Inconsistent Lakers look to get right against last-place Rockets / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports Credit Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

For all the Los Angeles Lakers have endured during their season-long struggles, one particular statistic jumps off the page regarding their ragged play during the second half of the schedule.

With their 117-110 road loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday, the Lakers followed a victory with a defeat for an eighth consecutive time and last claimed back-to-back wins in early January.

The Lakers will attempt to find the win column again Wednesday when they face the Houston Rockets on the road.

"There's definitely still fight in us and we're definitely still growing," coach Frank Vogel said of the Lakers' effort against the Spurs without LeBron James and Anthony Davis. "I don't think that part has changed. Obviously, you want to get to two wins in a row. No moral victories with that but our guys did fight."

The Lakers won four of five games and moved to two games over .500 with their 134-118 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 7, but have since dropped 17 of 24 contests to tumble out of contention for clinching a postseason berth outside of the play-in games.

James (knee) remains questionable against the Rockets. He exploded for a season-high 56 points in a victory over the scuffling Golden State Warriors last Saturday and spoke afterward of pride being a motivating factor in his performance. He was singularly brilliant for a reeling team.

Without James, the Lakers collapsed down the stretch offensively in San Antonio, totaling only 18 points in the fourth quarter after posting 70 points in the middle two periods. The Lakers remain hopeful that the downtime will be enough for James to return at Houston, but should he remain out, the onus will be on the rest of the roster to collectively provide what James does.

"Obviously the fourth quarter is when he helps us the most," Vogel said. "But we miss him throughout the whole game and we have other guys who can do it, but we fell short."

One night after snapping a 12-game losing skid with a home win over the Memphis Grizzlies, the Rockets turned to a depleted roster against the Miami Heat and lost 123-106 on Monday.

Houston was without center Christian Wood, who leads the team in scoring (17.9 points) and rebounding (10.1), and veteran guards Eric Gordon and Dennis Schroder. With Wood sidelined by an illness, the Rockets were unable to carry over the momentum established against Memphis when Wood and the starting backcourt of Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green excelled.

Porter (22 points, five rebounds) and Green (20 points, three assists) were solid again, but there were too many holes for the Rockets to fill against the top team in the Eastern Conference. Houston trailed by four at the intermission before attrition yielded their wilting down the stretch.

"I told the guys before the game that I thought it was very much about our approach, our attitude and our physicality," Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. "We had a really good approach in that first quarter, second quarter as well, and the momentum changed in the game obviously. But as far as the fight, we fought the whole game. We ran out of gas because we were so short-handed and because we had lineups out there that we haven't seen all season."

--Field Level Media

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