How the Rockets and Lakers turned New Year’s Eve into a 2OT thriller

The Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers brought in 2018 with a double-overtime thriller, even if the teams were almost unrecognizable by the final five minutes. It looked like the game might actually last until the new year for a moment, but the Rockets finally pulled away for a 146-142 win on Sunday night after an extra two periods of action.

Los Angeles started the game without Lonzo Ball or Brook Lopez, while the Rockets remain without Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Nene only played six minutes, and James Harden left the game with a hamstring sprain late in the fourth quarter. (He might miss some games.) By the final few minutes, Clint Capela, Julius Randle, and the Lakers starting point guard Josh Hart had all fouled out.

It was a badly needed victory for Houston, who came into the game with five straight losses, the worst active streak in the league. They did it without Harden for final 11 minutes, and as 2018 starts, they made sure that they still have the second-best record in the Western Conference. Here’s how the wild night went down.

Harden had previously dropped 51 points on Los Angeles, and he looked like he might do it again before pulling his hamstring. The Rockets took a foul on the other end so Harden could exit the court, and they trailed by three.

Paul found Green, open in the corner, and he nailed the triple to even the score at 122 each. We should remind you here that Green joined the Rockets four days ago with only a backpack on his back, but he has played admirably in the three games since. (Seriously, how have Mike D’Antoni and Green not connected already.)

On the next play, Kyle Kuzma isolated and attempted a 31-foot pull-up three-pointer — about as ballsy a shot as you can take — only to see it clank off back iron. Houston had less than two seconds left, but Eric Gordon stepped out of bounds on their ensuing possession with fractions of a second left for Los Angeles.

If Larry Nance Jr. catches that smoothly, the game is over. Instead: Free basketball.

That’s such a classic Paul push-off move — he’s really just helping the defender’s momentum go where he wants it to go, so he can lay it in. This could have been the game-winner if Houston could get a stop with four seconds left.

But Brandon Ingram is tripped up and fouled on a drive next possession, and he ties the game at 133.

Paul gets another chance at a game-winner and misses a deep, but open, three-pointer from the top of the key.

Paul records a layup, an assist, a hockey assist, and cans two free throws in the first four minutes of overtime. The layup is another classic Paul move — this push off, admittedly, pretty blatant.

P.J. Tucker finishes off the game with the eventually game-winning offensive board and putback. He then blocks Kyle Kuzma’s game-winner, which goes off of Kuzma out of bounds, which leads to this beautiful Paul and Tucker interaction.

Paul just wanted to inbounds the ball as quickly as possible so that the Lakers don’t have time to set up a trap or pressure defense, but Tucker isn’t having it for whatever reason. (In fairness, the referee has to set up Tucker and hand him the ball to be inbounded, so speed might not matter given the extra steps.)

Still, it worked — Paul does end up with the ball, and he iced the game at the line. He finished with 28 points on 8-of-20 shooting with six rebounds and 10 assists. Even better for him, the Rockets got that win they’ve been badly needing for a week and a half now.