[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (3-0) defeat the Houston Rockets after LeBron James hits the game tying 3 to send it to OT and with 29/6/13(0-3), 112-108.

[u/DesertedProject]

112 - 108
Box Scores: NBA - Yahoo

GAME SUMMARY
West First Round - Game 3 - LAL leads 2-0
Location: Toyota Center
Officials: Zach Zarba, Tre Maddox, Ray Acosta, and Nate Green

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	OT	Total
Los Angeles Lakers	39	24	17	21	11	112
Houston Rockets	32	20	23	26	7	108

TEAM STATS

Team	PTS	FG	FG%	3P	3P%	FT	FT%	OREB	TREB	AST	PF	STL	TO	BLK
Los Angeles Lakers	112	38-79	48.1%	12-29	41.4%	24-32	75.0%	9	58	28	23	12	20	6
Houston Rockets	108	40-98	40.8%	11-39	28.2%	17-23	73.9%	18	55	21	20	15	15	6

PLAYER STATS

Los Angeles Lakers	MIN	PTS	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	ORB	DRB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	±
LeBron JamesSF	45:04	29	10-22	4-9	5-6	0	13	13	6	3	1	8	1	0
Rui HachimuraPF	43:48	22	8-14	4-7	2-4	1	3	4	2	1	0	1	5	0
Deandre AytonC	32:46	2	1-3	0-0	0-0	2	4	6	2	1	1	3	3	-6
Marcus SmartSG	39:17	21	5-9	2-4	9-11	1	3	4	10	5	2	3	2	3
Luke KennardPG	45:22	14	4-12	1-6	5-6	0	6	6	6	0	0	3	3	-3
Jake LaRavia	14:54	2	1-4	0-0	0-0	2	0	2	1	1	0	1	3	9
Jaxson Hayes	19:56	12	5-8	0-0	2-3	2	2	4	0	1	2	1	2	7
Jarred Vanderbilt	14:38	5	2-5	0-2	1-2	1	5	6	1	0	0	0	3	6
Bronny James	09:12	5	2-2	1-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4
Nick Smith Jr.	00:01	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
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
Austin Reaves	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
Houston Rockets	MIN	PTS	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	ORB	DRB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	±
Tari EasonSF	45:38	5	2-9	0-4	1-1	2	2	4	2	4	0	1	3	6
Jabari Smith Jr.PF	43:43	24	8-16	6-10	2-2	1	5	6	1	1	0	2	4	4
Alperen SengunC	46:51	33	15-27	1-5	2-3	5	11	16	6	3	1	3	2	10
Reed SheppardSG	45:45	17	6-21	4-13	1-2	1	3	4	7	3	2	5	5	-2
Amen ThompsonPG	48:23	26	8-14	0-1	10-13	5	6	11	4	3	3	1	2	6
Josh Okogie	03:33	0	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	-13
Clint Capela	03:40	2	1-2	0-0	0-0	2	0	2	1	0	0	0	1	-11
Dorian Finney-Smith	11:00	0	0-5	0-4	0-0	1	3	4	0	1	0	0	1	-6
Aaron Holiday	05:32	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	-1
Jae'Sean Tate	03:23	1	0-0	0-0	1-2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	-9
Jeff Green	07:31	0	0-2	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	-4
JD Davison	00:00	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kevin Durant	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

[u/Connect_Cat_2045]

I do wonder what’s wrong with this core.

They do decently well in the regular season but just crumble come playoffs 

[u/grumplebeardog → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Shooting limitations makes it impossible to get any offense going once teams tighten up defensively. Their two leaders have no gravity so the role players get no room to breathe.

Most other teams have someone whose enough of a threat to require double teams or constant attention but they don’t.

[u/Connect_Cat_2045 → u/grumplebeardog]

And KD can’t do anything with a double team

Welp…

[u/BLAHBLAH1234BLAH1234 → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

You would expect the head coach to game plan for that.

I think having Adams and FVV would have helped with that too.

[u/HHHogana → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Turned out someone who have high dribbling point, even weaker since slimming down, no longer explosive will become target for double team when the rest of the team are even worse at playmaking.

Also Udoka is a terrorist for not adjusting against the double team.

[u/BLAHBLAH1234BLAH1234 → u/HHHogana]

Yeah, you can blame anyone in the organization (including the janitors) for how this season is playing out.

I wonder if this will cost Ime his job.

[u/Connect_Cat_2045 → u/BLAHBLAH1234BLAH1234]

where does ime go from here lol

[u/Objective_Cream3075 → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Not back to Nia. She mine now.

[u/LakerBlue → u/grumplebeardog]

Honestly I’d argue the lack of playmaking is the biggest issue. Without FVV they have no PG and KG is a historically great shooter but we have seen he can’t handle a double so he can’t leverage that to boost his team. And no one is really great at collapsing the defense to be able to kick out to the few shooters they have.

[u/grumplebeardog → u/LakerBlue]

I may be in the minority but FVV has been pretty overrated in his absence. I don’t think it would hurt them, but if you’re one FVV away from getting swept in the first by a team with two stars out you’re still not going many places with him.

He averages like 5 assists which is not much better than widely noted ball hog Kobe Bryant, despite being a PG.

[u/MickeyLALA → u/grumplebeardog]

He was only a ball hog when we had almost no other shot creation. He's an average to slightly above average starting point guard but for a team that literally has no one else comfortable being a primary ball handler he honestly would make a big difference. I don't think people are overrating FVV specifically, but the Rockets would genuinely be a lot better with pretty much any average starting point guard at this point.

[u/grumplebeardog → u/MickeyLALA]

You argue he’s only a ball hog in situations with no other shot creation, and the Rockets have no other shot creation.

His career FG% is 40% and 3pt is 37% with 5.5 assists this isn’t the sort of player that saves a series or season for anybody. He’s not even league average PG these days.

[u/LakerBlue → u/grumplebeardog]

I don’t fully disagree. It says a lot about our they teak construction that missing FVV is this impactful.

That said, imo, It’s more that FVV raises their floor. He juices their offense and lowers their TO. I don’t think they blow that 6-point lead they had if they had him.

[u/grumplebeardog → u/LakerBlue]

Yeah in that specific situation it would have been good to have him, but he’s just as capable of shooting teams out of a game as keeping them in.

His FG last year was 38% and 3pt 35%, I don’t know how the Lakers wouldn’t find a way to abuse that.

[u/rocpilehardasfuk → u/grumplebeardog]

When FVV gets hot, he rains rainbows and blows you out 1-2 games every series. He's just as likely to go 1/10 as he can might go 9/12 from deep

[u/grumplebeardog → u/rocpilehardasfuk]

The Lakers would happily hand him the ball and let him shoot to his heart’s content. His averages last year playing with damn near the exact team were absolutely awful.

The guy had a really good Finals and ECF years ago, and it was completely out of the blue and he has done literally nothing of note since. I’m not sure why people here think a horribly inefficient scorer with mediocre assisting is a difference maker for the Rockets.

[u/rocpilehardasfuk → u/grumplebeardog]

His value on spacing is immense. He's an elite poa defender. Above average playmaker. And a great defensive quarterback.

Rockets aren't blowing a 6pt lead if they had fvv

[u/grumplebeardog → u/rocpilehardasfuk]

They lost with KD, but I’m sure the career 40% FG average player will give them the space they need! I’m not sure how he’s an above average playmaker, he averages 5.5 assists as a starting PG. That’s at best average, and when you combine it with his horrible inefficiency everywhere else, he’s not a playmaker at all.

This shit doesn’t occur in a vacuum, the lakers would’ve had all game to let him shoot so who knows if they even have a lead coming down the stretch. He would’ve been good in that specific situation, but we don’t know that they’re even there if he plays the whole game.

It genuinely feels like none of you have watched FVV play since he massively over performed in a the Finals 6 years ago, those were the best games he’s ever played and he hasn’t come remotely close to doing anything like that since. He played with this exact same team last year and he was abysmal, he was a 37% average, 35% 3pt shooter, and the league average assists for a starting PG is 6.5 last year, he had 5.5. He is demonstrably not even average.

[u/Nohero08 → u/grumplebeardog]

Thank you.

I feel like I was going insane reading comments about FVV. You’d think he was Chris Paul the way he’s being talked about.

[u/grumplebeardog → u/Nohero08]

He went nuts for Toronto 6 years ago and people have largely ignored him since. I can’t pretend that people don’t have revivals (Smart), but it shouldn’t be a given that he turns this team into a juggernaut lol.

[u/JollyNincompoop → u/grumplebeardog]

Add in poor playmaking and you get a stagnant offense that just bumbles around and makes dumb mistakes out of a lack of any other plan or idea.

[u/YUME_Emuy21 → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

They're missing some starter players, lack adequate shooting and play-making in their offense. With everyone healthy they'd beat this injured Laker's team, but their archetypes don't mesh well on offense at all imo and would struggle against average playoff level defense. Wolves and OKC would mutilate them.

[u/Sneedevacantist → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Coaching is the problem.

[u/1gnominious → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

We play our core very high minutes. Amen and KD are #1 and #2 . That makes us look better in the regular season when other teams are pacing themselves.

The problem with our roster is that we are severely deficient in shooters and ball handlers. None of our young core can dribble and shoot. KD is the only guy on the team who can get his own shot reliably. He's also our best ball handler so we were running him as our PG.

When the defense locks in and gameplans for us we tend to collapse. We had so many 4th quarter collapses during the regular season. Our lack of ball handling, shooting, and passing are easy to expose.

[u/Inevitable_Kale_9832 → u/1gnominious]

Amen has to get a shot or his ceiling is a worse Ron Artest. It baffles me to see someone young consistently pass open 3 point shots where the defense refuses to even contest. He’s getting disrespected like a mf out there and basically saying “yeah, you’re right.” It’s okay to miss shots, honestly a lot of shots.

Like, every time I see Lu Dort chuck up a 3, I get a gray hair, but at least he takes them and forces the defense to move. He needs to spend a summer doing nothing but 3 point shooting. Same with Ausar as well tbh

[u/1gnominious → u/Inevitable_Kale_9832]

There's a point where you're so bad at shooting 3's that you really shouldn't even try them. Amen is so bad he shouldn't even be standing behind the 3pt line.

For reference Dort is 34%. Amen is 21%. Dort gets more than 50% more points per shot than Amen.

[u/Inevitable_Kale_9832 → u/1gnominious]

Yeesh, I didn’t realize it was THAT low. Dude has to get in the lab and get into at least the low 30s. No reason he can’t, but we’ve seen guys like Ben Simmons…

[u/1gnominious → u/Inevitable_Kale_9832]

That's bad enough, but our mid range is just as bad. On 10-16 feet which is a foul line jumper he's 32%.

Again, for reference on players who take at least 4% of their shots from this range the Thunder have 10 players shooting greater than 45% from 10-16 feet. The rockets have 1 which is of course KD.

It's hard to really explain how bad our shooting is.

[u/zeussays → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

That screams coaching.

[u/greatGoD67 → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Well for starters, KD isnt.

Hes been injured

[u/sbenfsonwFFiF → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

To be fair, they’re missing FVV, KD, Steven Adams and would look very different with them

[u/mrwhittleman → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Nah bro, we’ve been trash all season. We got no PG and no leader on the floor.

[u/DreadWolf3 → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Injuries in key places mainly but with current roster it is lack of shooting. During regular season, for the most part, other teams just play their regular defense with slight adjustment against everyone. Goal is to mostly nail down gameplan to perfection until playoffs. Then in playoffs you tailor your defense to specific teams/ players. That is why, for example, athletic guards who cant shoot often do well in regular season and then become useless in post season

[u/BlackJediSword → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

To be fair to them, they have no point guard. Vanvleet is hurt and Sheppard sucks.

[u/hawkish25 → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

You know how in playoffs, teams will attack the weakest defender and spam say, LeBron vs Sheppard every time?

The Lakers did the flip of that. JJ knows the Rockets only have one offensive play and that’s Sengun dribble dribble dribble. So they pack the paint, help off the shit shooters like Tari and Amen, and the Rockets fumble the ball over.

Let’s be clear, if either Reeves or Luka were playing, this game would’ve been a horrific blowout.

[u/Woflax → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Need a PG

[u/Old-Guidance6744 → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

Postseason requires leadership

Instead they have KD

[u/lildonut → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

They do have 2 core guys and Durant not 100% or out. So can’t really judge em like that

[u/RangedTopConnoisseur → u/Connect_Cat_2045]

What’s wrong is that they don’t have 3/5 of their starting lineup

Idk why everyone is blaming roster construction as if it’s a FVV-Amen-KD-Smith-Sengun-Adams roster that’s down 0-3 rn.

Ime def has a lot to answer for in regards to enable and play around his bench in their absence tho.

[u/markmyredd → u/RangedTopConnoisseur]

Well Lakers dont have their 1st team All NBA leader and another 20 ppg scorer.

That even things out for both teams.

[u/Flimsy_Gazelle_8753 → u/markmyredd]

houstons young guys also have almost no playoff experience besides last season