The Rockets are clearly distraught after a heartbreaking 0-2 start to their first-round series against the Lakers, a matchup they were clear favorites to win initially, with Los Angeles without two of their best players. But somehow, the Lakers have managed to contain Kevin Durant and the Rockets’ offense with a simple defensive approach: let anyone, except Kevin Durant, burn them.
The consistent double-teams on Durant at any point on the floor after he crossed the halfway line reflected that the Lakers were okay with letting anyone other than the 37-year-old veteran get wide-open looks as a result of blitzing him. And the Rockets’ inability to deal with the double teams and maximize on the open man has become the biggest red flag in their offensive approach.
However, Jabari Smith Jr. does not seem to think that is their biggest Achilles heel. The 22-year-old forward spoke to the media after practice today and addressed the veteran star’s need to be more aggressive.
“Yeah, it makes it difficult, but at the end of the day, they’re trying to stop him, and the other guys have to be aggressive. We’ve got to be aggressive out of it,” said Smith Jr. while emphasizing the importance of Durant’s teammates needing to help him better.
“We’ve got to make the right reads out of it, make the right decisions, and it’s on him to find ways to get himself involved and get to his spots without the double team.”
“Just cuz he’s getting double-teamed, we still need him to be KD. So there are still ways around it, and we got some fixes to it, and we’re going to be better in the next two games,” concluded Smith Jr.
While most might think that this is a shot from Durant’s teammate at him, it is actually not the case. Durant was getting double-teamed right from the tipoff of Game 2, and yet he started the game 4-4 from the field and scored 20 of his 23 points in Game 2 during the first half itself.
But in the second half, he only had five shot attempts, just one in the entire third quarter, in which he played 10 minutes. It’s not like the Lakers’ defensive plans changed drastically in the second half.
Following a regular season loss to the Lakers, Durant had said that while he brings the ball up the floor to run a potential pick-and-roll, his ball-handling might be the key reason why the Rockets’ offense became stagnant.
He himself admitted that he needed to trust his teammates to bring the ball up the floor while he spaces the floor and gets to his spots for catch-and-shoot looks.
But he repeated the same mistake that he made in the regular season in the second half as well and ended up recording a career-high in turnovers committed in a postseason game (nine).
Therefore, before anyone calls out Jabari Smith Jr. for his lack of effort on defense or any other flaws he may have in his own game, let’s not completely ignore the substance of what he’s trying to say.
Durant needs to have an aggressive outburst in Game 3 for the Rockets to have any hopes of bouncing back in this series. A Game 3 loss would certainly end their hopes for this season.
Unfortunately for them, Kevin Durant has been listed as questionable for the next game due to a left ankle sprain, and not the knee injury that he was previously recovering from. Moreover, Austin Reaves has been upgraded to questionable for Game 3 after being expected to miss the entire first round.
Hence, things are only looking down for the Rockets at this point. Assuming Durant doesn’t play, only a miracle performance from their promising young players can save them now.
