Lakers advance to 2nd round with Game 6 rout of Rockets

HOUSTON — JJ Redick slumped against the padded wall of the SMU basketball program’s Dallas training facility and crossed his arms close to his chest.

The Lakers head coach had already learned of Luka Doncic’s injury, a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that would sideline him indefinitely – one he’s yet to return from – but he was still waiting on MRI results on Austin Reaves’ injury, an ailment that would ultimately be diagnosed as a Grade 2 left oblique strain later that day.

Even then, before losing Reaves alongside Doncic for the remainder of the regular season, Redick admitted in solemn honesty that the way the Lakers needed to play, from a “strategic tactical standpoint,” would have to be different. They’d play to extend their season, hopefully long enough to get one or both of their starting guards back during the playoffs.

The DNA, however, would remain the same.

“Our mission hasn’t changed,” Redick said on April 4. “We want to win a first-round series.”

The Lakers achieved that feat on Friday night, rolling to a dominant 98-78 victory over the Houston Rockets in Game 6, eliminating the fifth-seeded squad to advance to the Western Conference semifinals. The fourth-seeded Lakers will face the top-seeded defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a best-of-seven series that begins Tuesday night in Oklahoma.

“I’m a big believer in life that you should celebrate every victory, you should celebrate small wins,” Redick said. “For us to be written off a few weeks ago and to win a playoff series is a big deal.  And it just speaks to the character of our team and the leaders of our team. They didn’t let go of the rope.”

LeBron James led the Lakers with 28 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while the Rockets couldn’t replicate the offensive success of their Game 4 and 5 wins, shooting just 35% from the field as leading scorer Kevin Durant sat out for the fifth time in the series. The Lakers held the Rockets to their lowest point total of the season, 13 points below a 91-point effort Houston had in an early January loss to the Thunder.

A 27-3 Lakers run during the first half, combined with the Rockets having their worst first-half scoring effort of the season – 31 points – helped the visitors build an 18-point lead by halftime. James had 14 points in the second quarter, and the Rockets could only muster 13 points in those same 12 minutes.

“I talked about just living in the moment a lot more and being OK with celebrating the small victories,” said James, who led all scorers on Friday. “And I think we should be proud of the way we handled this. This our first time in a playoff series together as a unit, obviously being without (our) MVP candidate (Doncic), and then without (Reaves) for those first (four) games … but I thought we answered the call.”

Rui Hachimura added 21 points on 5-for-7 shooting from 3-point range, helping the Lakers extend their cushion to 25 points (63-38) in the third quarter with his fourth 3-pointer of the night. And for the third straight game, center Deandre Ayton’s aggression in the paint paid dividends, as he grabbed 16 rebounds and helped hold Rockets star center Alperen Sengun to just 17 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

“Going through this series, we could have really folded a little bit and could have had a lot of all type of excuses, but I felt that we came in, JJ didn’t give a damn who was out there with him,” Ayton said. “He believed in us and we showed it.”

Defensively, players big and small stepped up. Marcus Smart elevated to deny a Tari Eason dunk attempt – one of nine Lakers blocked shots on Friday – and Austin Reaves used a light touch on the other end for a 69-47 lead with 2:53 remaining in the third quarter. When the Rockets cut their deficit to 16 points, right before the end of the third, Smart successfully drew a charge from a driving Sengun to deflate the Toyota Center crowd.

“Everybody was locked in,” said Smart, who drew three charges on Friday. “(It) started with LeBron, the OG came out, we know him, his mentality. And then, for me, it’s (Ayton). He played his ass off, excuse my language, but he was locked in from the start to the finish. … It definitely started with those two guys.”

Reaves finished the night with 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting, a step up efficiency-wise from his return to the court in Game 5 on Wednesday. The 27-year-old guard added three blocks himself in the clincher.

After a less-than-ideal 3-point shooting performance in Games 4 and 5, the Lakers shot 12 for 28 from behind the arc (42.9%) on Friday. The Rockets, who made 26 3-pointers combined in their two wins, shot just 17.9% from long range (5 for 28).

On the glass, the Lakers won the battle for the second consecutive game, 54-45 – a notable end to the series considering Redick harped on how the Lakers would have to fight against the Rockets – the top rebounding team in the NBA – in the series. Amen Thompson (18 points) and Tari Eason (14 points) both scored in double-digits, but it was nowhere near enough to make a dent in a Lakers lead that reached 29 points.

“We understood that giving them extra possessions is a kryptonite for any team and for us,” James said. “If you give them extra possessions and we’re not taking care of the ball, it’s not going to be an ingredient for success against Houston. … It took us a few games to match that. Once we did, we were pretty good defensively.”

Before Friday’s game, Redick was asked about what it was like to have to return to Houston after losing back-to-back games; leading many to wonder if the Lakers would become the first team in NBA history to lose a series after holding a 3-0 lead.

“Prior to the series, and if you said we were up 3-2, coming here for a closeout game, and AR would be back, we’d be ecstatic,” he said.

There’s even more reason to be ecstatic. The Lakers not only earned a series against the defending champs and returned a healthy Reaves, but they sent a message to naysayers.

“It’s tough not to hear all the chatter and stuff from the outside world,” Reaves said.

Yes, without Doncic the Lakers look different. But only one team in the series has James, a four-time league MVP who has played in more playoff games than any player before him.

“I just went over to him and was like ‘You’re insane,’” Reaves said. “The stuff that you’re doing is not normal.”

The 41-year-old future Hall-of-Famer wasn’t going to let the Lakers’ season end with a historic whimper. As Redick entered the locker room after the final buzzer sounded Friday night, he walked into a pitch-black environment and listened to the noise of goats fill the room, all in honor of James.

“Literally every single guy was going, ‘baahhhh,’” Redick said. “Baahhhhh.”

“It speaks to (James’) greatness,” he continued. “To me, he’s had the greatest career of any NBA player.”