Here is a by-the-numbers look at the Lakers’ 98-92 victory over the Houston Rockets.
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Times Houston has lost this season when outrebounding its opponent or scoring 100 points. The Lakers avoided both benchmarks, beating the Rockets on the boards, 47-38, and holding them to 92 points on 40.5 percent shooting.
3
Houston’s lead with 66 seconds left. From there, Wesley Johnson flipped the game around, as he drained two free throws after cleaning up a missed tip by Jordan Hill. Johnson then gave the Lakers a 94-92 lead by swiping the ball from James Harden (24 points) and taking it back for a fast-break, and-1 layup. Nick Young and Kobe Bryant then hit a pair of free throws while the Rockets missed three shots to ice the L.A. victory.
“Defensively, Wesley did a heck of a job on James all night long,” head coach Byron Scott said. “Even though James got his numbers, (Johnson) made him work for it and then came up with a really big steal, obviously, and the three-point play.”
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Combined rebounds grabbed by Hill and Carlos Boozer. Both players recorded double-doubles, as Hill scored 16 points with 10 rebounds, and Boozer notched 12 points while pulling down 13 boards. Bryant, Hill, Young and Boozer combined for 73 points.
“It makes it tough for a defender,” Young said. “They can’t just focus on Kobe all the time. That’s me being Tonto right there. The Lone Ranger (Bryant) got a little help. The bigs were battling. They were doing their thing.”
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Points scored by Bryant, who pushed his league-leading scoring average to 27.5. After going 10-for-28 from the field against Houston, Bryant now leads second-place LeBron James by 1.6 points per game. The 16-time all-star went just 1-for-7 from 3-point range, but he drained eight of his 10 foul shots and five of his eight attempts from the top of the key.
38
Points scored by the Lakers in the paint, 18 more than the Rockets. Houston was missing its significant interior presence, Dwight Howard, who was a last-minute scratch with a strained right knee. Howard ranks second in the league with 14.4 points in the paint per game, and is also tied for fifth in rebounding (11.3) — two areas that the Rockets struggled in Wednesday.