The Los Angeles Lakers had a tough 119-115 loss on Sunday against the Houston Rockets. Coming into the game, they had a back-to-back win against the Atlanta Hawks and the Portland Trail Blazers. However, the youthful Rockets squad was too much for the California team.
Los Angeles tried their best until the final buzzer with stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James leading the way. Davis had 30 points, 13 rebounds and five rebounds in the loss. James, on the other hand, poured in 21 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists on 57.1 % shooting from deep.
Fourth-year guard Austin Reaves also came up with 21 points and 10 assists. Three other players in the team finished double-digits in scoring. Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith, who played 25 minutes off the bench, had 13 points each. Max Christie had her 12th straight start in the season and finished with 14 points on 40% shooting from the 3-point range.
The team nearly won the game thanks to their efforts in the closing seconds. Davis scored a 3-pointer in the last minute of play to make it a four-point contest. On the other end, the Lakers had a defensive stop which led to a made basket from James and cut the Rockets’ lead to two points.
Rockets center Alperen Sengun made one out of two free-throws and Los Angeles called timeout. With 7.1 seconds left, the team turned the ball over as Christie failed to make the inbound pass. This led to Houston’s Fred VanVleet to get fouled and split the free throws.
After the loss, Christie took accountability for his error late in the game.
“As the inbounder, I need to be more aware and make a better decision in that spot,” the guard said.
Max Christie took accountability for not calling timeout when he didn't have someone to inbound the ball to.
"As the inbounder, I need to be more aware and make a better decision in that spot."
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) January 6, 2025
James also took some of the blame for not calling a timeout.
“Absolutely. That’s why I called a timeout because I saw it go wrong,” the four-time champion said.
Fans give the Lakers flak for their recent loss
After the Lakers’ loss due to an error, fans went to social media and roasted the team for their performance.
“Lakers cooked by Jalen Green lolol,” a fan commented.
“No clutch gene whatsoever🤣🤣,” another fan said.
“40 year old having to get 21 points and 13 rebounds to save a young team,” one fan said.
40 year old having to get 21 points and 13 rebounds to save a young team pic.twitter.com/QjEWFW3Fd6
— 𝒦𝑒𝓃𝓎𝒶𝓃 🎯 (@AlwayzHIM8) January 6, 2025
“JJ Redick is the worst sidelines out of bounds play coach in clutch time I’ve ever seen in NBA history, bro runs the absolute worst sets 😭😭😭”
“LA gave me hope like 10 times this game”
“Lakers aren’t good man. I’m sick of prentending they are💔💔💔”
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
