The Rockets faced off against the Lakers on Friday night, staring down the barrel of an 0-2 series deficit.

Ultimately, the Rockets inexperience would show late, with the Lakers forcing an overtime and narrowly outlasting Houston.

Here are three takeaways from a fateful Game 3:

Inexperienced Rockets’ collapse late

The Rockets rolled out the second-youngest lineup in NBA Playoffs history on Friday, and it showed in a late-game collapse.

Houston was up six with less than a minute left in regulation, but multiple turnovers — largely due to the lack of a commanding lead ball-handler — led to the Lakers tying it up on two late triples. The second would be LeBron James’ created, tying the game at 101.

From there, the Lakers were the better team in overtime, leaning on veterans in LeBron James, Marcus Smart and more to grab another arm’s length lead. Houston couldn’t find even minimal offensive success, eventually losing 112-108.

Rockets’ return to form not enough

Houston saw several things return to their regular-season form on Friday, though it ultimately wouldn’t be enough to overcome LA.

For starters, two-time All-Star Alperen Sengun, who had previously seen a very rough two games, was finally able to impact the game at a higher level, scoring slightly more efficiently and leveling out as a rebounder, passer and more. Sengun would finish with 33 points, 16 rebounds and six assists.

Elsewhere, Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. both added star scoring punches, which was needed in the absence of bench production, scoring 26 and 24 points, repspectively.

The Rockets’ defense was also finally able to string together stops, holding the Lakers to 112 points in five periods, with some help from flat-out misses from LA. Despite that, the Rockets still weren’t able to overcome the Lakers in a rough home-court loss.

Rockets face insurmountable deficit

With the loss, Houston has now gone down 0-3 in the series, facing a deficit that no NBA team has ever come back from in a seven-game series.

All-time, teams are 159-0 when holding a three-game lead. Only four teams in history have even forced a Game 7 in that scenario, happening for the 1951 Knicks, 1994 Nuggets, 2003 Trail Blazers and 2023 Celtics. 

Given Houston’s inexperience and offensive woes, they aren’t likely to be the team to do so, even accounting for the return of superstar Kevin Durant, who didn’t play in Game 3. A sweep could mean even more changes for Houston in the offseason.

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