Los Angeles Lakers won Game 2 of their conference semifinals series against the Houston Rockets with a superb win in the fourth quarter. The result after the final buzzer was 117-109.
Two sides entered the final period almost even, with the Rockets having a two-point lead, 92-90. It was a pretty surprising thing to see, having in mind that the LAL had a 21-point advantage early into the second. Houston opened the third quarter with a 14-0 run that pretty much dazzled Frank Vogel’s side. From that moment on, there was a big fight going on all over the court, with the Lakers eventually breaking the Rockets. They scored nine consecutive points throughout the middle of the final 12 minutes.
The purple and gold held the Rockets to just 17 buckets in the final sequence, limiting them to 31.6% of shooting from the field. Their strongest weapon, three-pointers, were absent from the story, as Harden and the boys hit only two in 12 tries.
LeBron James was one assist short of reaching a triple-double with 28 points, 11 boards, and nine dimes, shooting 10-for-17 from the field, adding four steals on top of that in 39 minutes.
Anthony Davis was in charge of scoring in the Lakers’ team. The eyebrow ended the night with 34 buckets, 15-for-24, and 10 rebounds, putting out a perfect display in the attack, unlike in the first game.
The bench finally showed up for the LAL. Markieff Morris contributed with 16 points and five boards, making four downtown hits. Kyle Kuzma scored 13, while Rajon Rondo had a pretty big impact on the game with 10 points, nine assists, and five steals.
On the other side, Rockets’ bench scored 13 points, all by one player, Danuel House Jr. Rivers, McLemore and Green, had zero in their scoring columns.
James Harde finished the contest with 27 and seven assists. Eric Gordon had 24 with six threes, while PJ Tucker added 18 with 11 boards. Robert Covington had 17.
Russell Westbrook didn’t play well on the offensive side of the ball. He had just 10 points with 4-for-15 form the game and 1-for-7 from downtown. Brody added 13 boards, but that wasn’t what the Rockets needed.
D’Antoni’s side is drilled 22 threes in 53 attempts, but they simply fell short in the moments when needed to score the most.
Game 3 is set for this Tuesday.