Nothing lasts forever, and the Rockets winning streak was no exception. Who worse to break that streak than the L.A. Lakers, who had a 3-game losing streak before tonight's win. To be fair, Houston was without Clint Capela with a left heel contusion, and Chris Paul left early in the 4th with a strained left adductor (inner thigh).
Still, the game didn't start off right for the Rockets, who trailed 9-0 just over a minute into the first quarter. L.A. hit seven 3s in the first quarter alone, which set a tone early on.
Houston then fell into a 22 point deficit early in the 2nd quarter, but managed to get within 4 by halftime after a buzzer-beater 3 from Eric Gordon. Later, the game was all tied up at 100 with 8 minutes left to go, but L.A. took the game back over to seal the 122-116 victory.
James Harden went 15-27 and scored 51 points, but that's because he didn't get much help from his teammates on offense. The rest of the team shot just 34.9% to Harden's 56%.
Eric Gordon put up 21 points, but hit only hit 8 of his 21 of his shots. Trevor Ariza and P.J. Tucker both had Double-Doubles, marking Ariza's first of the season, and Tucker's second.
The Rockets will try to start a new winning streak when they play the last of their 7-game home stretch against the other L.A. team Friday night.