the Rockets can't afford to not have him and the hot-headed 10 points a game he gives us. The Lakers' already thinning bench is made even weaker by Shannon Brown having to start, and the Rockets need to exploit this to win the game.

The Point

I don't want to bitch about the refereeing but if the refs can't call this game well, the Rockets can't win. Steve Javie and company cannot ignore all of Kobe's "incidental" elbows and have to make sure Yao isn't manhandled by the Lakers' centers. Not that Pau's Pubic-Hair Beard and Bynum's Limp could manhandle him anyways. Dealing with the quickness of Odom-Gasol at the 4-5 could be difficult for the Rockets, so don't be surprised by extended playing time for Carl Landry and even an extended cameo by Chuck Hayes.

The Rockets have played smart, efficient, empassioned basketball throughout the playoffs. We have defended with heart and scored when we needed to, and we're going to need all of that against this Lakers team. They are a well coached, talented team, that despite its proneness to stretches of laziness cannot be taken for granted. We fought to take home court away from them, let's not throw that away tonight. The single most important 3 hours of our season begins at 7:30 PM, or 2:30 AM Botswanian time. Look for a hard fought, chippy game with more than a few confrontations that will require the Rockets to execute down the stretch, which I believe they will. Go Rockets.