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<\/p>\n
James, the 41-year-old superstar playing in his 19th post-season, came up with a steal and a game-tying three-pointer with 13.6 seconds left in regulation.<\/p>\n
He couldn\u2019t get a potential game-winner to drop at the buzzer, but added a steal and a block in a frantic overtime as the Lakers pushed the Rockets to the brink of elimination in the best-of-seven Western Conference series.<\/p>\n
No NBA team has come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series. <\/p>\n
The Lakers will have a chance to close out the series in Houston on Sunday. It\u2019s not a position many expected them to be in with league-leading scorer Luka Doncic sidelined by a hamstring strain and key offensive contributor Austin Reaves out with an oblique injury.<\/p>\n
The young Rockets, with veteran star Kevin Durant sidelined by a sprained ankle, were led Alperen Sengun\u2019s 33 points and 16 rebounds.<\/p>\n
They rallied from an early 15-point deficit and led by six with less than 30 seconds left in regulation.<\/p>\n
But their mistakes caught up with them. A Houston turnover was followed by a foul on Marcus Smart as he attempted a three-pointer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHorrendous mistakes,\u201d Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if you want to say youth, or scared of the moment, or whatever is the case. But you have a six-point lead with 20 or 30 seconds to go, you get a rebound and just have to hold the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smart made all three free-throws to cut the Lakers\u2019 deficit to 101-98 and set the stage for James\u2019s game-tying basket.<\/p>\n
Sengun missed a potential go-ahead basket before James was off-target from beyond the arc and they went to overtime, Smart scoring eight of his 21 points in the extra session as the Lakers pulled away.<\/p>\n
LeBron had a special moment with Bronny, who outscored the entire Houston bench with just five minutes, when he found his son for the alley-oop. It was the first father-son assist in NBA playoffs history.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also made a three when they disrespected him and go under on the pick and roll \u2026 that was a special moment,\u201d James said after the game.<\/p>\n
The Lakers lead the Rockets 3-0. (AP Photo\/Michael Wyke)Source: AP<\/p>\n
ROOKIE\u2019S COMING OUT PARTY IN BIG WIN<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the West, the San Antonio Spurs erased a 15-point third-quarter deficit and swept to a 120-108 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, despite missing star Victor Wembanyama as he recovers from a concussion.<\/p>\n
Stephon Castle\u2019s 33 points included 11 in the fourth quarter and rookie Dylan Harper added 27 points and 10 rebounds off the bench as the Spurs roared home to take a 2-1 series lead.<\/p>\n
They had dropped game two at home after Wembanyama was injured in a hard fall. The 22-year-old French star cheered from the bench as his teammates turned the tide in Portland, where they will try to build on their series lead on Monday.<\/p>\n
TATUM TAKES OVER AS CELTICS BEAT SIXERS<\/p>\n
Boston\u2019s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored 25 points apiece to lead the Celtics to a hard-fought 108-100 victory over the 76ers in Philadelphia and a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference series.<\/p>\n
The Sixers had grabbed game two in Boston to knot the series at one game apiece. In a game that neither team led by more than 10 points, the Celtics took a five-point lead into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Tyrese Maxey\u2019s three-pointer briefly put the Sixers up 85-84 with 8:42 remaining, and Philadelphia were within one when Tatum drilled a three-pointer that pushed Boston\u2019s lead to 100-96 with 1:57 left to play.<\/p>\n
Payton Pritchard added another three-pointer with the shot-clock winding down before Tatum — who missed most of the season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in last year\u2019s playoffs, drained a dagger trey that sealed it for Boston.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just were resilient,\u201d Tatum told broadcaster Prime. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe stuck with it. It\u2019s a game of runs — good team and just, you\u2019ve got to answer.\u201d <\/p>\n
Maxey scored 31 points to lead the Sixers. Paul George added 18 and rookie VJ Edgecombe added 10 points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n
Sixers star Joel Embiid, still recovering from an emergency appendectomy earlier this month, was ruled out shortly before the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just not ready,\u201d said Sixers coach Nick Nurse, whose team will try to even the series when they host game four on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers, fueled by 29 points from LeBron James, beat the Houston Rockets 112-108 in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-629506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}