With 28 seconds left and the Rockets up six and with the ball, Houston had the game in hand. They just had to take care of the ball and not make any foolish mistakes.
They failed.
“Horrendous mistakes,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said, via the Associated Press. “I don’t know if you want to say youth or scared of the moment, or whatever the case. You have a six point lead with 20, or 30 seconds to go, get a rebound, you just have to hold the ball and get fouled.”
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It all went wrong for Houston when Marcus Smart stole the ball from Jabari Smith Jr., then Jae’Sean Tate fouled Smart on a 3-point attempt. Suddenly, it was a 3-point game. Then, LeBron James knocked the ball away from Reed Sheppard and turned it into a 3-pointer on the other end. Tie game. The Lakers went on to win in overtime.
“On the final play, we didn’t run what was drawn up,” Udoka said of the Rockets’ last chance in regulation.
A frustrated Udoka couldn’t hide it.
“It’s obviously a weakness of ours to close out and finish,” Udoka said. “The amount of mistakes or the type of mistakes are egregious and you can’t have those…
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“Grow up,” he said he told his players. “You’re not that young anymore.”
His players agreed.
“It was a stupid turnover,” Sheppard said of his late-game error. “(Alperen Sengun’s) man came up. I should have hit Alpie right over halfcourt and just made the simple play. I tried to split the two defenders.”
All those mistakes have left the Rockets down 0-3 to the Lakers and on the brink of an ugly, early playoff elimination. Houston was without Kevin Durant in this game due to a sprained ankle, the second game the future Hall of Famer has missed in this series. His status for Sunday’s Game 4 remains unknown.