Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
Kyusung Gong/Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka wants his team to feel pressure, so he did not try and downplay the significance of Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Neither did Lakers coach JJ Redick. Just 3 ½ games separated the two teams in the standings when they met for a Western Conference showdown at Crypto.com Arena, with a potential tiebreaker up for grabs and, in the Rockets’ case, an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot.
It would have to wait. The Rockets got within two points in the final minute but lost to the Lakers 104-98 on Monday.
Article continues below this ad
Amen Thompson led the Rockets with 20 points. Dillon Brooks added 16 points and Alperen Şengün had 14 points with seven rebounds and six assists.
Luka Dončić scored 20 points with nine assists and six rebounds for the Lakers, who also got 20 points apiece from bench players Dorian Finner-Smith and Gabe Vincent.
Houston entered the game with the most “clutch situation” wins in the NBA this season and the sixth-best winning percentage in those games. The Rockets could not deliver another.
The Rockets trailed by five points just under the two-minute mark, when LeBron James motioned to his teammates to slow down. Fred VanVleet found Thompson in the corner and the Rockets’ second-year guard drove baseline but decelerated at the last second and did a Eurostep into a layup to cut the deficit to three points.
After Şengün walled up and forced a James turnover, Brooks drew a foul and went to the line with a chance to make it a one-point game with 20.1 seconds remaining. He missed his first free throw but swished the second and the Lakers called timeout up 100-98.
Article continues below this ad
The Lakers inbounded the ball to James and Thompson fouled him, sending the four-time NBA champ to the line with 11.1 seconds to go. James sank both free throws and the Rockets called timeout down 102-98.
With eight seconds left, James blocked Şengün’s shot into the courtside seats — the experienced king of big moments meeting a rising young star and denying him his own moment.
Udoka has tried to prepare his young team for the obstacles that await in postseason basketball, but there is no match for experience. You don’t really know until you know.
No matter how well the Rockets are clicking now, how impenetrable their defense and how balanced their scoring, the NBA playoffs are a different beast.
Article continues below this ad
“Just the attention to detail, the consistency you have to have to win the playoff series and locking in, and the level of focus has to go up,” Udoka said pregame. “Obviously, the physicality and game slows down, all those things that they haven’t experienced. But we also have played some meaningful basketball last year and the in-season tournament, and this last I think seven out of eight games will serve us well going to the playoffs, playing against the high caliber teams, and so it’ll kind of be the first time that they’ll have to deal with it, for sure. And you want to get that deer in the headlights look out really quickly — but at the end of the end of the day, it’s basketball, and I think what we do well carries into the playoffs.”
The Rockets will have to wait another few weeks to get there. Until then, games like Monday’s — played in a bone-rattling atmosphere at an historic venue against a juggernaut franchise represented by two faces of the league and with seeding implications — are the closest approximation.
Both teams played in mud for the first 12 minutes, combining to shoot 28% from the field in the opening quarter. The Rockets led 19-16 but ended the first quarter without an offensive rebound or a fast-break bucket, their bread and butter.
After Şengün went 3-for-3 and scored six points early, the Lakers did everything they could to keep him from touching the ball, including fronting him in the post. It worked as Şengün did not score in the second quarter.
The Lakers flexed a strength the Rockets lack: consistent 3-point shooting. Finney-Smith and Vincent combined to make 12 3s off the bench and Los Angeles shot 34.8% behind the arc. The Lakers especially killed the Rockets from the corners when Houston defended in zone, with Dončić and James acting as threats from the middle of the floor.
Article continues below this ad
Although an impressive two-way performance by Smith and transition scoring from Thompson gave the Rockets an eight-point lead in the second quarter, the Lakers would not be bullied in an incredibly physical game. At halftime, the score was tied 48-48 after the Rockets outscored the Lakers 30-16 in paint points but didn’t attempt a free throw. Dončić was the only player on either team who took a free throw in the first half (6-of-8), including splitting a pair with 1.3 seconds to go.
After going 0-for-3 on second-chance opportunities in the first half, Houston scored 10 second-chance points in the second half. But with the game hanging in the balance and the Rockets down four points early in the fourth quarter, Udoka chose to go small with Smith at center.
When Şengün returned to the game with just over three minutes to play, the Lakers led 96-91.
