Lakers being counted out —but chemistry one thing Rockets can’t defend

The whole world seems to be writing off the Lakers now.

The reality is justified. The Lakers are wounded heavyweights staggering into the postseason without their two sharpest blades in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Without them, they don’t stand a chance, right?

That’s the surface-level take. The easy one. It might also be the wrong one.  

Because as three-time NBA champion and 1988 NBA Finals MVP James Worthy recently reminded us, what the Lakers built in March wasn’t just a hot streak. It was something far more dangerous to an opponent like the Rockets. Something that doesn’t show up in a box score and doesn’t disappear when two stars have to watch from the sideline wearing street clothes.

It’s chemistry and trust.

“They built good chemistry over the last month, and that chemistry doesn’t go away even without your two star players,” Worthy told The California Post in an exclusive interview earlier this week.

Worthy thinks that team chemistry and a free-thinking approach to the game can help the Lakers against the Rockets. During their 16-2 stretch over 18 games in March, the Lakers learned a lot about each other. That chemistry and trust was stitched together in the margins — on cross-country flights, in late-night dinners and on golf courses where laughter and joy replaced in-depth scouting reports.

“It’s a good team-bonding thing,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said about the team’s golf outings.

Lakers forward Jake LaRavia confirmed it.

“Chemistry is getting better off the court and on the court, and you can see it in the way we’re playing together offensively and defensively,” LaRavia said at the end of March.

That doesn’t evaporate because two names are missing from the lineup card. You don’t misplace it like a headband or forget it in your locker. That team chemistry will show up when things get tight and when the game slows down.

And it’s there that this series will be decided.

There’s no doubt that the Rockets are a more talented team than the undermanned Lakers. They’re deep, athletic and defensive-minded. On paper, they should overwhelm the Lakers.

But paper doesn’t account for friction.

Despite winning nine of their last 10 games, the Rockets have spent most of this season flirting with dysfunction. Whispers about Kevin Durant’s burner accounts criticizing teammates Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun weren’t just internet noise. You could see it in the team’s body language in March, in the uneven stretches, in the moments where their talent didn’t quite translate into cohesion.

Maybe they’ve cleaned it up. But maybe they haven’t.

Team chemistry isn’t something you toggle on when the playoffs begin. It’s earned and built in the quiet moments where nobody is watching.

LeBron James, who has played the most games in NBA history, understands that.

“We’re in a good place right now. The chemistry is high,” James said before the injuries occurred. “Everyone loves being around each other. We love playing for one another. We love being on the floor with one another. It’s a good tight-knit group.”

That distinction matters now more than ever and could be the secret ingredient against a Houston team that might not have it.

“We’re competitors,” Marcus Smart said after practice this week. “They’re going to try to come in and punk us, and if you allow that, you will be punked. I don’t think we have any guys that are going to be punked on this team. We might not be the most athletic and the strongest, but we’ve got to have the most heart.”

Whichever team has the most heart is not a throwaway line. It’s what could carry either team through the series.

Houston will try to impose its will on the Lakers. Stripped of its stars, LA will have to counter with something less tangible but no less real.

They’ll need Rui Hachimura to step up like he did in the playoffs last year. They’ll need Smart to bring the edge that he’s always had in the NBA. They’ll need role players including Luke Kennard and Deandre Ayton to expand their roles without losing themselves in the moment. And if that team chemistry they built is real, those things will all happen.

This is not about pretending the Lakers are better without Doncic and Reaves. That’s absurd. This is about recognizing that what they built in March — through wins, through dinners, through rounds of golf and road trips — has a chance to outlast the absence of star power.

In a league obsessed with stars, the Lakers are about to find out if something older and quieter is enough to beat the Rockets in a seven-game series.

It might not be — but to dismiss it outright? That would be a mistake. 

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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com