![\"Los](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bb7ef94a8c638a8d716d23f3c0465c54.jpeg\"\/)
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Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 Luka Doncic (77) shoots as Houston Rockets\u2019 Amen Thompson (1) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 16, 2026, in Houston. (AP…<\/p>\n
HOUSTON \u2014 It wasn\u2019t the prettiest game.<\/p>\n
And both teams seemingly showed the effects of a late start.<\/p>\n
But at this point of the season, winning is what matters most, and that\u2019s exactly what the Lakers did in their 100-92 victory over the Rockets at Toyota Center.<\/p>\n
Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 36 points, six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.<\/p>\n
![\"Los](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ceff28b74270db745293ab951e5794e6.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 Luka Doncic shoots as Houston Rockets\u2019 Amen Thompson defends. AP<\/p>\n
LeBron James had 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Marcus Smart finished with 11 points, shooting 3-of-7 on 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
Austin Reaves struggled with his shot (5 of 18) but finished with 15 points, five assists and four steals.<\/p>\n
What it means<\/p>\n
The Lakers improved to 43-25 on the season, not only maintaining their No. 3 spot in the Western Conference standings, but giving themselves a cushion.<\/p>\n
They also pulled off their fourth straight win over a team with a .600-or-better\u00a0 winning percentage.<\/p>\n
![\"Houston](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/18390ffcbd958e626b37bf12ccccca93.jpeg\"\/)
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Houston Rockets\u2019 Kevin Durant is defended by Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 Marcus Smart. AP<\/p>\n
Turning point<\/p>\n
When Tari Eason was called for goaltending on Deandre Ayton with 3:16 left in the game.<\/p>\n
The score not only put the Lakers up 89-88, but it was technically their first made basket in eight minutes of game action.<\/p>\n
The Lakers closed out the game on a 13-4 run.<\/p>\n
MVP: Luka Doncic<\/p>\n
Doncic had his sixth game scoring at least 30 points.<\/p>\n
![\"Luka](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/461b2f9cdf534de4c613603569010322.jpeg\"\/)
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Luka Doncic shined once again. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Stat of the game: 15<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how many offensive reboudnds the Rockets grabbed.<\/p>\n
The Rockets scored 23 second-chance points off of those extra opportunities, their biggest advantage over the Lakers, who scored 11 second-chance points.<\/p>\n
But the Lakers scored seven more points from the three throw line.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The Lakers will play the Rockets again on Wednesday at Toyota Center for the second matchup of their six-game trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 Luka Doncic (77) shoots as Houston Rockets\u2019 Amen Thompson (1) defends during the first half…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[883,1013,7,1586,292,194,4066,938,185,150,368,326,6,66742,211,873],"class_list":["post-662565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-rockets","tag-amen-thompson","tag-austin-reaves","tag-basketball","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-houston","tag-houston-rockets","tag-houstonrockets","tag-kevin-durant","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball-game","tag-rockets","tag-tari-eason"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116243805264455941","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}