Kevin Durant takes blame as Lakers disrupt Rockets' offense - ESPN

HOUSTON — The Los Angeles Lakers' defense late in Monday night's potential playoff preview left Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant searching for solutions.

The Lakers, who are optimistic they are in the process of carving out a defensive identity after struggling on that end of the court most of the season, threw a steady diet of double-teams at Durant in the fourth quarter. The results were disastrous for the Rockets, who committed nine turnovers while scoring only 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting in the final frame, allowing the Lakers to extend their winning streak to six games with a 100-92 victory at the Toyota Center.

«I just felt like I lost the game for us tonight,» said Durant, who scored only two of his 18 points in the second half and committed seven of the Rockets' 24 turnovers. «It's that simple. Of course we probably could make more 3s, but it's on me. I mean, to be honest, I'm the offense and the opposing team is going to use all their resources and not let me get comfortable.

»First half, I got comfortable in iso, comfortable coming off of pindowns, pick-and-rolls, and they decided not to let me get comfortable no more. So I got to be smarter, better with the ball. I got to maybe shoot over some of them double-teams, but space out, be ready to catch and shoot, be ready to be a screener, just be in a dunker spot, just being able to be there as a resource for my teammates to provide space. I didn't need to have the ball as much as I did tonight."

The Lakers (43-25) increased their cushion over the Rockets (41-16) to 1½ games in the fight for the third seed in the Western Conference. Houston, which hosts the Lakers again Wednesday night, is only a half-game ahead of the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota