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That felt like two games. It was, of course, only one. Pretty sure there hasn’t been a same-team double-header since…maybe ever? Barn-storming era? At any rate, two very different halves of basketball. Not going to get into the superlative performances of individual Lakers, just some in-game and out-of-game thoughts this evening.

1. This is Laker defense, and they ain’t foolin’ around. Now with more audibles from Rondo!!! Truth be told it’s a cliche’ because it’s true: defense wins championships. The Rockets talk about it (they kind of have to, it’s a huge question mark for them) but the Lakers walk-the-walk. I’ve been pretty hard on Rondo this season but with good reason: he’s been pretty underwhelming in totality as a Laker. The caveat being that there have been stretches in all of the season’s he’s been wearing purple and gold where he played like how I remember in the NBA Finals versus Boston…all those years ago… Hard, with focus, with guys like Kevin Garnett, Tony Allen, and you add stars Ray Allen and Paul Pierce buying in, covering for one another with ferocity. That’s how the Lakers played defense in the second half tonight when they slow-pulled away for the win.
2. By the way, how the hell are the Lakers winning games?! Houston is shooting threes at a ridiculously efficient rate (although it could, somehow, be argued they ought to maybe shoot a couple, three more), they’re making a ton of free throws (and will probably gripe that they should be shooting more), and they’re forcing us into a ton of mid-range jump shots. It’s not like we’ve shot more free throws (65 to 64) or we’re dominating the FGA battle (244-237). We’re scoring more efficiently (thank you Anthony Davis mid-range jump shot), making more plays off the pass and dominating in the paint.
3. Vogel adapting like a lazy Borg. But he is adapting. Benching Howard for two straight, starting Markieff Morris in the second half (although one wonders if that was as much. The defensive adjustments to what the Rockets are trying to do are solid, especially the traps. The help defense from the weak-side has been especially devastating. A lot of that is on the players making great reads, but the traps, zones, and man-to-man switches are all things the coaching staff has worked with the guys on all season and it’s showing in the clutch.
4. The Laker bench showing up huge in this series. If you’ve been listening to the podcasts Gerald has been producing for Lakers Fast Break and sharing here then you know Mike D’Antoni likes a short bench, especially in the playoffs. Our bench, much maligned and often the source of trade proposals, has been walloping Houston. Losing Danuel House for undisclosed reasons was a blow for the Rockets and here’s hoping Robert Covington isn’t seriously hurt after colliding (with an unintentional little push from Kyle). but still the Laker bench has been solid on both ends and it’s one of the keys to us being up 2-1 in the series. Caruso and Kuzma, both in their first NBA playoffs ever, are distinguishing themselves well. It’s not like they’re playing like All Stars, they’re not. But they’re holding their respective roles down like true pros and it gives Vogel more time to rest guys during the game so they’re a little fresher for the 4th.
5. Speaking of fresh, the lack of any kind meaningful home court takes it’s toll. It must be like trying to solo insanely while shooting a video in a room full of people doing other things. Really odd stuff for a professional basketball player. It feels like not only did the long layoff throw some wrenches in the cogs for teams like Milwaukee and Philadelphia, of whom we all expected more, but for a team like Houston that has a short bench, was just in an unexpectedly long series, got little guys having to bang with bigger guys a lot more, the lack of crowd energy is just one thing too many to overcome. Not sure how one would go about discovering the truth of that notion. At any rate, I can;t recall a playoffs where the game that a “home” team has lost or an “away” team has won has meant less. Tonight the Lakers took back their home court advantage. Whee.

Soooooo if you’re into prediction I’m calling game 2 for Houston, they tie the series up and we win the next two to move on. I wouldn’t mind being wrong, but I’d love to see the Lakers have a liiiiittle less of a layoff for the next round. It’s likely to be a tough Clippers squad that honestly feels like it’s never approached it’s ceiling as team. Honestly, it might never this season as it’s been such a jambalaya of a rotation. At any rate, feels like we don’t have too many rust games to burn. But we’re not there, yet, game 4 is Thursday.