{"id":615184,"date":"2026-04-30T11:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/615184\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:59:09","slug":"lebron-james-austin-reaves-and-the-lakers-look-for-answers-after-game-5-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/615184\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James, Austin Reaves and the Lakers look for answers after Game 5 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Of all the things that LeBron James said Wednesday night after the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 99-93 loss<\/a> to the Houston Rockets, the phrase he chose to repeat as an introductory clause to multiple answers should echo loudest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, s\u2014,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that before he said the Lakers needed to \u201cflush\u201d Game 5 from their memories. He said it before he talked about the ways Austin Reaves can make things better. He said it again when asked if, simply, the Rockets deserved a simple hat tip after beating his team twice in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, s\u2014,\u201d he said. Over and over and over again.<\/p>\n

James never trailed off after the clause, but if he had, it would have encapsulated the energy right now around the Lakers, who lead this series 3-2 but somehow feel like they are behind. The weight of the stakes is growing. It\u2019s not just the pressure of closing out a Rockets team that\u2019s certainly up for the fight. It\u2019s the subconscious fear that a loss in Game 6 on Friday could mean a loss in Game 7 on Sunday, which would mean the first squandered 3-0 lead in league history.<\/p>\n

Lakers coach JJ Redick has had to be a tactician this season, working with his staff on ways to highlight the roster\u2019s strengths and hide its deficiencies. He\u2019s also spent plenty of energy on his group\u2019s psychological well-being, from role adjustments to looming offseason contract decisions. He\u2019s called it the \u201chuman element.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the \u201chuman element\u201d after losing two in a row in a playoff series is wondering if you\u2019ll be able to win once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first team to win four games in a series,\u201d Redick said bluntly. \u201cWe happen to have won the first three. They happen to have won the last two. We\u2019ve gotta be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The obvious area that requires improvement is on the offensive side of the ball, where the Lakers have been simply awful basically since late in the first half of Game 3. In the last eight quarters, the Lakers have scored just 103.3 points per 100 possessions. They\u2019ve turned the ball over on 21 percent of their possessions. Their assist-to-turnover is barely in the black.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some opportunities to make some shots we didn\u2019t make,\u201d James said without any profane emphasis. \u201cObviously, they were generating good shots. As much as we got to defend, you also got to score in this game too. I don\u2019t think we did that at a good rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having Reaves back will help \u2014 certainly more than it did in Game 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cS\u2014,\u201d James said, \u201che hasn\u2019t played in a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he missed nearly four weeks with a Grade 2 oblique strain, it shouldn\u2019t be too big of a surprise that Reaves carried rust and heavy legs into his series debut. After making his first 3-pointer, Reaves made just one of his last seven. He finished with 22 points, six assists and four rebounds but clearly battled fatigue in the second half.<\/p>\n

Still, Reaves physically held up for nearly 34 minutes. His paint attacking did generate good looks for teammates, both at the 3-point line, where the Lakers struggled, and in the paint, where Deandre Ayton finished with 18 points to go with his 17 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I haven\u2019t played in a month, unfortunately. You know, I wish I could get a little bit more of a rhythm before jumping into the fire like that,\u201d Reaves said. \u201cI had a lot of fun out there and just trust myself and trust the work that I\u2019ve put in. But it\u2019s hard to emulate real basketball reps, even if you\u2019re doing it \u2014 practice, stay-ready (games), whatever it might be. So it\u2019s really hard to get that same feel. So ,yeah, I mean, got a little tired in the second half, but (it\u2019s) something I gotta push through.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have the liberty to play a couple of warm-up games. I\u2019ll just get tossed back in the fire on Friday, and hopefully we\u2019ll have a better result.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers have time to figure it out, to get Reaves in a better rhythm and to get everyone settled in around him (Marcus Smart\u2019s six turnovers and Luke Kennard\u2019s zero made field goals were killers). They just don\u2019t have much of it.<\/p>\n

There are some positive signs. While the hurt from the turnovers was still there, the Lakers committed nine fewer than in Game 4. Ayton again was a problem for the Rockets on the glass. And the Lakers\u2019 aggressiveness generated 27 free throws, with Reaves taking 13 of them.<\/p>\n

But James has missed nine straight 3s after hitting a monster one late in Game 3. And he\u2019ll be on short rest however long the series goes on, with the teams playing every other day until someone gets to four wins.<\/p>\n

And the Rockets, after coughing up Game 3, have played with confidence and poise. Their role players have made jumpers, and the Lakers have been unable to match. They\u2019re not short on belief that the series is well within their grasp. With Kevin Durant sitting, the team has relied on more balance and freedom offensively. In Game 5, seven of the eight Rockets who played made a 3. The other, Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn, didn\u2019t attempt one.<\/p>\n

But just like how the Rockets can\u2019t come back from 3-0 without first trailing 3-1 and now 3-2, they can\u2019t come back from 3-0 unless they first make the series 3-3. And the Lakers know they\u2019re going to need more than a four-lettered response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to play like our back\u2019s against the wall, right?\u201d Smart said. \u201cWe knew this was going to be a tough series. I think everybody knew that, and it\u2019s turning out to be exactly what we expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now the fun begins.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Of all the things that LeBron James said Wednesday night after the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1055,355,99],"class_list":["post-615184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}