Houston has a Problem

Settle down, Lakers fans. The sky is not falling. The Earth did not stop spinning. The Lakers are not out of the playoffs yet. They simply played like crap, and Houston was thriving off some big, upsetting momentum. Lakers fans felt punched in the stomach. Lakers players however are thirsting for blood. Those Houston betting investors who thought this was the best case scenario to steal Game 1 are wrong. Dead wrong. Winning Game 1 was the worst thing that could’ve happened to Houston.

You guessed it. The Rockets have a problem.

Houston was an eight-point dog on Monday night, but actually covered the spread, and beat the Lakers on their home floor by eight-points. Ironic? Sure (if you’re an idiot). A series defining win? Hardly. The Rockets are in for a stern wake up call in Game 2 when they take on the Lakers again.

Up until Monday night, the Rockets had never beaten the Lakers this season. In fact, in four games this season, Houston had lost by an average margin of -13.5 points, never covering the spread and getting held in a majority of UNDERS. What’s scarier than watching Yao Ming clutch his knee in pain after colliding with the Big Man Killer (Kobe Bryant)? A vindictive Lakers team playing at home.

Beating the Lakers in a one-shot series is possible. Even Utah was able to squeeze out one game against L.A. But the Lakers won’t let that happen again. The Lakers played horrifically, hitting just 2-of-18 from beyond the arc and going 44.3% from the field. Though Kobe managed 32 points per game, he couldn’t close out in the fourth quarter, pulling up and taking some bad choice shots as he played catch-up. Other than that, nobody else for L.A. had more than 14 points.

Beyond that, the Lakers 13 turnovers and 26 personal fouls show just how desperate the Lakers got. Houston has to play at their fullest potential to last against L.A. I don’t think that’s going to happen, and neither do the oddsmakers. Not only did the line go up in this game, the betting community jumped all over the Lakers, pushing the line to -10 for the Lakers.

Of course, when betting on any Lakers game you have to take in to consideration that the Kobe groupies out there are going to bet L.A. That’s going to sway the line no matter what. But the fact that Vegas opened the line at -9 .0 for Team Jackson means that they don’t think Houston will be able to create the same circumstances that led to their Game 1 victory. Naturally, the main circumstance was Los Angeles’ turbulent inconsistency through the fourth quarter.

Now, I’m an Eastern Conference guy. I’ve been following the Cavs, Magic, Celtics, Heat and Hawks all season and giving out NBA betting tips throughout. There were three teams I bothered to track out West. The Lakers because they were clearly better than everyone else. Denver in the second half because they started peaking at an alarming rate. The last was Oklahoma City because Kevin Durant was a pleasure to study this year. So when you’re taking some betting advice from the Furious One, take it with a grain of salt. But I’m telling you the Lakers are far from done.

Celebrate your Game 1 victory, Houston. The Lakers are pissed off now, and that’s the last thing you wanted to do to them.