Lakers’ comeback attempt against the Houston Rockets

Errant late-game out-of-bounds plays prevented the Lakers from overturning the Houston Rockets' early inside domination in their Sunday comeback effort. With Houston getting 18 offensive rebounds and 28 second-chance points, the Lakers lost 119-115 against the Rockets.

The Lakers had a late chance to tie the game, down three points with 7.2 seconds remaining, despite Houston's inside edge. However, their out-of-bounds play, which was designed to bring LeBron James (21 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists) open for a three-pointer, was not executed.  When Max Christie was about to be penalised for five seconds on his inbound pass, James attempted to request a timeout, but the officials chose not to do so, and Fred VanVleet intercepted Christie's throw to James. Fred VanVleet split a pair of free throws, giving the Lakers the ball back down by four (119-115) with 4.9 seconds left.