Los Angeles Lakers lose opening game to Houston Rockets, 5 Lessons

The Los Angeles Lakers are down 0-1 to the Houston Rockets.

The Los Angeles Lakers finally got their second-round opponent in the Houston Rockets on Friday night. Now they just want a do-over after getting blown out in the opening game in the Western Conference semifinals. Lake Show Life looks at this game and reminisces over some very controversial articles in Lake Show Life Lessons!

The Los Angeles Lakers went into Friday’s game with the media attention and assumptions (Lake Show Life included!) that the Houston Rockets would get blown out of the gym much like the Denver Nuggets did against the Los Angeles Clippers. Both the Rockets and Nuggets played seven games down to the last second right? Only two things the media left out of the equation.

1. The Houston Rockets are not the Denver Nuggets.
2. The Los Angeles Lakers are not the Los Angeles Clippers. 

For the next 48 hours, the Lakers media will try to put the makeup on the pig and come with excuses for the proverbial egg the Lakers laid in this bad blowout.

• Oh, the Lakers had five days between the last game of their first-round series and the first game of their second-round series.
• Oh, they were rusty!
• Frank Vogel has to get his rotations straight now that Rajon Rondo is back! 

Okay, it’s reality time. The Los Angeles Lakers got their basketball stolen from them along with their basketball shoes getting whipped by the Houston Rockets 112-97 in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Please don’t compare this loss to the one against Portland.

The Blazers were just riding a wave of the “Dame Zone” behind Damian Lillard. The Houston Rockets physically outworked the number one seed in the Western Conference.

These post-game reports always include the trappings of social media setting up Lakers fans with ridiculous narratives that come back to bite in the end. Are we saying that the Rockets will win the series? No. But keep drinking the Kool-Aid with tweets like these.

It’s real cute before the games start. But when the Rockets outscore the Lakers in the paint, which is embarrassing considering the Lakers’ size compared to the Rockets’ micro ball built roster, these things look silly.

Now that the Lakers are now playing the postseason’s top defense (Yeah, Lake Show Life was SHOCKED too!), it’s not a good look to have porous defensive rotations while letting James Harden light it up for 25 points in the first half!

Doesn’t James Harden like lead the NBA in scoring or something? Three years in a row? 30-plus points?

This Lake Show Life Lessons piece will trigger a lot of fans. Why? All of the analysis in the world won’t cover the fact that the Houston Rockets punched the Los Angeles Lakers in the mouth and the game was over by the 4th quarter. The “Micro Ball” Rockets exposed the same issues the Lakers packed for Orlando.

• The starting guards (No check that, all of them!) can’t stop dribble penetration.
• KCP and Danny Green at times, continue to donate bricks to the construction efforts to build Florida highways.
• 3 point perimeter defense is still bad! The Rockets shot 14-39.
• The defense always lets a few players go crazy in the game (The Rockets had three!).

The Lakers coaching staff has work to do if they want to even this series on Sunday. This team is nowhere near the Portland Trail Blazers. The Rockets are a better team and have shown that they will compete and take pride in their match up with the Lakers.

Think this is a game? Go ask the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo what execution and hard play can do for your opponent. Throw that in with a maniacal star in Jimmy Butler, it can add up to problems. Houston has their own version in Russell Westbrook.

To the new Los Angeles Lakers fans that are checking us out for the first time, welcome to Lake Show Life Lessons. An extended post-game report with video analysis.

Over the next several pages we will provide highlights of certain players and coaches. Afterward, the comment section is loaded with knowledgeable fans adding their basketball knowledge. We usually start with the stars.

Let’s get to Lesson One!

LeBron James had highlights but disappeared when the street lights came on!

Most NBA pundits assumed that the superstars knew they would have to dominate their match-ups to have championship aspirations. But there’s a phrase out there connected to assumptions.

One of the superstars in LeBron James started out like he wanted to make a statement. This dunk on Russell Westbrook was so nasty, the writer didn’t want to call Russ’ mama, he wanted to call his own!

• After running the lanes hard, he received a pocket pass from Alex Caruso and jumped so high to dunk on Westbrook there was a petition to put his silhouette on Houston uniforms next year. 
• No, it wasn’t a charge even though Russ was shoved back to the backboard support.
• JaVale McGee’s reaction? Pretty much anyone else that saw the play!

For two and a half quarters, this looked like the LeBron James that played in Miami. Just look at him pick on Russell Westbrook again!

• Lake Show Life keeps warning Lakers opponents that you have to dunk the basketball against this bunch. Layups…We’ve heard the scoop and it’s not the move troop. Sadly, Russ hasn’t read our material yet.
• Russell Westbrook starts a 2-on-1 fast break with LeBron in pursuit. There’s not many players alive that can catch Russ on a fastbreak. LeBron catches him and pins his lay-up to the backboard with two hands.
• Then he starts his own fast break back the other way and sends Robert Covington to the same area as Westbrook (Breaking News to Lake Show Life…LeBron James is a strong dude!) drawing the foul!

Exciting highlights huh? Don’t mean much in a blowout. In the first half, admittedly he didn’t get much help from his teammates. Don’t worry, he evened things up quite nicely because he didn’t help his teammates much in the 4th quarter.

LeBron finished with 20 points (7-15 shooting 2-7 from distance!), 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks. The staff could be wrong, but James scored the same amount of points in the last frame as the staff did putting this together with the Rockets running away with a 16-3 run.

Lake Show Life and LeBron James fans have a love/hate relationship. Why? Because we hold LeBron to the same standard that the media exults him to. Highlights are not enough no matter how good they look. He did not dominate. He was not one of the top two players on the floor.

The Rockets will take these numbers for the rest of the series. The Los Angeles Lakers can’t afford them.

Lesson two was given out a couple of weeks ago by David Grubb about Anthony Davis. He warned Lakers fans that there would days like this. Read on to see what Grubb said and what he meant!

Anthony Davis was controlled by the Rockets! Don’t let the stats fool you!

Watching Anthony Davis play games like this is wildly irritating. Game 1 brought the staff back to two important articles concerning Anthony Davis.

One being a Lake Show Life Lessons post-game report after a seeding loss.

• Los Angeles Lakers are officially in offensive peril in loss to Rockets

The other being an interview feature with David Grubb breaking down Anthony Davis’ shortcomings.

• Los Angeles Lakers: Can Anthony Davis really handle the pressure?

For all of the skills that AD possesses, there are players that do not fear him. We asked David Grubb for his opinion weeks ago.

David Grubb:

"Why should they be intimidated? He isn’t physical. He isn’t aggressive, and he’s content being LeBron’s little brother. Has it not been a consistent theme this season that once LeBron leaves the floor, the Lakers immediately struggle? They aren’t as good defensively, and you can’t run the offense through him."

Lake Show Life followed that up with this.

"In the playoffs, especially with the shooting M.I.A., physicality will be a constant for Davis. It will start next round if the Lakers play the Rockets because Tucker constantly bangs him and roughs him up."

Film don’t lie, Lakers fans.

This ain’t it folks. Davis was nowhere near aggressive in this game and the Rockets dictated how he played. To put this in perspective, James Harden guarded him one on one with no help. Did AD score? Sure. But he didn’t take the ball to the hole with any regularity and attack the rim. He only had 4 free throw attempts.

Sure the stat line reads 25 points, 14 rebounds (2 offensive!), 3 steals and 3 blocks, but like with LeBron, he did not dominate.

• James Harden was the best player.
• Russell Westbrook was the most aggressive (But it’s Saturday right? Nothing new!)
• Eric Gordon was most impactful!

The Houston Rockets will send room service over every night if AD stands and shoots mid-range jumpers all night. AD needs to take the ball to the rim more than once a half for the Lakers to succeed.

With Lakers fans constantly worrying about James Harden and his progress, Lake Show Life will have updates all series on the defensive progress. Lesson three deals with that!

The Los Angeles Lakers did very little to stop James Harden, especially in the first half!

It’s games like these that make fans wonder what in the world does this team does in its downtime. Sure, you have to get away from hoops a little, but the team played two games in 11 days. Whatever the scenario, there’s this nasty rumor going around that James Harden is the best scorer in the NBA over the last three years. Maybe the scoring championships are a clue.

But find anywhere in the highlights, where there was a double team? Look hard now!

James Harden dismantled every person put in front of him in game 1. Is this the players’ fault? Partly. But this isn’t little league…double teams are allowed.

James Harden put on a clinic scoring 25 points in the first half on his way to a robust 36 for the night. If Eric Gordon hadn’t gone crazy in the 4th, the “Beard” could have sniffed 50. The Lakers defended him like he had skipped a few showers.

This was an efficient shooting night too. 12-20 from the field (3-6 from distance!) while adding 5 assists was quite a night. It wasn’t those flopping type of plays to get him to the line that is complained about around the league. This was a skilled whipping folks.

The next lesson is about the players that were supposed to be checking him. Read on! 

The Los Angeles Lakers guards were bad! Alex Caruso? Got into foul trouble!

Going into the series, the general conversation among our regular readers was concerning Harden and the Rockets possibly catching fire from behind the 3-point line. That wasn’t the case on Friday.

The Rockets shot 35.9% in 3 pointers on 39 attempts. Trust, Mike D’Antoni is not happy with that number. He wants 50 shots from behind the arc. Why was the number so low? The Lakers guards cannot stay in front of the Rockets guards and that includes Austin Rivers.

The other problem is that the Lakers guards all reminded the NBA world, they can’t shoot 3 point shots.  Shooting 28.9% on 38 attempts as a team is a recipe for disaster if Anthony Davis wants to shoot 15-17 footers all night.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope:

In 28 minutes, KCP scored 5 points on 2-8 shooting (1-5 from distance!) with 3 rebounds and a steal. This is not good and if the starting Rockets guards combination can score a combined 83 points, why is he starting again? Don’t worry he wasn’t the worst backcourt starter.

Danny Green:

This really wouldn’t be so bad if Green hadn’t literally called out some Lakers fans for cyberbullying and dis-inviting them to the championship parade this week. Green ended up with 10 points on 4-12 shooting (2-7 from the 3 point line!) with 2 rebounds. What’s worse? He scored 5 points early in the game hitting his first two shots. The defense? Let’s put it this way. Close your eyes. What do you see? Nothing? Moving on!

Alex Caruso:

Alex Caruso was on his way to a good scoring night. When he received this pass in the corner, Caruso was on his way to “Cash Money” with 7 points early. 

Then he took a bad foul stopping a Houston fast break that saddled him with his 3rd foul and he was done for the first half. He never could shake foul trouble after that. He only played 16 minutes tallying 14 points with 4 assists and a couple of offensive rebounds. He has got to stay out of foul trouble. He was the only guard that wasn’t embarrassed on the court.

Rajon Rondo:

Before the Danny Green bad play debates started carrying the conversation (Literally!) on this website, the spotlight before the NBA shutdown was specifically on Rajon Rondo. Lake Show Life basically predicted that if Rondo averaged over 20 minutes in the playoffs, the Lakers wouldn’t make it past the second round.

• Los Angeles Lakers: How Rajon Rondo will kill any NBA Finals chances!

Well, Rajon Rondo played 25 minutes, scoring 8 points (On 3-9 shooting!), grabbing 3 rebounds while handing out 4 assists to the Lakers and 4 turnovers to the Rockets. His plus/minus was a -10. 

Look, this is a case where Lake Show Life prays this prediction is wrong (Folks, the draft coverage is much more boring than covering the Finals!), but it’s not a good look when  defenders literally run AWAY from Rondo when he shoots. Just saying!

Dion Waiters only got 5 minutes on the floor and J.R. Smith looks like he will be modeling Lakers warm-up gear for awhile.

The final lesson is about the coaching staff. Oh they have to be discussed too. 

Frank Vogel looked unprepared and the in-game rotations were poor!

This wouldn’t be as bad if the Los Angeles Lakers had won the first meeting after Houston shipped out Clint Capela and started “Micro Ball”. Only the Lakers were beaten quite soundly.

This wouldn’t be as bad if the Los Angeles Lakers had beaten the Rockets in the seeding games. Only the Lakers were blown out. Russell Westbrook didn’t play. Eric Gordon didn’t shoot well and James Harden went crazy.

Fun fact: The Houston Rockets ran away in the 4th quarter with Harden not scoring at all.

You’d think the Los Angeles Lakers would start using their size. They didn’t. The question is, What is the coaching staff going to do?

Will Frank Vogel play JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard more? Check that, are McGee and Howard even in his plans? If he does, when? He didn’t on Friday.

Markieff Morris got 9 minutes on the floor and one shot. One shot less and he joins the NBA Cares YMCA aerobics class. The Clippers’ Reggie Jackson is the class instructor playing 13 minutes getting no stats against the Nuggets the night before.

The Houston Rockets are not going to change outside of shooting more 3 point shots. 

• There’s no way James Harden should be allowed to guard your best player in Anthony Davis without collecting any fouls.
• The teams can’t finish with 41 rebounds apiece.
• The Lakers can’t hand over 27 points off of turnovers.
• Don’t wait until James Harden goes nuts to try a double team. 

Finally, this series will come down to the backcourts. If Frank Vogel is hell-bent on getting Rondo minutes while allowing KCP and Danny Green to chaperone lay-up lines for Harden, Gordon and Westbrook, the seismic shock in the Eastern Conference will show up in the Western Conference real quick.

In short, the Los Angeles Lakers have work to do before they play again on Sunday.