LOS ANGELES — Despite being on their first losing streak of the season, the Lakers entered Thursday feeling optimistic about themselves in light of having their preferred starting lineup available for the first time in over two weeks.
Those good feelings barely lasted for the first half of the Lakers’ 119-96 Christmas Day loss to the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena.
Because just as the Lakers were getting closer to being whole, with star guard Luka Doncic and starting forward Rui Hachimura back in the lineup, star guard Austin Reaves left the game early because of a calf injury that sidelined him last week.
Doncic led the Lakers with 25 points (9-of-17 shooting), seven assists and five rebounds. LeBron James finished with 18 points and five rebounds.
But both of the Lakers’ stars struggled with their ball security, with Doncic having six turnovers and James having three of the team’s 16 giveaways.
Reaves’ absence only decreased the Lakers’ margin of error against a Rockets teams that thrives within the margins with their athleticism, offensive rebounding and defensive prowess.
As has been a problem for most of the season but especially the last month, the Lakers (19-10) showed little to no resistance defensively against the Rockets (18-10).
Houston regularly dribbled and cut into open shots.
And when the Rockets missed, they did what they do better than any other team and what they’re historically great at: successfully crash the offensive boards.
The Rockets grabbed 17 of their 42 missed shots – in line with their league-best 40.6% offensive rebounding rate they entered Thursday with – leading to them scoring 18 second-chance points.
And the Lakers didn’t make up for their deficits on the boards in any other area.
They took a season-low 11 free-throw attempts and made just seven – the first time they finished with fewer than 13 made free throws in a game.
Reaves, who had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 15 first-half minutes, was ruled out just after halftime because of left calf soreness. He sat out of three games last week because of the left calf ailment.
Jarred Vanderbilt provided a spark off the bench, finishing with 11 points and making three 3-pointers in addition to his defensive tenacity.
But the Lakers entered halftime down 63-53 and trailed by double digits the entire second half, including by as many as 24 points in the fourth.
The Rockets were led by Amen Thompson’s 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Kevin Durant’s 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds.
Lakers coach JJ Redick pulled his rotation players after Tari Eason scored a layup in transition to put the Rockets up 111-89 with just over three minutes remaining.