History repeats itself too much for the Lakers this season. His time in Houston was no exception to face some Rockets full of gallantry, not because of a good classification but almost the opposite. The Texans are out of tune, carrying the second course of suffering in which young people who have to progress and veterans who have left other teams come together. That the Lakers arrive, especially if they are injured, is an opportunity to take advantage of. So they did. They took them to a territory already explored by the Californians, the extensions, and there they dealt them the final blow that earned them to end up celebrating.
139-130 at Toyota Center. LeBron James returned after his great game of 56 points and missing the next match and ended with a triple-double: 23 + 14 + 12. Westbrook put together another positive performance and also attacked Monk, Augustin or Reaves well on the opposing rim. Despite this alignment of bases they did not stop the power of rookie Jalen Green, author of 32 points (and 10 of his team’s 19 in overtime).
The good thing for the Lakers is the rest, what they don’t control. The Blazers added a new heavy defeat, in this case at the home of the Jazz, and are almost out of the fight for ninth and tenth place. Angelenos have more margin. The other group that is out and wanting to enter the places of honor is the San Antonio Spurs, defeated by the Raptors on the night that Popovich was able to make history on the list of coaches with the most victories. The Pelicans, who are tenth, also lost and did it almost by surprise in one of those games you count on: loss in Orlando against the Magic. Those of Vogel maintain a distance of three wins with those who want to take their place.
Equality in many of the fringes of the meeting. Many dotted shots ended up going in and hence the high score that, together with the five extra minutes, came at the end. The Lakers saved a significant deficit between the end of the second period and the beginning of the third, of -8 and -7, with a pair of triples by Reaves. LeBron, again as center, had to face different profiles, with a more classic Sengun and or a more mobile Martin. In the final stretch these pairings were important and the one from Akron did his best to leave his team at the gates of victories with good defenses, a kill and a stopper, but he was also the one who made a mistake: he missed a shot to four meters in the race with 120-120 and had to give up the last ball, also with that marker, for Carmelo Anthony to play it. In overtime Green scored seven points in a row and the rest of the Rockets were triples, by Gordon, Martin, Sengun and, again, Green, to make the victory of the Lakers almost impossible. The Rockets, despite the victory, are still the worst team in the NBA.