Mike D’Antoni, James Harden sense ‘desperation’ in Lakers defense

“It’s a desperation thing. I’m not a big believer in it,” D’Antoni said. “I think offensively, we should kill it. We didn’t last night.”

The unique combination of zone defenses and trapping utilized in Game 2 by the Los Angeles Lakers against James Harden showed “desperation,” according to Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni.

The Lakers won Game 2 to tie the series, but the Rockets said at Monday’s team practice that they’re confident they will have the right adjustments by Tuesday’s pivotal Game 3 of the second-round matchup.

“We know how to attack it,” D’Antoni said of the defenses shown in Game 2. “We showed them examples [in film study] of when they did it right. It’s just a matter of trying to make those decisions on the run.”

D’Antoni called it a “desperation thing,” and noted that the Rockets had seen it several times against Harden during the 2019-20 regular season.

Different teams have tried it, definitely. We showed them a couple things that we could have done a little bit better.

But at the same time, it’s a desperation thing. I’m not a big believer in it. I think offensively, we should kill it. We didn’t last night. Missed some shots, and didn’t really get into the spots we talked about. But we’ll do a better job against it the next time.

Even after trailing by 21 points early, the Rockets rallied to lead by as many as five in the second half and only lost by single digits.

When Harden, an All-Star guard and MVP finalist, was asked whether the team could sense the opponent’s desperation, he responded:

Of course. We’re so good, that teams have got to throw in traps, or throw in zones, or whatnot. We’ve just got to do what we do. A zone or a trap, it kind of gets us more excited, because we’re going to have more shot opportunities. Guys around me and Russ are going to have more opportunities to get going offensively.

That’s what we want. Because offensively, me and Russ are able to get any shot we want to at any time. We watched film of the traps and the zones and things like that, ways that we can attack it, and tomorrow we’ll be better at it.

Houston’s offense did improve progressively as Game 2 moved along, with the Rockets scoring a combined 72 points in the second and third quarters after posting just 20 in the first quarter.

“They caught us off guard, but I think later in the game, we did a pretty good job of it,” Harden said after Game 2, when asked about the early struggles against defenses called by Lakers coach Frank Vogel. “We just weren’t aggressive enough, and we didn’t attack their zone enough.”

On Monday, both D’Antoni and Harden acknowledged that the 117 points allowed by the Rockets in Sunday’s 117-109 loss were too many. (When the Rockets won Game 1, they gave up just 97 points.)

But as they see it, attacking the zones and fixing the defense are related — since many of Houston’s 17 turnovers were of the live-ball variety, which set the Lakers up for easy transition points. Harden explains:

I think turning the ball over, and giving them away too many opportunities in transition, is something that we can correct. That’s what they’re really good at. We just need more poise, offensively. … The more we can make any team play against our halfcourt defense, we’ll have a chance.

D’Antoni largely concurred with that assessment. “We turned it over,” he said. “We fueled their fast break. That’s one thing we can’t do.”

Russell Westbrook led the way with seven turnovers, and Harden said that he spent time with Westbrook on Sunday night discussing ways in which both of them could be better on the court.

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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