IZTOK FRANKO: LAKERS GAME OBSERVATIONS: GAME 69 VS, ROCKETS!

March 19, 2026 at 8:13 am

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Lakers and Luka’s crazy run rolls on

Wow! What started as a somewhat demoralizing season is turning into an incredibly fun late turnaround, with Luka Dončić and the Lakers doing something special every night.

A super fun run that now includes a seven-game winning streak and just one loss in their last eleven.

Lakers Empire
@LakersEmpire
Am I dreaming?

9:19 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 139K Views
10 Replies · 113 Reposts · 1.36K Likes

The Lakers edged the Rockets 124–116, with Dončić delivering a series of late-game haymakers to win in Houston for the second time in three games. It capped an impressive eight-day run of stacking wins and clinching tiebreakers against all direct rivals for the third seed in the West.

The Lakers now have two fewer losses than the Rockets and Timberwolves, and three fewer than the Nuggets. With the tiebreaker edge, that’s essentially a three-game cushion with 13 games left.

Today’s notes:

LeBron James in ultimate blend-in, winning-impact role (VIDEO)

Luka finishes the Rockets with a series of highlight plays (VIDEO)

Lakers show they can beat the Rockets in multiple ways

Ayton’s first-half finishing and full fourth quarter (VIDEO)

Lakers dominate in transition, led by LeBron and Luka (VIDEO)

1-LeBron James in ultimate blend-in, winning-impact role (VIDEO)

Before we get to Luka Magic, you can’t overlook LeBron James’ super efficient 30-point game, in which he missed just one (!) of his 14 shots.

The biggest shift in this Lakers run is James taking a back seat to Dončić and Reaves, embracing an off-ball, attack-the-gaps role instead of being the main manipulator he’s been for 22 seasons. It’s a sacrifice that has significantly contributed to Dončić’s current comfort level.

Last night’s performance was a tribute to James’ greatness—his ability to morph and thrive as the ultimate role player, whether as a scorer in transition, an off-ball executor against favorable matchups, or an advantage punisher, making the right play in the blender. James scored 30 on just a 22.7% usage rate, which speaks volumes about the kind of game he had.

The 41-year-old had six dunks and fueled both the Lakers’ first-half transition dominance and the early fourth-quarter run with Dončić on the bench.

The Lakers Review
@TheLakersReview

“But I think what made the difference in today’s game was the start of the 4th quarter where ‘Bron and AR did an amazing job. We were down three, we started the quarter nine to zero so because of that we won the game.”

– Luka Dončić post game
10:30 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 3.37K Views
16 Reposts · 183 Likes

2-Luka finishes the Rockets with a series of highlight plays (VIDEO)

“He definitely put on a clinic down the stretch.” — JJ Redick postgame on Dončić’s takeover

It’s hard to explain what kind of show Dončić put on in the last five minutes—a highlight-reel display of skill, passing, and ridiculous shotmaking that sucked the life out of the Rockets and their fans, some of whom again made the mistake of yapping at the game’s best crowd silencer.

Dončić continues his end-of-season push—silencing critics and making a case as a top-three, if not the best player in the NBA right now. A 50-point game, a game-winner against Denver, 30-point triple-doubles, and repeated late-game takeovers.

Last night: 40/10/9 and another message sent.

Sam Vecenie
@Sam_Vecenie

Have thoroughly enjoyed Luka’s “And I took that personally” run over the last few weeks after it seemed like a number of people started to talk some noise. What a gloriously unbelievable basketball player. Feels like we’re headed for another monster Luka playoffs.

11:50 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 7.77K Views
4 Replies · 25 Reposts · 273 Likes
OptaSTATS
@OptaSTATS

Luka Dončić of the @Lakers is the first player in NBA history to have a 7-game span with:

250+ points
50+ rebounds
50+ assists
25+ threes made
undefeated record

9:53 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 31K Views
23 Replies · 413 Reposts · 2K Likes

3-Lakers show they can beat the Rockets in multiple ways

If the first game was an ugly, low-scoring slugfest, this one was the opposite. With Alperen Sengun back, the Rockets had more firepower, and it showed—the Turkish big man finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Apart from a stretch in the third quarter, Kevin Durant was still mostly held in check by the Lakers’ constant blitzing, but they had no one nearly athletic enough to deal with Amen Thompson’s downhill attacks, rim pressure, and crashing the glass. To be fair, not many teams do.

The Lakers had to score at a very high rate against one of the best and most aggressive defenses in the NBA. Apart from a rough stretch in the third quarter, when the Rockets’ physicality and pressure out of halftime shook them, Dončić, James, and the rest had little trouble scoring, finishing with an elite 129 points per 100 possessions.

Source: Cleaning the Glass

With Durant underwhelming again, Udoka leaned on Sengun and Reed Sheppard for extended minutes. As I showed in my X &O video breakdown yesterday, that gave Dončić, Reaves, and James a weak link to hunt for most of the game.

4-Ayton’s first-half finishing and full fourth quarter (VIDEO)

If Sheppard was the player the Lakers attacked most in the first game, it was Sengun who became the main target tonight. He was the screener defender on 38 pick actions, well ahead of Sheppard in second, who was involved in just 11. Udoka used a similar scheme, having Sengun hedge against Dončić to prevent one-on-one matchups.

Deandre Ayton was the main beneficiary, getting opportunities on the short roll, and scoring 12 of his 16 points in the first half, and showing the finishing touch we were raving about, especially early in the season.

The Lakers scored at an elite rate of 1.219 points per chance in actions involving Sengun as the screener defender. The two Dončić highlight plays I shared earlier—splitting the double and finding Rui Hachimura and James for baseline lob dunks—were perfect examples, driven by Dončić’s elite ball-handling and Sengun’s lack of foot speed on the perimeter.

Ayton had just four rebounds, but aside from the third quarter, he matched the Rockets’ physicality with solid boxouts and contested several shots, finishing with three blocks. Redick trusted him with all but the final 30 seconds of the fourth, with the game already decided.

5-Lakers dominate in transition, led by LeBron and Luka (VIDEO)

The biggest part of the Lakers’ early-season struggles against good, aggressive teams was their turnovers and inability to catch their opponents in transition. To their credit, they fixed both problems, with better ball control significantly helping the latter.

If you look at my now-famous fast-break points differential chart, you’ll see the Lakers turning the corner, with way more positive (green) games than red ones, a stark contrast to the first three months of the season.

The Lakers won the fast-break points battle in both games against the Rockets, and last night, especially in the first half, they hustled on the boards and punished the Rockets’ glass crashes and turnovers, with numbers on the break.

James was, of course, the driving force, the usual unstoppable locomotive in transition. But last night he got plenty of help from an unusual source, as Dončić scored a season-high 11 points in transition.

Comments

LakerTom says

March 19, 2026 at 8:13 am

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Lakers and Luka’s crazy run rolls on

Wow! What started as a somewhat demoralizing season is turning into an incredibly fun late turnaround, with Luka Dončić and the Lakers doing something special every night.

A super fun run that now includes a seven-game winning streak and just one loss in their last eleven.

Lakers Empire
@LakersEmpire
Am I dreaming?

9:19 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 139K Views
10 Replies · 113 Reposts · 1.36K Likes

The Lakers edged the Rockets 124–116, with Dončić delivering a series of late-game haymakers to win in Houston for the second time in three games. It capped an impressive eight-day run of stacking wins and clinching tiebreakers against all direct rivals for the third seed in the West.

The Lakers now have two fewer losses than the Rockets and Timberwolves, and three fewer than the Nuggets. With the tiebreaker edge, that’s essentially a three-game cushion with 13 games left.

Today’s notes:

LeBron James in ultimate blend-in, winning-impact role (VIDEO)

Luka finishes the Rockets with a series of highlight plays (VIDEO)

Lakers show they can beat the Rockets in multiple ways

Ayton’s first-half finishing and full fourth quarter (VIDEO)

Lakers dominate in transition, led by LeBron and Luka (VIDEO)

1-LeBron James in ultimate blend-in, winning-impact role (VIDEO)

Before we get to Luka Magic, you can’t overlook LeBron James’ super efficient 30-point game, in which he missed just one (!) of his 14 shots.

The biggest shift in this Lakers run is James taking a back seat to Dončić and Reaves, embracing an off-ball, attack-the-gaps role instead of being the main manipulator he’s been for 22 seasons. It’s a sacrifice that has significantly contributed to Dončić’s current comfort level.

Last night’s performance was a tribute to James’ greatness—his ability to morph and thrive as the ultimate role player, whether as a scorer in transition, an off-ball executor against favorable matchups, or an advantage punisher, making the right play in the blender. James scored 30 on just a 22.7% usage rate, which speaks volumes about the kind of game he had.

The 41-year-old had six dunks and fueled both the Lakers’ first-half transition dominance and the early fourth-quarter run with Dončić on the bench.

The Lakers Review
@TheLakersReview

“But I think what made the difference in today’s game was the start of the 4th quarter where ‘Bron and AR did an amazing job. We were down three, we started the quarter nine to zero so because of that we won the game.”

– Luka Dončić post game
10:30 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 3.37K Views
16 Reposts · 183 Likes

2-Luka finishes the Rockets with a series of highlight plays (VIDEO)

“He definitely put on a clinic down the stretch.” — JJ Redick postgame on Dončić’s takeover

It’s hard to explain what kind of show Dončić put on in the last five minutes—a highlight-reel display of skill, passing, and ridiculous shotmaking that sucked the life out of the Rockets and their fans, some of whom again made the mistake of yapping at the game’s best crowd silencer.

Dončić continues his end-of-season push—silencing critics and making a case as a top-three, if not the best player in the NBA right now. A 50-point game, a game-winner against Denver, 30-point triple-doubles, and repeated late-game takeovers.

Last night: 40/10/9 and another message sent.

Sam Vecenie
@Sam_Vecenie

Have thoroughly enjoyed Luka’s “And I took that personally” run over the last few weeks after it seemed like a number of people started to talk some noise. What a gloriously unbelievable basketball player. Feels like we’re headed for another monster Luka playoffs.

11:50 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 7.77K Views
4 Replies · 25 Reposts · 273 Likes
OptaSTATS
@OptaSTATS

Luka Dončić of the @Lakers is the first player in NBA history to have a 7-game span with:

250+ points
50+ rebounds
50+ assists
25+ threes made
undefeated record

9:53 PM · Mar 18, 2026 · 31K Views
23 Replies · 413 Reposts · 2K Likes

3-Lakers show they can beat the Rockets in multiple ways

If the first game was an ugly, low-scoring slugfest, this one was the opposite. With Alperen Sengun back, the Rockets had more firepower, and it showed—the Turkish big man finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Apart from a stretch in the third quarter, Kevin Durant was still mostly held in check by the Lakers’ constant blitzing, but they had no one nearly athletic enough to deal with Amen Thompson’s downhill attacks, rim pressure, and crashing the glass. To be fair, not many teams do.

The Lakers had to score at a very high rate against one of the best and most aggressive defenses in the NBA. Apart from a rough stretch in the third quarter, when the Rockets’ physicality and pressure out of halftime shook them, Dončić, James, and the rest had little trouble scoring, finishing with an elite 129 points per 100 possessions.

Source: Cleaning the Glass

With Durant underwhelming again, Udoka leaned on Sengun and Reed Sheppard for extended minutes. As I showed in my X &O video breakdown yesterday, that gave Dončić, Reaves, and James a weak link to hunt for most of the game.

4-Ayton’s first-half finishing and full fourth quarter (VIDEO)

If Sheppard was the player the Lakers attacked most in the first game, it was Sengun who became the main target tonight. He was the screener defender on 38 pick actions, well ahead of Sheppard in second, who was involved in just 11. Udoka used a similar scheme, having Sengun hedge against Dončić to prevent one-on-one matchups.

Deandre Ayton was the main beneficiary, getting opportunities on the short roll, and scoring 12 of his 16 points in the first half, and showing the finishing touch we were raving about, especially early in the season.

The Lakers scored at an elite rate of 1.219 points per chance in actions involving Sengun as the screener defender. The two Dončić highlight plays I shared earlier—splitting the double and finding Rui Hachimura and James for baseline lob dunks—were perfect examples, driven by Dončić’s elite ball-handling and Sengun’s lack of foot speed on the perimeter.

Ayton had just four rebounds, but aside from the third quarter, he matched the Rockets’ physicality with solid boxouts and contested several shots, finishing with three blocks. Redick trusted him with all but the final 30 seconds of the fourth, with the game already decided.

5-Lakers dominate in transition, led by LeBron and Luka (VIDEO)

The biggest part of the Lakers’ early-season struggles against good, aggressive teams was their turnovers and inability to catch their opponents in transition. To their credit, they fixed both problems, with better ball control significantly helping the latter.

If you look at my now-famous fast-break points differential chart, you’ll see the Lakers turning the corner, with way more positive (green) games than red ones, a stark contrast to the first three months of the season.

The Lakers won the fast-break points battle in both games against the Rockets, and last night, especially in the first half, they hustled on the boards and punished the Rockets’ glass crashes and turnovers, with numbers on the break.

James was, of course, the driving force, the usual unstoppable locomotive in transition. But last night he got plenty of help from an unusual source, as Dončić scored a season-high 11 points in transition.

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