Heading into Sunday night’s home game against the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, several members of the Houston Rockets suggested that it would be a test to see where the team stands.
In the first of two straight games between the teams, things clearly didn’t go as planned. Led by 27 points (75% shooting) from Anthony Davis, the Lakers won at Toyota Center, 120-102 (box score). James Harden had 20 points and nine assists for the Rockets, while Christian Wood scored a team-high 23 points. Both shot 50% from the field.
LeBron James added 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists for the Lakers (8-3), who led by 19 points at halftime and pushed it to as large as 27 early in the third quarter. While Houston (3-5) did eventually make some runs, the deficit proved too large to overcome versus the NBA’s best.
In postgame interviews with Harden, Wood, and head coach Stephen Silas, themes of poor transition defense (27 transition points allowed in the first half, when Los Angeles scored 65 as a team) and subpar 3-point shooting (12-of-41, or 29.3%) were frequently cited. Here’s a roundup of Houston’s reaction to the first of two games with the Lakers.
