The Lakers have trouble guarding fast/athletic guards, which Houston has (Jeremy Lin and James Harden). The Rockets will be playing to avoid the #8 seed and the Lakers will be playing for their playoff lives+the #7 seed (they and the Rockets would finish with identical 45-37 records w/an LA win but the Lakers would get the tie-breaker because they have a better conference record than the Rockets after splitting the season series 2-2). I guess that we will see. It really is sad that we lost those three games that we should have had on the road (at Milwaukee, at Cleveland, and at Chicago), because we would be solidly in the playoffs and playing for the #6 seed (w/a 46-35 record).