Colin Cowherd Just Eliminated the Lakers and Rockets From Championship Contention

The Lakers and Rockets are vying for a spot in the Western Conference Finals, but they may as well pack up and vacate their bubble dwellings now because, according to Colin Cowherd, neither can win the NBA championship.

During his show today, Cowherd explained why neither the Lakers nor Rockets can win the title based on his observations from Game 2 of their playoff series, which is tied 1-1. Saying, "they're good teams, but neither one of these teams can win the championship," his theory is as follows for each franchise.

For the Lakers, Cowherd says they don't have a third star and rely on LeBron James too much. He praises LeBron's greatness at his advanced age but says there's too much pressure on him and the Lakers are old.

For the Rockets, he basically rips Russell Westbrook for a minute or so, pointing out his terrible free-throw shooting. He says you can't win a title with a second star like Westbrook. He also mentioned James Harden disappearing in big moments.

So who does Cowherd like? Seemingly no one. He said there are seven "pretty good basketball teams, all with major flaws." He then mentions the Clippers as being a good team that can become "apathetic." So, as he predicted before, it appears Cowherd likes the Clippers to win it all.

My counterpoint is, LeBron didn't need a third star to win a title in Cleveland (no offense Kevin Love) and has single-handily carried other teams to the NBA Finals before. Yes, he's older. But, he also has his second-most talented teammate ever now in Davis and a Lakers team that was built to accentuate LeBron's strengths and vice versa.

As for the Clippers, they lost Game 2 of their semifinal series to the Nuggets after giving up 41 points in the first quarter of that game. What does that say about them? No more than one games says about the Lakers or Rockets. All three teams, as well as the Nuggets, have a chance to win the West and then win the title. I'll agree with Cowherd that none of the teams truly stand out as obviously better than the other, but I disagree that the Lakers and Rockets should call it quits now because they don't have a chance to win it all.