The Houston Rockets are set to battle the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on October 28 at 10:30 p.m. ET. Live streaming is available on NBA-stream.com.
NBA.com reported that the Rockets are highly favored to win the game, considering how the Lakers are still struggling with a lackluster roster. Kobe Bryant is returning after a 10-month hiatus and will be on his 19th season. Pau Gasol was recently traded to the Chicago Bulls. 40-year-old Steve Nash will be out for the entire season due to back injury. Nick Young will not be playing until December 2014 due to an injury. Meanwhile, Ryan Kelly, Xavier Henry and Wayne Ellington will also be missing the opening night due to injury. The Lakers' only recent acquisitions are point guard Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer. In the 2013-2014 season, the Lakers suffered their worst record in 54 years with 55 losses.
In the same report by NBA.com, new head coach Byron Scott shared his thoughts on the Lakers being the underdog for a change, "I love the fact that pretty much everyone has written us off," he said. "That's obviously fuel to the fire. I'm going to use that to talk to our players about how people are viewing us as a basketball team. I love the fact that everybody is doubting us."
With Nash out for the whole season, the Lakers will be relying on Jeremy Lin, a former Rocket, to create plays. Houston previously got rid of Lin and his contract which is worth almost $15 million with the hope of landing Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat. Bosh, however, decided to stay in Miami.
Lin said in the NBA.com report, "I'm trying not to build this game up, make it any bigger than it is. The headline's Kobe vs. Dwight."
Rookie Julius Randle and Carlos Boozer are also expected to help, although Scott expects Bryant to do most of the scoring as usual. Scott, however, is cautious about their superstar's playing time to avoid injury.
According to RantSports.com, the Rockets will generally be relying on center Dwight Howard and James Harden. Trevor Ariza and Jason Terry are also expected to fill in the void left by Chandler Parsons, who was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey shared in a Yahoo! Sports report how they aim to avenge their first-round loss in the 2014 playoffs, after Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers hit a buzzer-beater in Game 6 to win the game 99-98 and advance their team to the next round. Morey said, "We don't want to go through that again."
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
