Houston unleashed a dominant performance, fueled by tenacious defense and fluid offense, to avoid a sweep and ignite series hopes.
Well, after a 3-0 start to the Lakers series, the Rockets finally showed up at home- and plainly dominated in Houston.
I didn’t see that coming, especially not with Kevin Durant in street clothes on the sideline.
The story here comes down to the fact that the Lakers couldn’t hold onto the ball, starting the night with eight turnovers in the first quarter, and collecting twenty-three by the end of the night. Houston capitalized in a way we haven’t seen for a while, turning defense into 30 off turnovers. That’s what won them this one.
The Rockets walked in desperate to extend the series. The lead stretched and stretched until it hit 28.
What stood out to me was how different everything looked without Durant on the floor. Nobody was waiting around. The ball was moving- no hero ball last night. The offense was impeccable. The defense looked better than it has for most of the regular season, and especially in this rocky series.
Amen would finish 23 points, attacking all night and going 10-of-16. Tari Eason added 20 points, five steals, and a team-high plus/minus of 31. Reed Sheppard gave them real spacing and hit four threes, but more than that, he kept the game moving. Sengun suddenly had no issues with efficiency, played through contact, and stayed aggressive even with the free throw struggles.
All five starters ended the night in double figures. That hasn’t been normal in this series.
The moment that pushed it over the edge came when Ayton got ejected. He had 19 and 10 and was keeping them in it. Then he’s gone, and the Lakers just never found their footing again. The offense stalled out, the energy vanishing.
LeBron dropped the ball on Sunday, both literally and physically, finishing 2-of-9 from the field, eight turnovers, and even when he got to the line early, it didn’t feel like he was controlling anything. The threes still weren’t falling for LA, and once the game sped up, they couldn’t keep up with it.
There were still things that weren’t clean. There were free throws left out there on Sengun's part specifically. Several starters were in foul trouble early. But none of it slowed them down. They stayed aggressive and played like a team that actually believed it could extend the series.
No sweep in Houston.
Now we find out if this was just a one-night surge… or the version of this team that’s been sitting there the whole time. Is it probable that the Rockets make NBA history by flipping the series? Probably not.
But there’s still a chance at forcing a Game 7, however slim. After Sunday’s performance, it wouldn’t be the craziest thing that ever happened, but we’ve seen throughout the regular season and more so in this first series that Houston is inconsistent, to put it nicely.
Game 5 is where we find out what this actually was.