Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers Game 5 preview

The Houston Rockets are now competing against history.

In order to advance past the Los Angeles Lakers, the Rockets will need to win their next three games to become the first NBA team to ever come back from a 3-0 deficit and advance.

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That task gets taller as Austin Reaves seems destined to make his return tonight in Los Angeles. With the Lakers taking the first three games, LA was able to keep both Reaves and Luka Doncic in rest mode. Now LA can get Reaves some action before a potential second round matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder. For the first time in the series, the Lakers are the betting favorites to win an individual game.

For Houston, tonight is about getting off to a good start and keeping the pressure on LA. If the Rockets can find a way to win tonight, they will head back to Houston for Game 6 and all of the pressure with be on the Lakers to not blow this thing.

Truly, it feels like the game will come down to which team’s role players continue to look like superstars. In Games 1-3, it was Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart. In Game 4, Reed Sheppard and Tari Eason had their moments. Performing at a high level on the road is difficult for young teams, and that’s one area that the Rockets have been unable to address.

Again, this team is the best at feeding you hope just to yank it away at the last second.

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Tip-off

9pm CT

How To Watch

ESPN

Injury Report

Rockets

Steven Adams: OUT

Fred VanVleet: OUT

Kevin Durant: OUT

Lakers

Luka Doncic: OUT

Austin Reaves: questionable

The Line (as of this post)

LAL -4.5

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can

If necessary, Game 6 on Friday in Houston

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/houston-rockets-vs-los-angeles-040000753.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-29 04:00:00

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