The Lakers (39-30) face the Rockets (16-53) in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. on Spectrum SportsNet, but make sure to turn in early, at 6:30 p.m., for the raising of the 2020 championship banner.
Below are three things to know about the matchup:
THT’S DAGGER
When 20-year-old Talen Horton-Tucker was growing up in Chicago, he had two players he looked up to: Derrick Rose, 12 years his senior, and a fellow Simeon Career Academy Star; and Anthony Davis, eight years his senior. On Tuesday night, THT rose up over Rose to nail a game-deciding 3-pointer with 21.1 seconds remaining to put LAL up 101-99.
Kyle Kuzma told us about the moment on the Spectrum SportsNet walkoff:
THT said afterwards that he was really frustrated with himself for getting stripped by the aforementioned Rose moments earlier, his 7th turnover of the night, as the vast majority of playmaking duties were almost forced upon the 20-year-old in the absence of Dennis Schroder, LeBron James and Alex Caruso, who left the game with a sore foot in the first half. THT managed to total 10 assists, many on kickouts after he managed to get into the Knicks paint despite their strong defensive discipline and crisp rotations. Bottom line: the kid came through in a tough situation, and that’s something that furthers the trust his teammates and the coaching staff has in him.
AD’S HEALTH
Coming off completely dominant performances against Portland and Phoenix, Anthony Davis had a tougher night against a locked in Knicks defense, and little help aside from THT to break it down. Complicating that further, he tweaked his groin at some point, and had to battle through it down the stretch.
AD said that there was no way he was coming off the floor in a big game, as the Lakers look to try and rally out of the No. 7 seed. Nonetheless, he was everywhere on defense down the stretch, making life difficult on Julius Randle and Derrick Rose, who were handling much of NYK’s scoring.
But it does put Davis’ availability for the Rockets game into question. In his words: “Very strong possibility that I fight through it and play, but also don’t want to have it (linger)." The Lakers don’t play again until Saturday, which would give him a few days to try and make sure the groin is right, but stay tuned.
Meanwhile, we’ll see if LeBron is able to make his return from his ankle injury, after several reports from practice that he’s been looking really good.
ROCKETS SLIDE
Houston is currently the NBA’s worst team, having lost 10 of 11 games, with the lone win coming when Kevin Porter Jr. exploded for an improbable 50 points against Milwaukee on April 29. Their season of course flipped in an expected direction when they traded James Harden to Brooklyn back in January, mostly for future draft compensation, since they ended up flipping Victor Oladipo at the trade deadline. As such, they’re playing a mix of young players without much experience (Kenyon Martin Jr., Jaesean Tate and Danuel House, Jr. all started last game – and journeyman vets like Kelly Olynyk and D.J. Augustin.
Defense has been a struggle for the Rockets. They’ve allowed: 136, 113, 122, 135, 141, 124 and 140 points amidst their latest losing streak. As such, the Lakers will have more room to operate on offense than they did against the stingy Knicks, who allow the fewest points in the league.