Are The Rockets Better Suited Now to Handle the Lakers Defense?

The NBA Playoffs have now arrived for the Houston Rockets, who will take on the Los Angeles Lakers in a first-round series. The Rockets are the five seed after finishing the regular season with a 52-30 record for consecutive series, while the Lakers have home court as the four seed after finishing with a 53-29 mark.

The regular season series between these two storied franchises was quite entertaining. The Lakers took two out of the three with the road team winning all three games. The Rockets took the first in LA on Christmas Day, while the Lakers won back-to-back in March at Houston.

While the Rockets blew out the Lakers 119-96 in the first matchup, the next two in Houston were close till the fourth quarter. The Rockets’ offense has been talked about and scrutinized quite a bit throughout the season, and they finished 18th in the NBA with 115.2 points per game.

The Rockets were also 10th in 3-point field goal percentage, and Kevin Durant put together another exceptional All-Star season. While there were the highs at the start of the season, Houston’s offense cooled down and faced some issues.

Most of it has to do with not having a true point guard, but the offense in general has gotten much better since Reed Sheppard has been included in the starting lineup. The Rockets have faced challenges at times against playoff competition, and it was no different against the Lakers, who employed a fierce double-team on Durant as soon as he crossed half court as the ball-handler.

The Rockets found trouble throughout the fourth quarter dealing with that double, and could not break through. It was turnovers galore, and Houston’s lead crumbled with two straight losses against LA. The Rockets have faced that defensive strategy at various times, but have seemingly gotten better. Teams do not deploy that as much. The ball movement and turnovers have both improved.

Rockets coach Ime Udoka was asked after the final regular season game if he feels the team is better equipped to handle the double-team against Durant and break through the Lakers defense.

Getting Past the KD Double

Mar 18, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) shoots against Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) in the second half at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

“I think we’re better in getting into our spacing and not turning the ball over. That’s where the majority of problems came from, of not even completing the pass, but we’ve seen it quite a few times now,” Udoka said. “The numbers showed that we were really good against the double team, but it really hurt us in the fourth quarter at times.”

The Rockets could not even get into their sets in those games against the Lakers in March thanks to poor passes and turnovers. While Houston still has the sixth most turnovers per game, it has gone down significantly. The passes are cleaner, and a lot of that has to do with ball movement and spacing, like Udoka mentioned. That has allowed the Rockets to beat teams like the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns in their eight-game win streak.

“If we pick it up early, teams won’t do it as much, but when they have success with it, they do it more in the fourth. We’ve been up and down at times this year, but we’ve had enough practice and seen enough that it will be something we will see again,” Udoka said.

The Rockets will be facing the Lakers on Saturday night for Game 1 and are riding high with nine wins in the last 10 games. While the defense may have given them some difficulties, the Lakers offense will be easier to deal with without Luka Doncic, who isn’t expected to play for most of the series.

The NBA’s leader in points per game took over against the Rockets with 40 and 36 points in those two March games. The Rockets will now have an opportunity to use their high level of rebounding, which is the best in the NBA and top 10 defense, to give trouble to LeBron James on the other end.

The Rockets know the double-team could come on their superstar, but have likely gotten past those problems.

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