There was no history made in Houston on Friday night. In fact, it was a night Rockets fans would like to forget entirely.
The Lakers came out aggressive and focused from the opening tip, while Houston didn’t match that energy. At the same time, its offense went ice-cold at the worst possible time — Los Angeles packed the paint defensively and the Rockets shot 2-of-11 from 3-point range and a disturbing 29.3% overall in the first half, scoring just 31 points. Think of it this way: LeBron James outscored the Houston Rockets by himself, 14-13, in the second quarter.
It didn’t get much better in the third quarter, with the Rockets shooting 1-of-6 from 3 and 33.3% from the floor in the frame. While the Lakers were not exactly lighting up the scoreboard, they had LeBron James, who had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and he dominated the game.
Los Angeles cruised to a 98-78 win to take the series 4-2, ending talk of the Rockets becoming the first team to come back from 0-3 down to take a series.
The Lakers advance to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder starting Tuesday night in OKC.
Give the Lakers their flowers. They entered this series without Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique), and while Reaves returned and had a good Game 6 (15 points), this was an impressive team effort throughout the series. LeBron led the way, but role players — such as Luke Kennard early in the series and Rui Hachimura in Game 6 — stepped up when the team needed them.
Houston didn’t lose this series on Friday night; it lost it in the final 30 seconds of Game 3. That’s when the Rockets blew a six-point lead thanks to a couple of ugly turnovers and an ill-advised foul. Win that game, maybe things play out differently, but once the Rockets went down 0-3, everything had to be perfect — and the Rockets were not perfect or anything close to it in Game 6.
Friday’s game was decided from when there was 4:51 on the clock in the first quarter to 8:02 of the second, when the Lakers went on a 27-3 run, going up by 19. Their lead never touched single-digits again, the Rockets simply weren’t good enough on offense to close that gap. Nor were they able to get consistent stops.
Part of that was Hachimura, who added 21 points and hit a few clutch 3-pointers for the Lakers when it felt like the Rockets were making a push.
Amen Thompson led the Rockets with 18 points while Alperen Sengun added 17. The Rockets played this series with Kevin Durant only appearing in one game (and no Fred VanVleet or Steven Adams for any of it). Their young players showed flashes of potential but could not sustain it. It leads to an interesting offseason in Houston as it decides whether to run it back and bet on better health and its young players improving, or if the Rockets feel this is a sign to shake things up.
The Lakers don’t have to start thinking about the offseason yet, they have at least four more games to play.
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