The Los Angeles Lakers fought back from an early deficit to give themselves a chance to tie the game late in their contest against the Houston Rockets. Down three points with seven seconds left, Max Christie was given the task of inbounding the ball and tried to get it to LeBron James, but Rockets guard Fred VanVleet would steal the pass and seal the outcome.
With the Rockets defending the play well, LeBron tried to call a timeout so the Lakers could reset and try again, but the officials didn’t recognize it. While Christie does feel the Lakers should’ve gotten the timeout, he put the blame on himself, feeling he has to make a better decision in that spot, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I mean, I think we should have got it. I should have called it too. As the inbounder, I need to be more aware. I need to make a better decision on this spot.”
Christie would continue on, saying that the Rockets played great defense and again noting that he has to be better in that situation:
“I mean, we ran the play right, they just switched every single screen. So they played great defense and again, I just need to call time out. I got it be better than that situation. I got make a better decision then trying to force it. So that’s on me.”
The Lakers fighting back the way they did was admirable, but the fact that they fell down by as many as 22 points in the first half was not great either. Christie felt the Lakers took way too long to match the energy the Rockets brought:
“I mean, I think their crowd was great, their energy was great. I think for us, it took us a while to get into the game, obviously, I think it took us until the third quarter. But there offensive rebounding was unreal. We gotta do a better job cleaning up the glass on that end. But yeah, their energy was there. The physicality was there. We matched it way too late. We gotta do a better job of coming out with that intensity.”
There will certainly be some things to take away from this game and Christie has shown he can learn and bounce back individually. And the Lakers will need to do the same as a team if they plan on leaving Texas with a split.
Lakers’ Dorian Finney-Smith relates to Max Christie
The addition of Dorian Finney-Smith has helped the Lakers in giving this team another active, versatile defender. And the veteran wing has found a younger version of himself in Max Christie.
“Since I’ve been here, Max has been terrific on the defensive end bringing a lot of energy,” Finney-Smith said after a recent win over the Atlanta Hawks. “So when I come in, I just try to match his energy. I told him I’ve been in his shoes before, especially sometimes you play defense all day and you might not get a shot. A lot of people don’t keep that intensity when they’re not getting the ball and I just try to preach it to him that I’ve been there before and that’s what made me valuable in this league.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
