Sloppy Lakers crushed in Game 4, as Rockets avoid series sweep

HOUSTON — LeBron James called it “unacceptable,” a brutal self-assessment that described not just his effort, but a team-wide collapse at the Toyota Center on Sunday night.

Twenty-three turnovers, eight of them the 41-year-old’s own while he added just 10 points on 2-of-9 shooting, turned what could have been a series sweep over the Houston Rockets into a meandering mess in a 115-96 defeat that forces the best-of-seven first-round playoff series back to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

The Lakers shot 5 for 22 from 3-point range, struggling to initiate offense as the combination of Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart had off nights together for the first time, combining for just 16 points. Along with James, they failed to make any 3-point shots.

“Defense wasn’t our problem tonight – it was our offense,” James said. “We made sure we turned the ball over 23 times for 30 points.”

As James spoke, a drink fell out of the refrigerator next to his locker. He peered down to the floor before looking up at the reporters gathered in front of him and continued to speak.

“Another turnover right there,” James said. “24.”

The Lakers still lead the series 3-1 and might have Austin Reaves – who was a late scratch after going through pregame warmups for the second consecutive game Sunday – back in the lineup for Game 5 on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena.

Sluggish. Disjointed. Out-energized. However Game 4 goes into the history books for the Lakers, the competitive fire they played with in the first three games of the series – when they held a halftime lead in each game – was more like a dimly-lit plastic candle on Sunday.

Even center Deandre Ayton, who led the Lakers with 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 25-minute double-double, couldn’t weather a full-game effort. With 5:41 left in the third quarter and already trailing by 19 points after a poor shooting start to the second half, Ayton struck Rockets center Alperen Sengun with an errant elbow while attempting to play post defense.

“I was really just trying to brace for the contact with Sengun and we both are sweaty guys,” Ayton said. “I just slipped off his shoulder. My elbow hit him right there above the shoulder. It looked crazy on camera, but I’m not no guy who is a dirty player or who plays like that.”

Ayton was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and immediately ejected from the game – clearly surprised by the ruling, the first ejection of his career, he exited to “Hit the Road Jack” over the arena sound system while Durant waved from the Rockets bench – and the Lakers stumbled their way to the final buzzer.

Smart called Ayton’s ejection, “some BS,” adding that he was proud that Ayton took the moment on the chin and didn’t react negatively to the incident. Rockets coach Ime Udoka and Sengun both said after the game that they didn’t feel Ayton was malicious in nature with his elbow.

“He’s got such a sweet, kind soul,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I don’t think DA would ever do anything malicious.”

Ayton had been the only consistent scoring option for the Lakers’ offense – a glimmer on a night that will be remembered as a dud for all the wrong reasons.

The Lakers more closely resembled the version of themselves that lost three games in a row after losing Luka Doncic and Reaves for the rest of the regular season on April 2 – Redick admitting postgame that they are missing ball handling and downhill drivers to initiate offense.

“It’s obviously very challenging without your two leading scorers to generate offense,” Redick said. “I think we’ll take a look at the process again on that end as well. And I know our points per shot and our expected points per shot were slightly below our season average. So to me, again, it goes back to the two keys. Take care of the ball, and we’ll look at that, and how we can be better there?”

It might be a little too late for the result to put a dent into what – based on NBA history – is inevitable, but the Rockets finally landed a punch of their own.

No NBA team has ever erased a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, but the Rockets on Sunday looked more like the team that had been heavily favored to oust the short-handed Lakers before the series began, capitalizing on the plethora of mistakes. Or at least, the Rockets represented a group of players who know their backs are against the wall for however long they can extend the series.

Playing without injured leading scorer Kevin Durant (ankle) for the third time in the series, all five Rockets starters scored in double figures. Guard Amen Thompson set the pace with 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting, Tari Eason added 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting and Sengun had 19 points.

Despite the Lakers winning on the boards for the first time in the series, outrebounding the Rockets 37-35 (Houston had an 11-10 edge on the offensive glass), the Rockets forced their way to the free-throw line for 10 more attempts. Houston also recorded a franchise playoff-high 17 steals.

The Rockets led by nine at halftime and started the second half with a 12-4 run for a 68-51 lead with about 8½ minutes to go in the third quarter. Reed Sheppard had two 3-pointers during that stretch and Thompson added four points. They led the Lakers by 19 later in the quarter before closing the period on a 9-3 run that pushed the lead to 90-65 entering the fourth.

“We’ve been playing our asses off these past three, four games, right?” Smart said. “So, we understand – they came out, they did, like I said, they did their job. So, just bring it back to L.A. and we’ll see them there.”

Redick threw in the proverbial towel with just over seven minutes left, deploying a lineup of the Lakers’ youngest players – Bronny James, Nick Smith Jr., Dalton Knecht and Adou Thiero (who was ejected alongside Rockets guard Aaron Holiday with 1:11 remaining in the game) – alongside veteran big man Maxi Kleber.

James expressed frustration with Thiero’s ejection in his postseason debut. Redick said he didn’t receive a “great explanation” from the officiating crew about why his rookie forward was tossed. As the final buzzer blared, the benches cleared at midcourt as the teams’ tensions simmered once more – a moment Redick likened to peeking into an altercation happening at a bar on Beale Street in Memphis or Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

“I didn’t know what was happening, so I just kind of walked over there, peeked my head,” Redick said. “Didn’t feel like anything was happening, so we left.”

When asked about the scuffle after the game, Smart had just three words.

“Hilarious,” he said. “Very hilarious.”

"Defense wasn't our problem tonight. It was our offense."

LeBron James (10 PTS, 9 AST, 4 REB) speaks on what went wrong in tonight's Game 4 loss. pic.twitter.com/QlL1U3rITC

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 27, 2026

JJ discusses the Rockets' pressure that led to 24 turnovers, Ayton's flagrant 2, and the challenge of generating offense without Luka and AR. pic.twitter.com/xMjJWURovI

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 27, 2026

Ayton on his flagrant 2:

"I just hope he's alright and didn't think it was intentional. I was just playing hard and my elbow slipped up and got him above the shoulders." pic.twitter.com/GOPu2Mxchc

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 27, 2026