{"id":631821,"date":"2026-04-27T12:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631821\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:01:08","slug":"lebron-james-takes-blame-after-lakers-blowout-loss-to-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631821\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James takes blame after Lakers’ blowout loss to Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON — LeBron James<\/a> shouldered the blame for the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>\u2019 115-96 loss in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series against the Houston Rockets<\/a> on Sunday after he racked up nearly as many turnovers (eight), as he did points (10) in the blowout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started with me, obviously,\u201d James said after the Rockets notched their first win of the series to make it 3-1 heading into Wednesday\u2019s Game 5 (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Los Angeles. \u201cMy turnovers were unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

L.A. trailed by nine points at halftime but was blitzed by Houston 34-18 in the third quarter as James committed four of his turnovers in the period and shot 0-for-3 from the field. For the game, he was 2-for-9 (22.2%) and didn\u2019t reach double-digit points until a meaningless layup with 8:36 left in the fourth quarter cut the Rockets\u2019 lead to 24.<\/p>\n

By that point, the game was long out of reach, with the Lakers having lost the one player who was having a strong night, Deandre Ayton<\/a>, to an ejection midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Ayton was assessed a flagrant foul 2 for striking Rockets big man Alperen Sengun<\/a> in the side of the head with his forearm with 5:41 left in the third. The call was upgraded from a common foul after a video review, a decision that perplexed members of both teams after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both are sweaty guys,\u201d Ayton said. \u201c[My arm] just slipped off his shoulder. … I\u2019m not no guy who is a dirty player or who plays like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added James: \u201cI know what I saw. … I think he was bracing for Sengun on the post up, [his] elbow [was] getting ready for the physical contact and then you see it, his arm slipped going up and then hit him in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Sengun, who was one of five Houston starters in double figures with 19 points and 13 rebounds, helping to make up for the absence of Kevin Durant<\/a> who sat out because of a bone bruise in his sprained left ankle, disagreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to make the officials crazy, but I mean, I didn\u2019t expect them to eject him to be honest,\u201d Sengun said. \u201cI think it was a little bit soft. … I guess it is what it is, they called it. I\u2019m glad they called it. So, we go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The officials called five more technical fouls after that: three on the Lakers (Jaxson Hayes<\/a>, Maxi Kleber<\/a>, Adou Thiero<\/a>) and two on the Rockets (Josh Okogie<\/a>, Aaron Holiday<\/a>). Thiero, a rookie, and Holiday both received one-tech ejections with 1:11 remaining in the game for jawing at each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was uncalled for and it made no sense,\u201d James said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the first time he\u2019s ever been thrown out of a game in his life. I don\u2019t think that was warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the locker room after the game, Lakers star Luka Doncic<\/a> told Thiero he would pay whatever fine the NBA imposes for the infraction. After the final buzzer, the trash talk continued between both teams at center court. Several Lakers players told ESPN that Rockets forward Jae\u2019Sean Tate was taunting their team, using curse words to name call, and invited the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Kleber to fight him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHilarious,\u201d Lakers guard Marcus Smart<\/a> deadpanned when asked about the back-and-forth. \u201cVery hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart, who had averaged 20.3 points on 52.9% shooting through the Lakers\u2019 3-0 start to the series, scored only nine on 3-for-8 shooting in Game 4. Luke Kennard<\/a>, who averaged 21.3 points on 55.3% to start the series, scored just seven on 3-for-8 shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefense wasn\u2019t our problem tonight,\u201d James said. \u201cIt was our offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves<\/a>, who sat again because of his Grade 2 left oblique strain despite being listed as questionable for the second straight game, could certainly help organize the Lakers\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest challenge we have is just the ballhandling and downhill drivers, not having those guys,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> said of the absences of Reaves and Doncic.<\/p>\n

As poorly as the Lakers played Sunday, they remain one win away from advancing to the second round and a potential matchup with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, who lead their series against the Phoenix Suns<\/a> 3-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m licking my chops,\u201d Ayton said of Game 5. \u201cWe just got to try to end this at home. But I love the intensity. I love the fight I see in the guys in the Rockets. I can\u2019t wait to see them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON — LeBron James shouldered the blame for the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 115-96 loss in Game 4 of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,114816,459,82],"class_list":["post-631821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-los-angeles-lakers-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-13","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}