LeBron James speaks after a game four blowout loss to the Houston Rockets.
The Los Angeles Lakers failed to sweep the Houston Rockets on Sunday, but still hold a commanding 3-1 series lead as things shift back to LA.
The Lakers managed to steal game three despite being down six with thirty seconds remaining. The Rockets didn't wilt after a monumental collapse, responding in game four with their best performance of the series.
Los Angeles got off to a good start, but couldn't extend their lead in the first quarter past five points. The Rockets ended the quarter strong, holding a five point lead going into the second.
They extended the lead to nine at halftime, and then ran away with the game in the third and early fourth, pushing the lead all the way up to 28 points.
The final score saw Houston walk away with a 115-96 victory.
LeBron James Speaks
Speaking after the game, LeBron James was asked where things went wrong for his team.
He began by saying they did a good job in the second quarter cutting in the lead, but that turnovers was their kryptonite.
"It starts with me. My turnovers were unacceptable," he said, before believing they'll do a better job with taking care of the basketball on Wednesday. "The turnovers killed us from start to finish."
He specifically pointed out the "pick sixes" that they gave up, referring to live-ball turnovers that led to easy fast-break points for Houston.
LeBron later said, "Defense wasn't our problem tonight. Offense was," pointing to the number of turnovers they had.
Something fell on the floor next to him, making a loud banging sound, and LeBron joked, "Another turnover right there."
Turnover Issues
The Lakers defense gave up 115, their most points allowed in the series after holding Houston to a high of 101 points through regulation in the first three games.
As mentioned by LeBron, it wasn't necessarily the defense that was the issue despite the number of points allowed. It was how those points were allowed. The Lakers turned the ball over 23 times, leading to 30 points for the Rockets.
The Rockets had 23 fastbreak points, many of which came off live ball turnovers that created easy runouts for Houston.
LeBron had his worst game of the series, shooting just 2-9 from the field and 0-3 from three for 10 points. He had nine assists, but the more concerning number was his eight turnovers.
The Rockets did a great job hounding him all game, with Tari Eason collecting five steals, and Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr, and Josh Okogie getting three steals each.