THE Houston Rockets kept their postseason hopes alive for the second consecutive game, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 99-93 in Game 5 on Thursday, April 30, 2026 (PH time).
According to a report by the Associated Press, Jabari Smith Jr. scored 22 points, while Tari Eason added 18 as the Rockets cut the Lakers’ first-round series lead to 3-2 and sent the matchup back to Houston for Game 6 on Saturday.
Alperen Sengun contributed 14 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists for the fifth-seeded Rockets, who delivered another gritty effort despite missing top scorer Kevin Durant for the fourth time in five games due to injury. Houston has now won two straight without Durant.
No NBA team has ever recovered from a 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series, but the Rockets are now halfway to making history. Only four of the 159 teams to trail 0-3 have managed to force a Game 7.
LeBron James scored 25 points, including 17 in the second half, and added seven assists for Los Angeles. However, the Lakers dropped their second straight game after stealing Game 3 with a dramatic late comeback.
Austin Reaves returned from a nine-game injury absence and finished with 22 points and six assists, but the Lakers were undone by 15 turnovers in their sloppiest outing of the series.
Deandre Ayton chipped in 18 points and 17 rebounds for Los Angeles, which remains without Luka Doncic. The NBA scoring champion is still sidelined by a strained hamstring.
Houston led 87-74 with 5:55 remaining before the Lakers responded with an 11-1 run to cut the deficit to three. But rookie Reed Sheppard answered with a jumper, then stole the ball from James and converted a dunk with 2:20 left to help seal the win.
Ayton’s putback dunk later made it 96-93, but James missed a late three-pointer as Houston closed it out.
Pistons stay alive
In Detroit, Cade Cunningham scored a franchise playoff-record 45 points, including a step-back jumper with 32 seconds remaining, as the top-seeded Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 116-109 in Game 5 to stay alive. Orlando still leads the series 3-2.
Detroit controlled the game from start to finish and never trailed. The Pistons built a 15-point lead early in the fourth quarter before Orlando mounted one last push. Paolo Banchero cut the deficit to three points with 1:09 left after knocking down his sixth three-pointer of the night.
Banchero matched Cunningham with 45 points, also a playoff career high, but missed seven of his 12 free-throw attempts.
The Pistons are hoping to repeat history after overcoming a 3-1 deficit against Orlando in 2003. That comeback marked the first time this century that an NBA team rallied from such a hole. Since then, only seven teams have achieved the feat, with the Denver Nuggets last doing it in 2020, according to AP.
Cavaliers up 3-2
In Cleveland, Dennis Schroder scored 19 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, while Evan Mobley had 23 points as the Cavaliers rallied past the Toronto Raptors, 125-120, to take a 3-2 series lead.
James Harden added 23 points, and Donovan Mitchell scored 19 for Cleveland.
RJ Barrett paced Toronto with 25 points, while Ja’Kobe Walter had 20 and Jamal Shead added 18 off the bench. The Raptors also lost All-Star forward Brandon Ingram, who exited in the second quarter with right heel inflammation. / LBG
