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The Los Angeles Lakers had everything set up to close out the Houston Rockets in Game 5 on Wednesday. Playing at Crypto.com Arena, holding a 3-1 series lead, and with the Rockets playing without Kevin Durant for the third straight game, there was nothing standing between Los Angeles and a second-round berth except the game itself.
The Rockets won 99-93, hitting 14 three-pointers and making it two straight wins to pull the series back to 3-2.
For former Lakers center, Shaquille O'Neal, watching his old franchise let this slip on live television was too much to sit through in silence.
On Inside the NBA after the final buzzer, he said exactly what he thought.
O'Neal went after the way the Lakers played in the closing minutes, calling it "hero ball" and saying the crowd was flat, the team was flat, and the intensity never showed up when it was needed most. He acknowledged that LeBron James knows what winning a championship requires. He didn't say that last part in a complimentary way.
Shaquille O’Neal didn’t hold back on the Los Angeles Lakers after these fell to Houston in Game 5, 99-93:
“I hate watching the Lakers play sometimes, because, towards the end, they start playing hero ball. ‘Okay, we gotta start playing hard now’… the crowd was flat, they… pic.twitter.com/zkQBHax0vH
"I hate watching the Lakers play sometimes, because, towards the end, they start playing hero ball. 'Okay, we gotta start playing hard now'... the crowd was flat, they played flat, no intensity, no focus. I'm glad the Rockets beat them. LeBron knows what needs to be done to win a championship. I'm super disappointed in the Lakers," O'Neal said.
James was the individual bright spot with 25 points, 11 in the fourth quarter. But a team that Houston beat while operating without Luka Doncic for the series has a real problem on its hands.
The Lakers can still win the series and probably will. How they play in Game 6 in Houston on Friday will say a lot.
English (US)