Anthony Davis outshone all as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 110-100 on Thursday to creep within one win of clinching their Western Conference semifinal series.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Davis had 29 points and 12 rebounds while LeBron James finished one assist shy of a triple-double for the Lakers, who secured a commanding 3-1 lead.
James had 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists as the Lakers outrebounded the Rockets 52-26.
Alex Caruso scored 16 points and Rajon Rondo had 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers, who held on after frittering away most of a big second-half lead.
"Turnovers," Davis said. "We had too many turnovers."
That was one of the few complaints the Lakers could make after Game 4.
Russell Westbrook had 25 points while James Harden posted 21 for the Rockets, who got 19 from Eric Gordon and 14 from Austin Rivers.
The Lakers were up by 23 midway through the fourth, well on their way to a blowout win. That's when Houston woke up.
Westbrook made a corner three with 3:01 left, Harden got a steal and a pair of free throws on the next possession, and the Rockets put together a 18-2 run to get within 103-96. The Lakers turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions during that stretch, unable to get anything going.
Smartly, though, on the biggest possession of the night as the clock ticked inside the two-minute mark, they went to Davis.
Gordon, who stands about half-a-foot shorter than Davis, had no chance as the Laker All-Star scored in the lane to push the lead back out to nine and buy the Lakers a bit of breathing room.
Caruso's three-pointer off a pass from James with 34.6 seconds left made it 108-100, and the Lakers escaped.
This is how easy things were for the Lakers: In the third quarter, James grabbed a defensive rebound, turned and fired a 70-foot pass - soccer throw-in style - to Davis, the ball sailing over the five Rockets who were jogging back on defence. Davis caught the pass in stride and laid it in for a score, the ball never touching the ground.
And this is how difficult things were for the Rockets: They went four for 20 from the field over a 17-minute stretch spanning from late in the first quarter to early in the third. James had only four points in those minutes, but the Rockets' drought meant a three-point deficit ballooned to 21.
The Lakers won Game 3 by holding Houston to 38 points in the second half - and set themselves up to win Game 4 by clamping down again, this time in the first half. It was 57-41 Lakers at the break, meaning Houston had scored 79 points in their last 48 minutes of basketball.
Game 5 is on Saturday.
Australian Associated Press
