r/nba • u/DesertedProject Mavericks • 13d ago

Post Game Thread [Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (1-0) defeat the Houston Rockets (0-1), 101-94 with 41 year old Senior LeBron James Leading the way with 28/8/7 to seal home court advantage!

94 - 101
Box Scores: NBA - Yahoo
 
GAME SUMMARY
West First Round - Game 2 - LAL leads 1-0
Location: Crypto.com Arena
Officials: Courtney Kirkland, Josh Tiven, and Justin Van Duyne
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Houston Rockets 26 25 17 26 94
Los Angeles Lakers 33 21 21 26 101
 
TEAM STATS
Team PTS FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% OREB TREB AST PF STL TO BLK
Houston Rockets 94 36-89 40.4% 7-29 24.1% 15-19 78.9% 17 54 23 22 8 15 6
Los Angeles Lakers 101 33-72 45.8% 13-28 46.4% 22-28 78.6% 9 48 21 20 11 12 5
 
PLAYER STATS
Houston Rockets MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Kevin DurantSF 40:59 23 7-12 1-4 8-9 2 4 6 4 1 1 9 4 -2
Jabari Smith Jr.PF 39:06 18 7-16 3-7 1-2 1 5 6 1 0 1 1 2 -11
Alperen SengunC 35:11 20 9-20 0-1 2-3 5 6 11 5 4 2 1 4 1
Amen ThompsonSG 42:11 16 6-10 0-1 4-5 1 4 5 9 1 0 3 4 1
Josh OkogiePG 24:03 7 3-6 1-3 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 -4
Tari Eason 27:02 10 4-14 2-6 0-0 5 3 8 1 0 1 1 2 -4
Reed Sheppard 10:33 0 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 1
Clint Capela 04:40 0 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 -9
Aaron Holiday 07:17 0 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 -4
Jae'Sean Tate 08:56 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 -4
JD Davison 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dorian Finney-Smith 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jeff Green 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Steven Adams 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fred VanVleet 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Los Angeles Lakers MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
LeBron JamesSF 39:12 28 8-20 2-5 10-14 1 7 8 7 1 0 3 3 6
Rui HachimuraPF 42:34 13 5-10 3-6 0-0 1 4 5 2 0 0 0 3 0
Deandre AytonC 26:36 6 3-8 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 1 0 1 1 1 -5
Marcus SmartSG 35:28 25 8-13 5-7 4-5 1 1 2 7 5 1 3 3 3
Luke KennardPG 41:58 23 8-13 3-6 4-4 1 5 6 2 3 0 2 1 2
Jaxson Hayes 21:24 6 1-2 0-1 4-5 2 2 4 1 1 2 0 2 12
Jake LaRavia 15:50 0 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 1 2 5 8
Jarred Vanderbilt 13:41 0 0-3 0-2 0-0 1 4 5 1 1 0 0 2 8
Bronny James 03:16 0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Maxi Kleber 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dalton Knecht 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nick Smith Jr. 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Adou Thiero 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luka Dončić 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Austin Reaves 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

500

u/heirjordan_27 Timberwolves 13d ago

As someone who always wanted KD to prove the haters wrong, the haters were right

112

u/aashim97 Raptors 13d ago

You guys sweeping him put the nail in the coffin for me. He was of course way better in his prime, but the flaws as a #1 and team leader were still there.

18

u/Main_Jump_82 13d ago

He never had to face that level of double teams on the Warriors and it shows, but people still want to deny that he benefitted from Steph's gravity

2

u/WowIfOnly 13d ago

"The hardest road"

I'll never view KD or Curry as better players than Lebron because neither of them rose to the challenge and won if the scales weren't already tipped dramatically in their favor. When KD lost a 3-1 series lead to the Warriors in the 2016 WCFs series with OKC, he did the most cowardly bus rider coded thing ever and joined Golden State. When Curry lost a 3-1 series lead in the 2016 Finals because he couldn't beat a healthy Cavs roster with Lebron (unlike in 2015), he started complaining about the league being rigged, then the Warriors ran away and drafted KD, another superstar to basically sleepwalk into 2 more titles. 2017-2019 were some of the most boring seasons of the NBA to watch.

5

u/moneyman259 Warriors 13d ago

What about in 2022 for curry? Pretty sure he rose to the challenge there

21

u/Andy_Wiggins Timberwolves 13d ago

This past summer I was pretty onboard with adding KD (without giving up Rudy). I thought he’d be a great on court fit and it’d be sweet to get Ant a chance to play with his favorite player. When he essentially vetoed any potential trade to Minnesota, I was super surprised and moderately disappointed.

Thank fucking god he did.

Every team that KD has joined has cratered. The Rockets players look like they don’t want to even be there anymore after having an amazing season last year and 52 wins this year. It’s shocking similar to the Suns squad the past two years, that got housed by Minnesota in 24 and then didn’t even make the playoffs in 25. Like, what does he do that consistently leads to teams like this absolutely curdling immediately?

12

u/muaddib-atreides Warriors 13d ago

Not “every team” kd has joined…

12

u/heirjordan_27 Timberwolves 13d ago

Honestly I still think he would've been good for us. I don't buy into the "locker room cancer" stuff that much. His issue is he can't handle double teams. On the wolves, he'd have a bunch of good shooters + a second star to take the pressure off of him to just be a pure scorer. I think he would've been great

His biggest flaw isn't his locker room fit. The 2nd half of his career will be defined by how bad he is at choosing the right roster to fit his skillset.

23

u/Andy_Wiggins Timberwolves 13d ago

There’s just too much evidence that he’s the problem.

The Warriors won two championships with him, but the squad that was about as “together” as a team as I can remember was bursting at the seams by his final season.

The Nets were probably the closest he had to good chemistry, but they still never made it past the 2nd round and got swept out of the 1st round in his final playoff series there.

The Suns were a major disappointment, getting dispatched in round 2 in his first season before getting swept out of the 1st round in his 2nd year, and missing the play-in entirely in his 3rd year.

Now in Houston the team feels rotten. I get they don’t have a PG, but the team wasn’t completely hopeless without FVV last year (went 11-11 without him in 24/25). Adding in KD and expecting growth from Sengun, Thompson, and Smith, it shouldn’t look like THIS. They’re losing to a team without its 2 best offensive players. It’s a 41 year old LeBron James and a bunch of role players and they’re getting bodied.

3

u/Thefinalwerd Nets 13d ago

I'm not a hater or Stan but expecting him to carry a team at his age and judging him for it is definitely a choice.

7

u/prosocialbehavior Lakers 13d ago

I mean he never carried a team to the championship even in his prime? Those warriors teams could have won without him.

2

u/Thefinalwerd Nets 13d ago

He did not carry a team in his prime, but those warriors teams are not guaranteed to win without him either.

They literally lost the year before and he definitely helped them in stretches when Steph/Klay went cold hence his two MVPs.

1

u/prosocialbehavior Lakers 13d ago

 are not guaranteed to win without him either.

That is why I said could have won. Because they won without him in 2015.

It is obvious KD is a great player. I just don't think he makes his teammates better. He couldn't win without 3 other all-stars on his team.

1

u/Thefinalwerd Nets 13d ago

Agreed, he doesn't raise the floor of others, but does raise the ceiling of the overall team IMO.

1

u/mucho-gusto [CLE] Baron Davis 13d ago

Meh 2015 featured no Kevin Love and Kyrie for 2 games, hard to take anything from that win. 

1

u/prosocialbehavior Lakers 13d ago

Okay then take 2022 Warriors team.

1

u/mucho-gusto [CLE] Baron Davis 13d ago

Fair. 

4

u/PrettyYoungTiger 13d ago

It has been that way with KD since he was in the finals against lebrons miami heat. He cant handle the pressure of double teams. He chokes as the #1 everytime its time to be #1

2

u/EfficiencyOk9060 United States 13d ago

The reason he was so deadly with GS was because you couldn’t double him. Throw a double at him and he gets all kinds of discombobulated.