Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron and AD stave off Rockets surge, 5 Lessons

The Los Angeles Lakers avoided going down 0-2 against the Houston Rockets.

The Los Angeles Lakers pull even with the Houston Rockets with a Game 2 win that was harder than it had to be. LeBron James closed out a win that had something Game 1 didn’t. A whole bunch of adjustments, Harden double teams and LeBron James 4th quarter scoring!

When a website possesses the only Los Angeles Lakers post-game report with video analysis, thoughts have to cross the mind. Do they make a difference? Is it worth the hassle of listening to Lakers Nation backlash? More importantly, does anyone from the Los Angeles Lakers actually read them?

After writing one of the more critical post games all season that covered everyone on the roster including Frank Vogel, the Los Angeles Lakers looked like a team that read the entire report, took notes and executed a 117-109 series-tying win.

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

It would have been easy for the Lakers to get complacent and look for similarities coming off a loss in their first-round series against Portland. But a special shout out to Frank Vogel (More on him later!) sending the message that the Houston Rockets and their defense will not allow a quick “Gentlemen’s Sweep”.

Plus, it didn’t hurt that James Harden provided some bulletin board material in the press conference after Game 1.

The Lakers came out the gate firing on all cylinders on both ends of the floor coming out energized and active right from the jump. The biggest difference was how they defended James Harden with constant double teams and finding the weak link.

Who in the NBA world would have thought it was Russell Westbrook, who cemented his status as a guard that flat out can’t shoot! 

Why this game wasn’t a blowout will be a concern in future games. The Lakers were well on their way to running the Rockets out of Disney World racing out to 41-21 lead. After allowing Houston to hang around with a 67-51 lead at halftime, the wheels almost fell off. The bad habits resurfaced to begin the second half.

• The 3 point perimeter defense was horrific on a 14-0 Houston run to begin the second half.
• They started fouling and got in the penalty early. We know what that means right?
• James Harden spent the quarter at the free-throw line. 
• Slow rotations to the corner 3 point area where P.J. Tucker and Robert Covington shot lights out!
• All told, the Lakers actually blew a 20 point lead and were behind for a while in the second half!

However, LeBron James made up for that scoring goose egg omelet in Game 1 by taking over the game on both sides of the floor. The “I don’t feel like going down 2-0 in this series” leadership sent the message that this is not a contender that will lay down and fade under pressure (Like the other number one seed that will remain nameless!).

Championship teams need adversity and weathering the surge the Rockets threw at them with their third-quarter lapse definitely applies.

Frank Vogel did a better job with rotations in this one, but man does he have his work cut out for him in the next few days. Not because the rotations in this game didn’t work, but because there were injuries that could be a problem in the series.

• Dion Waiters finally played his first major minutes of the series but suffered a left groin injury. 
• Vogel benched Dwight Howard to use more of the small lineup, but JaVale McGee left in the second half with ankle pain.

The Los Angeles Lakers will have Labor Day off and will see the Rockets for Game 3 on Tuesday. But for now, sit back, relax and enjoy the only Lakers in-depth post-game report with a nice cool drink!

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!

Anthony Davis got the memo for the Los Angeles Lakers! Go out be aggressive and DOMINATE!

The debates on this website when in concerns Anthony Davis is understanding the word DOMINATE! With his skill, he will always collect his stats as his 25 points and 14 rebounds in Game 1 will attest. But stats are only one part of the story. The P.J. Tucker narrative fits the bill perfectly.

The social media pundits took the AD scoring 0 points against P.J. Tucker too far. He only took one shot. What Lake Show Life criticized AD for was the aggressiveness of how he allowed Tucker to play defense. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Game 1:

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1302087256732127232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1302087256732127232%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flakeshowlife.com%2F2020%2F09%2F05%2Flos-angeles-lakers-playoffs-rockets-lessons%2F

• Watch how AD just holds the ball on the wing just giving jab steps and allowing Tucker to dictate the sequence.
• With Tucker only being 6’5, why go for the pump fakes knowing he can’t block the shot. 
• AD bails him out with a jump shot. Misses with an airball.

Game 2:

• Anthony Davis receives the pass from KCP on the wing. But notice the aggressive move with purpose instead of jab steps.
• He immediately makes his move to get Tucker on his heels playing catchup.
• The AD hits him with the spin move to get to the middle of the paint for a fadeaway jumper in rhythm in which Tucker has no chance.
• He knocks down the shot, draws the foul on Tucker.

What’s the difference?

AD went right at Tucker immediately getting into his offensive moves quickly, getting Tucker to pick up two early fouls forcing him to sit down. Then it was a BBQ chicken alert on the rest of the “Micro Ball” Rockets dropping 18 points by halftime.

On the strength of that start, Davis finished with a DOMINATING 34 points and 10 rebounds (3 offensive that led to second-chance points!), 4 assists and a block.

This is a very important Lake Show Life Lesson for Lakers fans. The Houston Rockets know exactly what this page means. They can’t stop AD in the post. P.J. Tucker can only do so much. But don’t bail the defense out shooting jump shots 17-20 feet out all night.

In Game 1, Houston dictated how AD would score. In Game 2, AD dictated the matchup and Houston will be forced to make defensive adjustments.

Lesson two will be about LeBron James. Spoiler Alert: That dude is a bad problem when he cares! Read on and see why!

LeBron James got the memo for the Los Angeles Lakers! He closed out the game like he was the best player in the world!

LeBron James is going to have to realize that he is the measuring stick for the Los Angeles Lakers championship aspirations. After taking only 15 shots in Game 1 and scoring the same amount of points as the Lake Show Life staff in the fourth quarter, comments like the Lakers needed to experience a game to understand how fast the small-ball Rockets play is so irritating.

Haven’t the Lakers played them three times already? 

But it’s games like this that bails LeBron James out from backlash.

Like Anthony Davis, LeBron James was aggressive, pushed the pace early and led the Lakers to a big lead.

But it was the start of the fourth, that James showed his worth to the Los Angeles Lakers. He played with the temperament that all superstars are supposed to play with in the playoffs. LeBron James was not going to let them lose this one. He was all over the place on defense.

Sorry, Russ…

Then carried that momentum on the fast break with Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma to eventually wear out the Houston Rockets. James ended the night with 28 points, 9 assists, 11 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks.

Lake Show Life was all over the rotations and adjustments of Frank Vogel for perceived lack of preparedness. Keep reading to see why Game 2 was a extremely different story with the James Harden report!

Frank Vogel devised a scheme for James Harden and exposed Russell Westbrook at the same time!

Sometimes when these reports are being prepared, the criticism can be strong enough that you pray that the coaches and players don’t have long memories. The Game 1 report about the coaching performance of Frank Vogel was one of those times.

Watching James Harden drop 25 points in the first half to open a playoff series can be frustrating without a double team in sight. Well, Vogel flipped the script and transferred that energy on the Rockets to open Game 2.

The Lakers opened their defensive playbook and threw multiple defensive looks at Houston.

• The Lakers hit James Harden with double teams from all angles to constantly give him different looks and forced him to give up the ball.
• They picked up both James Harden and Russell Westbrook, full court at times throwing the offense out of rhythm while adding zone defenses.
• They played off Westbrook (Kind of like what opponents do to Rajon Rondo!) that led into bricked 3 point shots and turnovers.

All of those miscues ignited fast breaks.

Frank Vogel’s coaching challenge in the third quarter turned the game around when the referees called a charge on Rajon Rondo. Not only did he win the challenge, it did these three things.

• Took away Rondo’s foul and put him on the line.
• Russell Westbrook was charged with a loose ball foul that was his 5th of the game. 
• LeBron finished the game blowing past him for buckets every time he was in front of him!

Now, did the Los Angeles Lakers play perfect defense? No. Eric Gordon will move up on the scouting report finishing with 24 points and P.J. Tucker shot 7-10 for 18 points.

However…this was a huge success for the Lakers. Why?

James Harden shot only 12 shots for the game. Six shots in each half. Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook was hearing “BRICK” every time he shot putting up 15 shots. See the difference?

Frank Vogel did the same thing to James Harden as Mike D’Antoni did to AD and LeBron in Game 1. He dictated how he scored the basketball. Sure Harden got to the line, but it was not a big a factor thanks to Westbrook’s subpar play.

The Lakers used Russell Westbrook’s aggressiveness against the Rockets!

The next lesson is about the Lakers bench. They destroyed Houston in this game! Read on to see who showed up and showed out! 

Rajon Rondo was a star in his role and a couple of bench players shocked everyone in the building!

A major key that cannot be overlooked is how the Lakers benched outscored Danuel House Jr. (Oh he was the only bench player that scored for the Rockets!) 41-13. Not only was it a dominant performance, but it was also wildly efficient. Every player that came off the bench made a huge contribution!

Kyle Kuzma:

Kyle Kuzma played the most efficient floor game of his career in 21 minutes. No lie. He scored 13 points (On 6-7 shooting!) and grabbed 6 rebounds (4 offensive!) doing exactly what the Los Angeles Lakers need for this championship run.

This game needs to be packaged for Kuzma to watch before every game the rest of the postseason. In Game 1 he allowed his frustrations to get the best of him, he was cool as a fan in this one!

Markieff Morris:

Los Angeles Lakers fans, Lake Show Life would like to introduce you to Markieff Morris. He was a free agent pick up in February. See he was the player that the Houston Rockets wasn’t prepared for. AT ALL!

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1302779660720156672

Markieff Morris was out for a late jog in Game 1, only taking one shot. No points, no rebounds, assists, blocks etc. One of Vogel’s great adjustments to small ball was putting Morris in early.

Kieff scored 12 points before he even broke a sweat! He dropped 14 points in the first quarter before Houston even knew what was going on. His shooting excellence off the bench led to an 18-4 run in the first half. He finished the night with 16 points.

Rajon Rondo:

Lake Show Life readers will never forgive the writer if Rajon Rondo was not included in this report. Lake Show Life has been all over his play this season, but the man played well in Game 2.  He set the pace taking some of the responsibilities from LeBron and actually contributed to Russell Westbrook’s struggles on defense. He even closed the first quarter in style!

Rondo finished with 10 points, 9 assists (Only one turnover!), and had 5 steals. He had a team-high plus/minus of +28 in 29 minutes. He even hit a jumper late in crunch time before James really put it away with a dagger of his own.

The final lesson leaves Lakers Nation with a warning!

The Los Angeles Lakers have to keep improving! There’s an underlying reason they won! 

Let’s be clear here. A win is a win. But as hard as it is to blame one players for a loss, the reason the Rockets lost this game was because of Russell Westbrook. This could have easily been one of the worst games of his career. If not, the most embarrassing.

This will not happen again. If it does, the Lakers can take full credit for ending his career.

The 3 point perimeter defense still needs work. Giving up 22 shots from the land of the extra point will loom large later on in the series (41.5%). It could have been more, but the Lakers caught on to the fact that Rondo could beat him in a game of H-O-R-S-E from behind the arc.

The starting guards have to contribute more!  

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green were bailed out by the bench. Bottom line. Why Frank Vogel brought them back in the 4th quarter made no sense. They were so bad, Vogel IGNORED Rondo’s minutes restriction and had him finish the game!

KCP had 5 points on 2-5 shooting. At times, it looked like he didn’t want to shoot.

Danny Green may not know it yet, but he is playing himself out of the starting lineup. If Alex Caruso could hit a jumper with any regularity (He can throw LeBron lobs with the best of them but shot 15 from the field!) he could start.

Sure, he scored 9 points on 3-6 shooting (3-5 from distance!) but the defense?

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1302793324240175104

Plays like these Lake Show Life has noticed since the team set foot in the bubble.

It’s not about shooting anymore.

Lake Show Life would like to extend a safe and Happy Labor Day. Put on your masks if you are going out. The more people that practice social distancing protocols, the sooner the Staples Center can open their doors to Lakers games!

Keep that in mind!