The Houston Rockets were in complete control in last night’s Game 1 upset over the Los Angeles Lakers, to take a 1-0 lead over LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The style of play on both ends was seemingly in control of the Rockets, but LeBron James believes there is something else in the Lakers control that they simply didn’t do in Game 1: take care of the basketball.
The Lakers had 17 turnovers as a team on Friday, but the conversion rate was even more concerning, as the Rockets had 27 points off of those turnovers. Conversely, the Rockets had 16 turnovers but the Lakers only converted those opportunities into 12 points. LeBron James believes it was a problem mostly due to their offense, but the Rockets, who have posted the best defense in the playoffs, clearly deserve credit as well.
Lakers’ LeBron James on Game 1 loss to Rockets: “I don’t think we had many struggles defensively. We allowed James (Harden) to get to the free throw line way too much in the first half. More importantly we had 17 turnovers for 27 points. That’s all offense.” pic.twitter.com/mTuskPHrWm
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) September 5, 2020
The Lakers halfcourt defense also had their own struggles. But with LeBron James and Rajon Rondo each totaling four turnovers and Alex Caruso leading the team with a disastrous five turnovers, taking care of the ball will be a key to limiting the Rockets efficiency on offense.
In the same vein, the Lakers also need to be better at converting the opportunities they get from their defense. According to Synergy Sports, they’ve failed to do that at even an above-average rate despite having two elite finishers in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers rank 12th out of the 16 playoff teams in transition offensive efficiency.
