The Lakers’ shotmaking in Game 1 produced eye-catching numbers — including shooting records — and helped create a wide gap between the two teams on made shots. But the unusually extreme nature of that efficiency difference may not be as discouraging for Houston as it appears on the surface.
In an analysis of the opener, Zach Kram highlighted how outlier-level shooting performances can distort the story of a single game. When one side converts at a historically high rate, it can inflate the margin and make the matchup look more lopsided than the underlying possession-by-possession battle.
Why the gap matters
Kram’s central point: a Game 1 decided in part by record-setting accuracy suggests the result was heavily influenced by exceptional shotmaking. In that framing, Houston can view the opener as a game in which it ran into an unusually hot opponent rather than one that necessarily reflects the baseline level of play between the teams.
That doesn’t change the outcome of Game 1, but it does shape how the Rockets can evaluate what happened — separating sustainable advantages from a shooting performance that stood out even by playoff standards.