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The Houston Rockets aren’t done just yet.
The Rockets, even without Kevin Durant available, picked up a solid 115-96 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night in Game 4 of their opening-round playoff series. The win kept their postseason run alive after they dropped the first three games of the series.
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While a 3-0 deficit is something that no team has successfully rallied back from — very few in that spot have even forced a Game 7 — the Rockets have officially avoided the series sweep. It’s a start.
The Rockets took control of the game in the first half, and even briefly took an 11-point lead late in the second quarter — which marked their largest lead of the series up until that point. The Lakers struggled to get their offense going, went just 1-of-6 from behind the arc and committed 13 turnovers in the first 12 minutes.
Deandre Ayton ejected in the third quarter
Deandre Ayton was perhaps the best part of the Lakers’ offense early on Sunday night.
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So when he picked up the first ejection of his career midway through the third quarter, it marked a major blow to the Lakers’ chances.
Ayton was trying to stop Alperen Sengun from driving to the rim when his left elbow came up high and drilled Sengun right in his jaw. Sengun recoiled immediately, clearly shaken up by the hit.
Officials reviewed the incident and quickly determined that Ayton’s elbow was “unnecessary and excessive.” While it didn’t appear to be intentional by any means, Ayton was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and was thrown out of the game. He finished the night with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
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The Rockets were up by 19 points at the time. They ended up outscoring the Lakers 34-18 in the third period alone and took a 25-point lead into the fourth quarter. By that point, the Lakers were just about out of it. Houston powered through the rest of the way to grab the 19-point win easily.
Aaron Holiday and Adou Thiero got into a very small scuffle under the rim with a little more than a minute left too, which earned them both quick ejections. Officials, however, got the dustup settled without much…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/breaking-news/article/rockets-survive-without-kevin-durant-dominate-lakers-in-game-4-after-deandre-aytons-ejection-to-avoid-sweep-041705730.html
Author : Ryan Young
Publish date : 2026-04-27 04:17:00
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