Los Angeles, CA (The Bulletin) – The Los Angeles Lakers lose Game 5 to the Houston Rockets. With the loss, the series has now been extended to a Game 6. An opportunity that appears to be missed by the Lakers, as they will now need to travel to Houston with the pressure of closing out the series growing.
Coming off a loss to the Rockets in Game 4, the Lakers came back to Los Angeles in hopes to wrap up the playoff series. Leading the series, 3-1, the Lakers even saw the much-anticipated return of star guard Austin Reaves.
Despite Reaves returning for the Lakers, it was not enough to defeat the Rockets. Too many turnovers, timely missed free throws, and Houston’s shot making was too much to overcome for the Lakers.
This is now the second straight close out game the Lakers have lost and will need to travel back to Houston for Game 6.
“We don’t have a lot of time to dwell… once we get on that plane and down to Houston we have to forget about it. It’s going to be even harder, it’s so hard to close out a team in the postseason.” said Lakers forward Lebron James.
In the first quarter, the Lakers actually started off hot by scoring 28 total points. Reaves got going early on even though he was brought off the bench in his first game back. After missing a month of action, easing Reaves back into rhythm looks to be the idea with an early bench role.
He responded well by scoring eight first quarter points. Along with Reaves, Marcus Smart provided some scoring, which turned out to be a real good quarter for the Lakers. The team had a double digit lead and the offense was clicking. They closed the first quarter winning, 28-21.
After the first quarter is when the momentum began to shift into Houston’s direction. Their shot making was much better in Game 5. The Lakers made 14 three-point shots, which is the most they’ve made in a game this series.
The Rockets also once again forced the Lakers to commit too many turnovers. They forced LA to cough up 15 turnovers. In the prior Game 4 win, the Rockets forced the Lakers to have 23 turnovers. Over the past two games, it is clear the Rockets are truly being disruptive to the Lakers offense.
Houston would take the lead in the second quarter and never give it back up. Leading by double digits at one point in the fourth quarter. The Lakers made a run late to put a little scare in Houston, but the late surge of energy was too late.
The Lakers were unable to capitalize and execute consistent stops and scores to beat Houston. Houston came on the road to LA and beat the Lakers and have now forced a Game 6 in Houston.
Reaves has been a missing presence for the Lakers, and he finished with 22 points in his return. Lebron led the Lakers in scoring with 25 points, and despite the decent games from Lakers stars it was not enough to keep the Rockets from winning the game.
Disappointing loss again as the Lakers have now missed the opportunity to eliminate the Rockets for two straight games. The Lakers need to regroup as the Rockets appear to be gaining confidence while the pressure grows for the Lakers to close out the series.
“It’s the first team to win four games in a series, we happened to have won the first three and they happened to win the last two. We gotta be better.” said Lakers head coach JJ Reddick. .
