Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Lessons from win against Houston Rockets

HOUSTON, TX - JANUARY 18 : Kentavious Caldwell-Pope #1 of the Los Angeles Lakers shoots the ball against the Houston Rockets on January 18, 2020 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2020 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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Kyle Kuzma played his best overall game of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers.

At the beginning, it looked like a carryover from the Magic game where he was awful. After a ragged first half, Kuzma got going on both ends of the floor. He did have to leave the game in the third quarter to get his ankle re-taped. When he got back, he combined with JaVale McGee to turn the game around with his strong defense on Westbrook. Then his scoring picked up and he finished with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting (3-of-8 from distance!), 8 rebounds (2 offensive!) and one assist. But the assist had been a great find to LeBron James for an easy layup.

For those that believe that Kuz’s best game was the OKC Thunder game two weeks back, you weren’t paying attention to this game. He showed the engagement to Vogel’s game plan, providing the energy and effectiveness on defense as he has all season.

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1218725483208069120

This was a huge bounce back game for Kyle Kuzma. This was a game where he allowed the game to come to him instead of pressing the issue to get his offense started. After starting slow, he could have started getting frustrated. Instead, he did allow his offense to dictate his contributions in all aspects of his floor game.

Now we will find out if he can continue this when Anthony Davis comes back.

Speaking of bouncing back, Kuzma wasn’t the only one.

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