LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – 1 year break for Lebron james His nine-year hiatus came to an end on Saturday, with James and the Los Angeles Lakers returning to the conference finals.
James scored 29 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists in the Lakers’ 5th match 119–96 over the Houston Rockets, which returned to the Western Conference semifinals 4–1 after Houston upset Los Angeles in first match.
The Lakers star improved to 37-10 in closing opportunities, extending his streak to five straight wins in this situation. And Los Angeles experienced the longest cold spell in team history before reaching the NBA Finals round.
Faced with a unique team from Houston that changed center, Clint ChapelMid-season, to go all-in on coach Mike D’Antoni’s small ball, Los Angeles beat the Rockets in their own game throughout the series.
Los Angeles took control by referring to Markieff Morris as a starting big man instead of Javail McGee from the first half of game 3 to the end of the series and dominated.
Morris had 16 points on 6-of-7 shots in game 5 and 4-of-4 on 3-pointers. Los Angeles surpassed the Rockets outside as a team on Saturday: 19 out of 37 out of 3 (51.4%) compared to Houston’s 13 out of 49 (26.5%).
The Lakers will await the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Denver Nuggets 3-2 run by the Clippers ahead of Sunday’s sixth game to see if Los Angeles’s first-ever urban NBA series is played in a bubble in Florida or The Lakers will face the Nuggets in the 2009 conference finals rematch.
