Houston Rockets @ Los Angeles Lakers
Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 10:30 PM ET
Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA | Game ID: 22300291
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
LAL 25 35 26 21 107HOU 30 14 28 25 97
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Davis has 27 points and 14 rebounds, Lakers keep Rockets winless on road with 107-97 victory
LOS ANGELES -- — Anthony Davis had 27 points and 14 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat Houston 107-97 on Saturday night, keeping the Rockets winless on the road.
Austin Reaves added 18 points off the bench and LeBron James had 16 points and seven assists.
Fred VanVleet scored 22 points and Alperen Sengun had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Rockets, who dropped their third in a row overall while falling to 0-8 away from home.
Houston coach Ime Udoka was ejected with 8:35 remaining in the game after picking up his second technical for jawing with James, who also got a tech.
“We had some conversation and they didn't like what they heard,” Udoka said, referring to the referees.
The Lakers dominated the paint, 54-34, and their bench outscored Houston's reserves 33-24.
Sengun scored 12 points in the third, when the Rockets outscored the Lakers 28-20 and trailed 86-72 going into the fourth.
After allowing Houston to shoot 60% from the floor in the first quarter, when Davis missed his first six shots, the Lakers took over in the second. Reaves scored 15 points — his career high in a quarter — and keyed a 29-4 run, with Davis adding eight points, that put the Lakers ahead 58-40. VanVleet scored six in a row to leave Houston trailing 60-44 at the break.
“That's probably one of the best quarters that we had this year, especially in the first half. We just haven't been a first-half team,” James said. “It came with defending, getting out, sharing the ball, moving the ball and A.R. was special in the second.”
Rui Hachimura was available for the Lakers, but didn't play a week after having nose surgery.
“Physically he's fine except for his nose,” coach Darvin Ham said.
PLAY OF THE GAME
James pulled off a slick 360-degree reverse layup at the end of the second.
“It was a crazy shot,” Davis said. “At this point in his career he's done everything that he literally just goes out and tries stuff and sees what works.”
Teammate Christian Wood got a tech for coming onto the floor as the Lakers bench erupted along with the crowd.
“We'll take that one,” James said of the tech. “Just trying to make plays and I felt like that was the best way to kind of finish that one.”
As James fell to the floor, he lost track of the ball. “The fans let me know that I made it and then my teammates, by them running on the floor or whatever they did down there, allowed me to see it on the Jumbrotron because it stopped the play because of the technical.”
Ham said, “The most impressive thing is at what stage in his career he's doing it in. He's breaking barriers it seems every day.”
UP NEXT
Rockets: Host Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
Lakers: Host Phoenix on Tuesday night in a quarterfinal of the In-Season Tournament.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
LALAD A. Davis
AR A. Reaves
CR C. Reddish
CW C. Wood
DR D. Russell
JH J. Hayes
JH J. Hood-Schifino
JV J. Vanderbilt
LJ L. James
MC M. Christie
ML M. Lewis
TP T. Prince
HOUAH A. Holiday
AS A. Sengun
CW C. Whitmore
DB D. Brooks
FV F. VanVleet
JG J. Green
JL J. Landale
JS J. Samuels Jr.
JS J. Smith Jr.
JT J. Tate
JG Ja. Green
NH N. Hinton
TE T. Eason
LAL/HOU the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur