HOUSTON (AP) — LeBron James had 28 points and the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated Houston with a 98-78 win in Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Friday night by holding the Rockets to a season low in points.
The No. 4 seed Lakers move on to meet the top-seeded Thunder with Game 1 Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles has advanced to the second round for the first time since 2023 when it lost to Denver in the West finals despite missing top scorer Luka Doncic for the entire series.
“For us to be written off a few weeks ago and win a playoff series is a big deal,” coach JJ Redick said.
The Lakers used a 27-3 run in the first half to take an 18-point lead at halftime. They led by 22 with about three minutes left in the third quarter before Houston went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 71-55 entering the fourth.
But Los Angeles opened the quarter with a 10-3 spurt, with five points from Rui Hachimura, to make it 81-58 with about seven minutes left.
“In order for us to win we had to protect the ball, we had to rebound and we had to be physical, make them take tough shots,” James said. “I thought defensively we came in with a great game plan and we executed that thing to a T.”
Hachimura added 21 points with five 3-pointers.
Redick raved about what James meant to his team not only Friday night but throughout the season.
“He just has this ability to set the tone for the entire group and he did that again tonight and our guys responded,” Redick said.
Amen Thompson had 18 points and Alperen Sengun added 17 for Houston, which is heading home after a first-round playoff loss for a second straight season after losing to the Warriors in seven games last year.
“Everybody’s disappointed, no doubt,” coach Ime Udoka said. “Not what we expected coming into the game tonight or the series in general. We all thought that we’d be taking it back for a Game 7.”
The fifth-seeded Rockets had won two straight after falling into an 0-3 hole. They forced Game 6 despite missing superstar Kevin Durant for all but one game of this series because of a knee injury followed by an ankle issue.
But they were felled by poor shooting Friday, making just 35% overall and were particularly bad from long range. After making 26 3-pointers combined in the last two games, the Rockets made just 5 of 28 3-pointers Friday with Reed Sheppard going 1 for 10.
The Lakers trailed by 5 with five minutes left in the first before using a 27-3 run to take a 38-19 lead with about seven minutes left in the second quarter. Hachimura, Jake LaRavia and James all made 3-pointers in that stretch to help Los Angeles build the lead on a night the Lakers made 12 3s.
The Rockets couldn’t get anything going early in the second quarter. They got one free throw from Sheppard but missed 11 shots before he made the team’s first field goal in the period with 6:55 left before halftime.
That didn’t spark anything for Houston and the Lakers led 49-31 at halftime.
Austin Reaves added 15 points for the Lakers in his second game back after missing more than three weeks with an oblique injury and Deandre Ayton had seven points and 16 rebounds.
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