Kendrick Perkins has more confidence in the Rockets than the Lakers in the finals
On Thursday night, The Houston Rockets will hit road for the Christmas game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Rockets are looking to bounce back from a bewildering series of losses against the Los Angeles Clippers and the Sacramento Kings in their last two games, they are currently 17-10 on the season.
Not everyone is abandoning ship for Houstonski, though recent rough patch.
Most recently, the former NBA big man Kendrick Perkins went on ESPN’s “First Take” with a bold prediction about how these two teams will fare in the playoffs in a few months.
“Offense wins you games, but defense wins what? They win you championships, and that’s something the Lakers just don’t have,” Perkins said, via First Take on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, the Rockets have far more capable defenders on their roster than the Lakers, especially now that Dorian Finney-Smith has been upgraded to questionable for Christmas and could theoretically make his Houston debut against his former team on Thursday.
Still, the Lakers are currently several games ahead of the Rockets in the Western Conference standings, have three elite offensive engines on their roster in Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, all three of whom could theoretically make the All-Star team this season.
The Rockets’ lack of a true point guard on their roster, highlighted as a potential problem for the team following Fred VanVleet’s preseason torn ACL, has started to become a bit of an issue over the past few games, with the Rockets’ offense looking disjointed at times despite having several elite weapons, led by Kevin Sen, Durant and Alper.
Either way, the Rockets and Lakers are scheduled to tip things off Thursday at 8:00 PM ET from Los Angeles.
2025-12-25 17:23:00
