Lakers vs. Rockets: Somebody Has to Go

With Kobe Bryant referring to “the land of opportunity” and Kurt Rambis talking about “a time of excitement and joy,” there were moments Friday when it sounded as if the Lakers were preparing for a trip to Disneyland or Christmas caroling instead of embarking on the playoffs.

The onset is enough to put some bounce in the step of even the crustiest NBA veterans. There’s no more waking up in your third hotel room of the week and wondering what city you’re in, there’s no struggling to get through the Grizzlies and Warriors of the league. It’s all about basketball at its highest intensity.

For the Lakers, the euphoria this time of year always brings to NBA players will be replaced by a sense of urgency come 2:30 Sunday afternoon. If the Lakers don’t put together a good run in these playoffs, it will represent the largest step backward for this organization since Magic Johnson first retired in 1991. Lose too early and the coach, personnel, management and ownership all have to face questions about what they did to wreck something that was working.

That’s one reason this tightly matched Laker-Houston pairing is the most compelling first-round series of the playoffs. (Miami versus New York has plenty of animosity, but the quality of basketball and final scores will be like an L.A. weather forecast: fair and in the 70s.)

The Rockets began their season with an aging team and an eye on winning the title. The Lakers--by trading for Glen Rice and (temporarily) taking on Dennis Rodman--adopted that mind-set. Now one of these teams has to deal with the prospect of lasting only a week into the playoffs.

The Lakers rarely even make the cut anymore when championship contenders are discussed. The only confidence comes from inside, where people like Rice say, “This team definitely has what it takes to make it all the way.”

One bad omen for the Lakers is that when their postseason hopes go up in smoke, it’s usually the Rockets who are holding the matches.

Since 1980, the Lakers have lost a playoff series in which they’ve had home-court advantage only four times, and three were at the hands of the Rockets.

When the Lakers went to the finals eight times in 10 seasons during the 1980s, the only times they didn’t make it--in 1981 and 1986--they lost to Houston.

If you look closely enough at the Forum court, you still can see Michael Cooper lying under the basket in disbelief after Ralph Sampson’s awkward shot bounced up and in to end the Lakers’ season in 1986.

And it was the Rockets who sent Magic into retirement for the last time, knocking out the Lakers in the first round after his comeback in 1996.

That might seem like ancient history to these Lakers, none of whom was in Los Angeles in 1996. If those tales from the past don’t do it for them, then all they need to do is pop in the tape of their worst loss of the season--”rock bottom,” as Bryant described it.

Once again, it involved the Rockets.

With home-court advantage on the line against a team the Lakers knew they would face in the playoffs, they turned in a heartless performance and lost at Houston, 102-80.

“I know a lot of guys are going to use that to motivate them to go out and prove that isn’t the team that we are now,” Rice said.

The problem is, the team that beat Houston twice earlier in the season also isn’t the team the Lakers are now. Those victories came before the Lakers made the trade.

On the old team, with Eddie Jones starting at shooting guard, Bryant started at small forward and did a good job against Scottie Pippen. With Jones gone and Bryant back at guard, the Lakers can’t put Bryant on Pippen when the starters are on the court because they’d have to assign Rice to a smaller, quicker guard.

About those Houston guards. If the Lakers have a clear-cut advantage in this series, it’s in the backcourt.

Houston’s Michael Dickerson and Cuttino Mobley got better as the season went on, and they averaged almost 50 points between them in the last two games. but they’re rookies. And rookies just don’t get calls in the playoffs.

The Laker guards, Bryant in particular, need to take advantage of that and drive at them aggressively.

Shaquille O’Neal needs to maintain the effort he has put forth on both ends of the court. The point guards need to continue their steady play of late. A few more 40-point nights by Rice wouldn’t hurt.

The Lakers’ four-game winning streak has heightened their belief in one another. The tension is gone, replaced by good-natured bantering in the locker room.

After all the upheaval this team has gone through, the playoffs offer them a chance to start anew. This time the change is welcome.

* J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.