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Three takeaways from Lakers 104-98 win over Rockets

LOS ANGELES — It felt like a playoff game in many ways. It was defensive, grinding, at points feeling more like a throwback to a 2003 game. It certainly wasn't always pretty.

But it was illuminating.

Monday night, the Lakers beat a Rockets team on the second night of a back-to-back 104-98. While we don't want to read too much into one game, this one shed some light on these teams heading into the playoffs because of its intensity. Here are my three takeaways.

West playoffs will be bloodbath

We say that every year. We REALLY mean it this year.

This Rockets/Lakers showdown was a perfect example: Two of the top four teams in the West locked in a physical game filled with little chess matches. For example, the Lakers went small with Dorian Finney-Smith as the center to space the floor and pull the Rockets' bigs out from the paint; the Rockets countered by playing two seven-footers — Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams — to try and overpower the smaller Lakers. And then there was Dillon Brooks trying to get under LeBron James' skin. Just like old times.

Now imagine all that and more with the added urgency and intensity of the playoffs.

The West is a conference where the current No. 8 seed is 11 games over .500 (43-32), has a top-three defense in the league, and those Clippers feature future Hall of Famers Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. (For comparison, all four teams headed to the play-in in the East are below .500.)

Lakers’ small lineup can defend

When was the last time you saw Luka Doncic hustle like this on defense?

"They emptied the tank on the defensive end," Lakers coach J.J. Redick said, not just of Doncic but his team. It's that defensive effort that should give Lakers fans hope.

The knock on the Lakers' chances at a deep playoff run is directly tied to their defense — Austin Reaves and Doncic are below-average defenders who will be targeted in a playoff series, and there's no traditional big man providing rim protection behind them to clean up the mess.

Except, the Lakers' defense is thriving anyway (at least when LeBron James is healthy). For a couple of nights now (against Memphis and Houston), the Lakers have shown these smaller lineups are very active and aggressive defensively. It threw the Rockets off for stretches.

"Well, defensively it's just packing the paint and gang rebounding. I think we did that tonight," Redick said of the defense. "LeBron [James] eight rebounds, Austin [Reaves] eight rebounds, Luka [Dončić] six rebounds, Doe (Dorian Finney-Smith) six rebounds, Gabe [Vincent] four rebounds and Vando (Jarred Vanderbilt) six rebounds. That's how we have to control the glass is by committee."

What makes it all work is LeBron's versatility. He was fantastic much of the night, particularly covering Sengun, using his physicality to slow one of the key hubs of the Rockets' offense. He didn't do it alone, the Lakers did a great job fronting Sengun at points, bringing the double-teams and taking away what he wanted to do.

"I thought defensively we were very locked in with our gameplan and what we wanted to do…" LeBron said. "We understood that we had to key in on our keys defensively in order to win the game."

LeBron seemed to be everywhere, and he had the key block late for Los Angeles.

With Jaxson Hayes his only traditional big, Redick is going to go small during the playoffs and the Lakers' defense will be tested. However, with wings like Dorain Finney-Smith and Jared Vanderbilt, the Lakers defense might be good enough.

Who is Houston’s go-to option?

It's the question posed by many in league circles about the Rockets and their potential for a deep playoff run: Who is their go-to guy to get a bucket in the clutch? Reggie Miller brought it up on the broadcast.

In the moments when the Lakers' defense gave Houston fits, that lack of a clear number one guy who could be a relief valve stood out. The Rockets don't have one guy they trust to just bail them out, get a bucket and change the game's momentum. Houston does it by committee — Jalen Green, Amen Thompson, Sengun — all with their veteran (and the guy with the ring) Fred VanVleet as the table setter. It can work, this is a deep team, but that approach lets them down at points. One of those points was against the Lakers, when the Rockets didn't break 100 against an aggressive Lakers D.

To be fair, the Rockets were on the second night of a back-to-back and tired legs may have been behind some of the missed 3-pointers. Then there were the turnovers.

"The difference is just making shots and limiting turnovers," Amen Thompson said. "We had two turnovers at the end that we didn't need. Without those, it could have been a different game. I think our defense was pretty good, but we just needed to score more."

Which comes back to who is the go-to person on the offense. It's one thing the playoffs will tell us about the Rockets — or it will tell the front office they need to go get a player like that.

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White credits Draymond, Warriors for changing his life after Finals

White credits Draymond, Warriors for changing his life after Finals originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Derrick White made Boston Celtics history Monday night, and he had the Warriors in part to thank for that.

White passed Isaiah Thomas’ record for most 3-pointers made in a season after reaching his 247th trey in Boston’s 117-103 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. But his confidence from behind the arc wasn’t always there.

Until … Boston’s 2022 NBA Finals loss against Golden State.

White admitted that was a pivotal point of his career that fueled his massive 3-point shooting improvement.

“After the Finals, I feel like that was the biggest summer of my life,” White told reporters in Memphis. “Obviously what happened in the Finals and how I was being guarded on that stage. It was like one of the lowest points. I told Draymond [Green] after the [2024] Olympics that he kind of changed my life because they weren’t guarding me.

“So I had to go in that summer and me and my trainer, Marcus Mason, just focused on being consistent. I think from that point, I just got better and better.”

To put it lightly.

Before being dealt to the Celtics at the 2022 NBA trade deadline, White never shot better than 36.6 percent from 3-point land in nearly five seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. He shot 30.6 percent from deep on 4.3 attempts in his first 26 regular-season games with Boston.

In the Finals, he shot 18 of 55 from the field (32.7 percent) and 10 of 25 from downtown (40 percent), but five of those 3s came during a breakout Game 1 performance. He shot 29.4 percent from 3-point range the rest of the six-game series.

He took the loss hard that summer, but took his frustrations out in the gym. Adjustments were made, and the results are clear.

White shot 38.1 percent on 4.8 attempts and 39.6 percent on 6.8 attempts over the following two seasons, respectively, including shooting nearly 40 percent in Boston’s NBA Finals win over the Dallas Mavericks last year.

This season, he’s shooting 38.1 percent from beyond the arc on a career-high 9.1 attempts.

Despite the budding rivalry between the Celtics and Warriors that grew heated during that Finals matchup, there’s a level of respect between the two teams, and especially between White and Green.

“There’s a lot of mutual respect,” White said of Green. “He just sees the work that I put in to change how I play and I’ve always had a lot of respect for him.”

Sometimes, a little disrespect is all the fuel you need to turn things around.

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Sporticast 436: Breaking Down the NBA’s Europe Expansion Plans

On the latest Sporticast episode, hosts Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams are joined by Richard Gillis, host of the Unofficial Partner podcast, to talk about big news in both the NBA and European sports. The NBA is looking into launching its own league in Europe, one that would blend aspects of major American leagues and also incorporate parts of the European sports culture.

The NBA has been exploring a more comprehensive European strategy for more than a year, including options that included working with the establish EuroLeague, or working in competition with it. The current plan is a hybrid of sorts–one with a set number of permanent new franchises, and slots for EuroLeague teams to qualify into on a yearly basis. Owners discussed the plans at owners meeting in New York City last week, and commissioner Adam Silver spoke publicly about the discussions on Thursday.

The plan would be for the NBA to own about half of the league, with franchise owners holding the rest of the equity. Silver made it clear last week that NBA owners would not own the European clubs themselves, they would be sold to outside groups.

The hosts talk about the cultural differences between U.S. sports and European sports. They include salary caps, regional history and profit motives. Will European fans support this? Who might want to own clubs? And what are the potential hurdles?

They also talk about the various successes and struggles that U.S. leagues have had in their overseas pursuits. The NBA is at an advantage relative to many of its peers because of the sheer popularity of its sport across Europe, both for fans and for participants. Compare that with the NFL, which has neither, and failed to sustain its own European league launched in the 1990s.

They close by pondering the “Why Now?” for the NBA. The league is also considering domestic expansion, but its labor peace and new TV deals have launched a few year stretch of relative stability, a time when leagues typically look toward their longer-term projects.

(You can subscribe to Sporticast through Apple, Google, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts.)

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Warriors begin most important week of season with four-game gauntlet

Warriors begin most important week of season with four-game gauntlet originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Drama until the very last day. 

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is getting his wish. As a handful of teams are packing their bags with four-leaf clovers in hopes of losing enough to win the NBA draft lottery, a number of spots remain up for grabs in the standings. The Warriors’ regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Clippers at Chase Center could decide which of the two teams are in the playoffs as opposed to the play-in tournament. 

April 13 also can’t be top of mind for the Warriors. At least not yet. 

The week ahead can see the Warriors, currently the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, rise or fall with four games against teams ahead of them in the standings. It already began Monday for teams like the Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets. For the Warriors, the first stop on this litmus test is FedExForum in Memphis on Tuesday night. 

“Big game coming against Memphis. We’ll be well-rested and in rhythm for that,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Sunday night to reporters in San Antonio after their 42-point win against the Spurs. “Big stretch coming.” 

The Grizzlies now have lost three straight games. They’re 0-2 under interim coach Tuomas Iiasalo after Taylor Jenkins’ shocking exit, losing Monday night to the Boston Celtics 117-103. If the Warriors (43-31) beat the Grizzlies (44-31), playing on the second night of a back-to-back, they’ll be a half-game ahead of them as the No. 5 seed in the West. 

A win also would make the Warriors 3-1 against the Grizzlies this season, giving them the tiebreaker between the two teams. 

“If we can beat Memphis, we get the tiebreaker over them, that’s huge” Kerr acknowledged. “We’re right there with the Clippers. The Lakers are only a couple ahead. We got them after, so it’s quite a race going down the stretch. 

“We have a difficult schedule. Our last eight games are pretty tough. We’re going to have to continue to play well.”

The No. 5 through No. 8 seed in the West, with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, are separated by one game. 

  • 5) Grizzlies 44-31 
  • 6) Warriors 43-31 
  • 7) Timberwolves 43-32 
  • 8) Clippers 43-32

Ahead of the Grizzlies by two games are the Lakers at 46-29. But their final seven games aren’t going to be the easiest. 

The Lakers have the second-hardest strength of schedule left in the West, playing the Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans at home, Oklahoma City Thunder two consecutive games on the road, the ninth-seeded Dallas Mavericks on the road, and then the Rockets back at home before ending the regular season on the road in Portland against the Trail Blazers. 

Following their game in Memphis, the Warriors will end their six-game road trip in LA against the Lakers, just to come home the next day to play the third-seeded Denver Nuggets (47-28) after being on the road for 14 straight days. They’ll get one day off and then host Houston – the No. 2 seed at 49-27 – to round out this challenge of a four-game stretch that can determine their playoff fate. 

Playing the Suns in Phoenix should have made it a five-game gauntlet but no team has been more underwhelming, and a sprained left ankle might keep Kevin Durant sidelined. 

“Every game we’ve been playing has been important probably for the last 20 games,” Kevon Looney said. “These last seven, eight are going to be just as important. We know the opportunity that we have in front of us. We have to make sure that we can capitalize. 

“Each game is going to be difficult, definitely playing on the road. Those teams know it’s going to be a big game as well. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a chance for us to grow, it’s a chance for us to gain some ground.” 

These are the meaningful games Steph Curry and Draymond Green have begged for. Jimmy Butler will have to get into a phone booth and turn into Playoff Jimmy before the postseason even begins. Kerr and the Warriors know they can count on Looney under the bright lights of the playoffs. 

He has been there and done that in the biggest games. Young players like Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody in a starting lineup that now is 11-0 have not, yet. Their performances in a get-right blowout win over the Spurs might have created the kind of momentum they’ll need for the most important week of the Warriors’ season.

Podziemski and Moody, two 22-year-olds, were the Warriors’ leading scorers. While Podziemski scored 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting and made a career-high seven 3-pointers, Moody was 3 of 6 from 3-point range and finished 7 of 11 overall for 20 points. 

“The good thing about our schedule is that we play everybody that’s above us, except OKC,” Podziemski said. 

“It’s a sprint to the finish,” Moody said. “That’s what it is right now. It’s hard for me to pay attention to what the other teams are doing. If somebody wins, if somebody loses – whatever – I just know that if we win then stuff is going to go how we want it to. 

“Focusing on that. Winning the next game. Winning the game after that. Just sprinting to the finish.” 

Will it be a clear path for the Warriors, or an obstacle course too hard to handle? The playoffs still are to come. The intensity has arrived.

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DePaul takes on Cincinnati following Blocker’s 25-point game

Cincinnati averages 70.5 points and has outscored opponents by 4.8 points per game. DePaul ranks sixth in the Big East shooting 34.6% from 3-point range. Cincinnati's average of 7.3 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.1 fewer made shots on average than the 7.4 per game DePaul gives up.

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Williams leads Nebraska against Georgetown

Nebraska scores 75.7 points while outscoring opponents by 2.7 points per game. Georgetown averages 72.1 points per game, 0.9 fewer points than the 73.0 Nebraska gives up. Nebraska averages 6.5 more points per game (75.7) than Georgetown allows (69.2).

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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: Pelle Larsson heating up as starter

Two weeks. That’s all that remains in the 2024-25 regular season. If you’re still playing, that means you’re either in your championship week or one of the brave souls that will play through the end of the regular season. Perhaps you’re in a roto league and looking for a few extra games to close out the season. Regardless of your situation, streaming continues to get more important every week due to the lineup shenanigans that continue to happen. These seven players are worth considering for the rest of this week.

SG Pelle Larsson (1%), Miami Heat

Head coach Erik Spoelstra wasn’t able to provide a timeline for Andrew Wiggins’ return as he missed his second-straight game with a hamstring injury on Monday. Larsson started in his place once again and should remain in that role moving forward. Through two starts, Larsson has averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.5 steals, 1.0 block and 1.0 triple while playing 30 minutes per game. Miami has three more games this week.

PF/C Kyle Filipowski (36%), Utah Jazz

Filipowski is probably rostered in the leagues that are still active, but if he remains available, he should be picked up everywhere. He has started Utah’s last five games and scored in double figures in each of them. He recorded his second-straight double-double during Monday’s loss, and there are likely more on the way.

SF/PF Brice Sensabaugh (7%), Utah Jazz

Sensabaugh has been a consistent scoring option off the bench for Utah recently, but he slid into the starting unit in place of Cody Williams (illness) on Monday. He ended up contributing 19 points, five assists, three steals and five triples in 26 minutes. Especially if Sensabaugh continues to start on Wednesday, he is worth streaming, mostly for points and triples.

PG/SG/SF KeonEllis (25%), Sacramento Kings

Ellis has been quiet over Sacramento’s last two games, but the fact that he is starting makes him worth rostering. He is more than capable of racking up the defensive stats in a hurry, and the Kings have three more games this week for him to do just that. Malik Monk has also struggled, so there shouldn’t be any fear of Ellis losing his job at this point.

PG/SG Gabe Vincent (1%), Los Angeles Lakers

Vincent had one of his best games of the season on Monday with 20 points and six triples in 24 minutes, which comes two days after he had 15 points and four triples in 23 minutes. Finding players with a consistent workload is sometimes hard to find on the waiver wire, and Vincent is on a hot streak. They have three more games this week, including a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday, which could mean a rest night for some of the stars.

SF/PF/C Dorian Finney-Smith (7%), Los Angeles Lakers

Much like Vincent, DFS had one of his best games of the season with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, three blocks and six triples in 32 minutes. He has played at least 30 minutes in five straight games, and while managers shouldn’t expect production to this level often, the upside is clearly there.

PG/SG Keon Johnson (20%), Brooklyn Nets

Johnson has played a large role consistently for the Nets, and he had one of his best games of the season on Monday with 24 points. The only knock of Johnson as a streaming option is that Brooklyn only plays two more games this week. However, he is guaranteed to play a significant role in each game.

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Lakers hold off Rockets to score important home win amid playoff seeding race

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 31: Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) attempts to grab the lose ball during the first half of the NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena on Monday, March 31, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA. (Ric Tapia / For The Times)
Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) attempts to grab the loose ball during the first half of a 104-98 win over the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena on Monday night. (Ric Tapia / For The Times)

The Lakers have “recognized the magnitude” of every game they have to play as the season winds down, their coach JJ Redick saying they have to play each of them with an urgency to determine their own playoff seeding fate in the super-competitive Western Conference.

It really is simple for the Lakers: Keep winning and that will improve their seeding in the unforgiving West.

And win the Lakers did on Monday night, pulling out a gritty 104-98 win over the Rockets at Crypto.com Arena. It was an especially significant win because the fourth place Lakers are chasing second-place Houston in the Western Conference standings.

LeBron James sealed the game with two free throws with 11.1 seconds left and an emphatic block of Alperen Sengun with eight seconds remaining, keeping the Lakers ahead by four.

Lakers star LeBron James controls the ball in front of Houston Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet.
Lakers star LeBron James controls the ball in front of Houston Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet during the first half Monday. (Ric Tapia / For The Times)

James finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

But two role players helped swing critical momentum in the Lakers' favor.

Dorian Finney-Smith came off the bench to score a season high 20 points, making a season-best six of 11 three-pointers. He rebounded the ball well (six), passed to open teammates (three assists), played his usual stellar defense (three blocks) and didn’t back down while while guarding Houston 6-foot-11 center Steve Adams. They pushed and shoved each other, getting technical fouls midway through the third quarter.

Finney-Smith completed his night making two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to seal the final score.

Gabe Vincent came off the bench to contribute 20 points, hitting six of 13 three-pointers to go along with four rebounds.

The Lakers and Rockets have split the first two games of the season and play once more at Crypto.com Arena on April 11. It will be another important game that will determine the seeding tiebreaker if the two teams end the season with identical records.

Read more:Rebuilding from ruins: Lakers coach JJ Redick aims to fix Palisades rec center

After the win, the Lakers are 2 ½-games behind the second-seeded Rockets and one game behind the third-seeded Denver Nuggets.

With seven regular-season games remaining, the Lakers still are in the mix for a good seed and home-court advantage.

“I think it’s intensified with the entire group — coaches and players,” Redick said of the seeding battle. “That’s not to say that we need to talk about it every day. I know the players have talked about it with each other. We’ve talked about it as a group, we talked about it as a staff and I still think one of the hardest things in life is navigating control versus non-control. And in some ways, we can control what seed we get. We can control if we make the playoffs. We have to go out and play well. Even at this stage of the season where we’ve had a couple of bad stretches, we still can kind of control where we’re seeded and if we make the playoffs.”

By the half, the Lakers and Rockets were tied at 48-48, with Luka Doncic (20 points) making one of two free throws with 1.3 seconds left in the second quarter.

Amen Thompson led the Rockets with 20 points, while Dillon Brooks chipped in 16.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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5 things to know about Houston

Before Jon Scheyer coached his first game as Duke’s head coach, he coached a game against Houston as Duke’s head coach. Duke and Houston, for teams that haven’t played very often, are creating a bit of history. The Blue Devils and Cougars have only played once — last year’s Sweet 16, a win by Duke.

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College coaches see a game shifting beneath piles of NIL cash as March Madness arrives

More than the deep runs in March Madness, the 660 victories over 37 years or even the 20 or so players he coached who ended up making millions in the NBA, Leonard Hamilton is proud of a number he can count on one hand. It is, he says, the number of players he coached at Miami, and then for the past 23 seasons at Florida State, who failed to graduate. Hamilton, now 76 and stepping away from a business he barely recognizes anymore, says he is at peace with leaving coaching behind.