A few things I noticed tonight.. 12 shots for James? 12?? Not acceptable. I know they were doubling him and he was making the right play, but he has to get more than that. We won’t win if he has 12 shots per game. Needs to be north of 20. Westbrook - ouch. What are you doing taking so many 3s? The lane in front of you was wide open so many times, take a few steps in for a mid-range, or take it to the hoop. We won’t win with him shooting more than a couple 3s per game. Playing out of control, too. Need to reign it in, that was an awful performance. A decent performance, and we are up 2-0. Foster strikes again.. some terrible calls, but honestly the Rockets did this to themselves by digging a hole, came out of it by being ridiculously hot from 3, and then the law of averages balanced it out in the 4th. Needed more James in the 4th. How many times will we be hit below the belt? Jeez, I mean... what is that now... 4 times this postseason in 9 games? The league needs to do something. Absolutely ridiculous. Bad feeling to come all the way back and lose the game. Wasted great games by PJ, Gordon, and House. Turn the page, and onto game 3. Too bad there is no home team, as if we went into Staples and got 1 of 2, I’d feel good coming back home. But, there is no back home and no home court advantage, unless you count those ridiculous looking virtual fans. Oh, and where the hell is Austin Rivers??
Harden can't shoot when they have westbrick on the floor. Are are literally just don't give a dam about westbrick in there
Harden played fine. Westbrook was awful. He did nothing to help the doubles. Not sure why Austin didn't play more when he was in foul trouble. The double on Harden is coming later and not regularly. Harden has to start shooting or going earlier to force a higher/earlier double and then you can let Westbrook play 4 on 3.
Westbrook -14 10pts 7TO Jeff Green -26 0PTs 1TO House -17 13PTS River -18 0PTs 2TO Looks like every starter shot 50% or better .. . . . EXCEPT WESTBROOK They all had a positive impact . .. EXCEPT WESTBROOK Coach has to chew him out or something Rocket River
The Lakers having to play Anthony Davis at center card and play Markieff Morris/Kyle Kuzma at PF (basically their death lineup) and benching their traditional centers tells me how much the Lakers respect the Houston Rockets. The Lakers were probably hoping to save their death lineup for a potential Clippers/Lakers Western Conference matchup, but Houston is so good that the Lakers need to play their best lineup in order to compete in this series.
I'll also add Russ should just swallow his pride and dribble in when he's left open at the line. If rather see the open dribble up midrange or an attempt to drive/dish.
Can ANYONE name a worst shooter in the NBA than WESTBROOK? Please let me know.. I could shoot better from my couch then Westbrook.. TURN OVER MISSES TURN OVERS he drives me crazy.. He Kept the lakers in the game period.
Rockets didn't look prepared for the speed the Lakers brought early and toward the end of the game, and it hurt more that they were making poor decisions. Westbrook trying to shoot from range (I think he burned his one hot shooting game in #1), guys passing on open shots instead of being aggressive, not closing out on the Lakers' shooters. Nice job avoiding the blowout but moral victories don't get them anywhere.
We need to beat them from the start! We have to match their intensity early. Notice that lebron gets gassed playing this way so they have to play that way sparingly. Make it so he has to stay in the game longer and longer... the more he has to play the more difficult it will be for him to make the right decisions. The way they blew to 21pt lead is not sustainable for him. The Rockets have to come back strong and start the 3 pt brigade early.
Westbrook needs to drive and penetrate . Take it to the rim like he was doing pre bubble. There is plenty of spacing when they are doubling off Harden thats the only way we'll win
Westbrook jackin up 3's,Foule trouble, and Bench a no show. Lakers slowing the pace of game a bit. It was pretty bad watching this.
Exactly right. They will double James and leave Westbrook right open every time. No different than how we were left Dork open against OKC. Unfortunately for the Rockets, Westbrook is not going to light it up from three. Either he takes the ball and drives Elaine are there toast. And I can’t say that he is able to drive the land against the Lakers Bigs. Watching him get blocked by James makes me think he doesn’t have much confidence driving the lane. What’s frustrating is that this game was there for the taking despite so many blown calls by the refs. Eric Gordon is finally playing the basketball we expect and the role players played great. Unfortunately there are so many bad calls from the beginning, though. For example , Davis went up and over Greens back three times and no call, not to mention he blatantly smacked him in the private area with not even a foul. That was no different then the flagrant foul against Shroder on Tucker in the OKC series. I still can’t figure out why they didn’t go back and look at it. Then you have the typical non-calls with the guards fronting lHarden. It’s amazing how much body checking Goes on without a foul. When Rondo stole the ball for an easy two he knocked knees with Harden. Nothing! Honestly, Westbrook played like he was high on drugs tonight. He was so out of control at times it was painful to watch. 7 turnovers, 7!! Not to mention he was 4-15 from the field and 1-7 From 3 land. This begs the question of why MDA was playing him at off guard during crunch time. It’s hard to get good spacing on the floor when you have a guy that can’t shoot. The Lakers know it. Everyone knows it. That’s why they kept double teaming Harden.
I'd love to hear the explanation of how to get James more shots when he's doubled. Obviously you cannot say get him involved off the ball or create more movement and defensive disruption when he has it - because D'Antoni never has and never will show an ability to do this. So unless you want Harden chucking up shots with two defenders on him or trying to split the double team - which we've all seen end horrifically too many times to count... what exactly is your answer as to how to get him those shots? The reality is, more times than not the ball finds a wide open player. We wouldn't be complaining about 12 shots if people on this team could shoot respectable percentages when they're standing still with no defender in sight.
17 turnovers killed us. They didn’t handle the pressure from the defense well in the first quarter. Good news is that it’s very fixable. The Lakers need to run to have a decent offense. All the Rockets need to do is take care of the ball. Make quick decisive moves and follow the game plan.
