The Los Angeles Lakers, historically speaking, should not have won Game 3 against the Houston Rockets. They trailed 101-95 with Houston holding possession of the ball with 34.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Then, the duo of Marcus Smart and LeBron James put together an unbelievable stretch.
Smart baited Jabari Smith Jr. into an ill-advised pass, stealing the ball with 27.8 seconds remaining. He then drew a foul on a three-point attempt with 25.4 seconds to go. He made all three free throws to cut it to 101-98. Then, James poked the ball away from Reed Sheppard, got it back and drilled the game-tying triple.
L.A. got one more stop to force overtime and went on to win in the extra period, completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent history, via Keerthika Uthayakumar.
NBA teams were 1713-1 when leading by 6 or more in the last 30 sec of regulation in the playoffs in the last 29 years.
They are now 1713-2. Rockets are the 2nd team in 29 years to blow a 6+ point lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation, joining the 2024 Knicks. https://t.co/HLM8dOxuDM
— Keerthika Uthayakumar (@keerthikau) April 25, 2026
The Lakers were in control for much of the game, but the Rockets started to take over late in the fourth when it was clear L.A. was running out of steam. But Smart and James somehow found an extra gear to do the impossible in the final 30 seconds.
Comebacks have become more and more common with the pace and 3-point shooting in today’s NBA. But every now and again, a comeback happens that is still historic. That perfectly describes the Lakers on Friday night to take a 3-0 series lead and move one win away to clinching their place in the West Semis.
Rui Hachimura makes admission about Lakers in Game 3
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura spoke after the win and his highly efficient 22 points. And he openly admitted that an earlier version of this Lakers team likely wouldn’t have had the mental toughness to complete a comeback like this, but that their mentality has completely changed in these moments.
“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.”
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