The Los Angeles Lakers put together an improbable overtime victory on Friday night against the Houston Rockets. L.A. trailed by six points with under 30 seconds remaining, but forced two turnovers and scored six points to force the extra period. They secured the win behind fantastic games from LeBron James, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura.
They did so in a way that likely would not have happened earlier this season. The Lakers were known as the team that could win in crunch time, but were quick to give up and take their foot off the gas if they felt they didn’t have a chance of winning. Hachimura went as far to admit that after the game.
“I think it was a mentality,” Hachimura said after scoring 22 points in the win. “We never give up. Especially in the playoffs, we always gotta fight through. If it was the regular season, I’m not gonna lie, we might’ve probably just let it go… We knew something was gonna happen and we fought through. That’s why we got that result.”
Hachimura credited Smart’s late playmaking and the team’s comfort in clutch situations for being able to get the win.
“Marcus made a big play, but we always make big plays in the last stretch, especially our defense,” Hachimura said. “That kind of stuff helps, little stuff that we don’t see in stats and all that. I think we’re used to it now. We’ve been in a lot of close games and we always finish strong.”
The Lakers could have easily rested their laurels on a 2-1 series lead and tried to steal Game 4 from the Rockets in Houston. But they chose to fight in the final seconds, and were rewarded with a 3-0 series lead and one win away from securing their place in the second round.
James, Smart and head coach JJ Redick are the biggest group that can be credited for L.A.’s change in mentality midway through the season. Now, that mentality is being shared by everybody, with a genuine belief that they can win no matter the situation.
JJ Redick praises LeBron James & Marcus Smart
Redick gave credit to both James and Smart, as well as Hachimura, for the big plays they made down the stretch of the Game 3 upset.
“They both made big-time plays,” Redick said. “Before the game, at halftime, we’ve talked for the last 10-plus days just about elevating everything and this was our first road playoff game and you have to elevate your poise, you have to elevate your composure, recognizing that there’s gonna be moments where the crowd is going crazy.
“You get down, they make a run, whatever it may be, we weathered a lot tonight. There were a lot of turnovers, but I thought our defense was fantastic. And then in that moment just to keep playing. Smart made a huge play to get us into a one-possession game and then coming out of that timeout, for them we wanted to get a trap. Rui and Bron did a good job putting pressure on Sheppard and then we made the steal and ‘Bron hits a big-time shot.”
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