The Rockets Don't Have Long To Correct Game 1 Woes

Upcoming practices for the Houston Rockets are sure to be filled with self reflection as they try to figure out what went wrong against the Los Angeles Lakers in a disappointing Game 1 loss. The Rockets were never in control of the game as the Lakers blitzed them with superior defensive effort and high-level shot making.

The Lakers may not shoot as well as they did Game 1 for the rest of the series, but there are warts the Rockets must figure out by Game 2 if they want to give themselves a legitimate chance in this series.

Dropping Game 1 on the road isn't the worst place in the world to be for a team in the postseason, but the Rockets had such different expectations for this series. They allowed role players like Luke Kennard and Rui Hachimura dominate parts of this game, and LeBron James was allowed to organize the offense with little difficulty.

Offensively, the Rockets did not shoot with anywhere near the success Los Angeles shot from the floor.

Tari Eason was the lone bright spot, hitting all of his shots in an important game for him to bounce back from a difficult stretch leading up to the end of the season.

The rest of the team shot poorly from the floor, despite several finishing in double digits.

The most disappointing offensive players in Game 1 were the top two players wearing Rocket jerseys, Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün.

Both played timidly on offense, and neither finished well at the rim. For players who function basically next to the rim for most of their offense, it was a surprisingly poor effort from both on offense.

Thompson never was able to use his speed to great effect due to high-pressure from the Lakers' defenders, and Şengün never found opportunities to get his teammates involved. Şengün also missed plenty of bunnies at the rim after taking on isolation opportunities.

To win the next game, the Rockets need their top two players to perform much better than their Game 1 outing. Both have shown an ability to bounce back after poor performances, but the stakes are much higher as they take on a team that shouldn't be able to match the Rockets in terms of on-paper talent.

However, a team's ability on-paper matters little when there are outlier performances from either side. The scary thing for the Rockets is that their performance might be closer to their norm than the Lakers' was to theirs. Houston has some difficulties to work through before it competes in Game 2 of the first round.

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