The Lakers have lost all momentum against the Rockets

LOS ANGELES — Entering Game 5, the Lakers were still comfortably in the driver’s seat against the Rockets.

Now, the car is slowing down, making a funny sound and the hazard lights are on.

Houston took Game 5 in Crypto.com Arena and, suddenly, a matchup that was one game away from a sweep is just one more victory away from going the full seven games.

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“It’s the first team to win four games in a series,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said postgame. “We happen to have won the first three. They happened to have won the last two. We’ve got to be better.”

After having the momentum firmly on their side after Game 3, the pendulum has swung the other direction.

Gone are the great games from Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart. The purple and gold rode the Kennard wave to a win in Game 1, where he had a playoff-high 27 points. In Game 2, he was equally brilliant with 21 points while Smart added 25 points to put LA in front 2-0.

However, the Lakers can’t score at all now — Smart and Kennard included — having failed to reach the century mark in either of these losses.

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Even the return of Austin Reaves wasn’t enough of an injection to close out the Rockets. He came off the bench and immediately made a difference in front of a welcoming Lakers crowd. He got into the paint, drew fouls on frustrated defenders and looked mostly like his old self, minus the efficiency after going 4-16 from the field.

“I thought he was aggressive,” Redick said. “[He] did a nice job of driving. He’ll find his rhythm.”

The NBA is a make-or-miss league, so some of these offensive issues can be chalked up to luck. However, the turnovers are unacceptable and have been a growing problem throughout this series.

Los Angeles had 15 turnovers, which led to 18 Houston points. Somehow, both those stats are actually improvements from Game 4. Entering this contest, the Lakers were averaging 20 turnovers a game, the most of any playoff team.

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The Lakers have also begun to struggle with their outside shot, which was a strength during the beginning of this series. In their wins in Games 1 and 2, they shot 23-47…

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Publish date : 2026-04-30 07:44:00

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