The Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets on Friday night in their regular season home finale. This game held significant importance as with a with, the Lakers would clinch the third seed in a loaded Western Conference playoff field.
The Rockets had already clinched the 2-seed so decided to rest all of their key players in this one. As a result, the Lakers earned a 140-109 victory to secure the 3-seed and their first 50-win season since 2020.
Houston made back-to-back triples to start the game before Luka Doncic found LeBron James for an alley-oop to get the Lakers on the board. James then hit a triple and found Jaxson Hayes for an easy bucket to get L.A. on track.
Cam Whitmore was playing with confidence early to give his team an advantage, although Doncic then led an 8-0 run and had 15 points in the first quarter to give the Lakers a 38-32 lead.
L.A. began to fully take control in the second as James had a reverse layup. Doncic, Reaves, Jordan Goodwin and Dorian Finney-Smith then all connected from deep to extend the lead to 20.
The Lakers were locked in defensively which allowed them to get out in transition against an undermanned Rockets team. After a pair of buckets by Rui Hachimura to end the half, the Lakers took a comfortable 78-56 lead into the locker room.
The Rockets were not ready to quit as they came out with energy in the third quarter and quickly got their deficit down to 15. Reaves and Doncic helped restore order for L.A., which was much-needed as James appeared to tweak his groin and went to the bench.
The Lakers were able to get their lead back up to 20 by the end of the third with Doncic catching fire, taking a 107-87 advantage into the final quarter.
Reaves and the Lakers handled business to start the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach so Doncic and James did not have to come back in. They will be able to get plenty of rest before Game 1 of the playoffs at Crypto.com Arena next weekend.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will wrap up the regular season on the road on Sunday afternoon against the Portland Trail Blazers. Considering the Lakers have already clinched the No. 3 seed and have nothing left to play for, it’s reasonable to expect them to rest key players on Sunday to begin preparing for the postseason. That week-plus off should do wonders for LeBron James, Luka Doncic and everyone else on the roster.
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