Welcome to the first half open thread of the Lakers' anticipated home opener vs. the Houston Rockets. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the game.
Q2
HOU 66 LAL 62
Like I said, Houston can use the littlest of contacts to their advantage to launch their trip to the free throw line. But luckily, the Lakers are hanging around out there. Early 2nd quarter, the 2017 draft class helped spark a run. Lonzo Ball airballed badly on his first 3-point attempt. Then he came back this quarter to knock down back-to-back threes. The key for him is not to get those and scrutiny about his jump shot in his head and this quarter was a good confidence builder. Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma helped out as well. Hart is just a dog out there with his scrappy effort. And Kuz surprisingly is showing some potential on the defensive end. He and McGee account for the team in blocks with six combined blocks. It's a result of very good timing to provide the help defense. That was very impressive. The biggest dud so far has been Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. He's struggling out the gate with five points on Thursday and his shot tonight have hit nothing but iron. The entire rotation has provided some contributions. I think if he can show up in the 2nd half, that can provide the Lakers a big time spark. The 2nd half will open up shortly.
Q1
HOU 31 LAL 28
We can live with the Lakers trailing by three. This was a very good pace to start by both teams. Both the Rockets and Lakers put out their small ball lineups in the middle of the first quarter. Lakers definitely had the edge with some good defensive plays to set them up in transition. But, the last minutes of the quarter, pretty silly fouls committed by them. The Rockets have a very good tendency to draw them whether contact or no contact. Those last few trips to the free throw line gave them the edge after one.
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