THE BUBBLE — Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Elmer Fudd must have been in the ride gettin’ high when they put the Lakers’ game plan together for Game 1 against the Rockets. Frank Vogel couldn’t have purposely put it together. Tell me that he was tied up in a Brooklyn basement when when it was going down. That would make more sense.
What’s THEE point in showing up with a bigger team to play the fastest and probably the most athletic small ball team on the planet if you weren’t going to use your length and athleticism to beat them?
When the smoke finally cleared the Rockets were walking off of the court like George Jefferson moving on up with a 112-97 pasting of the Lakers. They literally forced LA to play their game. They swarmed on defense and got up and down the floor like some gangstgas.
They forced the Lakers into turning the rock over 17 times scoring 27 points off of those turnovers. They’re 11-0 this season when they score 25 points or more off of turnovers according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.
They had the Lakers so shook that they forgot that they were bigger than they were. Instead of Anthony Davis taking advantage of the mismatch all night with Harden guarding him every time he posted up. The dun was settling for jump shots.
There were at least six possessions in a row that AD got the rock, leaned on Harden guarding him and he turned around and pulled up. It was crazy!! LeBron can get to the rack at will and he was shooting threes! Incredible!!!
Then all of a sudden at the beginning of the fourth quarter Frank Vagel pulled a Pookie from New Jack City and pulled all of his clothes off foamin’ at the mouth and inserted a lineup he hadn’t tried all season.
The dun put LeBron, Rondo, Dwight Howard, Kyle Kuzma and Markieff Morris on the floor together. In the first 2 minutes and 57 second of the final period the Rockets went on a 12-3 to shoot the already bald tires off of the hooptie the Lakers were already trailing them in all night.
LeBron had this to say in the post-game, “Whoever is on the floor, we got to do a better job of executing. And EG (Eric Gordon) came in in the fourth quarter and sparked them on the offensive end. Getting to the line. Getting into the paint. Making shots. And we didn’t get any to fall for us. So we got to do a better job of that.”
The Rockets were in complete control the entire night. Even during runs the Lakers made to either tie it or lead momentarily. They were the Alpha dogs on the floor.
Houston’s athleticism and speed kept the Lakers at bay and uncomfortable all night. Now we all understand that it’s a best of 7 series so LA has time to re-work the game plan. However, they’ve got to make sure Mickey, Donald and Elmer aren’t drawing it up because that foolishness they had last night will get them run out of the gym again.
There’s no answer for James Harden so let that dun do what he’s going to do. They’ve got to contain the rest of them though. They can’t let both Harden and Westbrook get loose and then let EG and PJ Tucker get their confidence going too. It would be a wrap. Up next Game 2 on Sunday.
Playas Thesaurus:
- Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.