As the season ends, we “recognized the size” of every game they have to play.
It’s really easy for the Lakers. Continuing to win will improve the merciless sowing of the west.
And they won the Lakers on Monday night and pulled them out on top of the rocket at crypto.com arena. That was a particularly important victory as the fourth-placed Lakers chase second-placed Houston in Western Conference standings.
Lebron James has gone through the clutch from the free throw line and defense, with significant contributions from key role players Gabe Vincent and Dorian Finney-Smith.
James sealed the game with two free throws with 11.1 seconds left, and scored a strong block from Alperencengun with eight seconds left, moving the Lakers ahead four times.
James finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
“It’s especially close this year, people are jumping on each other and falling behind. “I don’t do that every day, but that’s pretty much what I talk about and you see where you’re. Clearly, our mission is to be trapped in playoff spots and not have to play on play-in.”
Finney Smith and Vincent played a major role in the Lakers’ success against the Rockets.
Dorian Finney Smith got off the bench and scored a season-high 20 points, producing six season-bests out of 11 three-pointers. He rebounded the ball well (6), opened his teammates (3 assists), played regular star defense (3 blocks), and didn’t back down while defending Houston 6-foot-11 center Steve Adams. They pushed each other and thrust into each other and got a technical foul midway through the third quarter.
Finney-Smith completed the night and sealed off the final score by creating two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining.
“It feels good to see people like (Doncic) and Lebron telling them to film,” Finney-Smith said. “That could be the other way around.”
Vincent got out of the bench, donated 20 points, hit six of the 13 three-pointers and followed four rebounds.
“I think you’re just going out there and compete. You keep getting what’s most important,” Vincent said. “If you trust them (Doncic and James) and you’re ready to do the right reading and influence the game in the best way you can.”
Doncic missed 10 of his 16 shots and 6 of his 7 3-pointers, but had 20 points, nine assists and six rebounds. He felt his elbow was “bad” after landing several times during the game, but added that he was fine in Thursday’s game against the Warriors.
“We played hard,” Luka said.
Amen Thompson led the Rockets with 20 points, while Dillon Brooks chipped with 16.
The Lakers (46-29) and Rockets (49-27) split the first two games of the season and played again on April 11 at Crypto.com Arena. This will be another important game where you decide on a seed tie breaker if two teams end the season with the same record.
After the victory, the Lakers are 2½ games behind the second-seeded rocket and one game behind the third-seeded Denver Nuggets.
“Everyone is paying attention, please be honest,” Finney Smith said of the ranking. “Everyone is looking at the rankings. We don’t want to be play-in, so every game is important.”
