Game 7 Preview: Give 'Em Hell

That's all I'm ask of the Rockets tomorrow afternoon. Expecting a win might be pushing it and I am not going to risk tempting fate, so I'll settle for one simple request: give them a fight. A drawn out, exhausting, grind-it-out fight. Make them understand that we're not going to just go away. Let them know that we haven't gone through all kinds of bullshit, because that's the only way to describe what we've been through this year, so that we could fall flat on our faces against them. Show them that not everyone is going to politely step out of their way and watch while the NBA hands them the championship. Hit them first, hit them hard, and hit them again. And again. And again and again and again. And if they're able to take our best shot and move on, they deserve. If not, and we've seen that they can't, well have something special to talk about come Monday. With that out of the way, the most important Rockets game of the century is Sunday afternoon.

The Good

-The Rockets are confident. After a game like Game 5, that is huge. You can't let the memory something like that linger, and winning Game 6 took care of that for us. Now, we know that we can beat the Lakers, and we know that we can beat them at home. And we know that if Derek Fisher had played in Game 3 there's a good chance that this series would already be over.

-The Lakers are finally starting to doubt themselves. Even after blowing out the Rockets by 40 they found a way to lose by double digits two nights later. They're starting to understand that the Rockets are beating them because we are a good team, not because they are choosing not to try on certain nights, and it's starting to show. During a timeout in Game 6 Kobe grabbed Gasol's head and ruffled his hair while pushing his head down at the same time. I know what you're thinking: "That would never happen! I just watched 'Kobe Doin' Work' and he seems like a wonderful teammate. A real quality human being. He would never do something like that!" No. Not at all. Spike Lee just wants Kobe to Spike his Lee.

-We have nothing to lose. If we lose the game, we still won more games than anyone thought we would. We still already got out of the first round of the playoffs. We still showed the world how much of a little girl Kobe Bryant is. We can play freely, and that's always a good thing. The Lakers, on the other hand, are on the verge of crumbling under the weight of their own expectations, the expectations of the rest of the world and the fear the Kobe is going to put a brown bag over his head, go on a killing spree throught downtown Los Angeles and then kidnap Sasha Vujacic, leading to a King-Kong like showdown in which Kobe dangles Sasha off the roof of Staples Center while screaming at police to "Do it. Just do it." When you're playing a team that nobody expects you to lose to but that has already beaten you three times in the past two weeks, you're setting yourself up for trouble.

The Bad

-Joey Crawford is the head referee for game 7. Yes, the same Joey Crawford who asked Tim Duncan, Tim "I love everyone in the whole wide world" Duncan, if he wanted to fight. In other words, the NBA just told the entire greater Houston area to light itself on fire.

-The last time we played the Lakers in Los Angeles, we lost by 40. And even though it's not going to happen in Game 7, the point is that they were able to do it once, which means that they have the potential to do it again.

-Kobe Bryant is going to be mad. Which is bad for us, his teammates, and any unsuspecting girl within 3 miles of Los Angeles. This doesn't need any further explanation, we all know what Kobe can do. Let's just hope he doesn't do it.

The Ugly







Any game that has the possibility of making Yao this sad is a game I don't want to see




What Has To Happen

-Scola and Landry need to show up. Not just one of them, not just the other. Both of them need to play like they did in Game 6 for the Rockets to win. In a related sidenote, a nickname for Landry and Scola is in order. I tried to think of a few but I kept going back to "Two Forwards One Trophy," and that was disgusting.

-Ron Artest needs to realize that the Rockets are a better team when he's actually, you know, being a part of the team. And that means not dribbling the ball for 11 seconds and then taking a shot that actually could only be harder if he was trying to make the face that Yao is making above while shooting the ball.

-Aaron Brooks has to be aggressive. Like it or not, he's the best offensive player on our team when he's going. Yes, the best scorer on the Rockets is a 5-11, 160 pound, second year player who wears red suits and bowties to postgame press conferences. Things like this are why even playing in a Game 7 against the Lakers is an accomplishment.

The Point

This is it. A season's worth of injuries, trials, and unexpected wins comes down to one final game in Los Angeles. I know I said I don't care about whether or not we win another game after Game 4, but I lied. I want to win this game. Not just because I love the Rockets, not just because I never want to see Kobe Bryant win another NBA Championship, but because of how special it would be if the Rockets won Game 7. The Rockets and Lakers are mirror images of each other. For everything that's wrong with them, something is right with us. We suffer through injuries and losses every year while they get Pau Gasol handed to them halfway through the season. We play hard every single night in order to have a chance at winning, they coast through half of their games and take their talent for granted. Our fans actually know who's on our team, the fans at Staples Center wonder why stuff like this keeps happening. Our point guards are real NBA players, they have Derek Fisher and Frodo. What I'm trying to say is that I want to win Game 7 because we deserve it. Because if there's one team that should beat the Lakers, it's us. Because after going through the usual injuries and surgeries, we decided not to just let our season die. Because we kept fighting when, in all honesty, we should have stopped. Which is why, before the usual two, I've got three words for you. Give them hell. And of course, right now more than ever before: Go Rockets.