5 Talking points from the LA Lakers' 99-98 victory over the Houston Rockets

Steve Blake of the Los Angeles Lakers hits the winning shot over the Rocket’s Dwight Howard

It’s hard to put the emotions I experienced during this game into words. I was exuberant, then furious, then relieved. After leading by as many as 17 points, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets on a three-pointer by Steve Blake with 1.3 seconds left on Thursday night. There were many sub-plots to this game that were unveiled in the previous days before tip-off. It would be the first time the Lakers would face Dwight Howard after he left them in free agency.

How would the 4-1 Rockets, who many have going deep into the playoffs with the arrival of Howard, fare against this ragtag bunch of D-league misfits from Hollywood? Would Howard’s play be better now that he was in a “happier” situation? Can D12 finally hit a free throw? These questions were answered throughout the game, but first lets take a look at some of the positives and negatives from the game.

Positives

Three-point shooting

In the first half, the Lakers were lights out from behind the arc, hitting 11 threes. They got so hot, Blake was pulling up for the trey on fast breaks. Despite not having the same talent as they did last year, the Lakers have quality shooters in Jodie Meeks, Wesley Johnson, Nick Young, Jordan Farmar, and the Steve’s (Blake and Nash). While I don’t expect the Lakers to make 16 three-pointers every game, it is clearly one of their major strengths this year. This team is really beginning to play to coach Mike D’Atoni‘s run-and-gun style.

The play of Wesley Johnson

During the off-season, I wrote a scathing article on Wesley Johnson, denouncing him as a waste of the Lakers’ valuable resources and playing time. I promptly ate my own words last night while I watched him play. Johnson was magnificent, playing well above what his stat line shows. He shot reasonably well, 6-15 with 3 three’s for 18 points. However, I felt his true value came in the intangibles. Johnson was all over the court, hustling after rebounds, out-jumping the likes of Omer Asik and Dwight Howard, and taking the ball hard to the hoop. He injected a high level of energy into the Lakers’ line-up when he was on the court and I think he played a crucial role in withstanding the Rockets’ late charge.

Jordan Hill and Chris Kaman were the Lakers best big men

Pau Gasol had a horrendous night, shooting 1-10. He routinely took outside shots even though they weren’t falling and had trouble running back on defense. Without Hill and Kaman to bail him out, the Lakers wouldn’t have been able to survive his shooting woes. Hill and Kaman only took a combined 11 shots, sinking 6 of them, and they played great defense and grabbed boards.

Kaman has often been mocked for his flat-footed style of play, but he grabbed 10 boards and played great interior defense, including a beautiful block on Chandler Parsons during one of the Rocket’s runs in the second half. Hill, a top-five rebounder per minutes player in the league, injected his usual high level of energy into his play and as a result, played exceptionally well.

Hill made a couple mistakes on defensive rotations but he always managed to challenge every shot at the rim (even if he had to foul) and never gave up an easy basket. Hill only played 16 minutes, but given his level of efficieny to begin this season, I think he deserves at least 20-25 minutes a game to see if he can continue efficient play for extended periods of time.

Nick Young doing what he always does.

Negatives

The Black Hole that is Nick Young

I thought I was prepared for this this season. I told myself, “Nick is going to piss you off every now and then, just remember he’s on a one-year contract and will be gone next season”. Forget that. I can’t stand watching Nick Young play. He’s physically unable to pass the ball; taking a contested, fade-away three-pointer is a better option to him than passing it, which is why he went 1-5 from beyond the arc and 3-9 overall. Because of Young’s constant ball-hogging, other Lakers players can’t get into a rhythm and any momentum they gain during the game is instantly vanquished when Young plays hero ball.

Thankfully, Young only played 21 minutes, but he needs to come off the end of the bench and not start any games. I don’t deny that Young might drop 20-30 points in a game, but I also believe he’ll take 20-30 shots doing it and his play is far too inconsistent for my liking.

The Lakers can’t hold onto a lead

The reason why I wasn’t super excited when the Lakers jumped out early was because I knew they would squander it. It is inevitable. Just like you expect Javale McGee to make a big mistake at least once a game, you can expect the Lakers to blow big leads. They did it last Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks, they did it Thursday night, and you best believe they’ll do it many more times before the season is over.

The reasoning is simple, hot shooting cannot be sustained throughout games; but defense can. We know the Lakers are a horrible defensive team (they allow 107 points a game), so they rely on their high-octane offense to win games. That’s alright, but that means if the Lakers shoot badly, they’re going to get torched and embarrassed, which is exactly what happened against the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks.

If the Lakers start hot (think Hawks game), they’ll jump out to a big early lead, but because of their defensive problems, that lead will slowly dwindle as the Lakers’shooting percentages slowly come back to reality. The only solution to this problem is to play better defensive, but given the Lakers roster, I really don’t see that happening. Look for this to be a negative throughout the Lakers’ season.

Conclusion

In all honesty, the Lakers showed some promising signs of life against the Rockets, but Houston should have won if Dwight Howard wasn’t such a pathetic free-throw shooter. I would like to speak on behalf of the Lakers fan base and say it was truly a pleasure to watch D12′s smirk after he made his first free-throw in crunch time vanish as he missed eight of his next eleven. The faces of Rockets fans will be permanently scrunched up after they endure four years of cringing when Howard steps to the charity stripe.

And in case you missed Blake’s amazing shot, here it is again.