Heading into Sunday night’s home game against the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, several members of the Houston Rockets suggested that it would be a test to see where the team stands.
In the first of two straight games between the teams, things clearly didn’t go as planned. Led by 27 points (75% shooting) from Anthony Davis, the Lakers won at Toyota Center, 120-102 (box score). James Harden had 20 points and nine assists for the Rockets, while Christian Wood scored a team-high 23 points. Both shot 50% from the field.
LeBron James added 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists for the Lakers (8-3), who led by 19 points at halftime and pushed it to as large as 27 early in the third quarter. While Houston (3-5) did eventually make some runs, the deficit proved too large to overcome versus the NBA’s best.
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In postgame interviews with Harden, Wood, and head coach Stephen Silas, themes of poor transition defense (27 transition points allowed in the first half, when Los Angeles scored 65 as a team) and subpar 3-point shooting (12-of-41, or 29.3%) were frequently cited. Here’s a roundup of Houston’s reaction to the first of two games with the Lakers.
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