Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets was left looking for answers by the Los Angeles Lakers’ defense late in Monday night’s possible playoff preview.
In the fourth quarter, the Lakers, who have struggled on that end of the court for the majority of the season, sent a consistent barrage of double-teams at Durant. The Lakers are optimistic that they are in the process of developing a defensive identity. The Lakers extended their winning streak to six games with a 100-92 victory at the Toyota Center as a result of the Rockets’ poor performance, which included nine turnovers and just 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting in the final period.
Durant, who made seven of the Rockets’ twenty-four turnovers and only scored two of his eighteen points in the second half, stated:
“I just felt like I lost the game for us tonight”. “It’s that simple. Of course we probably could make more 3s, but it’s on me. I mean, to be honest, I’m the offense and the opposing team is going to use all their resources and not let me get comfortable.
“First half, I got comfortable in iso, comfortable coming off of pindowns, pick-and-rolls, and they decided not to let me get comfortable no more. So I got to be smarter, better with the ball. I got to maybe shoot over some of them double-teams, but space out, be ready to catch and shoot, be ready to be a screener, just be in a dunker spot, just being able to be there as a resource for my teammates to provide space. I didn’t need to have the ball as much as I did tonight.”
In the battle for the third spot in the Western Conference, the Lakers (43-25) expanded their lead over the Rockets (41-26) to 1½ games. The Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves are only a half-game behind Houston, which will visit the Lakers once more on Wednesday night.
