Lakers 3P% in Games 1-3: 46.1%
Rockets 3P% in Games 1-3: 28.7%
Lakers 3P% in Games 4-5: 24.5%
Rockets 3P% in Games 4-5: 37.1%
A lot of the dramatic change in the series is explained just by that.
The Rockets are just the 16th team in NBA history (out of 161) to force a Game 6 after being down 0-3 in a playoff series.
Only 4 of the first 15 have ever forced Game 7.
You can have your quibbles with Ime Udoka, but I’ll stand by Rafael Stone’s decision to stand pat at the trade deadline.
It wouldn’t have been prudent to throw away assets on a bandaid solution. It could’ve jeopardized their cleanup operation this offseason.