[ad_1]
LOS ANGELES — There wasn’t a last-second shot to dispute this time. The Lakers made sure of that Monday night with a big game from LeBron James and a few key stops in the final minutes.
James assured the Lakers of a controversy-free victory, scoring 20 of his season-high 48 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lakers to a 140-132 victory over the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Lakers (20-24) and extended the Rockets’ slide to 11 consecutive games.
“That’s the great thing about this league, you don’t get long to feel sorry for yourself. And you also get a chance to hit the restart button and try to get it right,” Coach Darvin Ham said.
Ham said it was important to put aside any lingering anger over the non-call at the end of Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia. The Lakers need victories, not resentment over past outcomes.
It helped that the Lakers had little time to dwell on Sixers center Joel Embiid not being called for a foul on Russell Westbrook the night before, a call that was backed up by the league in the Last Two Minute Report it issued on Monday. There was another game to play.
“Just with that hammer, man, (we have to) keep chipping away at the rock,” Ham said. “As I mentioned, it can be disappointing, but you have to get past that. You got to shake it off. You got another game you got to tee up tonight.”
This was James’ third 40-point game since turning 38 years old on Dec. 30 and the 100th of his career – including the postseason. He carried the depleted squad for long stretches, punctuated by fierce dunks and his five 3-pointers (to go with nine assists and eight rebounds), but it still wasn’t enough for a comfortable win.
After leading by as many as 16, the Lakers found themselves battling the league’s worst team down the stretch to avoid a fourth consecutive loss.
Houston forward KJ Martin scored on a dunk off of a turnover – one of just two Laker turnovers (a franchise record) – to trim the lead to 119-116 with 5:06 left. James was then fouled on a layup and made the free throw to push the Lakers ahead 122-116.
The Rockets didn’t stop coming at the Lakers. They cut the lead to 131-129 with less than two minutes left but Westbrook dunked off an assist from James for a 133-129 lead. After Eric Gordon’s driving layup, James made a 17-footer for a 135-131 advantage with 50 seconds left. It was as close as the Rockets would get.
Ham said despite the challenges they face on the court, the Lakers need to continue making plays, playing the right way and maintain their competitive edge.
“I think we’re in a good place in terms of all that,” Ham said. “We just have to figure out how to finish games in this league.”
The Lakers withstood a big night from center Alperen Sengun, who led the Rockets with 33 points and 15 rebounds.
The Lakers put distance between themselves and the Rockets in the second quarter, using a 12-2 run to take a 49-37 lead. But the Rockets weren’t ready to go home, and they quickly closed the gap to three points (56-53) on a tip-in by Sengun with 5:02 left in the half.
The Lakers again pulled away as James became more involved in the offense. He scored 18 points in the first half to give the Lakers a 73-61 lead heading into halftime and showed no ill effects while playing in back-to-back games despite the sore left ankle that has dogged him for weeks.
The young Rockets team was no match for James and Co. as the Lakers shot 54% from the field and 44.4% from behind the arc in the first half.
“They’re a fun young team to watch,” Ham said. “You definitely have to be on your P’s and Q’s when you step out there to go against them. They’ve had some big wins against some really good teams this year. We have our work cut out for us. We have to go out there and make sure we’re all on the same page in terms of trying to get a W.”
The Rockets had Jalen Green and Jae’Sean Tate back in their lineup after they served their one-game suspensions for leaving the bench two games ago against Sacramento. Green finished with 23 points and Tate had seven.
More to come on this story.
[ad_2]
Source link
