Through the first three games of the NBA Playoff series between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers someone new in purple and gold has had to walk into the fire of the postseason and refuse to blink.
Without their top two leading scorers in Luka Doncic andAustin Reaves, the Lakers have needed a secondary scoring option behind LeBron James.
In Game 1, that wasjourneyman Luke Kennard who scored 27 pointsand was a perfect 5-for-5 from three. In Game 2,Marcus Smart accepted that roleand stuffed the stat sheet with 25 points.
On Friday night in Houston, that someone was Rui Hachimura.
He didn’t just score 22 points, drain four three-pointers and play 43 minutes, although that workload tells you everything you need to know about how much Lakers’ head coach J.J. Redick trusts him. With the Lakers in hostile territory in Houston, they knew they needed a fast start to silence the crowd.
Hachimura imposed himself early, torching the Rockets for 16 points in the first quarter on a flawless 6-for-6 shooting, the best scoring quarter of his entire career.
This Lakers sequence…Jaxson Hayes hustle.Luke Kennard assist.Rui Hachimura triple.Hachimura: 14 PTS, 3-3 3PM, 5-5 FGMpic.twitter.com/E0DYgAcdRG
“It was the matchup. Reed Sheppard was guarding me,” Hachimura said. “It was exactly what we worked on and practiced.”
Hachimura’s preparation coincided with the opportunity perfectly.
Houston adjusted, as they had to. The easy looks disappeared and James once again shouldered the scoring load for the Lakers.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
