Lakers lose to Rockets again; Redick says they must find areas for improvement.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Houston Rockets 93-99 at home in the fifth round of the 2025/26 NBA playoffs, despite contributions from LeBron James, Austin Reeves, and Deandre Ayton, bringing the series score to 3-2. JJ Redick stated that his team deserved to win the game and therefore must identify areas for improvement.

According to the data, LeBron James scored 25 points and 7 assists in this key game, Austin Reeves scored 22 points and 6 assists, while Deandre Ayton contributed 18 points for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick said, "We made a series of mistakes again in the second quarter. In that quarter, we made mistakes in executing our defensive plays and in judging our opponents."

"The Houston Rockets deserve a lot of credit; they made a lot of shots in this game, including some players who don't usually make three-pointers. But defensively, holding them to only 99 points should have been enough to win the game, but we couldn't make our own shots. We will review the game thoroughly, including our substitution strategy, and find out where we can do better in Game 6."

Speaking about Austin Reeves' return to the court, Redick said, "I think he played very aggressively and did a great job on drives, and he'll gradually find his rhythm."

Redick continued, "Mistakes in an offensive play are acceptable, but mistakes caused by passivity and hesitation are not. We did give the opponent two opportunities to switch to offense, and after completing our defense, we passed the ball directly out of bounds. These are mistakes we really want to avoid."

"This is a series where we have to win the first four games. We won the first three, but our opponents have won the last two, so we have to do better."

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