Austin Reaves, out nearly 4 weeks, could provide the Lakers a big boost in Game 5.
The Los Angeles Lakers haven’t won a playoff series since 2023, when they reached the Western Conference Finals as the No. 7 seed.
They lost in the first round in 2024 and 2025 but are one victory from the conference semifinals. Despite the absence of leading scorers and essential playmakers Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves due to injuries, the Lakers have taken a surprising 3-1 series lead in their first-round matchup against the Houston Rockets.
LeBron James, at 41 years old, has been (mostly) sensational, and the Lakers have received greater-than-expected production from Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart, who were thrust into the starting lineup with Dončić and Reaves sidelined.
Can James pull the Lakers to another victory? Game 5 is Wednesday in Los Angeles (10 p.m. ET, ESPN). The winner of the Rockets-Lakers series will play Oklahoma City in the conference semifinals. The Thunder swept Phoenix to advance.
Here are three things to watch in Game 5 of Rockets-Lakers:
1. Does James have a bounce-back game?
In the first three games of this series, James averaged 25.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 2.0 steals and shot 47.4% from the field and 43.8% on 3-pointers. It helped the Lakers to a 3-0 series lead.
In Houston’s 115-96 Game 4 victory, James had 10 points on 2-for-9 shooting (0-for-3 on 3-pointers), nine assists, four rebounds and eight turnovers.
James’ teams are 41-14 in closeout games, according to statmuse.com, and with his team one victory from clinching a series, James has not lost two closeout games consecutively since 2006. In those 55 closeout games, James averaged 28 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.1 assists.
2. Injury updates for Lakers, Rockets
Rockets star Kevin Durant missed Game 1 with a bruised right knee and missed Games 3-4 with a left ankle sprain and bone bruise and has been listed as out for Game 5.
Reaves (strained left oblique) is getting closer to getting back on the court. He was upgraded to questionable before Game 4 but did not play. He’s listed as questionable for Game 5. There is a chance he plays in Game 5, and it’s unlikely Dončić (strained left hamstring) plays in the Rockets series.
Reaves (23.3 points, 5.5 assists per game) would give the Lakers another ballhandler and playmaker to help James.
3. Can the Rockets make the series interesting?
Winning Game 5 and going back to Houston with a chance to tie the series and force a Game 7 would turn up the pressure on the Lakers, who jumped to a 3-0 series lead. They played well enough to win Game 3 without Durant and took Game 4 with him on the bench. In the last game, Houston found defensive success by switching and forcing turnovers, and its starting five produced 95 of the team’s 115 points, led by Amen Thompson’s 23 and Alperen Sengun’s 19.
It won’t be easy against James and the Lakers in Los Angeles, but the Rockets are talented enough and young enough not to dwell on what has amounted to insurmountable odds for a team trailing 3-0 in an NBA playoff series. No team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. Teams trailing are 0-159.
* * *
Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
