There were multiple reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers were unable to eliminate the Houston Rockets at home in Game 5 of their first round playoff series, but at the top of the list was their inability to take care of the basketball.
The Lakers had 15 turnovers in their 99-93 loss to the Rockets with many of them being careless and lazy plays that led to easy buckets, preventing them from building momentum and keeping the energy of the crowd down. Marcus Smart was the biggest culprit, committing six turnovers and he admitted his performance was unacceptable and the Lakers have to fix their turnover issues if they want to win this series.
“Taking care of the basketball,” Smart said after the loss. “We’ve been through this. We understand this team and how they play and they’re very aggressive and we gotta take care of the basketball. Myself, I had six turnovers and that’s unacceptable for me. Especially with only two assists, especially against this team. We definitely gotta take care of the ball, we gotta do a better job all of us, collectively, and that’ll help us for sure.”
The Rockets have been one of the best defensive teams in the NBA all season long and thrive at forcing turnovers with their physical and aggressive style. As Smart said, the Lakers know what’s coming and he puts the onus on the players to protect the ball, hit open shots and execute the game plan the coaching staff gives them.
“We know what it is. We just gotta make shots,” Smart added. “We got guys doing things and we’re not giving ourselves a chance by turning the ball over which we can’t get a shot up on the rim because of that. And that hurts anybody no matter how good you are offensively, if you can’t get a shot up on the rim that’s always gonna hurt. But yeah, we know what it takes. We got good plays. The game plan is right, the coaching staff is doing a good job of putting us in the positions. We gotta go out there and capitalize on the plays that we are and make the best of them.”
The hardest game to win in a series is the final one and the Rockets will not go down easy. The Lakers know what they need to do to come out on top, now they just have to do it.
LeBron James highlights Lakers’ offensive struggles in Game 5
The Lakers’ defense was on point in Game 5, but their offense was unable to catch a rhythm and LeBron James spoke about his team’s struggles on that side of the floor.
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