Are the Rockets or Thunder a bigger threat to the Lakers?

With the Houston Rockets losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers won’t know who they’re playing in the next round of the NBA playoffs until Wednesday night. So instead of previewing one opponent, our latest podcast has to dig in to two very different possibilities.  But before they did that, hosts Harrison Faigen and Anthony Irwin took a moment to laugh at the Milwaukee Bucks showing their flaws in Game 1 of their second-round matchup against the Miami Heat, and rant a bit about how ridiculous NBA awards voting can sometimes look after the playoffs begin. Should we start to value those accolades differently historically as a result? Then, after a short break, Anthony and Harrison discussed the Lakers’ two possible second-round opponents. They got into which one they see as a bigger threat to Los Angeles, what the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Rockets and Thunder are in a series against the Lakers, how the teams fared against each other over the course of this season, and why they both think that a bit too much is being made of the threat level of both opponents (in particular the Rockets).  Finally, Anthony got into his theory on the reason for this constant hyping of the Lakers’ opponents, and it actually makes quite a bit of sense. Especially when we just did this whole song and dance with the Portland “Best Eighth Seed Ever” Trail Blazers, and, well, we all saw how that one turned out. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen, and Anthony at @AnthonyIrwinLA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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