Lakers seek answers for Rockets after another Game 1 loss
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Time off, it seems, does not suit the Lakers.
For the second time, the Lakers had six days off going into a Game 1 while their opponent had played just two days before. And both times, against the Trail Blazers and then the Rockets, they looked like the slower, less-prepared team.
Even though the Rockets are the NBA’s smallest team on paper, the Lakers seemed overwhelmed by their speed – something Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said he doesn’t think will happen quite on that scale again.
“They was getting the ball up and down the court fast,” he said. “We knew that coming in, but like ‘Bron said it was a little hard to prepare for. We didn’t know what the game plan was with them. We just had to just go out and just compete to the best of our abilities, which is going to be different Game 2.”
On Saturday afternoon following a team film session, Lakers coach Frank Vogel held a lot of his cards close with his team down in a 0-1 hole for the second series in a row. He noted that his starting lineup, with JaVale McGee at center, had seemed to perform well. He noted specific struggles, such as when Anthony Davis had a hard time being guarded by 6-foot-5 P.J. Tucker. But he didn’t offer answers, which he said will be revealed in Game 2.
The glaring element is turnovers, where the Lakers were careless with the ball. LeBron James said, “it starts with myself.”
But other issues seemed less obvious: The Rockets and Lakers each had 41 rebounds, despite Houston’s lack of traditional size. What Houston does have is numbers on the glass on the defensive end: They got only four offensive rebounds, but swarmed Davis and the other Lakers bigs when the ball caromed off the rim.
The Lakers typically rely on one big to grab rebounds, but Caldwell-Pope indicated it will probably require guards to make more of an effort.
“We know they’re going to double-team them on the glass because they are small,” he said. “As guards and as other players, we gotta get in there and try to get some of the rebounds.”
The Lakers also talked about not making defensive rotations with the crispness they need to and not crashing the glass when they should.
Vogel acknowledged it hurt to be without top assistant Jason Kidd, who was at the Saturday session in a high chair sitting stiffly near a wall after suffering back spasms Friday before the game. The coaching staff is already without Lionel Hollins in the bubble, so Vogel called missing a second coach “impactful.”
But just like in the last series, the Lakers feel they know what they must do to even things up Sunday.
“The answers were given to the test going into it,” he said. “But again, even though you know something’s coming, when it happens with speed in an athletic setting like this, sometimes it just takes a little while to get used to that speed.”
Family time
Of anyone in the bubble, Markieff Morris might have the most family on the Disney campus.
His wife passed through quarantine Friday with his daughter, and both attended Friday night’s Game 1. His twin brother Marcus with the Clippers also welcomed his wife and son, meaning the Morrises aren’t just together at Disney – it’s virtually a family reunion.
These are familiar circumstances to the brothers, who have been close even within the confines of the bubble and kept up routines they would share while quarantining through the spring in Los Angeles.
“My daughter and my nephew get to spend some time together,” Markieff Morris said. “Obviously we’ve been here enough, we’ve spent some time together. Whenever we can get together, it’s always a great feeling.”
Morris had it easier than most players in the bubble with his brother in attendance, but many other players were relieved to finally get family in last week. With 16 guests at Game 1, the Lakers have one of the largest visiting contingents in the bubble.
Those with children worried about the length of the quarantine period, which varied from a week to four days depending on if guests came from the team’s home market and were tested there. Morris said his wife had given his daughter Jyzelle an iPad and read books to her: “She was cool; she laid back like me.”
Others on the team have made the difficult decision to leave their children at home given the lack of activities for kids in the bubble. LeBron James was one such parent: Although his wife Savannah James attended the game Friday, his children Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri remained behind in L.A.
James said he appreciated that his wife came, but missing his children still eats at him. Talking to them during his two months in the bubble so far has helped “center” him.
“Talking to my kids, talking to my mom, that definitely is something that keeps me in the bubble, I guess you would say, sane,” he said. “Having that support system even though they’re not here physically.”
Comments
Post a Comment