The Lakers closed Houston out 98 to 78 on Friday night to take the Western Conference first-round series 4 to 2 and earn a Tuesday Game 1 in Oklahoma City against the top-seeded Thunder. LeBron James posted 28 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists in the closeout. Deandre Ayton pulled 16 rebounds. Rui Hachimura hit five three-pointers off the bench for 21 points. [1]
The numbers around those numbers tell the actual story. Houston shot 35% from the field overall and made 5 of 28 from three. Reed Sheppard, who the Rockets had been counting on as a third scoring option after the late-season trade, went 1 for 10. After combining for 26 made threes across Games 4 and 5, the Rockets simply could not find the rim at home in Game 6. The Lakers ran a 27 to 3 stretch in the first half and walked the rest. [2]
Tuesday is the harder room. The Thunder finished the regular season with the league's best defensive rating; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the consensus MVP. NBA.com's takeaways framed Friday as another of LeBron's now-familiar closeout games — the league record for series-clinching wins is his — but cautioned that closeout dominance and series-opening discipline are different skills. [3] For one Friday night, the closeout was enough. The next test is whether Tuesday's first quarter survives a Thunder defense that did not give up an 18-point halftime lead all season.
-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos