People across the country are raising their eyebrows after the Los Angeles Lakers shocked the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of the first round of the NBA playoffs on Friday. Trailing by six with under 30 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, veteran guard Marcus Smart made a steal in the backcourt, got fouled while shooting a 3-pointer and made all three resulting free throws. Then LeBron James made a steal of his own and made a 3-pointer to force overtime.
The Rockets and their fans at the Toyota Center were stunned as Los Angeles took a 112-108 victory in overtime. Despite not having Luka Doncic or Austin Reaves due to injury, L.A. now leads the series three games to none and can complete an extremely improbable sweep on Sunday in Game 4.
Coach JJ Redick has pushed the right buttons in this series so far, especially on the defensive end. He addressed his team in the locker room and praised his players for coming through in the intangibles department.
"That was the ultimate test of our poise and composure, and you guys just kept playing," Redick said. "Smart, you get the steal, you get fouled on the 3. Bron and Rui [Hachimura] get the steal, Bron hits the 3. Then we go into overtime and it's not pretty. I made mistakes in overtime, we made a couple of game plan mistakes, we made a couple of coverage mistakes, we just kept playing…We can close this thing out on Sunday. That's our mindset... tonight took a lot out of all of us. Be ready to go on Sunday."
So far in this series, the Rockets have shot very poorly, especially from long distance. On Friday, they made 40.8% of their overall attempts and 28.2% from 3-point range. Their bad outside shooting has enabled Redick and his players to get very aggressive with their help defense. While the Lakers committed 21 turnovers, they were able to force 17 Houston turnovers.
Offensively, James had 29 points, Hachimura scored 22 points, Smart registered 21 points and guard Luke Kennard contributed 14 points. As a team, the Lakers shot 48.1% from the field and 41.4% from beyond the arc.
They could get Austin Reaves back from his oblique strain on Sunday, and that would be even more bad news for a Rockets squad that must be demoralized after how it choked away Game 3.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: JJ Redick talks to Lakers in locker room after clutch Game 3 win