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There will be no Game 7.
After dropping consecutive closeout games that simultaneously put the series in jeopardy and gave the Rockets real momentum, the Lakers took care of business in Game 6, dominating the Rockets and leaving no doubt on who the better team was with a 98-78 victory.
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The Lakers have now punched their ticket to the second round and a matchup with the reigning world champs, but analysis of that series will need to wait. For now, the Lakers get a few days to regroup and game plan, while us fans get to reflect on what was a great performance up and down the roster to knock out the Rockets.
Here are three takeaways from the huge victory…
The Closeout King
LeBron James did not have his most efficient shooting night, hitting just 10 of his 25 field goal attempts. But in scoring a team-high 28 points to go along with seven rebounds, and eight assists (to just three turnovers), he controlled the action for nearly every moment of the 37:07 he played in this game and set his team up for victory with his focus, energy, and determination.
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LeBron set the tone early, ducking into the post for power backdowns while exerting his strength advantage over Tari Eason. Positioning himself on the right block, LeBron consistently put the Rockets into situations where they would either need to send help or let him cook one-on-one. And when the help did not come, LeBron made the defense pay by scoring or drawing fouls.
When he was not posting up, he was setting up the action to attack via the pick and roll where he could either get downhill for himself or try to set up a teammate for an easy look. This sort of diversity helped keep Houston’s defense off-balance and allowed the Lakers to generate decent looks against a defense that had mostly stymied them for the better part of the previous three games.
But more than his efforts to keep the Lakers offense flowing in the halfcourt, it was LeBron’s hunting of transition and open court chances that helped the team generate the points they needed to separate and then keep the Rockets at bay.
The Lakers outscored the Rockets 19-8 in fastbreak…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/3-takeaways-lakers-series-clinching-052918175.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-02 05:29:00
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