If practice makes perfect, the Lakers should be in good shape for Game 2 of their first-round series against Minnesota. The Lakers had their best practice in months, coach JJ Redick said on Monday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Los Angeles lost by 22 points on Saturday. The Lakers will look to even the series on Tuesday.
“Hopefully, we can just right our wrongs,” guard Austin Reaves said. “We played bad, they shot the ball really well. They’re obviously a really good team that’s physical. We got to match that. Tomorrow it’ll be different story.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- How has Jeff Van Gundy impacted the Clippers as an assistant in his returning to coaching? He’s been a major reason why their defense was strong enough to make the postseason. “He loves us being aggressive, attacking the ball,” Clippers guard Kris Dunn told the Sporting News’ Stephen Noh. “We’re not playing back on our heels. We’re being the aggressor and trying to dictate the game.”
- Jimmy Butler had a huge game as the Warriors grabbed a 1-0 series against the Rockets on Sunday night. Butler supplied 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals. He scored six points in the last 1:43 to put the game away, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk notes. “He has that impact every game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of the team’s blockbuster midseason addition. “He calms things down. He’s very confident. He’s very poised. He always believes we’re going to win. Jimmy is — he’s one of the best players in the league, and that’s what the best players in the league do. It’s not just about scoring or stats. It’s about settling the game down, having the presence and the nature to compete and win games like this.”
- The Rockets, despite their strong regular season record, have been subpar in the half-court in 2024/25. The Warriors believe they can win the series by preventing Houston from getting easy baskets, Anthony Slater of ESPN writes. “But we’ve got to recognize that we don’t need to take chances in this series,” Kerr said. “We need to be clean with our execution in transition. We don’t need to dribble through traffic. We don’t need to throw lob passes to try to get a dunk. We’ve gotta be rock solid. If we’re rock solid, smart and tough, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
- If the Suns deal Kevin Durant this offseason, which veteran players could they try to acquire in return? Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic takes a look at 10 potential targets.
Warriors defense in game 1 was the best defense any team has played all year – including Steph Curry playing lockdown D on Jalen Green, holding him him to 3-15 shooting.
I thought Curry was guarding Dillon Brooks ?
He did both! What a guy!
Gary what did you think when they bought out the 1-3-1 ???
Houston doesn’t have the outside shooting to beat a 1-3-1.
Kinda makes the best D played by anyone all season look a little off, no?. Outside shooting, Bingo.
The Warriors biggest issue against the Rockets is turnovers. They turned the ball over 20 times, in 1st lose to Houston, which led to 30 Rockets points, and lost by 1.
They also need to get better at loose-ball rebounds. They fell off in the 2nd half of the season.
You’re going to get owned on the boards v every team you play, thats just the roster construction. Houston can’t just give someone the rock and say go get a bucket though. Houston can’t Spread the floor either, not good from deep. Udoka needs to drag Green out on the perimeter. Houston don’t really have the roster for that. Every other team you play will. Most definitely need to cut the TO’s down, Houston getting easy buckets is probably their only avenue to win the series. I still think Houston can get some games. They couldn’t of played any worse offensively in game 1. Lil Fred had a lot of open looks and he wasn’t the only one. Shot free throws worse than 10 yr olds too.
So, you think the Warriors should win the series. I thought that was supposed to be delusional. You finicky boys. So,
@Giants74
No-calls on hacks frequently become turnovers. And when your tallest starter is 6’7″, it’s tough to get rebounds. With Ime probably playing Adams more based on the 1st game, will Kerr finally give some playing time to TJD and Kuminga?
Nope. The turnovers come from poor passing, not hacks. Even the players say it.
Size doesn’t matter when you are going after loose balls. 1st half of the season, the Warriors were 3rd in rebounding. They finished the season 7th.
TJD has gotten a lot of playing time. He has just regressed defensively. Kuminga needs to become a better outside shooter to play with Jimmy.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves on rebounding. How will Houston adjust on game 2. Will they start both big men. How will Kerr adjust to that? Will we see more Post in the game to get Segun away from the basket? Looney didn’t have the energy in game 1 so will he be better in game 2. Should Kuminga come in when Butler sits for rebounding. Playoffs are all about adjustments from game to game.
The Rockets constantly hack on defense not just on the players receiving passes, but on drives and even dribbling up the court, as anyone who watches them knows. Obviously poor passing results in 100% clean steals as well.
When the Warriors were 3rd in rebounding TJD was getting a lot of playing time (1st half, 20.3 min/gm avging 6.5 rpg).
In the 2nd half of the season, Kerr has only played him 6.3 min/gm for 2.1 rpg – less that a third of the pt/rpg, and since the Butler trade, 4.3 min/gm and 1.7 rpg.
TJD stalls out the offense. His only offensive play is hanging around the basket for a miss shot. He can’t shoot more than 4 feet from the basket. Allows the defense to double team the other players. I am hoping they trade him in the offseason. Unless he works hard on a shot in the offseason I don’t see him having a long career.
@arc89
The team has plenty of offense (and besides, he’s good at PnR alley oops). What they’ve been getting killed in is REBOUNDING!
I just don’t see him as a good fit on the team. Kuminga should get the minutes over TJD.
@arc89
Considering how well Kuminga played in 3 games vs the Rockets this season, I agree he should play. I think TJD should as well, if Post and Looney suck as bad as they did in gm 1.
Post was good. Looney was a push over for Adams. Post should guard Segun. make Segun come out to the 3 pt m line to guard Post and open up the key.
I can’t agree that 0 pts and 1 reb in 12:15 committing 2 fouls is “good”.
His defense was very good that is why he had a +4 in those 12 minutes.
There were 4 other players in the court during his minutes, the tiny sample +/- of +4 doesn’t mean much.
The turnovers I am talking about are the ones that the Warriors control, playing sloppy. In their two loses, they turned the ball over 20 times. They lead to easy points for Houston.
The problem with playing TJD is who are you going to sit. They struggled in the 1st half of the season offensively. Looney is a better defender and rebounder. Post is better scorer. Draymond is a better playmaker.
Its the dumb passes turn overs that really hurt the team. That mainly falls on Curry and Green. Stop with the one handed passes and full court passes. When Curry gets double teamed Kerr needs to have a body ready for him to pass to.
BINGO!! Draymond said after a game, in which he turned the ball over 6 times, and they lost, “You can’t defend turnovers”
Teams averaged 14 turnovers a game. OKC, Cleveland, and Boston are around 11. The Warriors averaged 13. When they turned ball over 14 or more times, they were 8-14.
@ Giants74
Looney had 1 reb in 8:35, Post had 1 in 12:15, and they had 0 pts on 0-4 bricking combined.
At that point he’s worth a try. (He could also take some minutes from Buddy).
That’s only one game. No need to panic.
@ Giants74
Home teams that lose game 1 in the playoffs win game two 77% of the time. Hoping Kerr might try something different that might make a difference isn’t panicking, but knowing Kerr, it’s never going to happen.
Last time I checked, the Warriors have been winning more than the are losing. Why change the formula?
@ Giants74
Because the less games they have to play, the better the chance of getting to the Finals.
Than do what has been working.
GSW hasn’t won more than 2 games in a row since the 1st week of April. Which means doing the same thing while the Rockets adjust will likely result in a loss tomorrow.
The Warriors are 7-3 in April. The Rockets are 3-4 in April. Why make adjustments when you don’t know what adjustments the Rockets are making?
The Rockets were coasting after locking up the 1 seed (when they beat GSW by 10 on the road). They outrebounded the Warriors in that game too.
GSW getting outrebounded by 16 in gm 1 (and giving up 22 offensive rebounds) is an excellent reason to adjust, unless you’re happy to just take the loss and go home 1-1.
The Warriors played the Rockets 4 times in the regular season. The Warriors went 2-2. In one win, they out rebounded the Rockets. In the other win, they didn’t. TJD had 4 rebounds in those games. So, not a real factor. They did turn the ball over 20 times in each of those loses.
Besides, 22 offensive rebounds and only 84 points?