When Pete makes a statement like “Harrell easily, that’s why we prioritized him well ahead of Ibaka,” remember Pete now WORKS for the Lakers and does podcasts with Mike Trudell, who also WORKS for the Lakers. This is not speculation, it’s INSIDE INFORMATION. Treat it with respect.
5 Things: Lakers tie the series, your move…Rockets.
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September 7, 2020 2 Comments
Thanks, Jaime. I love Desmond Dekker.
Great game and great win.
Man, withstanding this kind of 3 point barrage from the Rockets is like surving a 7.5 earhquake on a Richter scale. That was insane. The barrage of 3s was so intense in the third quarter the Lakers almost got rattled and lose hope. You could tell by their body language during a time-out, but I am glad they did not quit and instead stuck to their game plan. Had it not been for that hot shooting, it would have been a blowout win for the Lakers.
The Rockets have a constellation of shooters orbiting James Harden who is an underrated passer. Harden is good at passing out of the double team which gives way for their shooters to have a field day. My gut feeling is to limit how much they double team him and focus more on scrambling to stop the shooters. It’s been said many times that the 3 pointer is greater than the 2. Stopping the 3 point shooters wil help stop any bleeding that cuts down on our leads. Let Harden do his scoring until he gets tired. I can live with that.
On the other hand, shooting 3s at this high clip is not sustainable as Michael H pointed out in his post. I knew these blazing hot Houstonian Rockets would eventually tire out and come back down to earth. That’s why in the 4th quater you could tell their legs were tired and their shots were not going to go in either.
It took a village, but the Lakers proved they are not going let the Rockets steal their lunch money.
Despite all my recent criticism for Vogel, I was happy to see that he finally conceded that replacing Howard with Morris was a necessary move when playing against the unique small ball style of the Rockets. Of course, he followed that up by proclaiming the McGee and Howard were still going to be major factors in the series. Sometimes, it’s like he’s inhabited by the ghost of Byron Scott.