There have been 159 times an NBA team has led a series three games to none.
There have been 159 times that team has won the series.
Marvel in that statistic. Appreciate its power. Wax in its endurance. Embrace its existence.
Because the Lakers are two losses from blowing it to bits.
This is not really happening, is it? The Lakers aren’t really on the verge of messing up a three-games-to-none lead to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, are they?
It’s happening. With a glare and a snarl and youthful athleticism, the wrong side of history beckons.
Like Reed Sheppard wrestling the ball out of LeBron James’ hands in the final minutes, the Rockets are in the process of stealing this.
Like three-point misses from James and Austin Reaves in the final minute, the Lakers are on the verge of bricking this.
Read more: Lakers can’t close out Rockets series when Austin Reaves returns
With a 99-93 loss in Game 5 of the first round at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night, the Lakers have seen a historically insurmountable lead shrink to three-games-to-two while turning some recent words from the Rockets’ Jabari Smith Jr. into temporary reality.
““We’re obviously the better team,” Smith Jr. told reporters earlier this week. “I just feel like from top to bottom…we’re the better team.”
Even without injured star Kevin Durant, who hasn’t played in either of their two wins?
Even with — and this really hurts — the Wednesday return of Reaves?
Right now, the answer is a resounding yes.
To which James, when told of Smith’s statements, just shook his head.
“I don’t care about …that, bro,” he told reporters after the loss. “The game is won in between the four lines. I don’t give a damn. Who cares? Of course you say it. What would you say, ‘Oh, we’re not the better team.’ I don’t….Ask one of them young guys that question. I’m too old for that.”
The answers were a bit more concise from JJ Redick. The Lakers coach who was so inspirational at the beginning of this series has been reduced to spouting simple math.
“It’s the first team to win four games in a series,” he said. “We happened to win the first three. They happened to win the last two. We have to be better.”
James has to be better. After carrying the team for the first three games, he looks exhausted, and it is the Lakers who are now carrying him. Although he scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and 25 overall, he missed all three of his fourth-quarter trey attempts and lost the ball to Sheppard in the key turnover of the game.
LeBron James loses the ball to Rockets guard Reed Sheppard late in Game 5. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A layup from James had cut a once-13-point margin to three, then Sheppard sank a runner before stealing the ball from James and proceeding to go solo on a fast-break dunk to give the Rockets an edge they never lost.
“Obviously, we’ve got to learn from our mistakes,” James said. “I think we made some mistakes tonight. Too many unforced mistakes.”
Marcus Smart, another early-series hero, has to be better. He made twice as many turnovers (6) as baskets (3) and, like James, the 12-year veteran looked worn down from the effort exerted last week.
Luke Kennard, the surprise playoff star, has to be better. Heck, he has to just show up. He was invisible for a second consecutive game Wednesday with exactly one point on exactly four shots.
Then there Reaves, who took the floor in the first quarter to a huge ovation after missing nearly a month with a Grade 2 left oblique strain. It’s hard to fault him amid the obvious rust, but he did miss 12 of his 16 shots and six of his eight three-point attempts, including two big bricks late.
“I thought he was aggressive..did a good job of driving..he’ll find his rhythm,” said Redick of Reaves.
As usual, Reaves shouldered more than his share of the blame.
“I missed a lot of easy looks,” he said, later adding. “You know, I wish I could, you know, get a little bit more of a rhythm before jumping into the fire like that.”
The uneven Lakers’ night was epitomized by those two plays from Sheppard that put the kibosh on the momentum from an 11-1 Lakers run and set up the Rockets for a fairly smooth landing. You know, unlike the earlier game when they blew a six-point lead in the last 30 seconds.
Think about that. The Lakers are lucky they’re not on the verge of losing this series. And after another turnover fest — 15 errors, 18 Rockets points — they’re lucky they haven’t blown this series already.
Game 6 is Friday in Houston. Game 7 is Sunday at Crypto.
You know the part where the schedule makers say the game is, “If Necessary?” What’s necessary is for the Lakers to win Friday. They want no part of Sunday, even at home. Too many weird things can happen. Enough weird things have happened already.
“Once we get on that plane and head down to Houston we’ve got to forget about it and understand what we are going for and it’s going to be even harder,” James said. “Every game is hard. It’s so hard to close out a team in the postseason, to win a series and this is our first time doing it as a unit. So, we’ll see what we got.”
LeBron James looked exhausted near the end of Game 5. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
What they had was enough early, the Lakers riding the spark from Reaves to grab as much as an 11-point lead in the first quarter.
But the excitement quickly wore off, as the Rockets began the second quarter taking advantage of Laker turnovers, rolling to a 9-0 run and taking the lead midway through the quarter. The quarter was best illustrated in the final minutes when two Rockets swiped the ball from Reaves and Amen Thompson wound up standing alone under the basket for a layup that eventually led to a 51-47 halftime edge.
The Rockets kept up the surge in the third quarter, outscoring the Lakers by five while continually applying the pressure that resulted in the necessity of a big Laker fourth-quarter comeback. Which they didn’t have in them.
Trailing by four in the final 20 seconds, James rushed up a three-point attempt that clanked, and that was that.
“Try to flush this one,” said James.
Push hard on that handle. Very hard. Historically hard.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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