Shannon Sharpe not sold on Lakers after Game 1 win

There was plenty of buzz after LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers took Game 1 over the Houston Rockets on Saturday, but NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe was not exactly lining up to celebrate.

While most people saw a strong statement from the Lakers, Sharpe saw something a lot less convincing.

Should the Rockets have even stood a chance?

Sharpe’s biggest issue was that Houston did not have Kevin Durant on the floor, and in Sharpe’s eyes, that changes the entire landscape.

"If KD plays, I don't see them winning this game, but then maybe LeBron is a little bit more aggressive because he knows they have the capabilities with KD in the lineup to beat them," Sharpe said.

The offense had no flow, every possession became one on one, and no one could stop the bleeding, which the Lakers took advantage of.

LeBron James did his job, but the win felt incomplete

It was also evidenced by James' play. He did not try to do too much, nor did he take over. 

Rather, he let the game come to him, and it worked out just fine with 19 points and 13 assists. But as Sharpe implied, that kind of game may not happen when Durant comes back.

"They almost shot as good from the floor as they did from the free throw line," Sharpe said. "They only shot 65% from the free throw line and still you only won by nine points. You held them to 38% from the floor, 33% from the three, 68% from the free throw line, and you only win by nine. You know why? Because you was careless. You was reckless with the basketball, and you allowed them to stay in."

The turnovers kept happening. Free throws were inconsistent. There were stretches where the focus dipped, and instead of putting the game away, the Lakers let the Rockets hang around longer than they should have.

The absence of Kevin Durant changed the narrative

Sharpe is not wrong. The absence of Kevin Durant was  glaring for the Rockets.

Yes, the Lakers benefited from Durant being out. That is obvious. No team is going to apologize for facing a watered-down version of its opponent in the playoffs. You take the win; you move on and set your sights on game two.

But the part that gets glossed over is that good teams still bury games like that. The Lakers did not.

That nine-point margin should have been wider in Durant’s absence. Houston shot poorly, looked disorganized and still hung around because the Lakers got sloppy. That is not a Durant issue. It is a lack of discipline.

Lakers were exposed, and Kevin Durant's return could prove it

And that is where Sharpe’s skepticism makes sense. Not in the win itself, but in what was exposed. 

If the Lakers cannot clean that up against a version of the Rockets missing their best player, what does that look like when the floor tilts back the other way? That is the part that lingers. Not the result, but how thin the margin felt even when everything said it should not have been.