The Los Angeles Lakers walked over the Houston Rockets 119-96 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Saturday. Having claimed four straight wins after losing in Game 1, the purple and gold made the West Finals for the first time in 10 years.

The last time the team achieved such a feat, Kobe Bryant led all the way to the Finals to win back-to-back title.

Fairly speaking, Harden rebounded from the struggle in Game 4 to go 12-20 in field goals on Saturday night, dropping court-high 30 points. When the Lakers drilled 19 of their 37 attempts from the 3-point line, it was hard to imagine that any team could defeat them, at least not the Rockets that were only 13-49 from downtown.

In fact, the Rockets suffered the past four straight losses basically for the same reason: They could not launch offense as they usually did. Harden could crash almost every single defender on him via isolation as long as he had enough time to dribble and find his pace, but the Lakers would not give him time. Their trapping always came after Harden dribbled for a few seconds but before he could make his move. After Harden passed the ball to his teammate, there were usually two consequences – either a role player made a bad call to ruin the offense or Russell Westbrook did what defense wanted him to do; shooting from outside or challenging the big man under the rim. Either way, offense was ruined as well.

Before Game 5, the Rockets kept good efficiencies from downtown: 35.9 percent in G1, 41.5 in G2, 40 in G3 and 42.4 in G4, yet at the cost of lowering production. As a team that took league-high 45.3 attempts and made 15.6 of them, which was also league No. 1, per game in the regular season, the Rockets in the first four games shot only 38 triples on average. That was far from enough for the team to attack in the way they favored.

Then there was Westbrook. One of the reasons the Rockets landed him by trading Chris Paul last summer was that they needed his charging ability against the rim. Nonetheless, Westbrook returned late from injury in the playoffs and apparently still lacked enough strength with his legs. Moreover, the Lakers had Anthony Davis cover him, making it even more difficult for Westbrook to play his role in offense. As for his shooting problem, that was something the Rockets must have accepted when they introduced him.

What can the Rockets do about their problems?

Unfortunately, there is not much. Let's start with Harden again. Yes, he's been the league's lead scorer for three times straight. Yes, he has improved his defense. Yes, he is one of the best passers in today's NBA. However, he became what he is today by refining what he excels at. He has top strength for a guard but that comes from his weight – 100+ kilograms. Meanwhile, he does not enjoy top-level athleticism. Therefore, it's unrealistic to expect him to develop pull-up shooting of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.

Then can the Rockets find better replacements for their role players? That's mission impossible as well. Since they sent Clint Capela away, the team gunned on the way towards their centerless micro-ball style. That's why they needed the following qualities on role players: they must be strong enough to take on big man defensively; they must be able to stretch out the spacing; they must be fast enough to switch everything. If you ask them to be able to deal with the ball too above all those, you want someone whose name is either Khris Middleton or Jimmy Butler whose salaries either double or even triple those of P.J. Tucker and Robert Covington.

As for Westbrook, he has been playing like he did since he joined the league, and that's also what people liked about him. Asking Westbrook to learn how to play without the ball or to develop reliable 3-point shooting will be even more difficult than getting rid of his three-year, 132-million-U.S.-dollar contract. By the way, no sane general manager will take that contract and give the Rockets what they need.

That said, the Rockets truly need someone who can share Harden's offensive burden in a way different from today's Westbrook. He must have reliable 3-pointers, can drive against the rim, be able to orchestrate offense and know how to make play without the ball. Did that sound like Paul in 2018? That was the closest the Rockets came reaching the Finals in the past 25 years.