LOS ANGELES — 159-0.
That’s the record of NBA teams who have gone up 3-0 in a playoff series. Only four teams have even forced a Game 7.
The Lakers raced out to a 3-0 series lead against a Houston Rockets team that has been without Kevin Durant for all but one game (not to mention missing other veterans Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams). History told us where this series was headed.
Except, now it’s 3-2, the series is headed back to Houston, and the Lakers are in real trouble.
The Rockets have looked a little better with each game, they have found an identity and confidence. For the first 10 quarters of this series, the Lakers looked like the veteran team that had a little more juice left in them, a team that might make a run. They were the aggressors pressuring on defense while their role players like Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard were knocking down shots.
However, for the last 10 quarters, the Lakers have just looked old. If not for one moment of their brilliance/horrible Rockets self-inflicted wounds at the end of Game 3, the Lakers would be trailing in this series.
“We’re obviously the better team, I feel like,” Jabari Smith Jr. said, reflecting the growing confidence that is clear the second you step into the Houston locker room.
Somewhere in the middle of Game 3, with Kevin Durant in the back getting treatment on his ankle, the young Rockets core started to coalesce.
“We’re just a tight-knit group of guys, especially the young guys, we really banded together,” Tari Eason said. “And I’m just proud of us… We just got to keep it rolling, one game at a time, back home, Game 6.”
Rockets find new identity
For three games, Houston looked overwhelmed — by the moment, by the pressure defense from Los Angeles, by everything. Ime Udoka caught some flak for saying his team needed to “grow up.”
However, maybe that’s what they needed to hear.
The Rockets have come together and made a few adjustments. They cranked up their defensive pressure, forcing turnovers and getting points in transition. On offense, they started hunting Kennard. Also, the Rockets started getting Alperen Sengun the ball more in the middle of the floor (where it’s harder to bring help).
Sengun, for his part, has settled into his role as more of a facilitator.’
“We learned it watching films, watching their defense, kind of understanding what they do now and there’s no, no reason for me to rush the shot or, like, attack the double team,” Sengun said after a 14-point, nine-rebound and eight-assist night in Game 5. “I’m just trying to pick them apart and find my teammates and find open shots. And that was my job today.”
He did his job — every Rockets starter finished in double-digits.
That Rockets youth seems to be wearing down those Lakers, who have just looked old and slow, even with the return of Austin Reaves.
Lakers need to re-establish their identity
While the Rockets’ offense has improved in the last few games, Lakers coach JJ Redick didn’t see his team’s defense as the issue after a 99-92 loss in Game 5 at home.
“You hope 99 [points] is enough to win and we just couldn’t make shots,” Redick said. “We missed some layups. Certainly, [we] had some good looks from three that didn’t go down.”
“I mean, we have some opportunities to make some shots we didn’t make, obviously. Think we’re generating good shots,” LeBron James said, echoing his coach. “As much as we gotta defend, we also gotta score in this game too, and I don’t think we did that at a good rate, especially in the second and third [quarters].”
Reaves’ return was supposed to help with that, and he did put up 22 points off the bench, but he did most of that damage at the free throw line. Reaves shot 4-of-16 for the game and looked to wear down late, shooting 1-of-8 in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers are still in the driver’s seat — they still need to win just one of two games. Reaves should shake off the rust and look better going forward. LeBron has been in more high-leverage games than anyone on the planet and has lifted up teams to big wins before. Marcus Smart has been on big stages before and won. The Rockets are still young and making the mistakes of youth (Eason going back up with a putback with 38 seconds left in Game 5, when the Rockets were up three, rather than kicking out to run down more clock, for example). The odds remain in the Lakers’ favor.
But make no mistake, they are in trouble. And the young Rockets believe they can make history.
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