Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale has admitted that Portland Trail Blazers center LaMarcus Aldridge has been a handful all season, as he turned up to help condemn Houston to a 122-120 overtime loss on Sunday.
Aldridge made a new post-season record by scoring 46 points in the match, while also tallying 18 rebounds – the best in his playoff career – to help his side to victory at the Toyota Center.
"He's been a handful for us all season long, and we'll have to come up with a couple of new ways to try and get the ball out of his hands some, because we just didn't have any answers for him."
The two sides square up again for Game Two on Wednesday night.