Los Angeles Lakers 98, Houston Rockets 78 — Recap

May 1, 2026 · View Preview

📰Game Summary

Final (playoffs): Los Angeles Lakers 98, Houston Rockets 78. Scoring by quarter: Q1 LAL 23-18 HOU; Q2 LAL 26-13 HOU; Q3 LAL 22-24 HOU; Q4 LAL 27-23 HOU.

Top performers (box score): LeBron James (LAL) 28 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 threes on 10-of-25 shooting; Rui Hachimura (LAL) 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 threes on 8-of-15 shooting; Amen Thompson (HOU) 18 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists on 7-of-14 shooting; Alperen Sengun (HOU) 17 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assists on 5-of-12 shooting; Austin Reaves (LAL) 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists on 7-of-14 shooting.

Standouts

Top Scorer · LAL

LeBron James

28 PTS, 7 REB, 8 AST, 2 3PM · 10-25 FG

Scoring · LAL

Rui Hachimura

21 PTS, 6 REB, 2 AST, 5 3PM · 8-15 FG

Scoring · HOU

Amen Thompson

18 PTS, 8 REB, 3 AST · 7-14 FG

Season highs

Rui Hachimura · Season-high 5 threes

Every player's line is in the box score below; the play-by-play is available in the BlowOutAlert workspace.

📊 Game Flow

LAL 29 largest lead Q4 1:58 (LAL 98, HOU 69) · 18-0 run, Q2 11:09–Q2 7:02

HOU 5 largest lead Q1 5:13 (LAL 11, HOU 16) · 9-0 run, Q4 1:46–Q4 0:21

Swings 5 lead changes Tied 0 times

Ahead for good: Luke Kennard makes 22-foot running jump shot (LeBron James assists) (Q1 4:23, LAL 17, HOU 16).

Linescore

	1	2	3	4		T
LAL	23	26	22	27		98
HOU	18	13	24	23		78

🧮 How They Scored

LALHOU

46Points in the paint44

19Fast-break points8

7Second-chance points9

19Points off turnovers10

20Bench points10

Four factorsHighlighted side won the factor

47.2%Effective FG%38.1%

9.1%Turnover %10.8%

28.8%Offensive rebound %17.0%

0.270Free-throw rate0.300

Box Score

Los Angeles Lakers

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
LeBron James F	37	28	7	8	0	0	3	10-25	2-5	6-8	+26
Rui Hachimura F	35	21	6	2	0	1	0	8-15	5-7	0-0	+20
Marcus Smart G	35	7	7	1	2	2	1	2-7	2-4	1-2	+25
Austin Reaves G	31	15	3	2	0	3	2	7-14	0-4	1-1	+3
Luke Kennard G	29	3	3	3	1	0	1	1-6	1-2	0-0	+22
Deandre Ayton C	28	7	16	1	0	1	0	2-6	0-0	3-7	+5
Jaxson Hayes C	17	5	4	1	0	1	1	1-1	0-0	3-4	+21
Jake LaRavia F	16	7	5	0	0	1	2	3-8	1-2	0-0	+2
Nick Smith Jr. G	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	1-4	1-2	0-0	-6
Adou Thiero G	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-2	-6
Dalton Knecht F	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	-6
Bronny James G	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	-6

Houston Rockets

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Amen Thompson G-F	45	18	8	3	0	3	2	7-14	0-0	4-6	-26
Jabari Smith Jr. F	42	9	12	3	0	1	1	3-11	1-6	2-3	-24
Alperen Sengun F-C	38	17	11	1	0	2	4	5-12	0-0	7-10	-27
Tari Eason F	37	14	5	2	3	1	0	5-14	2-7	2-2	-14
Reed Sheppard G	36	10	0	1	2	2	1	4-19	1-10	1-1	-24
Josh Okogie G	13	3	4	1	1	0	2	1-3	1-2	0-0	0
Aaron Holiday G	12	2	1	2	0	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	+4
Dorian Finney-Smith F	8	0	0	0	0	0	1	0-2	0-1	0-0	-13
Jae'Sean Tate F	5	3	3	0	0	0	0	1-3	0-2	1-2	+10
Clint Capela C	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	1-1	0-0	0-0	+7
JD Davison G	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	+7

🔬 Advanced Stats

Los Angeles LakersTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
LeBron James	Starter	37	28	49.1	37.6	+35.6	21.4
Rui Hachimura	Starter	35	21	70.0	19.0	+31.0	19.6
Austin Reaves	Starter	31	15	51.9	23.2	+8.1	10.9
Deandre Ayton	Starter	28	7	38.5	13.6	+10.8	13.5
Marcus Smart	Starter	35	7	44.4	11.0	+34.6	11.2
Jake LaRavia	Bench	16	7	43.8	24.4	+3.2	6.2
Jaxson Hayes	Bench	17	5	90.6	10.8	+61.7	14.3
Luke Kennard	Bench	29	3	25.0	10.6	+41.5	3.3
Nick Smith Jr.	Bench	03	3	37.5	33.3	-94.6	0.0
Adou Thiero	Bench	03	2	53.2	16.7	-94.6	-3.8
Maxi Kleber	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jarred Vanderbilt	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Dalton Knecht	Bench	03	0	0.0	8.3	-94.6	0.0
Bronny James	Bench	03	0	0.0	8.3	-94.6	11.5

Houston RocketsTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Amen Thompson	Starter	45	18	54.1	18.0	-31.1	12.5
Alperen Sengun	Starter	38	17	51.8	24.7	-36.5	10.0
Tari Eason	Starter	37	14	47.0	18.5	-18.0	10.8
Reed Sheppard	Starter	36	10	25.7	25.3	-35.4	-3.7
Jabari Smith Jr.	Starter	42	9	36.5	14.1	-31.0	7.4
Josh Okogie	Bench	13	3	50.0	15.6	0.0	15.6
Jae'Sean Tate	Bench	05	3	38.7	28.6	+83.3	18.2
Clint Capela	Bench	02	2	100.0	20.0	+185.0	27.8
Aaron Holiday	Bench	12	2	100.0	3.4	+17.4	24.2
Dorian Finney-Smith	Bench	08	0	0.0	18.8	-92.9	-57.1
Jeff Green	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
JD Davison	Bench	2	0	0.0	0.0	+185.0	0.0