NBA regular season, the Lakers lost 115-119 to the Rockets. The Lakers played terribly in the first half of this game, even though they exploded in the third quarter, unfortunately, they were unable to turn the situation around in the final quarter, resulting in a narrow defeat to the Rockets.
Two players had excellent performances throughout the game. With 18 shots and 10 hits, he scored an impressive 30 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots, demonstrating his dominance on the court. Defensively, he limited Shen Jing, and offensively, he was able to complete strong kills. He also scored 22 points in the second half, doing everything he could to hold the fort in the paint. However, when Anthony Davis appears at the five position, he is not capable of playing as a tank, which is something the Lakers need to pay attention to.
Smith's performance has been improving steadily. He scored 13 points with 5 out of 9 shots, including 6 points in the final quarter, which is also a new high for him since joining the Lakers. Combined with his defensive prowess, he is sure to maintain stable output in high-level games.
James, Rivers, Christie, and Hachimura all had passable performances. James' performance in the final moments of the game was somewhat disappointing, with turnovers and an offensive foul that completely affected the team's momentum. But without James' explosive performance in the third quarter, there would be no subsequent events, so he didn't play badly.
Rivers is still a player who is strong on offense but weak on defense. He scored 21 points and 10 assists with 6 out of 13 shots, including 3 out of 6 three-pointers. There have been no issues with his offensive performance. Unfortunately, he had no impact on the defensive end, which is regrettable. Christie played well for most of the game, but had trouble serving the ball in the final moments, although he did his best. Hachimura's scoring was decent, with 13 points from 5 out of 9 shots. However, he only had 1 rebound for the entire game, which is quite embarrassing.
Hayes, Milton, Knickert, and Reddish all had disastrous performances. Hayes simply couldn't handle the intensity and is not the backup frontline role the Lakers are looking for. Milton is a marginal player who lost a lot of points in just 4 minutes of play. Knickert played 17 minutes without contributing anything. Reddish was also worthless in this game, with all his stats being zero in 3 minutes, yet with a plus-minus of -12.