The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets on Friday night to win their first round series and advance to the West Semifinals to face the Oklahoma City Thunder. LeBron James (28 points) and Rui Hachimura (21 points) led the way for L.A. as they avoided a historically high-pressured Game 7.
Had the Lakers lost on Friday, Sunday would have given the Rockets the opportunity to become the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to win. Houston won Games 4 and 5, and because of that, Hachimura says the Lakers approached Game 6 as if it were win or go home.
“I think our energy,” Hachimura said of what changed in Game 6. “I think in Game 4 back here, I think we had a tough game after Game 3 went to overtime. We were all tired, we were exhausted. We put all of our energy on Game 3 and everything. So as you guys saw, everybody didn’t move well. Then we went back home and Game 5 we didn’t look good too.
“But I think we talked about how this is gonna be our Game 7. We didn’t want them to bring it back to our home. We said we’re gonna send them home tonight. We talked about it, and of course it started with LeBron. He had the energy from the beginning and that’s why we got this win.”
The Lakers did not play with any sort of urgency or pride in Games 4 or 5. They were clearly fatigued and coasting off of a 3-0 lead, while the Rockets started playing with season-ending urgency. Getting to a Game 6 showed that the Rockets were serious and had the ability to take four in a row.
L.A. was going to need to start playing with energy and pride again if they wanted to end the series in Houston in Game 6, and that’s exactly what they did. They held the Rockets to 78 points, their second-best defensive effort of the entire season.
Now, the Lakers move forward to face the No. 1 seed Thunder, a series where they’ll be even greater underdogs.
JJ Redick praises Lakers for collective effort
Lakers head coach JJ Redick praised the team for what they did as a unit in Game 6 and throughout the first round against Houston.
“I would start with the collective,” head coach JJ Redick said of the Lakers’ effort after the 98-78 win. “I remember there was a press conference that we did after one of our games during the 16-2 stretch and you guys were really hammering home a point about a specific player. I honestly can’t remember who the player was.
“And I made the comment, I said the reason our team is winning is because of our team. Because each guy is starring in his role and contributing to winning. And that’s the story of this playoff series for us. Where each guy had moments that helped us win the game. I thought the collective tonight was awesome, especially defensively.
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