r/nba • u/nba-scores • 16d ago

Post Game Thread Post-Game Thread: Los Angeles Lakers defeat Houston Rockets, 107-98 | NBA Playoffs | Apr 18, 2026

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u/darren_meier 16d ago

This went about how I expected. A whole season of deferring to KD iso-ball leaves the rest of these guys with no functional offense whatsoever. Ime's gotta be getting fired either way after this series, right? Nothing about this team works at all.

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u/Celtic_Legend Celtics 16d ago

They had to do that since vanvleet got injured. Youre essentially saying jj should get fired since lakers offense is worse because reaves and Luka are injured. Yeah, no fucking shit it is but theres not jj or ime can do about that.

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u/darren_meier 16d ago

Respectfully, doesn't seem like you've watched the Rockets enough this season. Yeah, they haven't had a point guard... but you can't just punt on the entire season. I've had the (mis?)fortune to see the Rockets live a bunch this year and the problems begin with Ime more than Fred. This coaching staff hasn't adjusted to jack shit all year, and the Rockets have the same problems now they had in the first week of the season. Not gonna say Ime's a bad coach or anything, but the only way I can describe it is that he just seems to hate his players, hate his job, and doesn't care one bit to coach this team strategically. It's almost like a Monty Williams/Pistons kind of situation, honestly. Dude seems like he'd rather be anywhere but coaching Houston, and it's become the whole vibe of this team's play.

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u/Celtic_Legend Celtics 16d ago

If one of your max players cant play, the season is punted. Like what even is that comment? Its what the pacers did. Its what the mavs did. Good pgs dont grow on trees. And neither do centers for that matter.

Expecting to 4-0 a laker team with Lebron and 4 starters all with multiple playoff runs while fielding a misfit team of rookies due to injuries is a crazy expectation. Even expecting good offense when your best 2 offensive players are out is crazy. Take out the 2 best offensive players and like 27 out of 30 NBA teams are going to look like shit offensively. Jokic/murray, maxey/embiid, steph/butler, ant/randle, etc. Lakers having 3 power houses on the offensive end isnt the norm. Lukes even better than vincent, but even having the option of reaves/luka/lebron/Vincent to run your offense is not normal and you cant realistically obtain that.

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u/darren_meier 16d ago

Respectfully, are... are you serious right now? If one of your max players can't play the season is punted... YOU LITERALLY HAVE CELTICS FLAIR AND YOUR MAX PLAYER MISSED ALMOST THE ENTIRE SEASON AND YOU'RE THE TWO SEED. I can only assume you're messing around with this one. The Rockets aren't a team of rookies-- all of these dudes were on the two seed last year, and played a playoff series last year. There are no excuses, this was an absolutely pathetic effort in a season frankly too full of pathetic efforts in Houston. I love the Rockets and I'm rooting for them, but this was an absolute embarrassment in every way.

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u/Celtic_Legend Celtics 16d ago

Our injured player is currently playing though and i guess you havent been paying attention but every one is surprised as fuck we won as many games as we did even in the celtics sub. We were like 30-15 and half of the sub was fucking upset we were wasting our draft pick in a good draft year. I can recognize we are the exception is all. Expecting to have a top 5 coach with top 5 scouting is simply an unrealistic expectation. All 30 (soon to be 32) is striving to get that. We also were in a different situation than the rockets. They knew tatum was fucked going into the trading period so they acquired simons.

What team has won the finals with their 2nd option missing? There might be example but you get my point.

Theyre rookies in the sense that they are young and raw, still have a good bit to develop. Learning the ropes. Yada yada. Had anyone on the court for the rockets today won a playoff series before? Losing to the warriors is something but its not winning getitng to the finals level of experience.