LeBron James Leads Lakers Past Rockets 98-78 in Lakers Vs Thunder

The Lakers vs Thunder path opened with a 98-78 win on Friday. LeBron James scored 28 points, and Los Angeles closed out Houston in Game 6 at Toyota Center to advance to the next round.

LeBron James Drives Game 6

James put the game away early. He scored 14 points in one 12-minute stretch while the Rockets managed only 13 points in that same quarter, and the Lakers turned that control into a 38-19 lead in the second quarter after his running layup.

That cushion never disappeared. The Lakers never trailed after the first eight minutes and stretched the margin to as many as 25 points in the third quarter, turning a closeout game into a clean finish before Houston could make it interesting.

Rui Hachimura And Austin Reaves

Hachimura added 21 points, giving the Lakers another scoring source behind James. Reaves scored 15 points in his second game of the postseason, a useful lift in a game that did not need a late rescue.

The No. 4-seeded Lakers beat the fifth-seeded Rockets after wasting two earlier chances to close out the first-round series. They won the series for the first time since 2023, which ended the wait and moved them straight into a matchup with the No. 1 West seed Oklahoma City Thunder.

Houston Loses Its Grip

Houston could not match the Lakers’ pace once the gap opened. The Rockets’ 13-point stretch in that third-quarter window left them chasing a game that had already slipped out of reach, and the final 20-point margin reflected how quickly the night tilted away from them.

For the Lakers, the result changed the bracket immediately. For the Rockets, a strong seed did not survive six games. For the Lakers, James’ 28 points were the difference between a longer week and a clean shift into the Thunder series.