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Houston Rockets look to sweep the Lakers in the season series

By Michael Knight

OAKLAND, CA - JANUARY 3: Clint Capela #15 of the Houston Rockets dunks the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 3, 2019 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - JANUARY 3: Clint Capela #15 of the Houston Rockets dunks the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 3, 2019 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Houston Rockets will look to complete the four-game sweep of their old rivals the Lakers in the season series tonight as the teams return from the All-Star Break.

The Houston Rockets have showed their dominance over the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Even when the team was struggling to begin the year, they were still able to get some punches off (literally and figuratively) against LeBron James and his squad, winning the first three against them.

With both teams banged up a bit last time, it took an insane effort from James Harden (48 points, 14/30 shooting) for Houston to come out victorious in overtime. They came back from down double-digits and eventually won.

Harden’s had some pretty spectacular games against LA this season. He also dropped a casual 50-point triple double against them on 14/26 shooting. In the first game of the year, he had 36 points and some clutch shots down the stretch.

The Rockets will have some help tonight. Big man Clint Capela is finally back and probable to play for the first time since the middle of January.

Clint Capela’s return

Without Capela against the Lakers on January 19, the Rockets were outrebounded 56-39. That has been a common thing for Houston without their budding star big man and it will certainly be nice to have him back.

The rebounding issues are still apparent with or without Clint, but having someone capable of pulling down 20+ boards on a given night is very nice to have back. Kenneth Faried will get some run as the backup center too, giving the opposition 48 minutes of pick-and-rolls to deal with. Faried will be perfect in a limited role after thriving in this offense as a starter recently.

The defense and rebounding should immediately improve and the Rockets are almost completely healthy for the first time practically all season. Iman Shumpert will be out tonight and Saturday with a slight knee injury, unfortunately.

Next. James Harden’s 15 most captivating performances

Be sure to tune in tonight as the Rockets take on the Lakers on TNT at 9:30 pm CT! It should be a fun one as both squads are fighting at this point in the season.

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