The Los Angeles Lakers need to adjust vs. the Houston Rockets.
After six days of rest in-between games, the Los Angeles Lakers looked like the team that had just finished playing a Game 7 while the Rockets looked springy and fresh.
Throughout the game, a lot of confusing choices were made during a pretty even game going into the fourth. Here are some adjustments that should be made after a day of film.
Rajon Rondo cannot play anymore
I understand he has a relationship with AD and LeBron but it is clear as day how much his lack of shooting and horrendous defense effects the Lakers consistently.
During Game 1, Rondo was a negative 10 plus-minus on the court and was even truer when the game was cut to two before Vogel inserted Rondo into the game and the Rockets immediately started to pull away. Vogel and the team have to come to grips here with Rondo and be able to make a tough decision due to relationships.
Alex Caruso was again a difference-maker
Despite being in foul trouble (not good), Caruso was impacting the game for every minute he was lucky to play. Even though Rondo for some odd reason was the first guard off the bench and hindered the Lakers, the opposite happened with Caruso who made winning plays all over the court.
He has to stay out of foul trouble and that’s completely on the player but Vogel cannot choose Rondo before Caruso as the first guard off the bench.
Anthony Davis has to play with force
The AD we saw from Game 1 against Portland when Wenyen Gabriel was guarding him showed up last night. The numbers seem impressive with 25 points 14 rebounds 3 steals and 3 blocks but Anthony Davis points weren’t impacting Houston. In the sense AD let Houston get him to play as far away from the basket and ultimately get neutralized by PJ Tucker.
According to Second Spectrum Sports, AD had no points on Tucker, who is an amazing defender but the talent and skill of AD cannot allow that to happen. AD just has to be aggressive with force, meaning use that strength and enforce his will on Houston’s frontline. The good news is AD has responded before and Houston has proved a lot of bulletin board material.
Defend at a higher level
Kuzma was the target for Eric Gordon during a key stretch in the fourth where Houston extended a six-point lead to a thirteen point lead. That cannot happen if he wants to stay on the floor and make a difference because it seemed like the rockets picked on him.
It wasn’t all on Kuz too, Rondo was terrible, Dwight didn’t make an impact whatsoever, and JaVale was decent. Overall, the team performed well below their usual standards and the hope is they are more in tune with their defensive rotations.
Doubling Harden requires everyone to be on a string and the Lakers seemed to just be a step slow last night. I expect the film session will show the breakdowns and they will improve but the key decision will be who should be in the best line-up and personally I think it should be Caruso, KCP, Green, LeBron, and AD.
The Los Angeles Lakers would benefit from this spacing and versatility that would be needed to go against Houston.
We will see what adjustments Vogel will make Sunday night as the Lakers look to even up the series with the Houston Rockets.