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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Lakers' ruthless surge buries Rockets in Game 6 to set up Thunder series

Lakers' ruthless surge buries Rockets in Game 6 to set up Thunder series

Published May 2, 2026 01:03 pm

At A Glance

  • HOUSTON (AP) — LeBron James had 28 points and the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated Houston with a 98-78 win in Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Friday night, May 1, by holding the Rockets to a season low in points.
Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. (10) defends against Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the second half of Game 6 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series in Houston, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. (10) defends against Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the second half of Game 6 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series in Houston, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
HOUSTON (AP) — LeBron James had 28 points and the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated Houston with a 98-78 win in Game 6 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Friday night, May 1, by holding the Rockets to a season low in points.
The No. 4 seed Lakers move on to meet the top-seeded Thunder with Game 1 Tuesday in Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles has advanced to the second round for the first time since 2023 when it lost to Denver in the West finals despite missing top scorer Luka Doncic for the entire series.
The Lakers used a 27-3 run in the first half to take an 18-point lead at halftime. They led by 22 with about three minutes left in the third quarter before Houston went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 71-55 entering the fourth.
But Los Angeles opened the quarter with a 10-3 spurt, with five points from Rui Hachimura, to make it 81-58 with about seven minutes left.
Hachimura added 21 points with five 3-pointers.
Amen Thompson had 18 points and Alperen Sengun added 17 for Houston, which is heading home after a first-round playoff loss for a second straight season after losing to the Warriors in seven games last year.
The fifth-seeded Rockets had won two straight after falling into an 0-3 hole. They forced Game 6 despite missing superstar Kevin Durant for all but one game of this series because of a knee injury followed by an ankle issue.
But they were felled by poor shooting Friday, making just 35% overall and were particularly bad from long range. After making 26 3-pointers combined in the last two games, the Rockets made just 5 of 28 3-pointers Friday with Reed Sheppard going 1 for 10.
The Lakers trailed by 5 with five minutes left in the first before using a 27-3 run to take a 38-19 lead with about seven minutes left in the second quarter. Hachimura, Jake LaRavia and James all made 3-pointers in that stretch to help Los Angeles build the lead on a night the Lakers made 12 3s.
The Rockets couldn’t get anything going early in the second quarter. They got one free throw from Sheppard but missed 11 shots before he made the team’s first field goal in the period with 6:55 left before halftime.
That didn't spark anything for Houston and the Lakers led 48-31 at halftime.
Austin Reaves added 15 points for the Lakers in his second game back after missing more than three weeks with an oblique injury and Deandre Ayton had seven points and 16 rebounds.
Meanwhile,  RJ Barrett hit a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime and the Toronto Raptors pushed their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series to a seventh game by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers, 112-110.
Evan Mobley had a chance to win it for Cleveland but his 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.
Scottie Barnes had 25 points and 14 assists, Barrett and Ja’Kobe Walter both scored 24 points and Collin Murray-Boyles added 17 as Toronto held on after blowing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Game 7 is in Cleveland on Sunday. The home team has won all six games so far in the series.
Earlier, Cade Cunningham scored 32 points and the top-seeded Detroit Pistons pulled off an incredible rally, erasing a 24-point deficit and beating the Orlando Magic 93-79 to force a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Detroit trailed by 22 at the half and Orlando's lead went to 62-38 early in the third quarter. The Magic looked absolutely poised to become the seventh No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in the first round.
And then everything went wrong for Orlando. Everything.

Related Tags

LeBron James Los Angeles Lakers Houston Rockets OKC Thunder Toronto Raptos Cleveland Cavaliers Detroit Pistons Orlando Magic
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