The Los Angeles Lakers squandered another opportunity to close out the Houston Rockets and now face the reality of a Game 6 matchup at the Toyota Center on Friday night.
“Another period in the second quarter where we just turned the ball over. Certainly, had some long stretches where we did have some success with turnovers, but that was part of it. Little bit of game plan and KYP mistakes defensively for us in the second quarter,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said after the 99-93 loss.
“You have to give them a lot of credit. They made shots tonight, including some guys who normally don’t make threes. I think our defense, you hope 99 is enough to win, and we just couldn’t make shots. Missing layups, certainly had some good looks from three that didn’t go down.
“We’ll take a look at the whole process, take a look at some substitution patterns and figure out where we can be better in Game 6.”
JJ Redick’s message for Lakers
Although the level of concern — at least outside the organization — has increased amid the back-to-back losses, the reality is the Lakers have two games to secure one win. Doing so would ensure they avoid making the wrong type of NBA history as the first team to blow a 3-0 series lead.
“It’s the first team to win four games in a series. We happened to win the first three, they won the last two. We need to be better,” Redick said when asked what his message was to the team following another defeat.
Teams that take a 3-0 series lead are a perfect 160-0 in NBA playoff history when it comes to advancing. The Rockets now are the 16th team to ever force a Game 6 in the best-of-seven format. They also did so against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the 2013 playoffs.
Looking beyond Friday, only four teams to trail 3-0 in a series have also managed to force a Game 7. Most recently to do so was the Boston Celtics before ultimately falling short to the Miami Heat in the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals.
As it is, LeBron James had his personal 16-game winning streak snapped in home games with a chance to clinch a playoff series. It was the longest such streak in NBA history.
The Rockets went into Game 5 with plenty of confidence and certainly are still riding high now heading back home. But they’ll still face somewhat of an uphill battle while facing elimination without Durant.
Houston has presented Durant’s injury status as day-to-day, but multiple reports indicate the bone bruise in his sprained left ankle is a multiple-week recovery.
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