Lawson yet to find rhythm
Acquired in July trade, guard is missing his open shots, not meshing with Harden.
Ty Lawson’s first shot of the night for the Houston Rockets was too wide open to search for another. He let fly from the 3-point line. No good.
His next shot was even more wide open. No good. Three more shots came without a defender within 5 feet. They all missed.
There were a few drives mixed in. He finished a fast break in which he displayed his rare end-to-end speed with the ball.
But as Lawson returns to Denver for the first time since the Nuggets shipped him to the Rockets, he seeks to bounce back from another game in which he never quite seemed to fit as Houston lost Wednesday to the Nets.
Eight games into his celebrated move to the Rockets backcourt, the 5-foot-11 guard has seemed more miscast than the perfect fit the Rockets believed — and still believe — they added with that July trade.
“We got to get Ty going,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We got to find a better way to get him going. Right now he’s not, and we need him.”
Lawson, 28, has averaged 10.5 points and 5.6 assists per game, nearly five points and four assists off last season’s pace in Denver. He is making just 34.2 percent of his shots, often taking turns with James Harden rather than meshing as the Rockets had hoped and expect.
“We’re good,” Harden said when asked if he is concerned about whether the mix will come together. “It’s only eight games. I look at it like when LeBron ( James) went to Cleveland with Kyrie (Irving). They didn’t mesh right away. It takes time. I’m not worried about that. We’ll figure it out.”
Lawson was to offer the Rockets a second playmaker, taking some of that load off Harden and even getting Harden more good looks that he does not have to get for himself. But Lawson more often has been stuck on the perimeter waiting for the ball to find him and left to launch catch-and-shoot jumpers that, while part of his repertoire, do nothing to take advantage of his quickness with the ball.
Eager to please: “Definitely more catch-and-shoot,” Lawson said of the shots he has gotten with the Rockets compared with his six seasons in Denver. “I think I had two, three open just catch-and-shoot 3s (Wednesday). I have to get better at that. ... It’s cool with me. Whatever helps the team win, I just have to improve in that area.”
Lawson has taken 24.1 percent of his shots on catch-and-shoot jumpers on the perimeter, making just 31.6 percent of those attempts. He has taken 40.5 percent of his shots with pullup jumpers, long one of the strengths of his game, but has made just 18.8 percent of those.
On wide-open shots, with the closest defender 6 feet or more away, Lawson is shooting just 26.1 percent, missing the shots he looked forward to getting when playing with Harden and Dwight Howard.
Much of that can be attributed to cold shooting, the sort that seems likely to turn around for a career 46.4 percent shooter, as with Harden in his struggling first week, but Lawson needs to get a rhythm in the offense.
That process might be just beginning, but there has been little progress.
“I’m trying to figure out where I can get my things off when I get to the basket, get my touches,” Lawson said.
Harden also is trying to adjust. He has made 34.5 percent of his catch-and-shoot attempts. Those account for 16.9 percent of his shots overall — more than in the past, but a fraction of his attempts.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s been basically just creating for myself,” Harden said. “I’m getting more catch-and-shoot opportunities. I have to prepare for that.
“It’s all about getting a feel for it. It’s knowing when I got to attack and when I should get off the ball more.”
Slow transition: Lawson probably feels the same way, but he also is trying to fit in. A week ago, he seemed to make progress at feeling comfortable to look for his opportunities, but he often is ill at ease.
That would seem to make his return to Denver secondary to other, more pressing issues, but he said it never was a concern.
“I think it’s over with,” Lawson said. “It was blown out of proportion anyway. Denver is concentrating on them. I’m concentrating on the Rockets.”
Lawson said even Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke’s contention that Lawson smelled of alcohol at Nuggets practices was not his concern.
“I just take it with a grain of salt; keep moving, man,” he said. “Don’t think twice about it.”
Instead, he will seek to make the move to the backcourt work. That has been challenging enough.