{"id":666278,"date":"2026-03-19T04:47:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666278\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T04:47:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:47:24","slug":"lakers-beat-rockets-124-116-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666278\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers beat Rockets 124-116 in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HOUSTON \u2014 It was just 1 \u00bd weeks ago where there were questions about how the Lakers fared against the league\u2019s best teams \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/18\/sports\/projecting-lakers-2026-nba-playoffs-rotation-month-ahead-of-postseason\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">especially in the Western Conference<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It took them just 10 days to quell those concerns, with Wednesday\u2019s 124-116 win over the Rockets at Toyota Center, their second straight over the Rockets after Monday\u2019s win in the same arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/18\/sports\/luka-doncic-has-lifted-lakers-but-isnt-being-mentioned-among-nba-mvps-thats-a-shame\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luka Donicic led the Lakers<\/a> with a near 40-point triple double, finishing with 40 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>LeBron James gave a vintage aerial performance with six dunks. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>LeBron James turned back the clock with six dunks as part of a 30-point performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/18\/sports\/deandre-ayton-embraces-new-role-as-lakers-surge-in-standings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Deandre Ayton had 16 points and three blocked shots<\/a>, while Austin Reaves finished with 14 points and eight assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What it means<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/17\/sports\/lakers-showing-willingness-to-do-the-dirty-work\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won their seventh-straight game<\/a> which ties a season-high from November.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They improved to 44-25 on the season, maintaining being the third seed in the Western Conference standings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Turning point<\/p>\n<p>When Doncic made a turnaround 3-pointer with 3:12 remaining in the game to give the Lakers a 113-109 lead.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic\u2019s sixth 3 of the night came after he assisted Rui Hachimura on a corner 3 that gave the Lakers a 110-109 advantage after they exchanged leads with the Rockets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers led for the remainder of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Luka Doncic\u2019s late-season hot streak continues as he makes his bid for MVP NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>MVP: Luka Doncic<\/p>\n<p>This could\u2019ve easily been James, who had a near-perfect shooting performance, making 13 of his 14 field goal attempts.<\/p>\n<p>But Doncic\u2019s late-game heroics \u2013 which included the stepback 3 to put the Lakers up 120-111 with 58 seconds left \u2013 gives him the nod.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Stat of the game<\/p>\n<p>That was the number of 3s Doncic made on Wednesday, putting him at 223 for the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s three away from tying D\u2019Angelo Russell\u2019s franchise record for most made 3s in a season (226), which he set in 2023-24.<\/p>\n<p>Up next<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers will close out their back-to-back set with a matchup against the Heat on Thursday night at Kaseya Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 It was just 1 \u00bd weeks ago where there were questions about how the Lakers fared&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,160,292,194,4066,938,185,150,368,6,211,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-666278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-rockets","12":"tag-houstonrockets","13":"tag-kevin-durant","14":"tag-lebron-james","15":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","16":"tag-luka-doncic","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-rockets","19":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116254031493696904","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666278","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=666278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}