Jarred Vanderbilt of the Los Angeles Lakers said on Apr. 17 that the team will need a collective effort to defend against players like Kevin Durant as they prepare to face the Houston Rockets in the playoffs. The Lakers, who won their regular season series, are missing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, making contributions from all players essential.
Vanderbilt explained that stopping Durant would not fall to one person alone. “It takes everybody. It won’t be one guy’s assignment,” he said after Friday’s practice. “He’s a hell of a talent, we’ve seen what he can do in playoff settings. It’ll be a group assignment. Every time he’s on the floor everybody has to have a head on a swivel and he’s pretty much the most dangerous person on their team so it’ll be all hands on deck, it’ll be everybody.”
Rebounding was another focus for Vanderbilt heading into the series. “It’s something that we’ve been harping on all week,” Vanderbilt said. “It’s going to be a big part of the game, especially offensive rebounds. Sometimes those are momentum swingers, they’re game changers so trying to limit them on the glass and just making sure everybody out there boxing out and putting a body on somebody… But that’s a big point of emphasis for us right now, rebounding, boxing out, putting bodies on bodies and it’s going to be a physical series.”
He added that setting an aggressive tone would help define how games are played: “The team that sets the tone first and initiates the contact they set the rules… So I think for us going out there and being the one to hit first instead of retaliating I think that would be a big difference for us.”
Vanderbilt also described ways Los Angeles could make things difficult for Houston: “One of them is on the glass… Contesting shots, contesting passes… Being able to push them out and just make it tough on them every time they’re on the floor.” He emphasized limiting easy baskets by playing physically: “Giving up no layups, or if it’s a hard foul, just being physical… Being able to just set the tone…”
LeBron James agreed with Vanderbilt about rebounding and physical play as key factors heading into Game 1.
In recent weeks Vanderbilt had an incident with head coach JJ Redick but stated since then that unity is important within the group.
