Rockets hold off Lakers to force Game 6 after falling behind 3-0 in series

The Houston Rockets are still on their back foot, but they’re two wins from making NBA history.

After trailing by double-digits at one point in the first quarter, Houston roared back to take Game 5 99-93 against the Los Angeles and force a Game 6 in a series they once trailed 3-0. No NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit, but the Rockets will try to take another step toward that feat on Friday.

They’ve already achieved something notable, though. Before Wednesday, no visiting team had defeated LeBron James in a closeout game since 2008.

Jabari Smith Jr. led Houston with 22 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while every other starter scored in double-digits. It was Reed Sheppard who delivered the biggest swing of the game in the fourth quarter.

Right after the Lakers cut the deficit to three points, with the Crypto.com Arena fully awakened, the point guard hit a pull-up jumper over Lakers center Deandre Ayton, got the ball from LeBron James on an aggressive steal and hit the breakaway dunk to push the lead back up to seven.

However the rest of the series works out, Wednesday’s result does mean two fewer days of possible rest for the next series. The Oklahoma City Thunder await in the Western Conference semifinals, and they are probably just fine with what happened Wednesday.

There also might be a sense of regret for the Rockets given that it would be them trying to close out the series in Houston if they hadn’t fallen apart in that brutal Game 3, but star center Alperen Şengün indicated the team had learned a valuable lesson: