Saturday 5 September 2020 16:40, UK
LeBron James was left to rue 17 costly turnovers as the Los Angeles Lakers lost Game 1 of their series against the Houston Rockets 112-97 on Friday night.
James Harden scored 36 points, while Russell Westbrook added 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Eric Gordon had 23 points for the Rockets, the No. 4 seed who had just one day of rest after needing seven games to win their first-round series.
The Lakers have a size advantage in the series against the Rockets, who field one of the smallest line-ups in the NBA but they could not make it count on Friday night.
Houston opened the game with the 6-3 Gordon guarding the 6-8 James and Harden defending 7-footer JaVale McGee but were able to force the Lakers into making offensive errors.
"It does not matter how tall you are. If you have the heart and you are a competitor you can be out there on the court," Harden said.
The Rockets committed to playing small in February, believing they were not built to compete with the best of the West playing conventionally.
They debuted their style with a victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles and it worked again in Game 1 as Houston were constantly on the move defensively, deflecting passes and corralling loose balls.
James admitted the Lakers found Houston's speed difficult to handle but hopes they can adjust accordingly heading into Game 2.
"They play with a lot of speed, obviously, starting with the head of the snake in Russ (Russell Westbrook)," James said. "They play with a lot of speed both offensively and defensively.
"You can watch it on film [but when] you get out there, you get a feel for it. That's what we did tonight. We got a feel for their speed. We should be fully aware of that going into in Game 2.
"We had 17 turnover, 27 points versus a team that is a 100m dash team. You cannot turn the ball over like that. And it's just that simple. It starts with myself being the premier ball handler and triggers on everyone else.
"So, you know, we've got to have a complete turnaround going in the game 2."
Anthony Davis was the Lakers' most effective player, scoring 25 points and 14 rebounds. He also preached the importance of ball security heading into Game 2, and said the Lakers need to play faster.
"We have just got to - like LeBron said - limit our turnovers," Davis said. "It seemed like they scored off every turnover that we had. They scored 27 points off turnovers, which killed us. So we cannot turn the ball over against this team. That was the big key.
"We had some breakdowns defensively and we kind of stopped running too. You know, they would make a shot and we were not getting the ball out as quickly as we are used to. We were not pushing the pace. We have to get back to that in Game 2."
