The opponent of LeBron James and his teammates is the Houston Rockets (21-24), the team ranked below the Lakers (24-23) in the Western rankings and has only 2 wins in the last 8 matches.
Los Angeles Lakers could not defeat Houston Rockets in their trip to Toyota Center on the morning of January 30
It seemed that Coach Darvin Ham and his team would take advantage of the energy after the impressive win over the Golden State Warriors 2 days ago, but the Los Angeles Lakers entered the game extremely poorly.
The Lakers defense was almost “invisible” when it allowed the Houston Rockets to score 78 points in the first two rounds. Things got worse when Jarred Vanderbilt, an important player for the Lakers, was disqualified for committing 2 technical fouls.
The gap then pushed to 30 points at the beginning of the third quarter, putting the match out of reach for the yellow and purple team.
LeBron James and his teammates played determinedly in the fourth quarter, at one point narrowing the gap to just 10 points. However, the “30-point hole” was too deep for the Lakers to make a comeback in just over 1 round.
LA’s entire main squad was pulled out in the last few minutes of the match, “raising the white flag” and heading to the back-to-back match taking place at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning (January 31) in Atlanta.
LeBron James led the Los Angeles Lakers’ comeback effort but was unsuccessful
The 2-overtime victory at Chase Center could not become the foundation for the Los Angeles Lakers to breakthrough. On the contrary, it also brings side effects when LeBron and the whole team play like lead.
Anthony Davis sat out the entire fourth quarter in this match, even when the Lakers had a chance to win by shortening the gap to 10 points.
Sharing about the reason for “freezing” his bigman, coach Darvin Ham said he needed to make sure Davis was not overloaded because he was hurt in the match against the Warriors.Even though he only played 29 minutes, AD still had 23 points along with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. LeBron James had a double-double of 23 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds.
D’Angelo Russell lost the feeling of throwing from far today with only 3-12 FGs, but in return he finished on average and was good at getting close to the basket for 23 points (8-19 FGs). Rui Hachimura led the reserves, scoring 16 points (4-5 FG, 2-3 3PT).On the other side of the field, Jalen Green scored 34 points with 12 rebounds and 7 assists. Also having 12 rebounds and 7 assists to go with 31 points is bigman Alperen Sengun.
Rookie Cam Whitmore, who was overlooked by the Lakers in the 2023 NBA Draft, now scored 203 points and 6 rebounds. It is impossible not to mention Fred VanVleet’s unique set of stats with only 3 points (0-4 FG) but 14 assists.
After 4 encounters at this year’s Regular Season between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, each team shared 2 wins, both at home.
