Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Fri, Apr 24, the Los Angeles Lakers played in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round series against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center. After two incredible wins in downtown Los Angeles to open up the series, the Purple & Gold were seeking to gain a stranglehold on this series over a undermanned Houston team. Kevin Durant was ruled out for the second time in this series, as he was nursing an ankle injury. Meanwhile, the Lakers got some good news as Austin Reaves was a game-time decision to play in this game, but with a 2-0 series lead JJ Redick felt comfortable with keeping AR on the sidelines for now. Luka Doncic is also making some progress in his recovery as well, but he is not expected to return until a potential second-round series. The Lakers had an opportunity get to within one win of their first playoff series victory in three years if they won this game in H-Town, so let’s see how they fared.

The game started out tight as Rui Hachimura powered the Purple & Gold offensively in the first quarter as he scored 16 points in the opening period. Meanwhile, the Rockets had a combined team effort keep them within range of the Lakers, who led by seven points with a high-scoring first quarter on both ends. In the second quarter, the Purple & Gold went on a big 14-4 scoring run in the middle of the period and that was powered by the ultimate father-son duo of LeBron and Bronny James, the younger of whom made a three-pointer for his first-ever playoff basket and then got an assist from his dad and banked in a reverse layup to have five quick points on his ledger. Meanwhile, LeBron James Sr made a clutch three-pointer and he also started to assert his scoring ways in the second quarter. The Lakers were up by as much as 15 points and were holding a 63-52 lead heading into halftime. LeBron and Rui had 16 points each, while the defense was doing relatively well on a Houston team who looked overmatched.

But in the third quarter, the Rockets started getting more fuel in their boosters as they took advantage of a sluggish offensive stretch from L.A. Players such as Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard and Alperen Sengün started scoring big for Houston, which was only down by five points heading into the fourth quarter. The Lakers were held to only 17 points in the third quarter and needed to step up their offensive game in order to hold off the Rockets.

In the fourth, the Purple & Gold couldn’t make that many shots, and Houston would take their first lead since the first quarter after a clutch three-pointer made by Sheppard. Redick called a couple of timeouts as the Rockets grew their lead to four points. A couple of dunks kept the Lakers breathing, but Houston was going for the dagger as Sengün made a couple of clutch baskets in the paint to put them up by six. The Purple & Gold were disorganized and frantic, as LeBron missed a three-pointer with over 30 seconds left in regulation and the Rockets got the rebound.

At this point, the game was basically a wrap in most peoples’ minds, but it wasn’t over yet as Marcus Smart stole a ball that was thrown by Jabari Smith Jr towards Thompson. Smart looked to shoot the ball and when he did, he got fouled by Jae’Sean Tate. Smart went to the line to shoot three free throws and he made them all. Down by three points with 25 seconds remaining, the Lakers were in a precarious position as they needed to foul the Rockets twice in order to get them into the bonus. But on the inbounds pass advanced into the frontcourt, Sheppard got the ball passed to him in the backcourt and LeBron looked to foul him or even better prevent him from making it across the half court line before the 16 second mark on the shot clock. LeBron let Sheppard go by him, but he used his hand to poke the ball free from Sheppard’s grasp and it was a clean loose ball. Smart got the ball and passed it to LeBron, who tipped the ball to a struggling Luke Kennard. In turn, Kennard then passed the ball back to James with defenders swarming him. LeBron saw two Houston players coming straight at him and he pulled up for three and after letting the players go by, the King released the ball and it went through the nylon to tie the game. LeBron had hit a clutch shot and just like that, in the span of 11 seconds, the Lakers had tied this game up at 101 apiece. An unbelievable scoring binge. Now, they needed to stop the Rockets from winning this game. After Ime Udoka called his team’s final timeout of regulation, Houston sought to close out this game for good as Sengün drove towards the basket, but his shot hit the side of the backboard and LeBron got the rebound and the Purple & Gold called timeout with 1.2 seconds on the clock. The Lakers had a chance to win this game, with Nick Smith Jr coming into the game for the purpose of receiving the ball to take the game-winning shot. However, on the inbounds pass, Smart couldn’t get it to Smith and instead had to throw it in to LeBron, who threw up another prayer shot to try and win the game. The ball hit off the rim and went in and out of the basket. This crazy Game 3 was going to an overtime period.

This was only the second OT game of this entire season for the Purple & Gold after they won a thrilling double overtime game over the Denver Nuggets on Sat, Mar 14. With a great clutch game record this season, the Lakers could be reasonably expected to win this game handily. To start out OT, the Purple & Gold got a gift right away off a jump ball where DeAndre Ayton might have held down Sengün, but the referees didn’t call it as Smart shot a clutch three and it went in. Another big basket occurred as Hachimura drove to the basket to give L.A a four-point lead. A couple of layups by Sengün kept Houston in it for a little while, but another gritty scramble for the ball led to another jump ball that LeBron won and Smart made some clutch free throws to put this game away. The Lakers had somehow survived and won 112-108 in a triumphant win to get their first road playoff victory in three years.

Heroics from LeBron and Smart are what gave the Purple & Gold a 3-0 series lead over Houston. Those incredible steals in desperation mode saved the day for the Lakers and in spite of Sengün’s second-half dominance, the Rockets blew up again. LeBron had 29 points and 13 rebounds along with eight assists, as he became the oldest player in NBA history to have a 25+-point double-double. Hachimura was the second-leading scorer with 22, with him making four threes along with LeBron. Smart was incredible down the stretch, with 21 points and 10 assists to go with five steals and two blocks. With nine made free throws and that amazing steal in the fourth quarter, Smart had a historically clutch playoff game in Lakers colors after playing so many playoff games in Boston Celtics green. In spite of having a poor shooting night, Kennard still had 14 points along with six each in rebounds and assists. The best player off the bench was Jaxson Hayes, who outperformed Ayton again with a dozen points and a huge stop defending Sengün in that final possession of regulation. And a shoutout is well deserved to Bronny James, whose five points in the second quarter went a long way in helping determine the outcome of this game. In a losing effort, Sengün scored 33 points and grabbed 16 rebounds along with six dimes. Thompson had a double-double with 26 points and 11 boards and in spite of ten combined made three-pointers between Jabari Smith and Reed Sheppard, the Rockets had another mission failure as they are one loss away from elimination. No Kevin Durant available goes a long way in this case.

So, on Sunday night in Houston, the Lakers could potentially end this series with a surprise sweep nobody saw coming at the beginning of these playoffs. A potential sweep would serve them well in order to rest up for a potential second-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder(seeking to go up 3-0 themselves on the Phoenix Suns), who are without Jalen Williams nursing a hamstring injury. Reaves could return for the start of the next series and Doncic could be back on the hardwood as well. The Purple & Gold are proving their doubters wrong with an exhilarating victory over the Rockets and they could go the distance if they remain focused on the ultimate mission: winning that O’Brien Trophy and hanging banner number 18. It won’t be easy, but with a team this clutch anything is possible in LakerLand.