New-look Houston Rockets riding 3-game win streak heading into matchup with James, Lakers
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Rockets have a lot of the season left, but their three-game win streak over the past week, including two against a defending division champion, is hard to ignore.
Head coach Ime Udoka's team sits at 3-3 and a play-in game position heading into a home matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, who face off with the Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday evening.
LA's big three of Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and D'Angelo Russell are holding the 3-4 Western Conference runners-up together despite an uncharacteristic 19-point loss to Orlando and a close defeat in Miami in the past three days.
The video above is the ABC13 Houston's 24/7 Streaming Channel.
Still, Udoka's team seems to be understanding the assignment against an LA team that has not scored fewer than 100 points in the season so far.
Houston held the Sacramento Kings to no more than 97 points in either of the two games they played on Saturday and Monday.
So, what will be the key to the young Rockets' containment of the Lakers? According to small forward Dillon Brooks, slowing down Lebron.
On Tuesday, Brooks spoke to reporters during practice and was asked about his preparation facing a familiar foe in the 39-year-old star.
"I'm ready to lock him up. They've been shooting the ball well, playing well, so I'm just there to make them tired, make him get into that fourth quarter early," Brooks said in a video captured by SB Nation reporter and Dream Shake blog writer, Lachard Binkley.
Lebron's history against Brooks
The Lakers' small forward has a well-documented record against Brooks, who is a one-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection. The most visible clash between the two was in last season's Western Conference semifinals, when James and the No. 7-seed Lakers upset Brooks' former team, the No. 2-seed Memphis Grizzlies.
James played 37 minutes and scored 22.2 points a game in that six-game series while Brooks was the primary defender.
Their regular season matchups favor James, whose Lakers defeated Brooks' team, 9-2.
As for Lebron vs. the Rockets all-time, he averages 37.3 minutes and 25.6 points a game in 20 years' worth of matchups. Houston owns just two wins in the last 10 games against James and the Lakers.
There's no question any Rockets game with one of the greatest NBA players of this generation is a hot ticket. The least-expensive ticket that ABC13 found a day out from Wednesday's game goes for $37.50 each, before taxes and fees, in the 400 level.
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