Los Angeles Lakers: How LA has shut down the Houston Rockets’ offense

The Los Angeles Lakers are beating the Houston Rockets with defense

Generally speaking, when the Houston Rockets hit their 3’s, you’re toast. They’ve never lost (41-0) in the Mike D’Antoni when they shoot at least 44 percent from deep with James Harden in the lineup. Additionally, they’re 98-21 (68-win pace over a full season) when they make between 36 percent and 44 percent, with an average Offensive Rating of 120.1 in these contests.

Houston converted on over 40 percent of their triples (44 of 111 total, or 41.4%) in Games 2, 3, and 4 against Los Angeles, yet they lost all of them. In fact, they’ve accrued just a 111.1 Offensive Rating combined over these three games, far below expected. So how have the top-seeded Lakers managed to hold down this Houston attack, despite the hot shooting?

First off, Los Angeles is giving Houston a taste of their own medicine by exposing the weak link of a team’s offense. It’s no hyperbole to say that Russell Westbrook has been a complete liability, both on and off the ball. Anthony Davis is spending much of the time guarding him, and it’s pretty jarring to see the Brodie come to grips with his own mortality.

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Even when he has a clear runway, he’s powerless to attack at this point. And with Russ’ diminished mid-range game (unless its a bank-shot from the left-wing area), he’ll dribble around aimlessly, often resorting to lobbing a flaming bag to a teammate. The hideous turnovers and missed lay-ups are automatic momentum shifters that spark the deadly Laker transition offense. In Game 2, Houston actually scored well with Harden on the floor (128.8 Offensive Rating). It was the Westbrook-alone minutes that sunk them, as they scrounged together just 15 points in 19 possessions total (including 8 turnovers!!!) during that time.

These moments may stick out the most, but Westbrook has arguably been more damaging as an off-ball player, at least earlier in this series. Davis has shown why he was the runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year, using his incredible mobility, length, and timing to fly-in from the perimeter (off of Russ) and disrupt shots at the rim. It must be so much easier to run guys off the line knowing that you have a Human Eraser behind you.

Houston adjusted to move Westbrook out of the corner (for the most part), which alleviated some of their spacing issues, but there’s only so much you can do to mask a non-threat from the perimeter.

The Lakers’ defense deserves a ton of credit as well. Once they scrapped the JaVale McGee minutes – and fully committing to going small – everyone on the floor is capable of executing the game-plan. It starts with limiting Harden. The guards are pressuring him higher on the floor, which makes it difficult for Houston to generate any kind of early offense. And since the second half of Game 3, Los Angeles has been sending in a second defender  – trapping him on nearly every screen or bringing in a double-team.

This is where the Lakers’ defense has impressed me. James Harden and the Rockets have seen all of these defensive looks before, but not to this level of execution. He’s one of the greatest pocket-passers of all time, and yet Los Angeles has forced numerous turnovers with active hands (and maybe a missed kick-ball or two). The doubles are coming at unpredictable times, often later in the shot-clock when Houston is out of options.

With all of this attention on Harden, there will undoubtedly be some 4-on-3 situations, and the Lakers are doing a phenomenal job at plugging these holes play after play. The rotations on the back-side are maniacal, yet controlled and on a string at the same time. They’re locked into personnel – chasing the Houston specialists off the line and trusting that the next guy will be there. We all remember the Anthony Davis and LeBron James highlight blocks, but even players like Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso have had moments protecting the rim.

James and Playoff Rajon Rondo are quarterbacking the defense. Another key is how quickly the defender who just doubled Harden rushes back into the play – rookie Talen Horton-Tucker had two straight steals in Game 4 through this. These may be advantage situations for Houston, but the Lakers are doing all they can to make them as temporary as possible

Add in the fact that they’re controlling the backboard – Houston had just 15 offensive rebounds total in the last three games, including only one in Game 4 – and you can see how the Lakers have kept this potent Rocket offense in check. While the Rockets finally got some things going late in Game 4, most of it was fueled by inexplicable fouls and turnovers on the Lakers’ part.

That said, I wouldn’t rule Houston out from making this a competitive series again. Much of their struggles in Game 4 were due more to a lack of energy/focus than the Los Angeles defense, and you’d hope that wouldn’t happen again now that their backs are against the wall. The doubles haven’t really fazed Harden as much as it seems – he’s had a lot of success attacking the other side before it arrives. Westbrook has also found his footing a bit, at least compared to the Oklahoma City series and the beginning of this one.

But this series has still brought Houston’s structural problems into light, which prevents them from being a true championship contender. The lack of offensive diversity makes it much easier for opponents to tailor their game-plan, especially later in the series once they’ve seen the same thing over-and-over (that sentence also applies to the Milwaukee Bucks). They’ve appeared to emphasize running flare screens on the weak-side in the past few games, but the results have been ugly (turns out it’s tough to try something that you rarely did during the regular season).

Harden still won’t move once he gives the ball up, which makes the doubling and trapping a lot more palatable. The Danuel House situation has trimmed down an already-thin rotation. And aside from Harden, the Rockets don’t really have a plus decision-makers on the roster. The decision to force the ball out of hands is a lot easier when it’s Jeff Green or Austin Rivers operating a 4 on 3 rather than say a Draymond Green.

We’ll see if the Rockets can breakthrough in Game 5. I’m afraid that this series – and this playoff run – will go down as another James Harden failure, but there’s so much more that’s gone into it. The Lakers are making their case for why they should be viewed as the favorite in the long-awaited “Battle of LA.”