James Harden of the Houston Rockets dropped 50 points on the Los Angeles Lakers, and LeBron James found his team’s defense unacceptable.
Per Ryan Ward of ClutchPoints, James raised the fact that the Lakers put Harden on the free throw line too many times. In their win on Thursday, Harden had 19 free-throw attempts and converted on 18 of them.
LeBron James on James Harden’s 50-pt triple-double (1/3): “You can’t put him on the line. We put him on the line too many times. He’s already talented as s*** offensively…” #Lakers #Rockets
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) December 14, 2018
He pointed out that James Harden, last season’s MVP, has an array of offensive tools in his arsenal. And if you put him on the line, you’re basically doing him a favor as these are almost like lay-ups for the Rockets star.
LeBron James on James Harden (2/3): “…He can put the ball in the hole multiple ways. Drive. Step-back 3s. You give him easy points when you put a guy like that on the line…” #Lakers #Rockets
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) December 14, 2018
LeBron James mentioned another offensive talent in Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors. He noted that a defense simply can’t send a guy like him to the line for 20 attempts. Since for scorers like Durant and Harden, once they see the ball swish the net, not only do they score easy buckets, but it boosts their confidence.
LeBron on Harden (3/3): “…You can’t put KD on the line for 20 free throws. You can’t put him on the line for 20 free throws. You can put any of our scorers we have in our league on the line 20 times because they see the ball go in the hole.” via @SpectrumSN #Lakers #Rockets
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) December 14, 2018
Apart from a 50-point explosion, James Harden also had 11 assists and 10 rebounds. He hit back to back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter which stretched their lead and killed the Lakers’ momentum.
LeBron James, for his part, had a team-high 29 points. Kyle Kuzma was not far behind with 24 points. The Lakers kept it close the whole game. But Harden took over in the fourth quarter and put the game away for good. It also didn’t help that the purple and gold shot 55.6 percent from the free-throw line.
The Lakers will move on to the second game of their four-game road trip on Saturday when they face the Charlotte Hornets. The Rockets, meanwhile, will head to the FedExForum to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.
The post LeBron James rues Lakers’ inability to contain James Harden appeared first on ClutchPoints.
