Regardless of the return of star Austin Reaves, the LA Lakers had been defeated by Houston Rockets in Recreation 5 of their sequence.
Printed On 30 Apr 2026
Jabari Smith Jr scored 22 factors and Tari Eason added 18 because the Houston Rockets fought off elimination for a second consecutive sport and crawled again into their first-round, Western Convention playoff sequence with a 99-93 street victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Recreation 5 on Wednesday.
Alperen Sengun scored 14 factors with 9 rebounds and eight assists whereas Amen Thompson added 15 factors for the Rockets, who now path 3-2 within the best-of-seven sequence after falling right into a 3-0 gap. No NBA group has rallied again from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff sequence.
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“All people feels superb,” Sengun stated of his group. “No person is drained and right now everyone confirmed it. Now, we’re entering into entrance of our households, our followers, we’re gonna defend our dwelling and are available again right here for Recreation 7.”
The consecutive Rockets victories have come with out star Kevin Durant (ankle), who has solely performed in Recreation 2.
Star guard Austin Reaves scored 22 factors off the bench in his return from an indirect harm and LeBron James added 25 factors for the Lakers. Deandre Ayton scored 18 factors and grabbed 17 rebounds for Los Angeles, which is able to get a 3rd likelihood to clinch the sequence on Friday at Houston.
“It’s important to give them credit score,” Lakers coach JJ Redick stated of the Rockets. “They made photographs tonight, together with some guys who don’t usually make threes. I feel our defence, you hope 99 (factors allowed) is sufficient to win, and we simply couldn’t make photographs. Missed some layups, actually had some beauty from 3 that didn’t go down.”
The Lakers proceed to be with out All-Star Luka Doncic (hamstring), who was injured together with Reaves in an April 2 sport at Oklahoma Metropolis. Each gamers missed the final 5 regular-season video games and the primary 4 playoff video games.
“It was good to get again on the market, clearly,” Reaves stated. “I want I might have performed a bit higher. I want I might have made a pair extra photographs, however on the finish of the day, I had enjoyable on the market and it was good to compete.”
‘Didn’t shoot it nice’
The Lakers appeared decided to shut out the sequence by taking an 11-point lead with a minute remaining within the first quarter and main 28-21 after the opening interval.
The Rockets stormed again to provide a 30-19 benefit within the second quarter and led 51-47 at halftime. Houston shot 6 of 12 from 3-point vary within the second interval and compelled 5 turnovers.
The Rockets prolonged their benefit to 76-67 by way of three quarters.
Los Angeles used an 11-1 run to drag inside 88-85 on a James layup with 2:59 left within the sport.
A steal and two baskets from Reed Sheppard pushed the Rockets’ benefit again to 92-85 with 2:20 left, and Houston turned 4 consecutive free throws right into a 96-87 benefit with 1:32 remaining.
James and Reaves mixed to overlook three 3-point makes an attempt over the ultimate 28 seconds with James unable to drag the Lakers inside two factors when he was astray from lengthy vary with 12 seconds left.
“I missed a whole lot of straightforward appears to be like, and we didn’t shoot it nice as a group,” Reaves stated. “We’ll watch movie, attempt to get higher and attempt to win a sport Friday.”
Udoka stated of his aspect, “Huge-time performances by everyone throughout the board. You’re beginning a very younger lineup and they’re considerably battle-tested now. … You need to present development, and I feel we did that tonight once they trapped late, dealt with it with poise, received the photographs we needed and made our free throws.”
After he averaged 25 factors over the primary two video games of the sequence and 17.8 by way of the primary 4 contests, Lakers sharpshooter Luke Kennard was held to 1 level on 0-of-4 taking pictures.