Los Angeles Lakers @ Houston Rockets
Monday, March 16, 2026 at 9:30 PM ET
Toyota Center, Houston, TX | Game ID: 22500989
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
HOU 28 29 23 12 92LAL 29 22 32 17 100
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Doncic leads Lakers to a 100-92 victory over the Rockets for their sixth straight victory
HOUSTON -- — Luka Doncic scored 36 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 100-92 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night in the opener of a two-game series between teams fighting for Western Conference playoff position.
Los Angeles moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Houston for third in the West standings. There were 13 lead changes in a game that had a playoff atmosphere, but the Lakers ultimately won their sixth straight.
LeBron James found Marcus Smart for a corner 3-pointer that put Los Angeles up 94-90 with 2 minutes remaining. James finished with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Doncic hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the fading minutes of the third quarter to give the Lakers an 83-80 lead after trailing 57-51 at halftime. Doncic was 4 for 12 on 3s in the game and needs 11 more to match D’Angelo Russell’s franchise record of 226 in a season.
Doncic had his sixth straight game with 30 or more points but fell just short of his 12th 40-point game this season. He went 14 for 27 from the field.
Jabari Smith Jr. led Houston with 22 points. Amen Thompson had 19 and Kevin Durant added 18 for the Rockets, who committed 24 turnovers compared with just 12 for Los Angeles.
Houston was without Alperen Sengun , who was dealing with lower back pain. Sengun is averaging 20.2 points, second only to Durant for the Rockets.
The Rockets took the first meeting between the two teams this season, 119-96, in Los Angeles on Dec. 25.
Up next The teams meet again in Houston on Wednesday.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
HOUAT A. Thompson
CC C. Capela
DF D. Finney-Smith
JO J. Okogie
JS J. Smith Jr.
KD K. Durant
RS R. Sheppard
TE T. Eason
LALAR A. Reaves
DA D. Ayton
DO Doncic
JH J. Hayes
JL J. LaRavia
LD L. Dončić
LJ L. James
LK L. Kennard
MS M. Smart
RH R. Hachimura
HOU/LAL 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