NBA Play-offs: Rockets Outlast Lakers To stretch Series To Game 6

The Houston Rockets found themselves in a familiar scenario Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, leading by five points with under a minute remaining.

Two games before, they had led by six points with under 30 seconds remaining, on the verge of their first victory in the series. However, things quickly fell apart, as costly turnovers by the team’s burgeoning stars, Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard, upended the moment.

This time, instead of faltering, the Rockets held on to beat the Lakers 99-93 and avoid elimination for the second straight game while trimming Los Angeles’ series lead to 3-2.

The Rockets are the 16th NBA team to force a Game 6 after trailing 3-0 in a best-of-seven series and the first since the Boston Celtics did so against the Miami Heat in 2023. Those Celtics lost in seven games; no team has recovered from being down 3-0 to win a series.

As the game reached its final minutes, Sheppard kept the Lakers at arm’s length. With the Rockets leading by three points with just under 3 minutes remaining, he sank a midrange shot, then stripped Lakers forward LeBron James for a dunk to bring Houston’s lead to seven.

After that Game 3 loss in which Smith and Sheppard committed late turnovers and Jae’Sean Tate fouled Marcus Smart on a 3-point attempt, Udoka ripped his team.

Despite his public criticisms, Udoka said Wednesday night that he was never concerned about his team responding to a 3-0 series deficit.

He pointed to last year against the Golden State Warriors, when the Rockets were down 3-1 but rallied back to force a Game 7 before surrendering the series.

“It’s just showing growth in certain moments and progress in certain moments,” he said. “And I think we did that tonight.”