Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Lessons from the loss to the Houston Rockets
By Ronald Agers
Anthony Davis was the only big man to show up for the Los Angeles Lakers!
Davis was the only Lakers big man to make an impact in this game and seemingly wasn’t bothered by the small ball scheme. He scored 11 points in the 1st quarter and rode the wave to a team-high 32 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals in 40 minutes. He seemed to be the only big man who used his basketball I.Q. Beat up smaller players down low.
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About the only thing that went wrong for Davis was spraining his right index finger before halftime. He started the second half with a wrap on his hand. These nagging injuries are starting to pile up.
Although Davis was having a good time shooting 14-21 from the field, while smartly not bailing the Rockets out shooting 3-point shots, Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee were non factors. Both of these players should have had an easy time getting shots down low and collecting rebounds. Instead Frank Vogel messed with the lineup and the combination of Howard and McGee ended up playing only a combined 20 minutes. Howard played 4 minutes. Why?
Somehow the Rockets were able to make JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard non-factors by spreading them out with shooters at the 3-point line. The Rockets’ small lineup created the offensive spacing and ball movement that gave the 4th rated defense fits.. The combination of Houston hitting 19 shots from distance along with Westbrook’s antics, for one night this small ball thing worked.
Daniel House Jr., who is listed at 6-foot-6, was the tallest player in the Rockets’ starting lineup. Harden actually was the man in the middle for the opening tip, while P.J. Tucker played center.
The Los Angeles Lakers forgot what made them successful and they paid the price in the game.