Rockets stun Lakers in Game 5, force series back to Houston

The Rockets refused to let the series end at Crypto.com Arena, outlasting the Los Angeles Lakers 99-93 to trim the deficit to 3-2 and send the matchup back to Houston for Game 6 on Friday.

Houston’s edge came from the kind of late-game discipline Los Angeles could not match. With the Lakers having cut the lead to 88-85 on a LeBron James driving layup, Reed Sheppard answered with a jumper and then a steal-and-dunk sequence that flipped the final minutes back toward the Rockets. The moment carried extra weight because Sheppard had turned the ball over in Game 3, a mistake that helped fuel the Lakers’ last-minute comeback to tie that game.

Jabari Smith Jr. led Houston with 22 points, Tari Eason added 18, and Alperen Sengun finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a rugged road win. The Rockets have now won two straight without Kevin Durant, who has missed four of the five games in the series because of injuries. That absence has forced Houston to lean on balance and defensive pressure rather than star power, and Game 5 showed that formula can still travel.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, coughed up 15 turnovers and never fully escaped Houston’s pressure. The Lakers briefly threatened to seize control late, but the sloppiness that had defined their worst performance of the series left them vulnerable in the closing stretch. It was only their second home loss in 16 games since February, a sign of how much the Rockets had to raise the margin on the margins to survive.

James scored 25 points, 17 of them after halftime, and Austin Reaves added 22 points and six assists in his return after a nine-game absence with a strained oblique. Reaves had been out since April 2, and his shot creation gave Los Angeles another option, but it was not enough to cover for the turnovers or close Houston out. James summed up the position bluntly: “It’s one game,” adding that the Lakers must answer the call.

The bigger picture still tilts heavily against Houston. No NBA team has ever erased an 0-3 deficit to win a series, and only four of 159 teams that fell behind that far have even forced a Game 7: the 1951 Knicks, the 1994 Nuggets, the 2003 Trail Blazers and the 2023 Celtics. Game 6 is set for Friday in Houston, with Game 7, if necessary, on Sunday. For the Rockets, the challenge is no longer just survival. It is whether this version of their momentum can outlast the Lakers’ margin for error.