Lakers beat the Rockets both on the offensive and defensive end and an interesting stat line came through post Game 4.
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The Lakers came to work today. They went up by 23 points and barring a small glimmer of hope by Rockets in the 4th Quarter, it was all LakeShow.
The Lakers beat the Rockets on the boards 52-26! That means the Lakers grabbed double as many as rebounds as the Rockets. That’s not all, the Lakers outscored the Rockets 62-24 for points in the paint, 17-3 on second-chance points, and a huge 19-2 difference in fast breakpoints.
Also Read: “Harden and co. did not show urgency, Westbrook takes shot”
The Rockets were held to a mere 43% from the field. Defense was the key for the Lakers, and that is were Houston fell behind.
Houston defense collapsed at multiple points and the Lakers took full advantage of the same.
Rockets made 5more 3s, shot 15 more free-throws, and yet lost
The Rockets have been known to be a team that take a lot of 3pointer attempts. In the regular season, they took upwards of 50 attempts from 3s, on any given night.
The case was no different tonight. They made 14 3pointers to the Lakers’ 9 made 3-pointers. Rockets also went to the charity stripe more than twice as many times as the Lakers did. Lakers made 15 of their 16 FT attempts, whereas the Rockets made 30 of their 39 attempts.
Houston defense, what’s lacking?
Tonight was a clear exhibition of gaps that Houston has in its defense. They got destroyed on the boards. The Lakers used their size advantage and managed to out-rebound the Rockets by grabbing double as many boards.
We also saw a side of the Rockets that we haven’t seen that often. They did not seem to have the motivation in the first three quarters and when they finally acted like they found some, it was too little too late.
