The Los Angeles Lakers took the court on Sunday night with an opportunity to sweep the Houston Rockets in their first-round series.
Injuries have been a theme for both teams as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have missed every game for L.A. while Kevin Durant has only suited up once for Houston. The Rockets were expected to come out desperate in Game 4 looking to avoid their season ending on their home floor, and that is exactly what happened as they got their first win to extend the series, 115-96.
As has been the case all series, the Lakers got off to a quick start as they jumped out to a 9-4 lead before a couple of turnovers led to transition points for the Rockets. After a triple by Reed Sheppard, Houston tie it at 11 midway through the first.
Alperen Sengun was having his way inside while turnovers continued to be an issue for L.A. The Lakers gave it away eight times in the first quarter alone and trailed 26-21 going into the second.
Similar issues plagued the Lakers early in the second quarter as the Rockets continued their run and took their first double-digit lead of the series.
The Lakers easily could’ve packed it in right there and started to get ready for Game 5, but they kept fighting, at least for now. Bronny James found Deandre Ayton for a lob and then Marcus Smart did the same for Jaxson Hayes. After a transition layup by Jake LaRavia, L.A. was back within three.
The Rockets had another nice stretch to end the half though, taking a 56-47 lead into the locker room.
L.A. continued to struggle offensively to begin the third quarter while Sheppard got hot from deep, getting Houston’s lead to 17 and forcing a timeout by JJ Redick.
Ayton was the Lakers’ main source of offense as he was the only one that could get anything going. At that point though, the Lakers did indeed pack it in as they were clearly playing with tired legs after the overtime Game 3 thriller on Friday night.
Things went from bad to worse from there though as Ayton was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul after catching Sengun with an elbow and was ejected. Jaxson Hayes then got called for a technical as frustration was clearly mounting.
The Lakers were trailing 90-65 going into the fourth quarter, but Redick kept his key players in to try to make one last run. When it didn’t happened, he emptied the bench to get ready for Game 5 back at Crypto.com Arena.
In the final minute, Adou Thiero and Aaron Holiday also both got ejected after they were battling for a rebound.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The series will now shift back to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Wednesday night, although the time and TV network have yet to be determined.
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