Lakers need some heart

So the Rockets pushed their second round series with the Lakers to seven games. It wasn't like the incredible Celtics-Bulls series that featured seven overtimes or even the Celtics-Magic set, which turned out some pretty nice games.

For the Lakers, it was either win big, or lose big. In the situation where they had to win or go home, they won, but I'm still not very impressed. Most people would be pretty satisfied with a 19-point victory in a game 7, but as far as I'm concerned, there was something the Lakers were missing throughout the entire series.

Something both the Rockets and the Jazz exhibited throughout each of their series' and something almost every other team in the NBA has shown in the playoffs. I'm talking about heart.

It's actually a bit surprising to see. You would think a team that was humiliated in the NBA Finals last year would come back to prove to everybody it could compete. Well, they can compete, but that isn't good enough.

If the Rockets were at full strength, I could understand a seven games series. But, already without Tracy McGrady, and then losing Yao Ming after game 3? It just doesn't make sense.

There has to be something more to the Lakers underperformance against the Rockets. Maybe they need a wakeup call, or maybe it's as simple as it looked. As of now, I have no idea.

What I do know, however, is that if Kobe and the Lakers think they can play that poorly against the Nuggets and still make the NBA Finals, then they're in for a rude awakening.

Unlike LA, Denver has been rolling over their opponents like a monster truck runs over a Volkswagen bug. Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin have teamed up with Chauncey Billups to put together quite a formidable opponent for the Lakers.

So, will we see a repeat of 2000 or 2002? Will the Nuggets be as good as opponent as were the Blazers and the Kings? Well, right now we don’t know, but if the Lakers don’t start playing with some heart quickly, they might be on the wrong side of history.