The small-ball Rockets proved to be much more for the Lakers in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals. James Harden led with 36 points which was just a slice of the overall tremendous performance by the team. LeBron James and Co. embarrassed themselves with a poor show on both ends; offensively and defensively.

Harden was owning his plays on the court, making his moves count. Popularly known as an ‘offensively dominating’ team, made quite a defensive impression against the star-studded Lakers. While Harden was busy dropping buckets, PJ Tucker was worth the applause for defending LeBron to a mere 20 points in the game.

LeBron was shooting just 7/15 from the field and less than 30% from beyond the arc. Moreover, he scored none in the last quarter leading to a 112-97 defeat for the Lakers.

Russell Westbrook, who recently found his way in the season also added 24 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Rockets were draining shots from every corner and making it count in Game 1.

LeBron James analyses poor performance by Lakers in Game 1

Lakers’ performance was analyzed by LeBron James himself in the post-match press conference. He believes that the speed of Rockets’ small-ball lineup gave his opponents the upper hand.

“The speed. They play with a lot of speed offensively and defensively. You can watch it on film till we got a feel for their speed tonight and we should be fully aware of that for Game 2.” 

”There’s no way you can simulate their speed,” James said. ”So getting out on the floor and having a Game 1 gives you a good feel for it.”

According to LeBron, another major statistic that proved the Lakers’ inability to make it to the win were the points scored off turnovers. Even though Lakers had only one added turnover than Rockets, the latter scored 27 points off it in comparison to Lakers’ 12.

Moving ahead in the series, will the Lakers come back stronger in Game 2?