The Los Angeles Lakers (57-31 straight up, 49-38-1 against the spread) advanced the semifinals of the Western Conference Playoffs thanks to Friday’s 98-78 win at Houston as 3.5-point road underdogs in Game 6 of their first-round series.
The Lakers hooked up money-line backers with a payout in the +150 to +160 range, and the ‘under’ was an easy winner as the 176 combined points dropped South of the 205-point total.
JJ Redick’s team won this game with its defense in the first half, completely stifling Houston as it raced out to a 49-31 halftime lead. The Rockets never got closer than 16 points in the second half.
LeBron James led the way with 28 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. He hooked up his backers for ‘over’ bets on his prop for points scored that was 22.5.
Rui Hachimura added 21 points, six boards, two assists without a turnover and one blocked shot. In only his second game back after nearly missing a month due to an oblique injury, Austin Reaves had 15 points, three boards, three blocked shots and a pair of assists.
Deandre Ayton pulled down 16 rebounds for the Lakers, who had a 54-45 advantage on the glass. L.A. made only 40 percent of its shots from the field and merely 14-of-24 at the free-throw line (58%), but it drained 12-of-28 launches from 3-point range (43%).
“For us to be written off a few weeks ago and win a playoff series is a big deal,” Redick said.
“In order for us to win we had to protect the ball, we had to rebound and we had to be physical, make them take tough shots,” James said. “I thought defensively we came in with a great game plan, and we executed that thing to a T.”
In the losing effort, Amen Thompson had a team-best 18 points, eight rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists. Alperen Sengun finished with 17 points, 11 boards and a pair of blocked shots.
Tari Eason and Reed Sheppard were also in double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively. The Rockets were an abysmal 5-of-28 (18%) from downtown.
“Everybody’s disappointed, no doubt,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “Not what we expected coming into the game tonight or the series in general. We all thought that we’d be taking it back for a Game 7.”
Houston’s 16-time All-Star forward Kevin Durant missed five of the six games in the series due to injuries.
The Lakers advance to face Oklahoma City, which will be well rested after dealing out broom treatment to Phoenix in the opening round. The Thunder polished off the Suns this past Monday (April 27) with a 131-122 road win.
Most books have OKC (68-18 SU, 41-44-1 ATS) listed as a 15.5-point home favorite for Tuesday’s Game 1, but Caesars and South Point were at -16 as of early Saturday afternoon. The total was 213.5 points at most spots, while the Lakers were in the +750 to +900 (Westgate SuperBook) range on the money line.
The Westgate had the Thunder at -1600 odds to advance past the Lakers and into the West finals. L.A. was +1000 (or 10/1) on the comeback.
John Ireland, the radio voice of the Lakers, reported last night that L.A.’s Luka Doncic hasn’t even begun running yet in his rebab from a Grade 2 hamstring strain. He’s been out since sustaining the injury in a loss at OKC on April 2.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Friday that Doncic “isn’t close” to returning, speculating that he’ll be out for at least another 7-10 days.
OKC went 4-0 both SU and ATS in its four regular-season meetings against the Lakers, winning by margins of 29, 9, 43 and 36 points.