HOUSTON — The Los Angeles Lakers’ defense late in Monday night’s potential playoff preview left Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant searching for solutions.
The Lakers, who are optimistic they are in the process of carving out a defensive identity after struggling on that end of the court most of the season, threw a steady diet of double-teams at Durant in the fourth quarter. The results were disastrous for the Rockets, who committed nine turnovers while scoring only 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting in the final frame, allowing the Lakers to extend their winning streak to six games with a 100-92 victory at the Toyota Center.
“I just felt like I lost the game for us tonight,” said Durant, who scored only two of his 18 points in the second half and committed seven of the Rockets’ 24 turnovers. “It’s that simple. Of course we probably could make more 3s, but it’s on me. I mean, to be honest, I’m the offense and the opposing team is going to use all their resources and not let me get comfortable.
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“First half, I got comfortable in iso, comfortable coming off of pindowns, pick-and-rolls, and they decided not to let me get comfortable no more. So I got to be smarter, better with the ball. I got to maybe shoot over some of them double-teams, but space out, be ready to catch and shoot, be ready to be a screener, just be in a dunker spot, just being able to be there as a resource for my teammates to provide space. I didn’t need to have the ball as much as I did tonight.”
The Lakers (43-25) increased their cushion over the Rockets (41-16) to 1½ games in the fight for the third seed in the Western Conference. Houston, which hosts the Lakers again Wednesday night, is only a half-game ahead of the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Houston has frequently struggled late in games when teams force the ball out of Durant’s hands by sending a second defender at him while he handles the ball at the top of the offense, prompting the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history to suggest that maybe he needs to “just get out of the way” and spot up in the corner to space the floor in those situations.
The Lakers’ defensive tenacity, on the other hand, is a recent development.
Los Angeles ranks 20th in the league in defensive efficiency, giving up 115.7 points per 100 possessions. But the Lakers have shown drastic defensive improvement while winning nine of their past 10 games, including victories over several playoff teams. The Lakers have given up 109.3 points per 100 possessions during that span, which ranks sixth in the league.
A dominant defensive effort was necessary to win Monday night, when the Lakers sputtered offensively aside from Luka Doncic scoring 36 points on 14-of-27 shooting. In the second half, Los Angeles held Houston to 35 points and forced 15 turnovers, overcoming the Lakers’ own offensive woes (8-of-34 3-point shooting for the game).
“It’s something that we’ve struggled with earlier in the season,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I think that shows the commitment that our guys have right now to that end of the floor, understanding we’re going to win with both sides of the ball. We won a lot of games with the orfensive side of the ball, and we’ve shown, I think, now — whether it’s been the Knicks game, the Wolves game, this game — we can beat good teams with defense.”
Doncic interrupted Austin Reaves from the neighboring locker to offer a sarcastic answer to a question about the key to the Lakers’ defensive success.
“Luka locking that s— up!” Doncic quipped.
In the interview room later, Doncic attributed the Lakes’ defensive improvement to “effort and communication.”
“That’s what good teams do,” Doncic said. “Not every day you’re going to have a great day shooting the ball.”
Rockets All-Star center Alperen Sengun sat out because of lower back pain, eliminating Houston’s second-leading scorer from the equation, simplifying the strategy of sending double-teams at Durant. The Lakers adjusted their strategy of doubling Durant in the second half. As Redick said, they opted to “fire” instead of blitzing him, waiting until Durant dribbled to send the second defender.
“I got to be smarter, better with the ball. I got to maybe shoot over some of them double-teams, but space out, be ready to catch and shoot, be ready to be a screener, just be in a dunker spot, just being able to be there as a resource for my teammates to provide space. I didn’t need to have the ball as much as I did tonight.”
Kevin Durant
“He’s one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen play obviously, so you’ve just got to try to show him different looks, try to keep him off balance,” said Lakers star LeBron James, who had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including a few spectacular dunks to finish fast breaks. “And when he shoots, hope he misses. He don’t miss many shots. So I thought we did a good job of having a game plan, but also just switching up our pitches. Can’t show a great like that too many of the same coverages just throughout the whole game.”
Durant finished 8-of-16 from the field but only 1-of-5 in the second half, when he committed six of his seven turnovers. He expressed doubt about whether the Rockets benefited from him being the primary ball handler down the stretch of games, considering how the Rockets have struggled when he gets doubled.
“I just feel like it just makes us stagnant,” Durant said. “When I come across half [court] and then they waited on me to drive, but I know they’re coming to double, so I wait a split second. I just think the whole process is too slow. And I just think that it’s all on me, because the team, when they see me, it just feels like one-on-five, to be honest. You know what I’m saying? Because I see two guys coming up out the corner to help at the elbows and guys at the boxes. It’s almost like a zone when I get the ball up top. When I try to post up anywhere, it’s going to be double-teams. So I’m just trying to find out ways to open myself up, open my teammates up.”
