Tilman Fertitta on Lakers: ‘Great team, but they have weaknesses’

“I think that we’ve proven since we went to this type of basketball, that big men don’t have their way with our team,” Fertitta said.

In a contrast of speed and shooting against size and power, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta isn’t convinced that bigger is better.

Led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers clearly have more length and force. But the Rockets went 2-0 against the Lakers after transitioning to a smaller lineup, and Fertitta hopes that success will carry over to the second round of the 2020 NBA playoffs.

“It’s great to move on and play the Lakers.” Fertitta told Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. “It’s gonna be a fun series for both teams. I know all Houstonians are looking forward to it, just like myself.”

Regarding the matchup, Fertitta pushed back on media chatter that the Rockets could be doomed by their lack of size. He told Berman:

They’re a great team, but they have weaknesses. I think everybody thinks that their big men are gonna have a field day,but I think that we’ve proven since we went to this type of basketball, that big men don’t have their way with our team. Just look at our winning record against the teams with big guys since we did this [went small].

I was just looking at footage on television, and how they were showing how Anthony Davis and Dwight [Howard] and everybody just took advantage of our guys in the season series this year. But you know what was interesting about the games they were showing, we won both. So it’s kind of funny that they were showing plays, but we were 2-1 against the Lakers this year. I think everybody’s gonna be surprised at how good the Houston Rockets play.

As for potential weaknesses, the Lakers are tied for the third-fewest 3-pointers (12.0 per game) of any team in the NBA playoffs. The Rockets, on the other hand, lead the league at 18.3 made treys per game. Should that hold, that creates a “math advantage” of nearly 20 points in each game that the Lakers would need to offset in other areas.

Los Angeles did lead the Western Conference with a 52-19 record in the regular season, while the No. 4 Rockets were nearly 10 games worse at 44-28. But, as Fertitta pointed out, Houston did win the head-to-head season series. The Lakers defeated No. 8 Portland in five games in the first round, while the Rockets took out No. 5 Oklahoma City in seven.

Game 1 between the Rockets and Lakers is set for 8:00 p.m. Central on Friday, with a national broadcast on ESPN. The Lakers will be the “home” team in Game 1, Game 2, and Game 5 and Game 7 (if necessary) — though with all games played at the Disney World “bubble” in Florida, home-court advantage shouldn’t mean what it usually does.

Games will be played every other day until one team wins four games, with the winner advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

[lawrence-related id=37479,37269]