Alright Rockets! Beat LA!

My hometown NBA ballers did something in the playoffs they haven't done since 1997.

Won a first round NBA playoff series.

Yep, the TransGriot was living in her southwest Houston digs the last time my boys won a playoff series. Wednesday night they eliminated the Portland Trail Blazers by pasting a 92-76 beatdown on them in Game 6 to take the series 4 games to 2.

Ron Artest dropped 27 points in this game, with Yao Ming chipping in 17 points and snatching 10 rebounds while guard Aaron Brooks tossed in 13 to send the Rockets out of the first round winners for the first time in 12 years.

Their reward is to play the top seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the second round. But before y'all write off my Houston homeboys, better check your NBA playoff history. We have a nasty habit of knocking off Number One seeded Laker teams, especially if they're wearing NBA crowns.

Exhibit A- 1981 NBA Playoffs. The 40-42 Rockets knock off the defending champion LA Lakers in the first round.



Exhibit B-The 1986 NBA Playoffs-The Rockets, armed with the Twin Towers, stunned the defending champion LA Lakers in the Western Conference finals by taking three straight games to win the series 4-1.



It would be fun for me to see an I-45 NBA Western Conference Final series between my Rockets and the Mavericks for the NBA State Championship.

The 1981 and 1995 I-10 Western Conference Finals series with the San Antonio Spurs were fun to watch, especially since my boys won the State Championship and continued to the NBA Finals. One of those first round series losses was courtesy of the Mavericks so revenge would be sweet in this case. But we have to get past the Lakers first and Dallas has to knock off a Number Two seeded Denver Nuggets team in order for that series to happen.

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? It would be a nice birthday present if the Rockets beat the Lakers in Game 1. Go Rockets!

Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA!