Los Angeles @ Houston preview
Toyota Center
Last Meeting ( Dec 2, 2023 ) Houston 97, L.A. Lakers 107
The Los Angeles Lakers have worked hard to regain momentum since their stumble after winning the inaugural in-season tournament.
The Lakers' current stretch of five victories in seven games has provided something to build on after a rough close to the calendar year.
The Lakers opened a critical six-game road trip on Saturday with a riveting 145-144 double-overtime victory over the Golden State Warriors, a win that finally nudged them back over .500. It was a dramatic clash of stars that featured individual brilliance.
The Lakers, who will face the Houston Rockets on Monday, received a triple-double from LeBron James, who had 36 points, a career-high 20 rebounds and 12 assists to edge the Warriors and star Stephen Curry.
Los Angeles' Anthony Davis added 29 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. D'Angelo Russell, who scored 28 points, committed back-to-back turnovers and then made a crucial 3-pointer in transition with less than a minute left in the second overtime to give the Lakers a one-point lead.
Jarred Vanderbilt chipped in with 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals off the bench. For a team that has struggled to find the right combination of players and a rotation that could yield consistent success, the effort against the Warriors seems to indicate that the Lakers might be headed in the right direction.
"It was one of those wins that showed our character," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. "Our group is really coming together, the way they competed, the way they shared. Did the little things. This was a really, really gutsy win.
"We needed one of these. This was a helluva shot in the arm for our group."
The Rockets came into Saturday's game against the Brooklyn Nets having dismantled the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. But Houston failed to win two in a row despite a second-half rally, falling short in a 106-104 loss to the Nets. Houston trailed by as many as 28 points in the second quarter before trimming that deficit to 103-102 on Amen Thompson's 3-pointer with seven seconds left.
Dismayed by his team's lackluster start, Rockets coach Ime Udoka found a lineup down the stretch that fueled the rally. Rookie Cam Whitmore played the entire fourth quarter, when the Rockets outscored the Nets 34-18, while Fred VanVleet, Jae'Sean Tate and Dillon Brooks each logged 11-plus minutes in the frame.
Jalen Green and Thompson essentially split the remaining available minutes as Houston rode a small lineup back into contention, but the Rockets still came away with their eighth loss in the last 11 games.
"I think we found five guys that wanted to play hard enough, compete at the level that we needed them to from the start," Udoka said. "I went with a lineup that really got after it. We play about a quarter and a half of good basketball with the proper intensity and focus. We found the right group that got after it.
"We looked for a group that could get after it and mix it up. Sometimes you want to interject some energy into them by scheming up a little bit for us to be more aggressive, and that helped."
--Field Level Media