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\u201cYou cannot take off days anymore,\u201d Houston\u2019s Jabari Smith Jr. said. \u201cIf you lose, you go home, and on this team, nobody wants to go home. Everybody is here to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Lakers couldn\u2019t finish off the Rockets on Wednesday night despite the return of Austin Reaves, the team\u2019s second-leading scorer in the regular season who had been out since April 2 with an oblique injury.<\/p>\n
He scored 22 points on 4-of-16 shooting in 34 minutes off the bench in the 99-93 loss.<\/p>\n
LeBron James expects him to be more dynamic on Friday night after shaking the rust off in Game 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few of his jump shots were short. That makes sense. He hasn\u2019t played in a month,\u201d James said. \u201cHe gives us another ball-handler, another attacking threat at the point of attack, so it\u2019s great for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In Toronto, the Raptors are also feeling confident despite their 125-120 loss in Game 5 and some injury concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like our odds 100%,\u201d Toronto\u2019s Scottie Barnes said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to go home and we\u2019re going to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
They could have to do that without All-Star Brandon Ingram, who left Wednesday night\u2019s game in the second quarter with right heel inflammation and didn\u2019t return. Ingram scored just one point before his early exit. Barnes is also not 100% after being kneed in the quadriceps while driving to the rim during the second quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we need (Ingram) out on the floor,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cHis playmaking ability and his defense and everything he brings.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson knows another huge mental test is coming up for this group after rallying to win on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are high pressure moments,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re down, you can feel the crowd getting nervous. So, I think we took a step (Wednesday). Now the big one is can you go and beat this team on the road? Can we go in there and go take this because we haven\u2019t shown we can yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pistons avoided elimination behind Cade Cunningham\u2019s franchise playoff-record 45 points in a 116-109 win in Game 5.<\/p>\n
Now the Magic will try and close it out again to win a playoff series for the first time since 2010. If they\u2019re able to pull it off, they\u2019ll be only the second No. 8 seed to win its first-round series after advancing through the play-in tournament and first since Miami in 2023.<\/p>\n
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Detroit Pistons at Orlando Magic<\/p>\n
When\/Where to Watch: Game 6, 7 p.m. EDT (Prime Video).<\/p>\n
Betting line: Pistons by 3 \u00bd<\/p>\n
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What to Know: Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft, played like a franchise player should Wednesday night to allow the Pistons to extend the series. Now they\u2019ll need another big performance from the 24-year-old to force Game 7 as they chase their first playoff series win since 2008. He has taken 23 shots in each of the last three games but was much more efficient in Game 5. Cunningham made 13 shots Wednesday after making just eight and seven respectively in the previous two games. Orlando\u2019s Paolo Banchero, the top pick in the 2022 draft, also scored 45 points in Game 5 but missed 7 of 12 free throws. The Magic will have to depend on his scoring again in Game 6 with Franz Wagner\u2019s status uncertain after he missed the last game with a strained right calf. Wagner averaged 17 points and 5.5 rebounds in the first four games of the series as the Magic built a 3-1 series lead.<\/p>\n
Cleveland Cavaliers at Toronto Raptors<\/p>\n
When\/Where to Watch: Game 6, 7:30 p.m. (Prime Video)<\/p>\n
Series: Cavaliers lead 3-2.<\/p>\n
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Betting line: Cavaliers by 3 1\/2<\/p>\n
What to Know: The Cavaliers look to close out the series by doing something that hasn\u2019t been done in the first five games, winning on the other team\u2019s home floor. This is the only first-round series where home court has held serve. A major point of emphasis for Atkinson is reducing turnovers. Cleveland railed from a 12-point second-half deficit for the win despite the Raptors scoring 28 points off 15 Cavaliers turnovers. The Raptors look to avoid elimination despite having Ingram and Barnes being injured.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Lakers at Houston Rockets<\/p>\n
When\/Where to Watch: Game 6, 9:30 p.m. EDT (Prime Video).<\/p>\n
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Betting line: Rockets by 3 1\/2.<\/p>\n
What to Know: With Durant out, the Rockets have relied on a balanced scoring attack to win the last two games with each starter scoring at least 12 points in both games. They know they\u2019ll have to continue that to keep the series alive and they also must continue their strong 3-point shooting. The Rockets have made 26 3-pointers combined in the last two games after managing just 18 in the previous two games. The Lakers need to play much cleaner to end the series after they had 38 turnovers combined in their two losses. \u201cYou give credit where credit is due,\u201d James said. \u201cThey played well the last two games, exceptionally well, and we\u2019ve got to answer the call.\u201d<\/p>\n
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AP Sports Writers Greg Beacham and Joe Reedy contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA<\/a>\n<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, left, tries to get by Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[23895,64,30097,63,19704,19711,196980,1173,298942,7216,7896,590,13799,146000,146002,19710,145996,277778,145998,145999,291923,269748,279817,269751,16108,85],"class_list":["post-641452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-alperen-sengun","tag-au","tag-austin-reaves","tag-australia","tag-cade-cunningham","tag-franz-wagner","tag-jabari-smith","tag-james-harden","tag-ken-atkinson","tag-kevin-durant","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-paolo-banchero","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32001-ap-online-basketball-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40776-ap-california-sports-only","tag-product-40780-ap-florida-sports-only","tag-product-40792-ap-michigan-sports-only","tag-product-40806-ap-ohio-sports-only","tag-product-40815-ap-texas-sports-only","tag-scottie-barnes","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641452","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=641452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}