Lakers finish off Rockets in one-sided Game 6, setting up clash with Thunder
The short-handed Lakers survived the short-handed Rockets. The next round will be a different challenge.
There might have been some reasons for concern for the Lakers in a series they once led 3-0 . None of them was apparent Friday. With a 98-78 victory in Game 6, the Lakers finished off the Houston Rockets for their first playoff series win in three years.
Their reward will be a date with the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. That series will start Tuesday. The San Antonio Spurs will face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the other West semifinal.
The Lakers were coming off two straight losses at the hands of the Rockets, pushing them halfway to an unprecedented collapse. Game 4 was a one-sided defeat on the road , Game 5 was close but no victory cigar . Had it not been for the Rockets’ galling collapse in Game 3 , Los Angeles would have been the ones facing elimination Friday.
Game 6 had no such headache. The Lakers took a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and never let it get back down to single digits. They still didn’t have their usual offense with Luka Dončić still out, but LeBron James kept doing what he’s done all series: turn back the clock.