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A largely lifeless offensive performance from the Lakers saw the Rockets take a second consecutive win in the series in Game 5 on Wednesday, 99-93. The purple and gold still lead the series 3-2.
While Austin Reaves returned for the contest and eclipsed 20 points, few other Lakers showed up as offense was hard to come by yet again. The Lakers shot 42.1% from the field and 25.9% from the 3-point line. Paired with 15 turnovers leading to 18 Houston points and the Lakers were forced to play catch-up most of the night.
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The Lakers led for most of the first quarter-and-a-half, but eventually fell behind by double digits for chunks of the second half. A pair of comebacks in the final minutes saw them close the gap to three on two occassions but never any closer.
Marcus Smart had the first five points for the Lakers to kick off the game, offsetting early buckets from Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason. The Lakers parlayed a Rockets turnover into a Rui Hachimura dunk and a Smart 3-pointer gave the hosts an early four-point lead.
Ayton finished a lob from Smart and put back a Rui missed jumper to force the first timeout of the game with LA up 14-9 just past the midway point of the quarter.
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Austin Reaves checked into the game during the break for his first action in just under a month and immediately found Ayton on a pair of feeds in the pick and roll, the latter leading to a basket. After throwing a terrible lob to LeBron James, he got his first points of the night with a long-range pull-up 3-pointer, putting LA up 19-13.
Reaves quickly found his groove with a lefty layup before drawing a foul on a three. Following a LeBron reverse layup off a Jake LaRavia offensive rebound, Austin found LeBron on a pick and roll as the Lakers carried a 28-21 lead into the second period.
The momentum of the first quarter for LA quickly dissipated as Houston got back-to-back threes from Dorian Finney-Smith and Jabari Smith cut it to a one-point game. After Smart and LeBron missed threes, Vando finished a fastbreak layup and LeBron knocked down a midrange jumper before another DFS three had it a 32-30 Lakers…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lakers-cold-offensively-lose-game-044932650.html
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Publish date : 2026-04-30 04:49:00
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