After taking care of business at home in Games 1 and 2, the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round series shifted to the Toyota Center for Games 3 and 4, beginning on Friday night.
The Lakers were given a golden opportunity to take a commanding 3-0 lead in this series as Kevin Durant was ruled out just before tipoff due to a left ankle sprain. There was a possibility that Austin Reaves returned to the lineup for L.A. although he ultimately was ruled out for one more game as well.
In a game that was back and forth, the Lakers came out on top in overtime with a 112-108 victory to put the Rockets on the brink of elimination.
There wasn’t much offense in the first two games, but that wasn’t the case early in this one as both teams came out hot. The Lakers made their first six shots, four of which were by Rui Hachimura.
While the Rockets were keeping up with them offensively in the first half of the opening quarter, they eventually cooled off while the Lakers different. Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard and Jaxson Hayes were all making plays as L.A. opened up a 39-32 lead at the end of the first.
Jabari Smith Jr., who got in early foul trouble, got hot to begin the second as he made his first four triples of the night to keep the Rockets in it. Bronny James made a nice impact from there though as he hit a triple and then caught a lob from his dad LeBron James, getting the lead back to double digits going into the halftime locker room at 63-52.
The Lakers came out a bit flat to begin the third quarter as the Rockets ripped off a 12-4 run to get back within three. With Hachimura cooling off from deep, the Lakers were struggling offensively for the first time all night.
A lot of the issues that have plagued the Lakers in this series came up in the third quarter as they couldn’t take care of the ball and were giving up a ton of offensive rebounds.
L.A. was able to restore order a bit to end the third quarter as James hit a triple to get the lead back to five at 80-75.
Smith hit some big shots to carry the Rockets offensively and then an Amen Thompson layup tied the game at 87 midway through the final quarter. Smith had a nice response from there with back-to-back layups, but the Rockets actually went up by one on a Reed Sheppard triple.
With the Lakers’ offense continuing to struggle and the Rockets all of a sudden gaining momentum, James had a massive alley-oop to get it back to a two-point game.
The Lakers appeared to run out of gas from there though as they had a couple of poor possessions and couldn’t stop Alperen Sengun inside.
With the game essentially out of reach though, the Rockets had two costly turnovers and the Lakers took advantage as James hit a triple to tie it at 101 in the final seconds.
The Lakers then got a stop and James had a look to win it at the buzzer, but it rimmed out to send the game to overtime.
Smart hit a corner triple to kick off the extra period, but both teams were clearly running on fumes. With the Lakers up two, Smart made another huge play, crashing the offensive glass and earning a trip to the free throw line.
At that point, the Lakers took control and were able to close out the win.
Rockets vs. Lakers playoff schedule
Game 4: Sunday, April 26, 6:30 p.m. PT, NBC/Peacock, Toyota Center
Game 5*: Wednesday, April 29, TBD, NBC/Peacock, Crypto.com Arena
Game 6*: Friday, May 1, TBD, Toyota Center
Game 7*: Sunday, May 3, TBD, Crypto.com Arena
*If necessary
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