Lakers win Game 6, eliminate Rockets and advance to second round

The Lakers are through, and they did it the hard, ugly, playoff way — defense, rebounding, and one huge run that basically ended the n(nba.com)e 6 on Friday, May 1, to win the series 4-2 and move into the second round. The score tells you it was comfortable. The way it happe(nba.com)am that had started to believe it could drag the series to seven. (nba.com) the first half. Houston briefly led early, but the Lakers ripped off a 27-3 run and built an 18-point halftime lead. That wasn’t just a hot streak. It was the game’s whole logic — the Lakers got stops, turned misses into transition chances, and never let Houston settle into the kind of frantic three-point rhythm that kept the Rockets alive in Games 4 and 5. (nba.com) ### How good was LeBron? LeBron James f(nba.com) was one of those closeout performances where he controlled the temperature of the game more than the box score can show. Houston needed chaos. James gave the Lakers order. When the Rockets threatened to trim the margin, he slowed things down, got the right matchup, and made sure the possession ended with something clean. (espn.com) ### Who else mattered fo(nba.com) five 3-pointers, which mattered because Houston kept loading up on James. Austin Reaves added 15 in just his second game back after an oblique injury, and Deandre Ayton grabbed 16 rebounds. That mix is the real story of the series for the Lakers — enough shot-making around LeBron, enough size to survive the glass, and enough defense to win even when the offense isn’t beautiful. (nba.com)s just could not shoot. They finished at 35% from the field and 5-for-28 from 3 after making 26 threes combined in the previous two games. Reed Sheppard went 1-for-10 from deep. Amen Thompson scored 18 and Alperen Sengun had 17, but Houston never found spacing or flow. The season-low 78 points says it plainly — the Rockets didn’t just lose, they got dragged into the exact kind of half-court game they wanted to avoid. (espn.com)Yes — and not just because it fell behind 3-0 in the series. The Rockets forced this game despite missing Kevin Durant for almost the entire matchup because of knee and ankle issues. That left Thompson, Sengun, and the younger guards carrying more creation than they really wanted against a playoff defense that could load up on them. Houston showed resilience by winning Games 4 and 5. But the margin for error was tiny, and Friday exposed that. (espn.com)-game-6-rout)) ### What does this mean for the Lakers now? Now it gets much harder. Los Angeles advances to face the top-seeded Thunder, with Game 1 set for Tuesday in Oklahoma City. The Lakers also reach the second round for the first time since 2023, which matters because this season looked shaky not that long ago. JJ Redick even said the team had been written off a few weeks back. Turns out this group found a formula — defend, simplify, and let LeBron organize everything late. (nb([espn.com)ers didn’t just survive the series. They reasserted control. Houston made this interesting by extending it to six, but Game 6 looked like the better team remembering exactly who it was. The next round will ask much tougher questions. But for one night in Houston, Los Angeles had all the answers. (nba.com)