The Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 99-93 in Game 5 on Wednesday, trimming L.A.'s series lead to 3-2 and setting up a critical Game 6 in Houston on Friday. For the second straight game, the Lakers had a chance to close out the series and failed.
No NBA team has ever blown a 3-0 playoff lead. Only four of the 159 teams that have reached that mark have even forced a seventh game. The Lakers are now halfway to making that list.
LeBron James scored 25 points with seven assists, including 11 in the fourth quarter, but he couldn't deliver when it counted most. With the Lakers trailing by three and threatening a comeback, Rockets guard Reed Sheppard stripped the ball from James and converted a dunk with 2:20 remaining. James then missed two three-pointers in the final 30 seconds to finish 0-for-6 from distance on the night.
"We have some opportunities to make some shots we didn't make," James said. "As much as we've got to defend, we've also got to score, too. I don't think we did that at a good rate, especially in the second and third quarters."
Austin Reaves made his return from injury for Game 5, but his night was rocky. He scored 22 points on 4-for-16 shooting, missed a pair of easy layups, and came up short on several open looks from three. The Lakers had been playing without both Reaves and Luka Doncic for much of the series, which made their 3-0 lead feel improbable. Now, with both teams more intact, Houston has momentum.
"It helps when shots go in," Reaves said. "Bron had three or four in the first half that went in and out. I missed two easy layups. I missed two or three good looks from 3, one midrange. But you make shots, you miss shots, and we'll move on to Friday."
James, for his part, is trying to keep the locker room steady. He said he wasn't panicking after two straight losses, the same way he wasn't getting carried away after jumping out to the 3-0 lead. But he also acknowledged what's at stake in a road game against a team that now has everything to play for.
"You can give yourself tonight, a little bit of tomorrow, but once we get on that plane and head down to Houston, we've got to forget about it and understand what we're going for," he said. "It's going to be even harder. Every game is hard. It's so hard to close out a team in the postseason, and this is our first time doing it as a unit, so we'll see what we've got."
The Lakers outrebounded the Rockets, the NBA's top rebounding team, but still couldn't generate enough offense in the middle quarters. Houston, playing without leading scorer Kevin Durant, again won with depth and collective effort rather than individual brilliance.
If the Rockets win Game 6 on Friday in Houston, the series goes to a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday in Los Angeles.
