A few days ago, things were not going Great to Houston Rockets, But they were probably just fine as they went through this season. The team had just beaten Orlando Magic By 32 points to raise the record to 3-4, and the next day, James Harden – who, in case you missed, was going through a very embarrassing business order saga this season – at least acknowledged that there were positive aspects about these missiles, and at best they acknowledged the possibility. Having a future in Houston.

Even after losing their next game in front of The LakersThings weren’t looking so bad. The team was still close to 0.500, and on the day between matches, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer reported The front office was “increasingly confident that Harden would be satisfied to continue at least during the rest of the season,” even if he also wrote that “sources say Harden still prefers to deal with him.”

Then … well, then it happened to the Lakers. Or, more precisely, it happened to the Lakers at the height of their full power. The Rockets never advanced once on Tuesday, and the Lakers lifted the lead up to 30 points in a match that virtually ended by the first half. Basically Los Angeles Spent 48 minutes clowning the team They only swept the gentlemen from the qualifiers.

After the match, Harden wasn’t talking about “an opportunity to do something special” anymore.

So, to recap, the Lakers won their last six matches against the Rockets, including four in a row in qualifying, and now – after beating Houston, people actually thought their shot against them was so bad in the post-season that Harden quit the match. . The organization where he won the FIFA World Player of the Year award and spent most of his career – they totally crushed them in two regular matches of the season so much that Harden switched from saying positive things to coming out at press conferences while his teammates pose for photos of him in the media.

So, in case you’ve been wondering just how exhausting playing against the Lakers are with closed copies of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, it seems we have empirical evidence that the answer is “stressful enough to make the team crumble twice” or “demoralized” enough to make you jump from optimism Caution to re-ignite the tire fire. “

I mean, good for the Lakers, but Houston, you have an official problem. one more time. Sorry about that.

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