Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers Game 4 preview

Originally, I figured that the most 2026 Houston Rockets thing that could happen is what happened in Game 3: take a sizable lead into the final moments and blow the game, culminating in an overtime loss. The poor play in clutch situations has defined this team, and their 20+ blown fourth quarter leads this year is the evidence.

The Rockets have been the arbiters of hope this season, constantly getting leads and then promptly blowing them in the most heartbreaking fashions imaginable. And it just kept happening. You figure that at some point they would learn from their mistakes, or that the sheer amount of experience would be a boon. “Hey, we’ve all been in this situation before and we’ve all been the reason we lost one of these games. So let’s just do our best and trust each other.” Something, anything that takes terrible experiences and uses them as fuel for the next time a similar event occurs.

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And in sports, that’s usually what happens. Teams struggle to get over the hump but get better and more hardened and eventually either blow up or successfully summit the mountain. That’s the blueprint we’ve seen time and time again.

But no team has toyed with its fans’ emotions more than the Houston Rockets. Now 1-8 in overtime, the Rockets have blown just about every sort of game that is possible. 20-point fourth quarter lead? Yep. 99.9% chance of winning based on your favorite site’s analytics? They’ve blown that too. Up double digits in overtime? They lost. Up 6 with 30 seconds left at home in the biggest game of the season? They almost lost in regulation!

Every time we’ve been ready to give up on the Rockets, they show us their talent and put together a few games where you think, “Oh maybe they figured it out!” But then they promptly remind everyone that they have not, in fact, figured it out.

So I can’t decide which way to lose this series would be the most 2026 Rockets. I’m hoping for the sweet release of death when it comes to this season, so we know that won’t happen easily. Either the Rockets will once again blow a big lead just for old time’s sake, OR they will…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/houston-rockets-vs-los-angeles-040000861.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-26 04:00:00

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