Rockets' Jabari Smith Jr. Wants Kevin Durant 'To Find Ways to Get Himself Involved' vs. Lakers
Jabari Smith Jr. wants more out of Kevin Durant when the Houston Rockets take the court for Friday's Game 3 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
"It's on him to find ways to get himself involved and get to his spots without the double team," he told reporters. "Just because he's getting double teamed, we still need him to be KD, you know? There's still ways around it, and we got some fixes to [the KD trap], and we're gonna be better the next two games."
Durant missed the first game with injury and finished Game 2's loss with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists.
The stats looked fine at first glance, but he attempted just 12 shots from the field and had nine turnovers. That's not enough from a generational player if the Rockets are going to advance past the first round, and Smith's comments suggest the team knows that's the case.
While Los Angeles' double teams and traps caused some concerns, Durant is also an all-time great who has been dealing with additional defensive attention throughout his career. Whether he and Houston can figure out a way to exploit that defensive approach from the Lakers will go a long way toward determining whether the Rockets can get back into the series.
The good news for Houston is the next two games are at home. If it can string together two straight wins to tie the series after dropping the initial two contests in Los Angeles, the pressure will then shift toward the Lakers.
Still, the Purple and Gold haven't had Luka Dončić or Austin Reaves yet in this series and have largely controlled the first two games. The Rockets are surely frustrated considering many saw them as the favorites in this one given the Lakers' injury concerns, and Durant is yet to establish himself.
His track record suggests he will, as he is a two-time champion and two-time NBA Finals MVP who averaged 29.3 points per game throughout his postseason career.
If that version of Durant shows up Friday, the Rockets can take some of the momentum back in this series.
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