New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Rockets - Game 7

New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Rockets – Game 7

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (4-3) | Houston Rockets (1-6)

 

The Lakers treated Lakers Nation with a win as they took care of the Houston Rockets on Halloween 95-85.

 

The game started slowly, with just 11 total points scored in the first four minutes of the first quarter for both teams. However, after Anthony Davis and Kevin Porter Jr. traded field goals, the Lakers generated the first surge of momentum with back-to-back threes from Kent Bazemore and Russell Westbrook. Bazemore sank another three over a minute later to give the Lakers an eight-point lead.

The game would not see another score for over two and a half minutes until a free throw from Christian Wood followed by layups from LeBron James and Wood in each of the teams’ next possessions. Carmelo Anthony got his first points from a three-point shot with 3:24 left in the first.

Anthony would hit another triple about a minute later to give the Lakers a 14 point lead. Anthony hit his third three of the game with 39.6 seconds remaining, as the Lakers ended the quarter with a 12 point lead after Alperen Sengun hit two free throws.

DeAndre Jordan kicked off the second quarter with a dunk to regain the 14 point lead the Lakers had in the first quarter. However, that lead would be cut to 10 points in just 32 seconds off an Eric Gordon three-pointer. Anthony answered back with a jump shot of his own, along with his fourth three of the game. Gordon answered with a three, while Austin Reaves and James responded with paint points.

Los Angeles continued their momentum by building their lead to 19 halfway through the quarter off an alley-oop dunk by Jordan. Westbrook expanded the lead to 22 with a three-pointer, while Davis followed up with paint points. Wood hit a three to stop the bleeding for the Rockets, but Westbrook fired back with a dunk at the opposite end of the court.

 

Jae’Sean Tate and Porter Jr. hit jump shots to close the scoring for the half as the Lakers went to break with a 54-35 advantage.

 

The Rockets would swing the momentum in their favor at the start of the second half. Tate hit a jump shot followed by Daniel Theis and Jalen Green providing paint points to cut the lead to 14. Wood added a layup on the next possession, and a Theis free-throw shredded their deficit in almost half. Davis and James would turn up the heat with tip shots off of misses to spark a 10-0 run that lasted three minutes.

After going scoreless for over four minutes, the Rockets finally added points to the board with a two-point shot from Sengun and a three from Porter Jr. Davis responded to the slight Houston burst with four more points in the paint to swell the lead back up to 20. Westbrook hit a layup with 1:25 left in the third quarter to tie the Lakers’ biggest lead of the night up to this point at 24 points. Wood hit a floater at the end of the quarter to enter the final frame of the night with Los Angeles up 75-54.

The Lakers would start fast once again as the final quarter began. Jordan and Anthony propelled Los Angeles to give the Lakers a new high point margin on the night at 28. Houston showed some fight after the Lakers’ run despite the deficit as Alperen Sengun began a rapid scoring pace for the Rockets with a tip shot. On their next possession, the Rockets followed up with Gordon scoring seven straight points, Kenyon Martin Jr. adding four points in the paint, and a Porter Jr. layup to cut the lead back down to 13.

The teams matched field goals after the Rockets’ 15-0 run that spanned around three and a half minutes. However, once Martin Jr. cut the Houston deficit to 11, the Lakers’ big three pulled the game out of reach, as Los Angeles went above .500 for the first time on the season, defeating the Rockets 95-85.

It was a relatively low-scoring game all around, but four Lakers ended in double figures. Anthony led all scorers on the night with 23 points off the bench, while Westbrook came one assist shy of another double-double, scoring 20 points. Davis had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, with James scoring 15 points on the night.

The Rockets had five players score double-digit points, led by Gordon with 17 off the bench, followed by Wood’s double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Kevin Porter Jr. had 13 points, Kenyon Martin Jr. had 12 off the bench, and Alperen Sengun scored 11 in 20 minutes.

 

The Lakers and Rockets will meet in the second of their two-game set at Staples Center on Tuesday. The game will begin at 7:30 and can be seen on Spectrum SportsNet.

 

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– Matt Dobbs – Franchise Sports Media

Follow Matt on Twitter @RecordBowlerFSM

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