Lakers breeze past Rockets.
On a night meant to be scary, the Lakers looked just that, taking control early on from start to finish, dismantling a young Rockets team 95–85, and improving their season record to 4–3. The Lakers' scariness came on both ends of the floor tonight, with their largest lead of the night being 28 points and forcing the Rockets to commit 25 turnovers with 15 steals and 9 blocks from their defense. Anthony Davis spoke on the improvements on the defensive end as of late, saying:
"I think our communication was very on point tonight, which helped us with a lot of our coverages where we usually have some struggles."
Even in his 19th season, Carmelo Anthony has been a significant factor in this Lakers' offense to start the season, combining for 47 points in the Lakers past two games. In 27 minutes off the bench, Anthony scored 23 points on 5 of 8 shooting from beyond the arc and 8 of 14 shooting overall. On the defensive end, Anthony also had a disruptive night, blocking four shots and forcing two steals in the contest. After tonight game, LeBron James spoke on the impact Carmelo has had on this Lakers team so far this season:
"You know, it's definitely big for us. Especially having some of our other playmakers out, having two of our snipers out, as far as Wayne and TA. So, Melo definitely stepped it up from the perimeter for our perimeter shooting."
The Lakers had a total of four players score 15 points or more, with their big three combining for 51 points in tonight's win over Houston. The big three of LeBron, Davis, and Westbrook also accounted for 28 of the Lakers' 43 total rebounds on the night, highlighting just how "scary" they can be when in sync.
Russell Westbrook finished second in scoring for the Lakers, finishing with a near triple-double with 20 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds on 9 of 22 shooting from the floor.
In 32 minutes, Anthony Davis finished with a monster double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds. Shooting 41% from the floor, going 7 for 17, Davis attacked the bucket all night, taking advantage of an inexperienced Rockets team.
LeBron James was another Laker who had a stellar night on both ends of the floor, finishing with 15 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals while going 6 of 19 from the field. James had another night trying to find his rhythm from beyond the arc, going 0 of 6 from deep.
The Lakers will again face this young Rockets team this Tuesday at 7:30 in a rare back-to-back same team schedule. Look for the Lakers to come out the gates hot again, and take advantage of a young Houston core like tonight to keep their momentum going.