The Los Angeles Lakers returned home and hosted the Houston Rockets as part of the NBA’s annual Christmas Day slate.
This was one of the most highly-anticipated matchups of the day, and for good reason with Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun all suiting up. The Lakers have really been struggling lately though and that continued in this one as they got blown out by the Rockets, 119-96, to suffered their third straight loss.
The Lakers were careless with the ball early with some silly turnovers. The Rockets also did what they do best and that’s attack the offensive glass to jump out to a 9-3 lead before Reaves hit a triple and a layup to settle his team in.
Amen Thompson was attacking the paint with ease to put the Rockets up double digits, forcing JJ Redick to use two early timeouts.
After a slow start for Doncic, he got going offensively towards the end of the first quarter. The same could be for Durant, however, as the Lakers trailed 37-25 after a poor opening frame.
After appearing to hurt his shoulder, Marcus Smart quickly returned for the Lakers and gave the team some energy with his defensive playmaking along with Jarred Vanderbilt to get the deficit back to single digits.
When Doncic returned to the game, he immediately went into attack mode with six straight points for the Lakers. Vanderbilt then hit a rare triple and had a putback to make it a four-point game.
Again though, the Lakers had some careless turnovers leading to a Rockets run to end the half, taking a 63-53 lead into the locker room.
Injuries continued to pile up for the Lakers as Reaves was ruled out at halftime after re-aggravating his calf injury that he just returned from. As has been the case a lot this season, the Lakers came out flat to begin the third quarter with Houston quickly building its lead above 20.
Doncic wasn’t getting many calls and expressed frustration with the officiating, and L.A. went into the fourth quarter facing a 92-74 deficit.
James continued to play with energy despite the big deficit, but Durant and the Rockets kept pouring it on as the Lakers couldn’t get any stops. With the game out of reach, both teams emptied their benches midway through the fourth quarter with L.A. suffering another blowout loss.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will finish out 2025 at home, hosting the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night and then the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
