Los Angeles Lakers: Lessons from the loss to Houston Rockets

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to James Harden and the Houston Rockets. Here are a few lessons from the game.

The Los Angeles Lakers came to Houston on a roll, being tied in the loss column with the Golden State Warriors. Couple that with a Hollywood ending finish defeating the Miami Heat in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade’s last two-step…

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You would think that the Lakers would come in and step on the necks of the Houston Rockets, who have now solidified themselves as the most disappointing team in the Western Conference. Well, that’s why they play the games.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1073425983343013888

The combination of early foul trouble, bad free throw shooting and a whole bunch of James Harden, the Los Angeles Lakers were beaten by the Houston Rockets 126-111. It seems that the Rockets have the Lakers number with their second consecutive win over the Lakers this season.

Los Angeles Lakers lose the Game and a whole lot more!

The Los Angeles Lakers are now 0-2 losing to the Houston 124-115. The game was marred by an ugly fight that will lead to suspensions. Ronald Agers probes!

Thankfully, there was no fight or anything to take the attention and storylines away from a mostly entertaining ball game. The previous game showed many defensive issues that had not been addressed until Tyson Chandler was signed a few weeks later. Plus, the Lakers loss was being blown off with the same “Oh they’ll figure it out” excuse. The same issues the Lakers had in the first game reared its ugly head again in this game. The Rockets cause serious match-up problems that will be covered in detail here.

The Rockets came into this game with the second-worst record in the Western Conference. Thanks to this win, they are now two games out of the eighth spot in the West. What does that mean?

The standings are so tight, the Lakers need to stack up wins to keep pace. In the Western Conference, EVERYBODY has a shot! Well except the Suns.

Before the lessons start, it is important to note that the refereeing was to be kind here…

“Spotty”, umm…”Inconsistent”…”Questionable”. Let’s just say that they missed a couple of calls.

However, the Lakers did not do themselves any favors.

Here are the lessons…

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…

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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!

LeBron James reverted back to old habits

How did LeBron James do in this game? Well it depends on what you define as a good game. LeBron James scored 29 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. However let me remind everyone of a question earlier in the year when the Lakers lost winnable games like these…

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1073428218076528640

"Are you the fan that likes to win… …or are you the type of fan that wants to be entertained and happy because you are a LeBron James fan? Well if you are just a fan that thinks LeBron James is the best player in the world and consistently complains that the Golden State Warriors are a super team…"

In the first half, the Rockets were getting the same treatment with LeBron getting caught in bad matchups switching LeBron James up with Clint Capela. Boy it was working too.

Time after time, it seemed like Capela got left on an island. Here, LeBron James just blew past Capela and dunked on him. The other four Lakers would just move their man to the other end of the floor to give James time to make the move. The Rockets players have no choice. Either stay with their man or get an illegal defense call. P.J. Tucker tries to get back but it was too late.

He was good in transition…

He is running his lane on a patented fast break. Two quick passes and Eric Gordon making a life decision not to get in front of him to draw a charge leads to a fast break dunk.

Notice these plays are in the third quarter. LeBron had 27 at the end of the third. Here’s the problem…

He finished with 29. What does that mean?

LeBron James disappeared in the 4th quarter. To make things worse, he did not take the challenge of stopping James Harden when the house was on fire. By the time he got on him it was too late…

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1073420776114716677

Three quotes here apply…

Quote number one…

"If he is the best player on the court, the last eight minutes is when he has to impose his will and lead his team to victory. He has to be as dominant or more so at THIS time in the game. This game was winnable but a scenario that Lakers fans need to watch throughout the season occurred. LeBron James played well enough to fill stat sheets, but not well enough to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to victory."

Quote number two…

"The Lakers NEED LeBron James to take on this mentality. When the game is on the line and close, he needs to take over and make plays. He needs to be aggressive! On Thursday he was passive and did not do what stars are supposed to do to close out games. Thursday’s game was winnable. LeBron did not take advantage."

Quote number three…

"Superstars close games. Who’s the closer for the Los Angeles Lakers? They paid LeBron James $154 million dollars to do it. Where’s the production? Stat sheets don’t win games. Leadership and coming through in the clutch does. LeBron James did neither!"

The last time I wrote this in post game reports, the Lakers started 0-3 and stumbled to a 2-5 start. Two points in what LeBron calls “Money time” while not taking the defensive challenge of stopping Harden while he goes nuts is not acceptable if the Lakers want to win. Period, point-blank!

Kyle Kuzma competed hard and is becoming a nightly threat

I want to tell the Los Angeles Lakers fans something…Kyle Kuzma is going to be the Lakers most consistent player. Write it down, keep this postgame report, whatever. This dude has a motor and he does not take any plays off.

Kyle Kuzma scored 24 points and dished out 5 dimes and continued his very strong floor game for the Lakers. Plus he kept the Lakers in shouting difference in the second half by dropping 12 in the 3rd quarter. Look, he had his issues with guarding Harden in the game, but you can chalk that up to inexperience. Harden knows all the tricks in drawing fouls and putting players in bad positions. This is a great learning tool for Kuzma. Now he will be able to adjust for future matchups.

Now it’s not like he didn’t get a piece of Harden now…

With time running down on the shot clock, Kuzma  hits James Harden with a behind the back dribble and hits a fade away 3-pointer going to his left. Yes, I know what you are thinking. Where’s the foul? Yep he got fouled and no, it was not called. But Kuzma did not let it get to him. He just kept playing.

Then he decided to take Harden off the dribble and meet Clint Capela at the rim. Let’s just say, Capela got a real close look at the explosion capabilities of on Kyle Kuzma!

It would easy for a young player to be intimidated and down on themselves the way Harden played in the game. But Harden looked very bad defensively on this play. Watch how he allows Kuz to go by. This is how you take the challenge and compete. Make Harden work both ends of the floor. It’s common knowledge that Harden doesn’t play good defense. Sometimes you can wear down a scorer by scoring.

The Lakers need Brandon Ingram back

Los Angeles Lakers had better start grasping this fact and quick. The Lakers need Brandon Ingram in the lineup. Hopefully, the ankle sprain doesn’t set him back to much longer and he can return.

I’ve noticed on social media and the comments section, that Ingram is being taken for granted. Look he does not have the 3-point capabilities of a Kyle Kuzma or KCP. But he does have a mid-range game that not many opponents can stop.

More importantly, Ingram can play defense. You don’t think the Lakers could have used him last night? His long arm could have potentially given Harden trouble.

Most importantly, he needs to get back so the rotation can go back to normal. Luke Walton’s rotation patterns have been spotty since Ingram got hurt. The Lakers have lost two of their last three games and Walton’s rotation decisions have a lot to do with it.

Lance Stephenson played hard and well…enough.

Lance Stephenson dropped 17 points against the Rockets. He actually brought out the banjo. It is rumored that he is in the doghouse with Luke Walton for the turnovers he causes with the “Make em’ Dance” shtick, but it is good to see production out of him.

The Lakers were complaining about James Harden about his free throws…I mean at least he hits his

Look, the refs calls were off and they were bad on both sides! Remember Nene Hilario got tossed for arguing calls. Kyle Kuzma got a technical foul and so did Luke Walton. But why get foul calls just to lay enough bricks to build a new stadium?

The Lakers shot 15-of-27 from the free throw line. LeBron missed his first four. JaVale McGee was 1-of-4  with a Joakim Noah style airball. Josh Hart was 1-of-3. Man, even Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed two  and he’s shoots over 90 percent. Bottom line, if this doesn’t improve, opponents are going to start the hacking scheme on the Lakers…you can count on it.

The Los Angeles Lakers have started their long journey through the NBA season. Lake Show Life will be there every step of the way. Continue to check in for Lakers news, previews and reviews.