After beating the Dallas Mavericks earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Lakers entered their Friday night matchup against the Houston Rockets with plenty to play for as a a victory would secure the third seed in the Western Conference.
The Rockets clinched the second seed prior to the game, so the team opted to rest most of its regulars to get extra rest in before the start of the postseason. Meanwhile, the Lakers played their normal rotation to help ensure they wrapped up their seeding before their regular season finale.
Houston remained a pesky team despite having so many players out and even played Los Angeles evenly at points, but the latter’s overwhelming advantage in talent won out and they dominated en route to a 140-109 victory.
All eyes were on Luka Doncic when he played against his former team, and he followed up that magnificent performance with another shooting exhibition. The Rockets were missing their best perimeter defenders which allowed Doncic to dictate terms on offense and get to his spots on the floor.
Doncic saw little to no resistance on some of his shots, including a bevy of stepback 3-pointers that crushed any hopes for Houston’s feeble comeback attempts. Doncic looks like his old self heading into the postseason after dropping a game-high 39 points on 13-of-19 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists and one steal in just 31 minutes of action.
Austin Reaves continued his torrid stretch shooting the basketball against an undermanned Rockets team, using his speed and handles to get to the cup as well as knocking down the long ball when he had an open look.
Reaves looked completely comfortable with the basketball in his hands and was able to create plays both off the bounce and finding open teammates. Like Doncic, Reaves had a strong all-around game as he recorded 23 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.
With Rui Hachimura back in the lineup, Dorian Finney-Smith has shifted back to a bench role but that hasn’t hurt his production. In fact, Finney-Smith was able to take advantage of several wide-open looks from beyond the arc to keep Houston at bay.
Finney-Smith finished third on the team in scoring with 18 points and all of them came from the 3-point line.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will close the 2024-25 season on Sunday on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers, and then will await to see who their first-round opponent will be after the Play-In Tournament concludes.
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