{"id":717475,"date":"2026-04-25T04:15:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717475\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T04:15:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:15:45","slug":"lebron-james-wows-fans-in-lakers-ot-win-vs-rockets-in-game-3-with-luka-kd-reaves-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717475\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James Wows Fans in Lakers OT Win vs. Rockets in Game 3 with Luka, KD, Reaves Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">LeBron James&#8217; double-double powered the Los Angeles Lakers to a Game 3 112-108 win over the Houston Rockets on Friday<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Superstars on both sides were <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/ak-static.cms.nba.com\/referee\/injury\/Injury-Report_2026-04-24_10_00PM.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">absent<\/a>, with Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain) sidelined for the Los Angeles Lakers and Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) out for the Houston Rockets. L.A.&#8217;s Austin Reaves was also sidelined with an injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">James led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 3-0 series lead with 29 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, adding three steals and a block in the overtime victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Los Angeles Lakers guard Luke Kennard added 14 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Rui Hachimura scored 22 points. Marcus Smart contributed a double-double with 21 points and 10 assists as six Lakers reached double figures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Los Angeles now sits on the brink of a series sweep on the road over the Houston Rockets following the late fourth-quarter comeback and overtime win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">By halftime, the Los Angeles Lakers led 63-52 after Kennard knocked down a jumper to reach eight points at the break, capping an impressive first half. James added 16 points for L.A.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Amen Thompson had 11 at the half, while Jabari Smith Jr. paced the Houston Rockets with 14 points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Los Angeles held a five-point lead entering the fourth as both teams traded baskets down the stretch. A costly foul on Smart during a three-point attempt cut the deficit to three with 25 seconds left.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">James responded with a clutch steal and three-pointer to tie it with 14 seconds remaining and nearly won it with 1.4 seconds left, sending the game into overtime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Big-time playmaking from James and clutch shot-making from Smart sealed the overtime Game 3 win for the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">The winner of the Los Angeles Lakers-Houston Rockets series will advance to the Western Conference semifinals to face the winner of the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No. 8 Phoenix Suns matchup, with Oklahoma City holding a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">The Lakers and Rockets series will remain in Houston for Game 4 on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James&#8217; double-double powered the Los Angeles Lakers to a Game 3 112-108 win over the Houston Rockets&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-717475","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116463411094881725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717475","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=717475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}