Welcome in to the inaugural open thread and discussion of the NBA season for the Los Angeles Lakers on the blog as the Lakers take on the Houston Rockets on opening night. This will be separated into two posts with the respective posts the first half and second half. Leave some comments below this posts to share your thoughts on the game as it progresses.
Q2
HOU 71 LAL 63
134 combined points from these teams. Well as expected from teams that like to run the floor. But, there is no question the Lakers have to do a much better job defensively. I'm going to quote Stephen A. Smith from what I just saw in the first half defensively: it was "HARRIBLE (horrible)!" The Lakers look like they're just jogging back on D. There's absolutely no energy on the defensive side of the ball. That's the only thing I could point out about this first half. Let's look at some positives then. We all need to write letters of apology to Timofey Mozgov. He's showing that he's worth the $64 million contract. 12 points, 6-8 shooting, 5 rebounds, the big man should continue to keep it up. D'Angelo Russell is starting to assert himself as the new face for the Lakers. He was on fire in the 1st quarter, hitting a couple of threes and nailing a 4-point play. So far, 12 points in the game for Russell. Randle looked good with 12 points and Ingram looked good in his first regular season action with 7 points off the bench. Some other negatives to point besides defense: Nick Young has to step up his game and so does Clarkson. Young especially is struggling with his shot and jacked up a couple of threes. Overall, the Lakers are good offensively, could be a lot better, but Luke Walton has to address something about that defense in the first half. Hopefully, there's some adjustments in the 2nd half. The 2nd half post will open up shortly.
Q1
HOU 38 LAL 38
Nice finish for the quarter with a three by Sweet Lou! My only gripe about this quarter is where is the energy on defense? The Lakers got off to a slow start, but offensively they picked it up and D'Angelo Russell had one heck of a first quarter. I liked that. But, there's no defense being played by this team. They are giving up way to many shots for the Rockets and James Harden already has a double-double from what I heard. Offense is there, but the Lakers have to pick it up on where they've emphasize the most on this offseason, on defense!
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