The Los Angeles Lakers bungled the chance to advance to the next round after losing to the Houston Rockets heavily in their Western Conference first-round matchup, 115-96. The Lakers still lead the series 3-1 although the Purple and Gold need to play wiser basketball moving forward.
A key area that doomed the Lakers in Game 4 was their turnovers. The team had 23 turnovers compared to the Rockets 19. Of that error total,LeBron Jamesaccounted for eight of them. The four-time Most Valuable Player was aware of this and took accountability for the loss.
'It started with me, obviously,' James said after the loss in a report byESPN. 'My turnovers were unacceptable.'
The Lakers should have known better, aware that the Rockets would not surrender Game 4 without a fight. Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Alperen Sengun joined hands to lead Houston with 23, 20 and 19 points respectively, allowing the Rockets to live for another day.
While it helped that the Lakers played badly, the game was not spared from controversy. The game was a heated one and saw the ejection of several players. Among those who were ejected were DeAndre Ayton, Adou Thiero of the Lakers and Aaron Holiday of the Rockets.
Ayton was thrown out of the game after picking up a Flagrant Foul 2 against Sengun. A video of that play can be watched below.
Adou Thiero and Aaron Holiday were both ejected after they got tangled up late in the 4th quarter 👀Thoughts? 🤔pic.twitter.com/mWf0vACELL
For his part, Ayton was a bit surprised at being assessed an F2. In the video, it appeared he did hit Sengun with his forearm. However, the former top pick reasoned that his arm slipped and inadvertently hit the Turkish player.
'We both are sweaty guys,' Ayton said. '[My arm] just slipped off his shoulder. ... I'm not no guy who is a dirty player or who plays like that.'
James concurred with Ayton's defence. He believed it was unintentional and cost the Lakers since the 27-year-old centre was having a good game. Ayton finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds before his ejection.
Source: International Business Times UK
