This Lakers-Rockets series hasn’t featured pretty basketball. The Lakers have played without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, and the Rockets have had two games without Kevin Durant. With so many key stars out, scoring has been ugly and each contest has been a grind.
In that muck, the Lakers have been the better team. They’ve won all three games by simply outhustling the Rockets with Game 3 being a prime example.
With LA down by six with less than a minute to go, they were the ones forcing turnovers,
making their free throws and hitting 3-pointers. They forced overtime and had more grit-and-grind plays in the extra session.
Deandre Ayton and LeBron James won jump balls, Marcus Smart was grabbing defensive rebounds and the Lakers snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat.
After the win, Lakers head coach JJ Redick praised his team’s efforts.
“Everything we needed to do, even when it wasn’t pretty, we just kind of found a way to do it,” Redick said. “We’re playing hard. You have to do that to put yourself in a position to win. There’s some things we can execute better but I thought, from the beginning of the game, we played with a sense of desperation and we played like a team that was down. As did they. They played a great game as well. A hard-fought game and I thought we matched that.”
Teams that go up 3-0 in the NBA playoffs are 159-0, so Houston was well aware that a loss essentially ended their season. They brought the appropriate fight to this game to ensure they wouldn’t lose. Alperen Şengün had 33 points and 16 rebounds, Jabari Smith Jr. hit six 3-pointers and the Rockets had twice as many offensive rebounds as the Lakers.
However, when push came to shove, Houston crumbled. LeBron forced a turnover on Reed Sheppard. Jaxson Hayes played great defense on Şengün on his game-winning attempt in the fourth. And in overtime, the Lakers were the sharper team.
Given that they were trailing on the road and shorthanded, it took a gutsy performance from everyone in a purple and gold uniform to flip the result in LA’s favor.
The fact that they were able to do so is a testament to their never-say-die attitude and team unity. This is the direct opposite of what the Rockets have.
They don’t seem like a team playing together and for one another. Kevin Durant can’t be found on the bench and their head coach, Ime Udoka, is calling out his players postgame.
Now the Lakers know they are better than the Rockets, and even if the odds are against them, they are never out of the game. If they stay focused, they can finish this series off this weekend and earn their first playoff sweep since 2010.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
