Los Angeles Lakers: How to expose the Houston Rockets’ defense

Taking a look at the defensive vulnerabilities of the Houston Rockets and how the Los Angeles Lakers can take advantage of these weaknesses.

Outside the LA Clippers, the Houston Rockets are currently seen as the toughest playoff matchup for the Los Angeles Lakers. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton stated on March 4 that the Lakers would have a hard time dealing with Houston’s floor spacing and quickness during a playoff series.

Fortunately, Los Angeles can negate the quickness and floor spacing issues if head coach Frank Vogel instructs his team to play faster. As the Rockets have one of the worst transition defenses in the league.

Houston’s field goal percentage has contributed to the team giving up the most points in transition as opponents are averaging 24.0 per game on 20.8 possessions. The Rockets’ transition problems are related to the lack of defensive effort from James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

Both have a habit of always going for the steal on defense. If they fail to get the steal, they stop trying for the rest of the possession. A prime example of this can be found late in the first quarter of a home game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Sterling Brown grabbed the rebound and started to dribble the basketball up court when Westbrook made a halfhearted attempt at stealing the ball. Westbrook failed to get the steal giving a free path to run down the middle of the court and dunk the basketball.

Their defensive style has led to them being in the bottom third of the teams in terms of defensive effort as James Harden runs 1.08 miles per game on the defensive end of the floor at an average speed of 3.22 miles an hour. On the other hand, Westbrook runs 1.18 miles per game at an average rate of 3.52 miles an hour.

These factors have led Westbrook and Harden to be in the top 10 in most fastbreak points allowed as they are giving up 11.5 and 12.5 per game, respectively.

The Lakers would only be able to take advantage of Houston’s transition defense if Anthony Davis is willing to start at center.

The team currently has three subpar shooters in the starting lineup, JaVale McGee, LeBron James, and Davis. Houston would have an easier time covering up for the lack of effort from Harden and Westbrook. If either can’t create a turnover by swiping at the basketball, P.J. Tucker and Robert Covington can position them near the basket. Both are aware that Davis and McGee will not hurt the team from behind the arc as they are below average shooters.

The presence of two defenders near the basket would give Houston a better chance at stopping the fastbreak. Covington and Tucker could create a two-person wall as the ball handler approached the basket.

The two-person wall would give the ball handler an option to pass the ball to the big man next to the basket. Unfortunately, two defenders can easily rotate over to defend the big man as they would already be near the basket.

Consequently, it would increase the likelihood that the big man is stripped or has to take a contested shot. If option one is unavailable, the ball handler can pass it out to the perimeter forcing the offense to reset or take a contested field goal attempt.

These scenarios would only increase the chances that Houston beats Los Angeles in a playoff series. However, if Davis starts at center, it would allow Vogel to bench McGee and insert another shooter into the lineup, like a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Jared Dudley.

An extra shooter will put more pressure on Houston’s defense as they would longer be able to successfully defend Los Angeles by putting two defenders near the basket. The ball handler can pass the basketball to the extra shooter for a wide-open 3-pointer if there are two defenders in the paint.

On the other hand, if Rockets’ head coach, Mike D’Antoni tells his team to stay close to the extra shooter, the ball handler will have more room to attack the basket successfully.