Los Angeles Lakers: Six lessons from loss to Houston Rockets

The Lakers may have shown the NBA how to slow Harden down

Before I start, I would like to give a special shout-out to Ms. Jeanie Buss! I have to give her credit for standing by Luke Walton (more on him in detail..stay tuned!). She saw something that I believe nobody saw in this guy for the last two weeks. No check that, after Sunday night’s loss to Cleveland.

Luke Walton came out with a new James Harden defense called the Harden Rules! (That’s what I’m calling it…heard it here first!) Before Lonzo Ball got hurt, it gave the Rockets fits.

Check out what Scottie Pippen says about defending Harden while he is in a zone that few of us on the Earth will ever understand…

Now in a nutshell, what Scottie Pippen said was to be effective (like somewhat…) jump on James Harden’s left shoulder and let the chips fall where they may. We have three examples below.

First point of emphasis...Play James Harden 94 feet and make him work hard…

KCP played on top of Harden bringing the ball up the floor. Now you see that Harden seems very wide open for the shot! What does that prove? Simple. He actually shoved KCP to create that massive space! But you see how hard he has to work to get his shot off.

Second point of emphasis... Play James Harden on his left shoulder and contest from the back side instead of the usual fly by defense that draws fouls

KCP was playing on his left shoulder and tight. When Harden shot the 3-pointer, KCP contested the left hander from the back side to avoid the foul and sending him to the line. Again, Harden hit the shot…you say so? One, you are not stopping James Harden from scoring until he cools off. Two, watch his feet! He walked.

Third point of emphasis…Make other players not named James Harden beat you!

Again you see, KCP parked on Harden’s left shoulder and forces him to the lane and pass the ball to Gerald Green. As you see, Green hit this shot but it was one of the very few that dropped in the first half. This defense caught the Rockets off guard and they struggled big time.

Now I bet you are asking how this worked on a guy that scored 48 points that follows a 50-point performance.

Let me tell you.

In overtime, James Harden was worn out. He had nothing else left. Why do you think Eric Gordon had the ball in his hand at the end of the game? Mark Jackson was talking unselfishness, I’m talking gassed.

Luke Walton did an outstanding job of preparing his team for this game. The Lakers continued the momentum from the OKC Thunder victory on Thursday with a 39 point 1st quarter performance against Houston.

Speaking of Walton…