Lakers player grades: L.A. clinches third seed with win over Rockets

The Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ opponent on Friday, decided to rest most of their starters since they had already clinched the second seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers could’ve used that as an excuse to put forth a lazy and casual performance, especially since they needed just one more win to secure the third seed and have one more game on Sunday versus the Portland Trail Blazers.

Instead, they were focused throughout and took care of business against a vastly inferior opponent, something they have seldom done over the last two seasons.

The Lakers led 38-32 at the end of the first quarter, and before long, they had established a double-digit lead. They never looked back, as they claimed a 140-109 win to officially wrap up the third seed.

The lopsided nature of this game allowed them to buy a little bit of rest for their starters in the fourth quarter. Those starters will likely not play on Sunday, which means a lengthy rest and recuperation period before the team begins the playoffs.

Hachimura didn’t score his first points until late in the second quarter, and his first made basket didn’t come until just under a minute left in the first half. But after that point, he played at a fairly high level.

He ended up scoring 16 points while making six of his eight shot attempts, and he also had five rebounds in 32 minutes, which helped Los Angeles establish a 42-37 edge on the boards.

Hayes didn’t make much of an impact in this game. He played just 12 minutes, perhaps because Houston didn’t have a very tall lineup in this game, and he scored seven points on 3-of-3 shooting and managed to grab just one rebound.

Reaves scored nine points in the first quarter on some hot shooting to help L.A. get off to a good start offensively, although he had three turnovers in the period. He finished the game with 23 points on 9-of-15 overall shooting and 3-of-6 from 3-point range while also putting up seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. He took better care of the basketball after that first quarter and only had two more turnovers the rest of the game.

As he often has, Doncic was scorching early with 15 first-quarter points. On the night, he scored 39 points and shot 13-of-19 from the field and 5-of-9 from downtown, to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists.

While he did a nice job of drawing fouls, he didn’t do a nice job of converting free throws. He made just eight of his 14 attempts from the charity stripe, and it’s something he needs to make sure he rectifies before the playoffs start.

James had a good first half with 14 efficient points, six assists and just one turnover. However, early in the third quarter, he appeared to suffer an injury, and he came out of the game for good. It was initially thought he may have aggravated the groin injury that forced him to miss roughly two weeks last month, but as ESPN’s Dave McMenamin noted, the injury may have been a different one.

Head coach JJ Redick doesn’t seem concerned about James’ status moving forward.

When Finney-Smith is making it rain from long range, the Lakers are an even more potent team offensively. On Friday, he went 6-of-9 from the field, and all of his makes came from behind the 3-point line. That outstanding marksmanship gave him 18 points to go along with three steals.

In 19 minutes, Vanderbilt scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, grabbed four rebounds and came up with two steals and one block. When he came into the game during the first quarter, the Lakers led by just one point, and when he left with 7:13 left in the second quarter, they were up by 11 points, which speaks to the impact he makes on the court.

Vincent has been in a bit of a shooting slump lately. On Friday, he missed all three of his shot attempts in 21 minutes, and he went scoreless. He did contribute one rebound, one assist and one steal.

Goodwin went just 1-of-4 from the field in this game, but he snatched six rebounds and added three steals in 23 minutes.

Jemison, Milton, the younger James and Knecht each played four minutes during garbage time. Jemison scored one basket, as did Milton, and had three rebounds and one assist. The younger James hit a 3-pointer for his only field-goal in four attempts, while Knecht went 2-of-3 from the field and scored five points.

Milton, the younger James and Knecht had one rebound each.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: L.A. clinches third seed with win over Rockets

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Lakers player grades: L.A. clinches third seed with win over Rockets

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