HOUSTON (AP) – Kevin Porter Jr scored 27 points and the Houston Rockets beat the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers 114-110 yesterday.
Los Angeles scored five points, with a three-pointer from Rui Hachimura, to get within four early in the fourth quarter. The Rockets countered with an 8-0 run, with the first five points from rookie Jabari Smith Jr, to push it to 96-83.
The Rockets were up by eight with 7.2 seconds to go before Malik Beasley hit a three for the Lakers to cut the lead to 114-109. Austin Reaves then got a steal and Porter fouled him with 0.3 seconds remaining. It was ruled a Flagrant-1 foul after a review, but Reaves made just one of two free throws and Houston held on.
Porter was disappointed that Houston let it get that close in the final seconds.
It’s the second straight victory for the Western Conference-worst Rockets, who beat Boston.
The Rockets led by as many as 18 in the first half and had a 62-48 lead at halftime. That deficit came a night after Los Angeles led 75-40 at halftime after making a franchise-record 15 three-pointers in the first two quarters.
The Lakers used a 9-2 run to get to 79-74 with about three minutes left in the third quarter.
Troy Brown Jr made the first five points in that stretch and Wenyen Gabriel capped it with a basket.
But the Los Angeles offence went cold after that and didn’t score for the rest of the quarter as Houston got baskets from Jae’Sean Tate and Jalen Green to lead 83-74 after three.
