Lakers beat Rockets to lead NBA West Semifinals series 3-1
Los Angeles Lakers is now just 1 victory away from making it to the NBA finals of the Western Conference Series. Lakers once again proved they are team on mission this NBA season as they thrashed Houston Rockets once again.
Anthony Davis once again starred for Lakers as they easily defeated Rockets 110-100 in the 4th game of the series.
Lakers is now leading the 7 game semifinal series by 3-1 and is just step away from making it to the NBA 2020 West Finals
NBA West Semifinals : Davis stars, Lakers step away from making to the finals
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 LA Lakers topped the Rockets 110-100.
James had 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who outrebounded the Rockets 52-26. Alex Courso 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.
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.
This is how easy things were for the Lakers: In the third quarter, James grabbed a defensive rebound, turned and fired a 70-foot pass — soccer throw-in style — to Davis, the ball sailing over the five Rockets who were jogging back on defense. Davis caught the pass in stride and laid it in for a score, the ball never touching the ground.
And this is how difficult things were for the Rockets: They went 4 for 20 from the field over a 17-minute stretch spanning from late in the first quarter to early in the third. James had only four points in those minutes, but the Rockets’ drought meant a three-point deficit ballooned to 21.
The Lakers won Game 3 by holding Houston to 38 points in the second half — and set themselves up to win Game 4 by clamping down again, this time in the first half. It was 57-41 Lakers at the break, meaning Houston had scored 79 points in its last 48 minutes of basketball.
For context: The Rockets had 79 points in a two-quarter span on five different occasions this season.
The post Lakers beat Rockets to lead NBA West Semifinals series 3-1 first appeared on InsideSport.
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