Houston Rockets

Lakers guard Marcus Smart has been on a team that rallied from a playoff deficit and knows his team must dig deeper to fend off the Rockets' surge.

The Lakers still lead the series 3-2 but it feels like the Rockets have figured some things out, and gotten more confident.

After his inspiring play on a Game 3 overtime win against the Rockets in Houston, the 41-year-old star has looked mortal.

No NBA team has ever lost a playoffs series when leading 3-0. The Lakers are hurtling toward becoming the first.

While noting the Rockets' rising confidence after stealing consecutive wins, Marcus Smart revealed what the Lakers would need to do to put an end to this series.

The post Ime Udoka reacts to Rockets forcing Game 6 vs Lakers appeared first on TalkBasket.net.

Back to the Bayou, Lakers.

Game 5 of the NBA playoffs between The Lakers and the Houston Rockets in Los Angeles featured a major celebrity turnout including "Ted Lasso" star Jason Sudekis, Macaulay Culkin, Brenda Song and more.

Grading every Lakers player’s performance from the team’s 99-93 loss to the Rockets in Game 5.

The Lakers’ mission was to take the Rockets’ postseason life away.

The Rockets avoided playoff elimination for the second straight game with a 99-93 victory over the Lakers in Game 5, trimming L.A.'s lead in the series to 3-2.

The post JJ Redick says “turnovers of aggression are okay” after Lakers’ Game 5 loss to Rockets appeared first on TalkBasket.net.

The post LeBron James on Lakers’ Game 5 collapse vs Rockets appeared first on TalkBasket.net.

Rockets The Rockets are still breathing. And now, they’re heading home with real belief. Facing elimination again, Houston beat the Lakers 99-93 in Game 5, trimming the series to 3-2 and forcing a Game 6 back in Texas. “We put ourselves in a bad position, but we can still make history,” Alperen Sengun said, via […] The post NBA Notes: Rockets, Alperen Sengun, Lakers, LeBron James, Pistons appeared first on Hoops Wire.

The Lakers struggled offensively throughout the night en route to a second straight defeat on Wednesday.

LeBron James makes his feelings known on Jabari Smith Jr's comments and the Lakers' mistakes tonight in their Game 5 loss to the Rockets.

The NBA playoffs are averaging 3.84 million viewers across NBCUniversal, ESPN/ABC and Amazon's Prime Video through Sunday. The number is up 20% from last year and represents the highest average viewership since 1993. Sunday's Game 4 between the Celtics and Sixers lead the way with 6.3 million viewers. Game 4 between the Lakers and Rockets, also on Sunday, averaged 6.2 million viewers. Saturday's Game 4 between the Knicks and Hawks delivered the largest audience for NBC with 5.3 million viewer...

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers received a huge boost before Game 5 of their opening round playoff series against the Houston Rockets with Austin Reaves cleared to make his return from injury. The ending didn’t go so well for the Lakers as they fell, 99-93, and will now have to travel to Houston […] The post Austin Reaves opens up on tough 4 weeks before Game 5 return appeared first on ClutchPoints.

For the second straight time, the Los Angeles Lakers failed to close out the Houston Rockets in their first-round series in the playoffs. The Lakers succumbed to the Rockets, 99-93, in Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday. The Rockets closed the gap, 3-2, in the best-of-seven matchup. Game 6 will return to Toyota Center […] The post Lakers’ Marcus Smart shares eye-opening take amid rising Rockets threat appeared first on ClutchPoints.

LeBron James didn't get overly excited last week when his Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a shocking 3-0 series lead over the Houston Rockets despite playing without their top two scorers. James also isn't ready to panic after his Lakers lost their second straight potential clincher Wednesday night, putting them halfway to making an unwanted bit of NBA history. “We don’t have a lot of time to dwell on it,” James said after the Lakers’ first-round series lead dwindled to 3-2 with the Rockets’ 99-...