Los Angeles Lakers: Lessons from the loss to Houston Rockets
By Ronald Agers
James Harden was the MVP…twice! Last year and in this game
Look, when you come into the arena rocking a Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom snake outfit with the John Stockton short set. You had better do something. I mean that outfit made P.J. Tucker’s outfit look normal!
https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1073364893708025857
James Harden made some big-time history in the game against the Lakers. He is now the only player to ring up a 50-point triple-double four times in NBA history. In 35 minutes, the reigning MVP surgically took apart the Lakers defense dropping 50 points, dishing out 11 assists and grabbing 10 rebounds.
What made this even more amazing is the he went to free-throw line and put on a clinic hitting 18-of-19. I knew that the Lakers would be in trouble after watching this…
https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1073389290976145408
James Harden stood Lonzo Ball up and blew by him and drove strong to the basket and dunked on JaVale McGee’s head. The force was so strong that McGee stumbled and fell. The very next time down the court, Harden shot a three in Josh Hart’s grill and drew a foul.
From then on, Harden controlled the entire game which definitely included the referees. There maybe more but I counted at least four calls against the Lakers that were undeserved. But it showed me something else.
The Lakers showed an inability to adjust to what James Harden as done for two games. James Harden is the MVP, but he is easily the best scorer in the world. Now what does that mean?
He knows all of the tricks and angles to get the Lakers in foul trouble and take them out of their games by baiting them into phantom fouls.
Watch this play here…
https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1073413716924878849
The Rockets do absolutely nothing in their offense but pick-and-roll isolation with Harden and Clint Capela. Then for spacing, the Rockets plant 3-point shooters in the corners. On the right-wing, Harden receives the pass from Capela and gets the pick. Kuzma goes under the pick and Harden drops the 3-ball. Now there are people reading this saying…
Well why doesn’t Kumza get up on him?
Well let me show you…
https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1073416187055357952
Since James Harden has already shown he will take the ball to the basket strong, he blows by Svi and draws JaVale McGee to the basket to protect the rim. While that’s happening, Clint Capela cuts backdoor, receives the pass and slam dunks the basketball.
One final example…
https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1073415409565609985
Finally here, the Rockets ran a misdirection pick-and-roll play that fooled Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. They run Danuel House Jr. up to rub him on a pick. James Harden then cuts to the right side of the floor. Tyson Chandler sees this and tries to cheat over. Capela cuts straight to the basket for another slam dunk. You will see Tyson Chandler throw his hand in frustration.
He has the right to be. He is put in a no-win situation. The Rockets set it up that way through this offense. They force opposing centers to make a decision and they react accordingly.
The major issue that needs to be addressed here is this…
If James Harden was so hot (For the record Harden was way past that), where are the Lakers defensive adjustments? Why not throw a double-team at Harden to get the ball out of his hands to another player to initiate the offense? Chris Paul? Please! Paul shot only 3-of-10 from the field and scored only 14 points. The Houston Rockets are not the same team as last year considering the players they lost. Come to think of it, one of the players might be around this weekend…
The point here is, where is Luke Walton with defensive adjustments to stop Harden. In all of the highlights you see that Harden was put in position to go one-on-one all night long.
Another major problem with the Lakers defense was the players did not adjust well to Harden’s offensive tendencies that led to some of the referees awful calls.
When James Harden plays games like this, he likes to use the defensive player’s aggressiveness against them to draw fouls and get to the line. It’s not like Kuzma, Hart and Ball did a bad job as the stats say, but they were not as disciplined as they needed to be in certain situations.
It is known that Harden and Paul will grab the defensive player’s wrist to gain an advantage. They lower their shoulders and throw their bodies to get contact to get cheap fouls. Nothing new, they’ll do the same thing for the rest of the year.
Harden used the inexperience of these three players against them. Remember when Brandon Ingram was so frustrated that he lost his head the last game? Same situation here. James Harden uses angles so well, he sells what he wants the referees to see.
We understand what the Rockets’ superstar did, let’s compare him to the other superstar!