HOUSTON — Technically, the Lakers had not gotten across the finish line yet — 35 seconds and a five-point lead still flashed on the overtime clock hovering over Toyota Center  — but the teary-eyed look of defeat across every member in red as they trudged back on the floor told a painful, regretful tale. The white flag had already fallen out of their collective pocket. 

In the blink of an eye, the Rockets had gone from hopeful to horrendous. The valiant efforts taken to eradicate a 15-point deficit and turn it into a six-point lead were now wiped from memory. A series of critical errors in a span of roughly half a minute — a pair of careless turnovers by Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard, leading to a pair of subsequent steals by Marcus Smart and LeBron James — highlighted the spectrum of experience that has spanned across three games this series and what ultimately threatens Houston’s existence. 

The tunnel that connects both locker rooms depicted just as much; cheers and high-fives at one end, silence and shuffling of feet at the other. The Rockets, for large portions of Game 3, had no business being in that contest, yet failed to grasp the olive branch the Lakers dangled out on Friday evening; a reminder that life is all about second chances, just not in April. 

“Horrendous mistakes,” head coach Ime Udoka said following Houston’s 112-108 overtime loss that pushed his team into a 3-0 hole after it had a 99.8% chance of winning with a six-point lead in the final 35 seconds of regulation, according to InPredictable. “I don’t know if you want to say youth, scared of the moment or whatever the case, but you have a six-point lead with 30 seconds to go. Just have to hold the ball and get fouled. To combat it, make it worse and [commit] a terrible foul, another turnover and James makes a tough shot. And then the final play for the last shot, we don’t run what was drawn up. All of the above.”

The bitter truth for the Rockets, as they stare at a deficit no team in NBA history has ever come back from, is that this game and series is a microcosm of the issues that have plagued them since October. For the third straight game, the Rockets attempted more field goals (19 more, to be exact) than Los Angeles. They snagged twice as many offensive rebounds (18 to 9) as their opponent, scored more points off those second chances, turned the ball over less and scored more in transition and also in the restricted area. From a pure possessional standpoint, the crux of which today’s basketball — and especially the postseason — is based upon, there’s not much more the Rockets could have done structurally speaking. 

But the problems, oh the problems, are aplenty. Houston generated a meager 85.9 points per 100 half-court possessions, a rate worse than Utah, Sacramento, every modern tanking team known to mankind and the Sunday rec league faithfuls. The Rockets, a low-volume 3-point shooting team by nature, have been forced out in the middle of the dance floor of a middle-school homecoming, and, like an awkward teenager, have been embarrassed, shooting just 28.7% from long distance, third-worst among playoff teams. 

Without Kevin Durant, who missed Game 3 nursing an ankle sprain, one could have assumed the Lakers, who had already built a reputation on doubling and trapping the veteran scorer, would dial down their attempts. Not only did Los Angeles continue to mix in traps and doubles for both Reed Sheppard and Alperen Şengün — who missed 27 combined shots and turned the ball over eight times — but they consistently forced Houston to take low-percentage shots. During the regular season, Durant-less lineups had an effective field-goal percentage of just 53.1%, with a poor turnover and free-throw rate. That same monster reared its ugly head in Game 3, with the Rockets finishing with a 46.4 effective field-goal percentage, turning the ball over on nearly 17% of possessions and finishing with a negative free-throw rate — despite posting otherworldly offensive rebounding numbers. 

(With or without Durant in Game 4, the Rockets desperately need both Şengün and Sheppard to come with elimination-level desperation and efficiency. Şengün took three quarters to arrive at the party, scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, but rushed his final few possessions. Sheppard, for all intents and purposes, struggled against the Lakers’ size and strength and looks overmatched physically in the series.)

“It wasn’t enough,” Şengün said. “I guess I could have done more on defensive positions, some missed shots. I still did a good job, but like I said, it wasn’t enough, so I’ve got to come better on Sunday.”

Game 4 on Sunday, Houston’s last chance of survival, will require a collective energy unseen in these parts this season. Despite the loss, there are certainly positive takeaways that should spill over. The Rockets did a phenomenal job in the second half defensively, leaning on their brute force, switching and taking away some of the Lakers’ go-to actions, holding them to just 38 points in the second half. Smith, who finished with 24 points and shot 6-of-10 from 3, displayed the combination of aggression, versatility and shot-making that this team has been crying out for since he was drafted in 2022. Amen Thompson, with 26 points and 11 rebounds, was a decisive downhill force and found success when the Lakers extended their defensive shell. 

But if LeBron and Smart continue to turn back the clock, if Rui Hachimura continues to score efficiently and if Bronny James, with five points in nine minutes, is going to outscore Houston’s entire bench again, Cancun is going to become quite populated in the very near future. 

“This is very, very disappointing,” Smith said. “So definitely a terrible feeling, but from here on out we got to win. Every game is a Game 7 and got to dig deep, find it and win four in a row.”

Things didn’t start great for the Houston Rockets on Friday.

Kevin Durant was ruled out of Game 3 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers because of a sprained ankle with L.A. leading the series 2-0.

It only got worse from there.

Houston blew a six-point lead in the final 30 seconds as LeBron James hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that forced overtime in the Lakers’ eventual 112-108 victory that pushed their series lead to 3-0.

Everyone knows what a 3-0 lead means in a best-of-seven series, but here are the key takeaways from a Game 3 that feels like the Lakers stole it.

Reed Sheppard may not be the answer

Durant's late scratch from Ime Udoka's starting lineup forced his hand to start third-year guard Reed Sheppard, but the young sharpshooter struggled overall, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-21 shooting from the floor and 4-of-13 from deep, and it was his turnover that led to James’ heroic 3.

The 21-year-old had a few bright moments attacking closeouts and a rare drive-and-finish with contact, but he fell victim to the Lakers’ pressure more often than not, finishing with five turnovers. Sheppard's ability to space the floor and operate as a primary and secondary ball-handler has been vital in Houston's offensively challenged season, but his shortcomings — namely, defensively — have been utterly exposed over the course of the series.

Sheppard is an aggressive defensive playmaker who certainly doesn't lack in effort, but his size and level of physicality aren't enough to keep up with a very lengthy, tough Lakers group. It's apparent Udoka is hesitant to play Sheppard alongside Alperen Şengün for coverage reasons, but if Sheppard’s jump shot isn't falling, which could potentially offset issues at the other end, his minutes become challenging to overcome or maximize. (It doesn't help matters that Şengün continues to shoot ineffectively — 27 shots for 33 points on Friday night — and is unable to take advantage of post-ups against smaller defenders and convert at the rim.) Whether Durant is able to go in Game 4 or not, Sheppard — and Şengün — must be sustainable offensive sources or the Rockets' season is over.

Rui Hachimura’s emerging role

Because of the national storylines that have dominated this series — one more matchup between LeBron James and Durant, the absences of Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves — not much attention has been paid to Rui Hachimura, the calm, composed presence paying dividends for an in-control Lakers team.

Hachimura, averaging a modest 13.5 points this series, absolutely lit up the Rockets for 16 first-quarter points on 6-of-6 shooting, giving the Lakers an adequate cushion in an important road Game 3.

Head coach JJ Redick has used Hachimura in a plethora of ways; as a screen setter for ball-handers, as a floor spacer and also as a play finisher. His combination of size and high release point makes him a difficult cover for any of Houston’s defenders, and his quiet consistency has been a bright spot all season and a much-needed source of scoring while Dončić and Reaves remain sidelined. Hachimura finished with 22 points and hit four of his seven 3-point attempts.

Lakers’ defense continues to deliver

The Lakers, who have seemingly pinned the Rockets back offensively by a fluid defensive scheme, continue to impress. With Durant missing, the prevailing thought was whether that would taper Los Angeles' propensity for frequent traps and doubles, allowing Houston to play 5-on-5 basketball. That was anything but the case.

The Lakers mixed in varying waves of pressure, whether it was by sending random doubles at Sheppard and Şengün, trapping at odd angles or making the opposition work late into the shot clock, resulting in low-percentage shots. On drives, the Lakers made sure to have multiple players with hands and feet in the way, rotating at the rim and making life difficult for the Rockets in the paint.

In addition, Redick seems to have placed a great deal of importance on getting back in transition, limiting the league’s fourth-most-efficient regular-season transition unit to only 15 fast-break points in Game 3. The Lakers prevented a number of surefire makes in transition, the biggest reason why the Rockets rank among the bottom six in playoff transition efficiency.

Jabari Smith Jr. making an impact

Regardless of what ultimately happens to Houston in this series, the version of Jabari Smith Jr. the Rockets got in Game 3 — the confident, aggressive, three-level shot taker — is what this team needs moving forward on a nightly basis.

Smith was in a groove on Friday night, ending his night with 24 points on impressive 6-or-10 shooting from deep. His importance as a glue guy and connective tissue has spearheaded his time as a Rocket, but what has stopped him from taking the next step has been the ability to make smaller defenders pay.

A fluid, efficient Smith, paired with Durant, suddenly makes Houston's half-court attack that much more potent, reduces Los Angeles' defensive gambles and creates an additional consistent threat on the floor. Houston needs that now more than ever.

SAN ANTONIO — “Whatever we do, we gonna do this s*** together!” — Keldon Johnson

A few minutes before tipoff of Game 2 against the Trail Blazers, the entire Spurs team and coaching staff formed a huddle near half-court, with the backdrop of adoring fans, cheering and congratulating Victor Wembanyama on his first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year award. 

Roughly 30 minutes later, with a little over a quarter of basketball played, that same huddle formed, only this time off the basis of confusion, trepidation and angst. Moments earlier, Wembanyama, in an attempt to drive to the basket while being defended by Blazers guard Jrue Holiday, got his feet tangled up and hit the ground — the velocity so high that his face planted directly into the floor before briefly bouncing off the surface. 

For a moment, Wembanyama lay motionless on the ground before resting against the stanchion in an attempt to gather himself. In some ways, the Spurs’ hopes and dreams laid there with him. He would later be followed to the locker room after leaving on his own power before being officially ruled out with a concussion and entered into protocol. Per NBA rules, there is a 48-hour mandatory recovery period from the onset of a concussion before a player can be evaluated by a team physician or athletic trainer for a return to action. 

Right then and there, San Antonio’s unspoken horrors manifested: the worst-case scenario of Portland’s physicality, a game plan in need of a major audible and an unknown postseason territory without Wembanyama.

“Give a lot of credit to Portland, the staff, the game plan and their players,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said following San Antonio’s 106-103 loss. “There was a level of fatigue there that kicked in, in terms of the intensity of the game and the output in minutes the guys had to play. And that’s a playoff game. That’s what it’s gonna feel like.”

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters

To the Spurs’ credit, even without Wembanyama, there was an admirable effort on the defensive end of the floor. San Antonio held Portland to just 76.1 points per 100 half-court possessions, one of the best defensive outputs both in the regular season and playoffs. They also won the rebounding battle despite going small for large portions of the evening, won the transition battle and held the Blazers to just 34 percent from 3 and 43 percent from the field overall. “We didn’t give up 150 or anything like that,” Johnson added. “I thought the guys actually fought their butts off, did a really good job.”

The problem with silver linings, however, is that a dark cloud frequently accompanies it. San Antonio, a top-half team in 3-point rate, attempted just 24 shots from behind the arc — including just four corner 3s for the NBA’s most proficient corner shooting unit — converting only seven(!) of them. A Spurs team that finishes nearly 70% of shots at the rim only saw 44 percent go down. In the fourth quarter, Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox combined to shoot a woeful 2-for-10 from the field, the majority of which came in hotly contested back-and-forth final minutes with the game hanging delicately in the balance. Devin Vassell finished with 16 points on 16 shots, missing all five of his 3-point attempts, including the final chance at forcing overtime. 

Moreover, San Antonio committed the one cardinal sin in a playoff series against an underdog: They gave them momentum, life and a chance. Portland, which has performed as one of the NBA’s top-10 defenses since Feb. 1, presented its deck of why this series is anything but over. The Blazers, led by the defensive grit of Holiday, Toumani Camara and Scoot Henderson, are as pesky of a trio as any around the league, able to use their abundance of physicality and lateral quickness to crowd the airspace of even the quickest opposing guards. Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III are about as shrewd of a frontcourt one-two punch as there is around the Association, not only because of their ability to protect the interior but because of their snarl, soft touch and uncanny nature of their in-between game. What once appeared to be a breeze of a first-round series now has all the makings of a grueling, risky marathon.

As the entire city of San Antonio awaits Wembanyama’s immediate next steps, the Spurs coaching staff will reconvene to determine how to avoid letting go of the rope altogether in what will surely be a deafening Moda Center for Game 3. The Spurs are quite familiar with playing without Wembanyama, only being outscored by a single point in around 2,000 minutes this season. Their ability to remain even-keeled with Portland in non-Wembanyama minutes nearly brought them over the finish line on Tuesday evening and will certainly be at the forefront of any Game 3 preparation. 

“We’ve played tough games without him,” Castle said about the prospect of Game 3 without Wembanyama. “Obviously, we want everybody healthy and to have him on the court, but I’ll get whatever five guys we have on the court. We’re gonna play like ourselves.”

(Within that game plan will certainly come some tough decisions. San Antonio’s most-played lineup without Wemby in Game 2 — regular starters plus Luke Kornet — were outscored by seven with a -46.7 net rating. Playing four guards alongside Kornet swung the pendulum to a +66.7 net rating in four minutes. There’s also the question of whether rookie Carter Bryant, who was deputized as a small-ball five, can withstand the pressure and physicality of the Clingan/Williams tandem on the road.)

Still, some tough questions remain. How did San Antonio’s elite defense allow Henderson — who has played in just 30 games all year and scored more than 25 points twice — to command the show like that with a game-high 31 points? How can the Spurs replicate Wembanyama’s vertical spacing and gravity, the centripetal force of their inside-outside balance, spacing and efficiency? What happens when Wembanyama, who literally forced Portland to adjust their line of offensive — and defensive — thinking, is not there to save the day? (San Antonio allowed 117.4 points per 100 possessions without Wembanyama this season, which would rank inside the bottom 10 among NBA defenses.)

How do you account for Deni Avdija, who was largely kept in check in Game 2, knowing one of the league’s most adept drivers will roam freely without the Defensive Player of the Year at the rim?

“It’s really the same game plan,” Castle said. “Most of their offense ends in guard-to-guard screening or one-on-one dribble drives. So being able to contain the ball, still be able to help each other. Obviously, we can’t make up for what Vic is for us defensively, but you’re trying to do it as a team. Stay in shifts for each other, communication and rotations.”

SAN ANTONIO — When San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama jogged to the locker room Tuesday night at 8:57 of the second quarter after his face slammed to the floor, everything changed for San Antonio.

He was ruled out for the game shortly after entering concussion protocol, and the Spurs were forced to regroup.

They led by double-digits late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t find any consistent offense down the stretch as Portland stayed steady and out-shot and outworked San Antonio in Game 2 to claim a 106-103 victory that evened the first-round playoff series.

Here are the key takeaways for how the Trail Blazers capitalized on their big opportunity Tuesday night:

Life without Wemby

With Wembanyama ruled out early in the second quarter, Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson turned to a seldomly used lineup to keep his team afloat: Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie and Luke Kornet. The combination of four guards and Kornet played just 29 minutes together this season, but outperformed teams by a +12.6 net rating — as well as operated at a pace that would rank at the top of the league.

The drawbacks to a lack of size against one of the larger playoff teams around were apparent, but the benefits and potential tradeoffs were too tantalizing to ignore. All four guards are capable of initiating and finishing plays, can create for others as well as themselves and can space the floor. At the other end, what they lack in size they make up for in speed, smarts and connectivity. San Antonio played Portland evenly for the remainder of the half and those players helped the Spurs extend their lead in the fourth quarter, something to monitor moving forward depending on how many non-Wembanyama minutes the Spurs will play in the coming days.

Unfortunately with no Wemby available, the smallish Spurs were exploited on the glass late and the offense collapsed down the stretch as the squad seemed to lack the connectivity and familiarity that had been its hallmark.

The emergence of Scoot Henderson

Around the six-minute mark of the first quarter, Blazers guard Scoot Henderson drilled his second 3 of the game, giving him 10 early points and the Blazers a surprise 22-9 lead over the Spurs. But it wasn’t his shot-making ability that was making the most waves. Henderson’s activity at the other end — pressuring the ball and more importantly, being an active ballhawk in passing lanes — was the key to Portland keeping Frost Bank Center on edge.

On two separate occasions, Henderson was at the heart of breaking up a Castle alley-oop and what would have been a key entry pass to Wembanyama. Henderson appeared in only 30 games during the regular season due to injury, but his defensive impact as a sharp, rangy lateral stopper is clear. Henderson ranked third in deflections per game, and the Blazers were nearly four points better per 100 possessions defensively in his minutes, good for 79th percentile.

Offensive consistency has always been an issue with the 22-year-old electric guard, but he seems to be figuring things out on the biggest stage and his penchant for making defensive plays — even in his limited time — is a huge chunk of the Blazers’ viability.

Henderson scored five points in the last five minutes of the game and was vital as Portland closed things out down the stretch.

Henderson led all scorers in Game 2 with 31 points, hitting five 3s and finishing plus-9 in what seemed to be a legit breakout performance.

Spurs will need to step up

When Spurs reserve Keldon Johnson first stepped on the floor, his team trailed 17-9 and looked like it was sleepwalking. By the time the buzzer for the first quarter sounded and Johnson walked off the floor, San Antonio had retaken the lead.

Johnson's plus-9 led all players on the floor at the time, an indication of his simple approach to basketball that continues to yield positive results. Johnson's game isn't particularly flashy — he recorded a steal, assist and rebound during his initial stint — but his constant motor, energy and intangibles are vital for a team that was somewhat lethargic to begin the game.

The combination of Johnson and rookie guard Harper — the latter of which continues to provide a huge boost in the playmaking, downhill driving and gravitational department but seemed to aggravate his left thumb Tuesday night — is an underlying storyline in a series that just got a whole lot more interesting.

Johnson finished the game plus-7 with 7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, but more will be needed if Wembanyama misses Game 3 in Portland.