The Los Angeles Lakers' ball-handling and playmaking issues were on full display in their Game 4 blowout loss to the Houston Rockets. Fans expected this with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves injured. They aren’t just their two leading scorers. Luka and AR combined for 13.8 of the Lakers’ 25.9 assists per game in the regular season. The Rockets are known as a physical team. Everyone expected LA to have ball-handling issues, but they didn’t hurt them until Game 4.
The Lakers are still up 3-1 in their first-round series after Sunday’s loss. They are averaging a playoff-worst 18.3 turnovers per game, but Los Angeles dished out 78 dimes in the first three games. They were doing enough scoring to not feel the pain of the giveaways until Game 4.
The purple and gold finished with 23 turnovers and 23 assists on Sunday night, but may of the dimes came after it was decided. LeBron James had nine dimes, but it was cancelled out by eight turnovers. Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard are the secondary creators in this series. They combined for six turnovers and only dished out seven assists. Houston picked up the ball pressure with their season on the line, and it resulted in disaster for LA.
Rockets expose the Lakers' ball-handling problem without Luka Doncic
This problem was clear in Game 4. The Lakers could barely get it over the timeline and were struggling to get any offense going. Dave McMenamin even sent out this in the third quarter.
The Lakers are struggling to even get past halfcourt and into their sets against the Houston's pressure defense tonight. The Rockets are rolling, up 81-59, with 3:10 to go in the 3rd Q.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 27, 2026
Fans expected this sooner. The Lakers had 18 turnovers in Game 1, but they had 29 assists in the 107-98 win. It was 21 dimes to 12 turnovers in Game 2, but the problem returned in Game 3. Los Angeles had 28 assists and 20 turnovers on Friday night’s overtime win. The Rockets were creating takeaways, but the Lakers were making enough shots to overcome it.
That stopped in Game 4. The Lakers shot just five of 22 from 3-point range and the offense stalled with 96. To make matters worse, Los Angeles had a series high 23 turnovers and never got going.
This win didn’t swing the series, but it gave Houston something to build on. The Lakers are averaging a disastrous 18.3 turnovers per game, which is by far the worst in the playoffs and would have ranked dead last in the regular season. That is unacceptable in the biggest games, even with Luka and Austin out.
Luckily for the Lakers, Reaves is nearing a return. He was a game-time decision for the last two contests before being ruled out just minutes before tipoff. Luka is further behind, but he did start doing movement shooting. Reaves could return in Game 5 to solve this problem. The Lakers will have to advance to the second round of the playoffs to get number 77 back in the lineup.
Credit to the Los Angeles Lakers. They won the first three games of this series without their two best players. Nobody thought they’d win this series going in. Their lack of ball-handling and playmaking finally caught up to them in Game 4, but the Lakers are still in the driver’s seat. They need just one more victory to advance, and reinforcements are on the way. Expect this problem to be solved when Reaves gets back on the floor. Hopefully, that happens in Wednesday night’s Game 5.
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