Robert Covington has sensational debut as Rockets stun host Lakers

Russell Westbrook scored 41 while newcomer Robert Covington stole the show late, leading Houston to a stunning road win over the Lakers.

In the debut of new forward Robert Covington, the visiting Houston Rockets stunned the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center with a 121-111 victory (box score) on Thursday night.

Russell Westbrook led the Rockets in scoring with 41 points on 17-of-28 shooting (60.7%), and he also had eight rebounds and five assists.

In accumulating those numbers, Houston’s All-Star point guard made personal history by becoming just the third NBA player in league history to have 20,000 points, 7.000 assists, and 6,000 rebounds for his career.

[lawrence-related id=24233]

But it was Covington, who was acquired via trade only a day earlier, who became the biggest story as the undersized Rockets won yet again. Over the past 11 days, Houston is now 5-0 without a traditional center, and they’re 11-1 for the 2019-20 season in games without Clint Capela.

Without as much as a single practice with his new team, Covington scored 14 points off the bench on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range (57.1%), including two dagger 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter. He also had eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks.

The Rockets were +16 in Covington’s 30 minutes, representing the best plus/minus figure of any player on either team. Covington finished the game in Houston’s closing lineup alongside P.J. Tucker at center and the usual three guards of Westbrook, James Harden, and Eric Gordon.

[lawrence-related id=24198]

The Rockets (33-18) have now won seven of nine games overall, and it’s their first win of the 2019-20 season against the Lakers (38-12), who have the best record in the Western Conference.

Despite having some combination of the 6-foot-5 Tucker, 6-foot-7 Covington and 6-foot-6 Danuel House Jr. playing at power forward and center, Houston only lost the rebounding battle against Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and the much larger Lakers by a 38-37 margin.

Covington and Westbrook led the Rockets on the glass with eight rebounds apiece, while Harden added seven.

What may have been most encouraging for the Rockets is that Harden, who leads the NBA in scoring this season, didn’t even play that well.

In 35 minutes and facing constant double teams and traps, Harden scored just 14 points on 3-of-10 (30%) shooting. He did have seven assists.

But between Westbrook’s 41, Covington’s late heroics, and eight combined 3-pointers by Gordon (15 points) and Tucker (11 points), the Rockets still had enough offense to knock off the host Lakers.

Overall, the Rockets made 19-of-42 shots (45.2%) from 3-point range as a team. That became a significant math problem for the larger Lakers, who connected on just 9-of-31 (29.0%) of their 3-pointers.

With Covington and Tucker on the front line in lieu of a traditional center, the more versatile Rockets appeared to have much easier time on defense with regards to switching and contesting 3-point shots.

Davis led the Lakers in defeat with 32 points, 13 assists, and three blocks, while James had 18 points and a game-high 15 assists. Houston’s defense held Los Angeles to just 18 points in the fourth and final quarter, while the Rockets scored 30 on offense to put the game away.

Houston returns to action Friday night at Phoenix (20-31), with Westbrook unavailable due to planned maintenance on the second half of a back-to-back. The game tips off at 8 p.m. Central time.

[lawrence-related id=24187]