Lakers Are One Victory Away from Ending the Series

If the Lakers win Game 6 against the Houston Rockets they will win all four of their last “close-out” games against playoff opponents. After an easy 118078 victory against Houston on Tuesday, the Lakers are hoping to finish their Western Conference semifinal tonight. The last time they traveled to Houston, they lost 99-87 even though Yao Ming was out due to a fractured foot. Lakers’ center Andrew Bynum went scoreless that game, with three fouls, two rebounds and one turnover in 12 minutes, but came back in Game 5 with 14 points on five-for-six shooting.Of Bynum’s Game 5 performance Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson said, “I thought he had pretty good energy out there. Rebounding was great, I thought his defensive spacing was good.”

Jackson hasn’t revealed whether for not Bynum will be in the starting lineup again for Game 6, but Lamar Odom’s injured back held him back in Game 5 (he only played 19 minutes). Should the Lakers get past Houston, they will go up against the Denver Nuggets, not to mention the Eastern teams still in the running, Cleveland, Orlando, and, of course, Boston.

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