Podcast: How do the Lakers matchup with the Rockets?

In spite of a career night from Luguentz Dort, the Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Houston Rockets 104-102 on Wednesday night, meaning the Rockets will be the team the Los Angeles Lakers will face in the Western Conference semifinals.

On this week’s episode of “Can U Dig It?”, Jacob and Christian talked about the dramatic Game 7, what they learned about the Rockets from watching their series against the Thunder and what it could mean for the Lakers in the second round. The Rockets attempted the most 3-pointers per game of any team in the first round (51), but they only converted them at a 35.9% rate. For context, the Lakers trailed them at 34.3%, albeit on just 35 attempts per game.

They also spent some time talking about individual matchups. The Lakers might be bigger than the Rockets on paper, but does that mean that JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard are going to play big minutes? If the Lakers’ two most recent matchups with Houston are any indication of what they should expect in the second round, the answer is “probably not.”

Assuming that’s the case, will Frank Vogel finally start Anthony Davis at center? Davis has only started one game at center this season, and it was ironically against the Rockets. The Lakers lost that game 113-97, but in their defense, LeBron James, Alex Caruso, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo were sidelined.

Suffice to say, there was a lot to talk about.

You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

You can also follow Christian on Twitter at @RadRivas, and Jacob at @JacobRude.