On Saturday April 18th at 7:30 PM CST, the world will be tuning on to watch two of the greatest players of all-time square off in the postseason for the fourth time in the careers of Kevin Durant and LeBron James. All week the talking heads have been discussing the matchup, and the main focus has been on the headliners, those who are playing and those who aren’t. While the KD and LeBron matchup is fascinating, there is a much more storied rivalry that this series presents. It has nothing to do with the names on the back of the jersey’s, but on the front of them.

The Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers will be meeting in the playoffs for the 10th time in the history of their respective franchises. From the Lakers perspective, the Rockets are their fifth most frequent playoff opponent behind only the Trailblazers, Spurs, Suns, and Celtics. For the Rockets, this series will put the Lakers at the top of the list of their most frequent postseason opponents, narrowly passing the Utah Jazz. The Lakers lead in series wins six (1990, 1991, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2020) to the Rockets three series victories (1981, 1986, 1996).

The Lakers were the defending champs that season, and the Rockets had gone 40-42 securing the sixth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference. Moses Malone was dominant! Averaging 31.3 points, 17.7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.7 blocks and shot 51-percent from the floor and out playing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar severely in two of the three games. The Houston Rockets shocked the NBA world to defeat the Lakers in the three-game series and would continue to shock the world all the way to the NBA Finals, where they would see their magical run end losing to the Boston Celtics in six games.

Five years removed from the Rockets playing David to the Lakers Goliath, the 1986 Western Conference Finals was billed as a “Clash of the Titans”. The Lakers were once again the defending NBA Champs and after going 62-20, they finished the regular season with the Western Conference’s best record, but this time the Rockets were much more evenly matched opponent on paper, finishing second in the West with a record of 51-31. Houston was not the favorite, but they were no fluke.

“The Twin Towers” made up of Ralph Sampson and a young third year player out of the University of Houston by the name of Hakeem Olajuwon (referred to as “Akeem”, at the time) were unstoppable. Olajuwon averaged 31 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4 blocks per-game. Sampson averaged 20.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.2 blocks per-game. After losing game one in Los Angeles 119-107, the Rockets would go on to win four games straight, capped off by “The Shot”.

With one second on the clock and the game tied 112-112, and the defending champs on the brink of elimination, Rodney McCray threw a mid-court sideline inbounds pass to Ralph Sampson. Sampson had to jump to catch the ball, about 14 feet away with his back toward the basket. In mid-air Sampson contorted his 7-foot 4-inch frame, essentially flipped the basketball behind his head toward the basket. The ball bounced twice on the rim as the buzzer sounded, before falling through and sending the Rockets to the NBA Finals, along with Gene Peterson and his broadcast partner Jim Foley into an absolute frenzy! To this day, it is one of the greatest moments in NBA postseason history. The Rockets unfortunately would go on to lose once again to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers were the team of the 80s and Rockets had not won a playoff series since 1987. Hakeem Olajuwon was now the lone face of the franchise. The same Lakers team that dominated the 80s was largely still intact. Magic, Worthy, Cooper, Scott, Green and a young 7-foot 1-inch Center from Serbia, Vlade Divac taking the place of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Magic now 30 years old still had the juice to get the Lakers up and down the floor. He averaged 19 points, 7 rebounds and 13.5 assists.

The Rockets were far from a one man show. In fact, Otis Thorpe was the top scorer for the Rockets in the series scoring 20 points a game. Hakeem had a mild scoring series by his standards, averaging just 18 points and 13 rebounds, but he did block nearly 6 shots per-game. Overall, the Lakers proved to be too formidable, and the Rockets postseason ended in just four games. The Lakers would go on to lose to the Phoenix Suns in the next round.

In the third playoff matchup between these two franchises, the roles had been reversed. Now, the Rockets were the defending champs. However, the Lakers, with a roster that was made up partly of young up and comers like Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel, mixed with some vets in their prime like Vlade Divac, Elden Campbell and Cedric Ceballos, topped off with a 36 year-old Magic Johnson, won 53 games in 1996 and secured the four seed in the West. Meanwhile the Rockets had won just 48 games in the regular season and finished in the fifth seed. The teams would split the first two games before the Rockets would return to Houston and win both games, ending the series with a 3-1 advantage.

This series featured three of the NBA’s top 75 players, but they were well past their prime at this point. Hakeem averaged a respectable 26.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Clyde Drexler averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists and remarkably, 36-year-old Magic Johnson, who had come out of retirement with 32 games to go in the regular season, averaged 15 points, 8.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists, having his two best games in Houston. The Rockets would go on to lose in the next round to the Seattle Supersonics, who would go on to represent the West in the NBA Finals. Their respective losses in the 1996 playoffs would change each franchise forever. That very next summer, the Lakers would sign Shaquille O’Neal in free agency and make a draft day trade for a high school phenom from Lower Merion, Kobe Bryant. The Rockets would trade Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, and Mark Bryant to the Phoenix Suns for Charles Barkley.

After a disappointing lockout shortened season the Rockets and Lakers both finished 31-19 with the Lakers wining the regular season series and earning the four-seed in the West and the Rockets earning the fifth-seed. The previous summer the Rockets had acquired Scottie Pippen in a sign-and-trade, in a last-ditch effort to try and earn Charles Barkley that ever elusive NBA Championship. Unfortunately, the Rockets ran into the team that was on the verge of becoming a dynasty. Shaq in his prime, versus an aging Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant a young blossoming star frequently guarded by a now disengaged Scottie Pippen (the feud between he and Barkley is now the stuff of legends), or a combination of two young rookies out of Rhode Island and Arizona respectively, Cuttino Mobley and Michael Dickerson.

Charles Barkley was the best Rockets player in the series averaging 23 points and 13 rebounds. With the Rockets on the brink of elimination in Game 3, he scored 30 points and grabbed 23 rebounds to go along with Scottie Pippen’s 37 points. Hakeem was just a shell of himself going up against Shaquille O’Neal, who he had dominated against in what seemed like just a short four years prior. The man now known as “Shaq Diesel” was just too much. He averaged 29.5 points 10.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 4.0 blocks per-game. None of those blocks more crucial than the final play of Game 1, when young Cuttino Mobley challenged Shaq at the rim for what would have been a game winning layup, only to have the shot swatted away. There’s no telling how that series could have gone with the momentum of stealing the first game on the road. However, as it turned out, Game 3 would be the only Rockets victory in the series. The Lakers would move on to be swept by the eventual NBA Champions, rookie Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Clutch City era had ended. The Rockets began to rebuild after a disastrous injury riddled 1999-2000 season. Hakeem left in free agency for Toronto and father time caught up with Charles Barkley and he was forced to retire after a season-ending knee injury. The team now belonged to a young backcourt composed of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. As exciting of a duo as they were, that excitement did not translate to winning until 2002 when the Rockets selected Yao Ming with the number one overall pick in the draft. Now the Rockets had something that had become the blueprint of the now 3-time champion Los Angeles Lakers. A dominant big man inside with Yao Ming and a dynamic scoring guard on the outside with Steve Francis.

After just missing the playoffs in Yao Ming’s rookie with coach Rudy Tomjonovich having to retire for health reasons midseason, the Rockets were determined to break the playoff drought in the 2003-2004 season with new head coach Jeff Van Gundy. The plan came to fruition. The Rockets won 45 games and finished seventh in the Western Conference. What was their reward for making the playoffs for the 1st time in 5 years? To play the 3-time champion Lakers, who coming off of a loss to the Spurs in the WCF the year before, now featured a starting lineup of, Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, Karl Malone, and Shaquille O’Neal.

It was a defensive battle of youth versus experience and experience won. The scoreboard hit triple digits just once in the Rockets 102-91 win in Game 3. Game 1, in very similar fashion to Game 1 in 1999 ended in a 1-point loss by the Rockets thanks to a clutch defensive stop by the Lakers. The Lakers went on to complete the “Gentleman’s sweep, and went all the way to the NBA Finals, where the Detroit Pistons returned the favor and beat the Lakers in five games. Once again, the respective playoff losses would change both franchises forever. The Lakers went on to trade Shaquille O’Neal and Gary Payton to the Miami Heat the following year, and the Houston Rockets traded Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Kelvin Cato for Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, Reece Gaines, and Tyron Lue.

Folks… this one hurt to have to relive. As I’m writing I fight back tears as this might be the number one “What If..” moment in Houston Rockets history. Arguments can be made for 2018 against the Warriors, but at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season, the Rockets were as legitimate a championship contender as there has ever been. Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier, Luis Scola, Dikembe Mutombo and Rafer Alston, who had all been a part of a 22-game win streak the season prior, added one of the best two-way players in the NBA at the time in Ron Artest. Not to mention the very feisty young bench that featured Aaron Brooks, Luther Head, Carl Landry, Von Wafer, Chuck Hayes, Brian Cook and later after he was acquired in a trade for Rafer Alson… Kyle Lowry.

The team was stacked! But the injury bug hit early. Tracy McGrady who had carried the team in Yao’s absence the season before, only played 35 games. Dikembe Mutombo only played in nine regular season games before having a career ending injury in Game 2 of the first round series against the Portland Trailblazers. Ron Artest even played in less than 70 games that season. Even still, the Rockets managed to win 53 games that season thanks to the incredible depth built by GM Daryl Morey. Heading into the 2009 NBA Playoffs, the Rockets were the fifth-seed in the West, but their momentum headed into the postseason made them a team to look out for.

After beating the Trailblazers in the first round and getting into the second round for the first time since 1997, the Rockets were rewarded by getting to face the reigning Western Conference Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, and Derek Fisher, to go along with their own young bench of Shannon Brown, Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Famar. The 65-win Lakers were the top seed in the West and favorites to get back to the finals. It was expected they would beat the Rockets in five or six games tops. The Rockets had other plans. This series was so insane I have to break it down a little more than the previous years’ matchups.

The Rockets went toe-to-toe with the Lakers in Game 1 of the series. The starting lineup of Yao, Scola, Battier, Artest, and Brooks got the Rockets off to a great start. They led by three points at the half and in the second half were successfully keeping the Lakers at arm’s length thanks to great shooting from Aaron Brooks and Ron Artest. However, in the fourth quarter Yao Ming was the go-to guy. With five minutes to go in the game, Kobe banged knees with Yao during a drive to the basket that sent Yao Ming to the floor writhing in pain.

When head athletic trainer Keith Jones walked Yao into the tunnel toward the visiting locker rooms at the then Staples Center, Yao had 20 points and the Rockets led by six. The writing was seemingly on the wall, as the television camera followed Yao as he was limping back, he stopped, shook his head no, and began stretching. He was determined to go back in despite the athletic trainer seemingly wanting him to at minimum have the knee looked at. Yao Ming took his arms off the shoulders of his trainers, walked up to the wall and began lifting his leg back and forth to work out whatever pain he was feeling and he turned around and walked back to the Rockets bench. 54 seconds later he checked back in still with 20 points and the score still at 85-79. He finished the game with 28 points, 10 rebounds and the Rockets won the game 100-92.

After losing Game 2 and Game 3 on top of losing Yao Ming for the remainder of the season with a stress fracture in his foot, the Rockets were expected to roll over and accept the inevitable. They did no such thing. On the strength of Aaron Brooks’ 34 points, Shane Battier’s five three-pointers, and 12 points off the bench by Kyle Lowry the Houston Rockets tied the series at two games apiece with a 99-87 win.

Game 4 was a fluke. Right? The Rockets answered that question quickly as they jumped out to an early 17-1 lead in the first quarter. Luis Scola scored 15 of his 24 points in the first quarter matching the entire Lakers squad’s offensive output. The Rockets had four players with 15 or more points, while only three Lakers scored in double-digits. Ron Artest’s ability as an emotional leader and relentless effort on the court shined in this game and really for the entire series.

The Rockets would get blown out 89-70 in the deciding game of the series as the Lakers flexed the muscle that would eventually lead them to becoming the 2009 NBA Champions. However, that Rockets team will forever go down in history as one of the toughest and grittiest teams in NBA playoff history and in my humble opinion, the single biggest “What If…” in Rockets history. What if Yao, T-Mac, Battier and Artest had played the entire season together? Would the Rockets have been a top three or maybe even a top two seed? What if Mutombo is available to fill in for Yao Ming Pau Gasol isn’t being guarded by the 6-foot 8-inch Chuck Hayes? We will never know, but I do know that this will also forever be one of my favorite Rockets teams off all-time.

We are all in agreement that 2020 was weird in every aspect, but the NBA was something else entirely. The Rockets had played 64 games, and the Lakers had played 63 games before the season was suspended in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to the season’s suspension, the Lakers having just traded for Anthony Davis were the top team in the West, and the Rockets were in the six-seed. The Rockets had been as high as the four-seed, before making the decision to go all in on small ball and trading away Clint Capela at the trade deadline. Yet another move that made the season and the Rockets in general feel weird. The move was made mainly to accommodate Russel Westbrook, who the Rockets acquired by trading away Chris Paul and draft picks.

Westbrook never really made sense on a team built to shoot three-point shots, get layups, or free-throws. he played better once the paint was no longer clogged up by a big man, with P.J. Tucker playing at “Center” while mostly hanging out in the corner on offense waiting for a kick-out pass, but the team overall began to slide. In July of 2020 the NBA decided to invite 22 teams to Orlando to play inside what became known as “The Bubble.” 22 teams and their staffs would be quarantined at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex located inside Walt Disney World Resort and play in eight “seeding” games to determine the final playoff seeding. Both teams went 3-5. For the Lakers, it was dealing with rust in an awkward situation, with no fans in the building, playing in front of cardboard cutouts of fans and celebrities, that caused them to struggle.

The Rockets faced the same obstacles on top of Russel Wesbrook getting Covid right before getting to the bubble, injuring his quad right before the playoffs and coming back looking rusty. Russel Westbrook, never really known for efficiency or ball security was especially bad in the playoffs. The Rockets were able to barely squeeze by Westbrooks former team and former Houston Rocket Chirs Paul and the OKC thunder in the first round. By the time the Rockets and Lakers got together in the second round, most Rockets fans knew that the extremely weird 2020 season was about to end. After winning the first game 112-97, the series ended in five games with none of the games really being close. The Lakers would go on to defeat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. For the Rockets, once again the loss changed their franchise, as the very next year Russel Westbrook, James Harden and all of the teams key role players were traded away and Daryl Morey resigned as GM. He was replaced by Raphael Stone and the Rockets rebuild began.

One thing has always been consistent when it comes to Rockets versus Lakers in the playoffs, no matter the era, and that’s star power. This Saturday will be no exception… except… I’m sure the TDS faithful are very sad that Luka Doncic’s hamstring injury is going to keep him out of this series and Austin Reeves oblique injury will be keeping him out as well.

The Rockets are -600 favorites to win this series because of the fact that the Lakers are so banged up. We all know the narrative about Kevin Durant since he left the Golden State Warriors after horrible stints in Brooklyn and Phoenix. This is a legacy moment for Kevin Durant, from fans’ and the media’s perspectives alike. However, I think we all know that from Kevin Durant’s perspective, he likely feels no pressure and just wants to hoop and win. Is that a good thing? Well, we are going to find out soon enough. The Lakers have been playing well even with the injury issues and LeBron James is still a force to be reckoned with.

Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson were both impressive at times versus the Warriors last postseason in their playoff debuts. They will need to take that next step if the Rockets are going to move on in this series. All eyes will be on how the Rockets get into their offensive sets without a true point guard on the floor, something they have been trying to figure out all season. Aaron Holiday may end up being very important in this series from that regard.

Ultimately, this is a series between two extremely proud and storied franchises, and it’s this humble writer’s opinion that it’s the Rockets turn to come out on top. Game 1 will tip off Saturday April 18th at 7:30 PM CST from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. You know where to come for all the coverage you need from the only website that cares as much as you do. See you all this weekend TDS faithful! Go Rockets!