Amen Thompson scored a game-high 23 points, Tari Eason added 20 and the Houston Rockets averted elimination with a 115-96 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Rockets, who played without Kevin Durant (ankle) for the third time in the series. Reed Sheppard chipped in 17 points on 4-for-7 3-point shooting while Alperen Sengun (19 points) and Jabari Smith Jr. (16 points) rounded out the balanced offensive attack. Eason and Smith grabbed eight rebounds apiece.
“We said we didn’t want to let that last 30 seconds defeat us in another game, and we kind of put that behind us,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said, referring to the team’s Game 3 loss. “The focus was good today, and I think just in general, guys have pride, so you don’t want to obviously get swept.
“We understood how well we played last game, and that was the big-picture perspective we had. We played a really good three quarters, and don’t let that last 30 seconds take away from what you did. I think it was good carryover tonight.”
The Rockets made headway by forcing 24 turnovers that they converted into 30 points. Houston scored 23 fastbreak points and limited the Lakers to 5-for-22 3-point shooting (22.7%).
“We understand that if we want to win this series, we have to protect the ball,” LeBron James said. “The turnovers obviously killed us from the start to the finish.”
After dominating Game 3 and co-authoring the Lakers’ overtime victory, James (10 points, nine assists) and Marcus Smart (nine, five) shot a combined 5 of 17 from the floor. Deandre Ayton finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds but was ejected with 5:41 remaining in the third quarter after elbowing Sengun in the neck and incurring a flagrant-2 foul.
The Lakers will carry a 3-1 series lead back to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Wednesday.
Houston seized an 18-17 lead on a Sengun dunk at the 3:19 mark of the first quarter and didn’t look back. The Lakers shot 41.2% (7 of 17) in the first period, missed both of their 3-pointers and conceded eight points off eight turnovers. Sengun played the entire first period for the Rockets.
“This is a top-10 defense the entire season,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said about the Rockets. “It’s obviously very challenging without your two leading scorers (Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves) to generate offense. We’ll take a look at the process again on that end as well.
“Our points per shot and our expected points per shot were slightly below our season average, so to me, it goes back to the two keys: Take care of the ball. We’ll look at that and how we can be better there.”
The Rockets used a 16-4 run bridging the opening two periods to help extend to a 37-28 lead via a Sengun three-point play at the 6:35 mark of the second. When the Lakers sliced that deficit to three points, Josh Okogie keyed a 10-2 rally with a 3-pointer. Thompson added a pull-up jumper and a three-point play before Sheppard capped the run with a layup.
The Lakers shot 58.8% in the second quarter (10 of 17) but committed six turnovers in the frame and trailed 56-47 at the break. Houston pulled away in the third, opening the second half with a 12-4 burst before Eason drilled a corner 3 and Sengun completed another three-point play that pushed the lead to 76-55.
The Rockets led by as many as 28 points.
–Field Level Media
