3 Things the Houston Rockets must do to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers

Hit Open Shots

This one is pretty straightforward — if the Rockets hit the open shots they create for each other, they have an excellent chance to prevail over the West-leading Lakers and send a message that they’re still a force to be reckoned with.

Against Damian Lillard and the Blazers, the Rockets shot just 39.6 percent, which included a 32.7 percent night from beyond the arc. The previous night against Memphis, they shot just 31.1 percent from the 3-point line and 43 percent overall.

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The difference between the Lakers and Rockets right now is that L.A. can rely on their third-ranked defense whenever their offense goes cold, which cannot be said about Houston. As it stands going into Saturday’s primetime ABC matchup, Space City will need to have a great shooting night to hang with the Lakers unless they pick up their defense by a big margin.

The much-anticipated matchup tips off Saturday at  8:30pm ET on ABC.