Rockets Win In LA 99-93

The Rockets are coming home to Houston. Not to start their off season, but to play Game 6 of their first round series with the Lakers. The series is now 3-2 in favor of the Lakers, and of course it’s easy to see a world where they Rockets would be ahead 3-2. They aren’t, of course, but they also have a chance to do what has never been done before, and win a playoff series from down 3 games to 0. That would be a lot of fun to see.

The next step towards both history and improbability was taken tonight in Los Angeles. Austin Reaves, in the running for “Least Ethical Player In The NBA”. was playing again. (Reaves scored more points from the free throw line than the field tonight, and he scored 22.) The Lakers were, of course, without Luka Doncic, and the Rockets without Kevin Durant. I would now rate this series as a fair fight. Despite the Rockets also going without their presumed starting point guard Fred VanVleet, and center Steven Adams. Any Laker complaints about being short handed should cease at this point, as both Rockets wins were accomplished against a Laker team with Austin “Headwhip” Reaves.

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On to the game. In short, the win was typical of how the young Rockets of the past two season often won games. They played active, tough, defense. They scored just enough to win. The Rockets turned the Lakers over 15 times tonight, and 10 of those turnovers were steals. They lost the rebounding battle, 41 to 34, mostly due to Deandre Ayton showing that the main stumbling block to greater career success is not his ability. He had 17 rebounds, and the next highest Laker player had 6.

Another notable aspect of the Rockets attack is that they shot 40 3pt shots. If you have a slow, fairly low output offense (and the Rockets offense in the playoffs this season has definitely been both), three pointers can help a lot. They did tonight, as the Rockets made 14-40 for a perfectly reasonable 35%. Jabari Smith had a great night, going 4-9, but no Rocket had an awful night from three, and that’s the big difference. Holiday and Okogie went 1-4, and Sheppard went 2-7, but Dorian Finney-Smith(!) and Amen…

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Publish date : 2026-04-30 06:32:00

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