The Los Angeles Lakers were not able to sweep the Houston Rockets as the latter won Game 4 in blowout fashion at home after dropping the first three games of the series.

Even though they’re down 3-1 though, the Rockets certainly do not lack confidence as their players have been playing spicy ahead of Game 5.

After practice on Tuesday, Jabari Smith Jr. came out and said he believes the Rockets are the better team.

“Stay with it. Be us, play aggressive, be free. We’re obviously the better team, I feel like,” Smith told reporters at the Rockets practice facility. “So just knowing that, being confident and trusting our work… I just feel like from top to bottom, (we’re the better team). You can say it’s an opinion, you can say I’m biased, but I just think we’re the better team.”

Then, Alperen Sengun alluded to the Lakers being an older team when discussing the need for the Rockets to play with physicality.

“I’m ready… I know they’re gonna hit. Well, we’re hitting them too… We’re younger. We heal faster than them probably,” Sengun said of the Lakers. “We’re just gonna hit each other and see what’s going on.”

No team has ever come back from being down 3-0 in a series, so the Rockets still have a tall task ahead of them despite winning Game 4.

If you are the Lakers though, you do not want to give a young team any more confidence than they already have. So ideally, L.A. will be able to close out Houston in Game 5 at home on Wednesday night. That obviously would also give them more time to prepare for the second round instead of having to get on another flight to get ready for a Game 6 on Friday night.

Lakers ‘can’t wait’ for Game 5 against Rockets

Similar to the Rockets, the Lakers have a lot of confidence being up 3-1 in the series. In fact, the moment Game 4 ended, Deandre Ayton was already itching to get back on the court for Game 5.

“I’m licking my chops. I’m licking my chops, trust me,” the big man said. “I’ve been here before. This was supposed to be an elimination game but I love what the crowd brought with the energy, it was perfect. Try to end this at home, but I love the intensity, I love the fight I saw in the guys over there with the Rockets. I can’t wait [for Game 5].”

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