Game 3, Rockets vs. Lakers: How to watch and what to look for

“You always make little adjustments, but the biggest one was we just weren’t playing hard, Houston coach Mike D’Antoni said after Game 2.

As the Houston Rockets see it, the biggest adjustment they have to make for Tuesday night’s Game 3 isn’t a tactical, Xs and Os chess move.

Instead, it’s simply playing hard for all 48 minutes.

With the second-round playoff series now tied, 1-1, after a win by the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2, much of the postgame discussion centered on a new zone implemented by the Lakers after Game 1. That flustered the Rockets early in the game, with the Lakers leading by 16 points after the first quarter and by as many as 21 in the first half.

But Houston rallied to score 72 points in just the second and third quarters, and they hit over 40% of their 3-pointers as a team versus the zone. Excluding Russell Westbrook, who made just 1-of-7 on 3-pointers, the rest of the Rockets shot a blistering 21-of-46 (45.7%) on their treys.

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As such, head coach Mike D’Antoni and superstar guard James Harden aren’t overly worried, from a tactical perspective. They’re mostly focused on making sure that the team is ready to go from the outset.

D’Antoni said:

You always make little adjustments but the biggest one was we just weren’t playing hard. What we’re doing works, it’s not gonna work if we don’t play hard enough. That was the biggest adjustment.

We always do the little things — try to get the guy in the middle of the zone, try to break double teams with the right guys — and we talk about it. When you play hard and your mind’s straight, it’s easy to make the right plays.

Harden added:

It wasn’t the zone. They just came out and played harder than us, I felt like. Finally, in the second half, we woke up. We took the lead. We’ve just got to have that intensity from the beginning of the game, and we’ll be alright.

They caught us off guard, but I think later in the game, we did a pretty good job. We just weren’t aggressive enough, and we didn’t attack their zone enough. We gave them confidence, and they started making shots. That’s it.

Other priorities for the Rockets in Game 3:

Can they get Westbrook going? Westbrook shot just 4-of-15 in Game 2, and he also had seven turnovers. “Right now, I’m just running around,” the All-Star guard said postgame. “I’ve got to look at film and figure out how to be effective.” D’Antoni and Harden each expressed confidence that Westbrook would be able to work through his issues.

Can P.J. Tucker stay out of foul trouble? Tucker had 18 points and 11 rebounds in Game 2, and the Rockets were +18 in the 34 minutes he played. They were -26 in the 14 that he did not. Those 14 minutes included a pivotal first-half run by the Lakers that pushed the lead as high as 21. That run came after Tucker went to the bench with two fouls.

Which version of the Lakers’ bench is the real one? LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 62 points and 21 rebounds in Game 2 on better than 60% shooting, but that isn’t too surprising from the All-Star duo. After all, led by two future Hall of Famers, the Lakers had the best regular-season record (52-19) in the Western Conference for a reason.

The Rockets did give up 20 more points in Game 2 (117) than Game 1 (97), perhaps reflecting the early foul trouble for Tucker and the apparent inability of anyone else on the roster to limit Davis. The Rockets could also use Tucker to defend LeBron more frequently — but if they make that adjustment, it’s hard to imagine who could be trusted on AD.

What was most surprising, though, was Markieff Morris and Kyle Kuzma combining for 29 points on 12-of-15 shooting (80%). In a Game 1 loss, Morris and Kuzma scored just eight on 3-of-10 shooting (30%).

Rajon Rondo was also much improved in Game 2 with 10 points, nine assists, and five steals, and the Lakers were +28 (best of any player in the game) in his 29 minutes. In Game 1, Rondo had eight points (33% FG) and four assists, and the Lakers were -10 in his 25 minutes.

Will Ben McLemore get a look? McLemore has played only seven minutes combined in the first two games of the series. But for the season overall, he’s the best 3-point shooter on the Houston roster at 40.0%. If the Lakers continue to play zone and trap Harden, the Rockets might need McLemore’s shooting to make them pay for that strategy.

Will Houston’s shooters stay hot? Westbrook should play better after a disastrous showing in Game 2. If the Rockets are able to combine that with the shooting seen Sunday from the supporting cast, they should be golden. After all, they led by five points late in the third quarter and only lost by eight, all with Westbrook playing poorly. The optimist’s case would be that Houston’s hot shooting figures were due to the unique zone and trapping strategies from the Lakers, which gave the Rockets great looks.

The pessimist’s case is that even against air, it’s hard to shoot as well as the Rockets did Sunday… and they still lost. Excluding Westbrook, every other Rockets starter (Harden, Tucker, Robert Covington, and Eric Gordon) all shot at least 50% on 3-pointers, and all at high volume of seven or more attempts. That’s unlikely to repeat itself too often.

Thus, the Rockets need to offset any shooting decline from those players in other ways. Perhaps Westbrook can finally get going. Maybe it’s McLemore providing additional shooting off the bench. The Rockets can also work to get more looks for Harden, whose shot attempts (against the zone and traps) fell from 20 in Game 1 to 12 in Game 2. He was still efficient, making 50% of his shots, but the raw number could rise.

Whatever the case, it’s crucial that the Rockets find the answers quickly. With the series now tied, 1-1, the winner of Game 3 gets an important leg up. “I didn’t think we were going to sweep them,” D’Antoni said after Sunday’s Game 2. “Now, it’s a best-of-five series.”

Game 3 between the Rockets and Lakers is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. Central tip-off on Tuesday, with a national TV broadcast on TNT.

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