Late Thursday
Lakers 110, Rockets 100
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Anthony Davis was the biggest player on the floor, and the Houston Rockets had no answers.
Davis had 29 points and 12 rebounds, LeBron James finished one assist shy of a triple-double and the Lakers topped the Rockets to take a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.
James had 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who outrebounded the Rockets 52-26. Alex Caruso scored 16 points and Rajon Rondo had 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers, who held on after frittering away most of a big second-half lead.
“Turnovers,” Davis said. “We had too many turnovers.”
That was one of the few complaints the Lakers could make after Game 4.
Russell Westbrook had 25 points and James Harden had 21 for the Rockets, who got 19 from Eric Gordon and 14 from Austin Rivers. The Lakers were up by 23 midway through the fourth, well on their way to a blowout win. That’s when Houston’s offense woke up.
Westbrook made a corner 3 with 3:01 left, Harden got a steal and a pair of free throws on the next possession, and the Rockets put together a 18-2 run to get within 103-96. The Lakers turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions during that stretch, unable to get anything going.
Smartly, though, on the biggest possession of the night as the clock ticked inside the two-minute mark, they went to Davis. Gordon, who stands about half-a-foot shorter than Davis, had no chance as the Laker All-Star scored in the lane to push the lead back out to nine and buy the Lakers a bit of breathing room.
Caruso’s 3-pointer off a pass from James with 34.6 seconds left made it 108-100, and the Lakers escaped.
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