History repeated itself, the star forward LeBron James emerged with the great figure who contributed 36 points and was at the forefront of the Los Angeles Lakers attack that beat the Houston Rockets 112-102 in the third game of the semifinal tie of the Western Conference.
The victory allows the Lakers to take a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series and the fourth game will be played next Thursday on the same stage in the Orlando bubble.
James, who posted his 162nd win in the playoff competition, the NBA’s best all-time record, surpassing former Lakers point guard Derek Fisher’s 161, also had seven rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
But he also always got the decisive goals that his team needed in key moments, while veteran point guard Rajon Rondo was the support that James needed to complete his winning work by scoring 21 points and nine assists.
Rondo, who came out of reserve, was the boost the team needed in the fourth quarter when the score was even and contributed eight points from the Lakers’ 10-0 streak to take the decisive lead.
Center Anthony Davis contributed a double-double of 26 points, 15 rebounds and six assists that left him as the leader of the Lakers in the inside game.
While power forward Kyle Kuzma added 14 as the Lakers’ fourth leading scorer and the last on the list of the four Los Angeles team players who had two-digit numbers.
Guard James Harden had 33 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as the Rockets leader, but they did not prevent the Houston team’s second consecutive loss.
While point guard Russell Westbrook had 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but he could not be a winning factor for the Rockets, who lost the fight under the hoops with just 30 rebounds to 43 for the Lakers.
Rondo assisted on a James layup that put the Lakers ahead with about 10 minutes to go and then hit a 3-pointer to give the Los Angeles team a partial 89-85 lead, their biggest lead so far.
After time out for Houston, Westbrook missed a shot and Rondo made another triple. Rondo then stole the ball from Harden and laid a layup to cap the run 10-0.
The Lakers controlled the final period for the second consecutive game by dominating the actions inside the paint after taking advantage of the effort that the Rockets’ short players have to make when trying to capture rebounds under the hoops by not having any natural center inside Of the template.
The Los Angeles team blew a 21-point lead in the second game, but outscored Houston 10 in the fourth to win 117-109 and history was repeated in the third. EFE (HN).