The Los Angeles Lakers couldn’t complete their biggest comeback of the season, falling short 115-119 to the Houston Rockets after coming back from being 22 points behind in the first half.
The Lakers came within a possession of victory during clutch time, with a botched inbounds play sealing the loss for them. LeBron James realized Max Christie was about to commit a turnover off the inbounds, so he tried calling a timeout before the guard released the ball, something the referees missed.
LeBron reflected on that game-deciding call in his post-match interview, believing it should’ve been called but didn’t blame the loss on the missed call.
“Absolutely. That’s why I called the timeout because I saw it go wrong. They played it good, stayed on top of everything. I saw Fred shoot a guy on top of me and I called timeout when Max definitely still had the ball in his hands. It wasn’t rewarded but that happens, you don’t lose a game because of that.”
LeBron on the rebound discrepancy, trying to call a timeout on the inbounds play, The Thompson brothers' athleticism, and adjusting in the second half: pic.twitter.com/qTz4YsI68e
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 6, 2025
James was far more critical of his Lakers’ efforts on rebounding as the reason for the loss.
“We gave up too many second-chance points. Offensive rebounds killed us. We know they’re a big team, we know they crash everybody and put a lot of pressure, especially at the point-of-attack with Fred VanVleet and also Jalen Green.”
“We knew we were going to have bodies off bodies because of the pressure they put, not only on the guy on the ball but also on the big with Sengun or Steven Adams, which allows them to get free runs. The Thompson twin was amazing with his energy and effort, but when you give up 18 offensive rebounds and they had 26 second-chance points, it’s gonna be hard to win on the road.”
“We did a very good job of not turning the ball over against a team that’s very scrappy who get their hands on a lot of pass deflections. But we did;t give ourselves enough chances on the offensive end because we gave up so many second-chance points.”
LeBron James did his best as he notched a near-triple-double with 21 points (8-16 FG), 13 rebounds, and nine assists. He was tied for most rebounds on the Lakers side with Anthony Davis, but the Lakers as a whole couldn’t match the Rockets’ aggression on the boards.
The Rockets had 49 rebounds as a team compared to the Lakers’ 39. Houston had a whopping 18 offensive rebounds which led to 26 second-chance points, creating a deficit the Lakers simply couldn’t compete with.
Amen Thompson showed his value as a rebounding guard, grabbing 16 boards in the win and being arguably the most impactful Rocket by also scoring 23 points.
It’s good to see LeBron acknowledge the areas where the Lakers lost this game instead of being hung up on the referees for missing his attempted timeout at the end of the game. They still had to convert that possession after the timeout, so a win wasn’t guaranteed in that case either. It could’ve been guaranteed if the Lakers showed greater solidity on the glass.
This is another game that highlights the Lakers’ need for a major rebounding presence next to Anthony Davis, as the Rockets killed them on the glass with their effort tonight, with many West rivals having a more robust frontcourt that could dwarf the Lakers in a matchup.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We appreciate your support.
