LeBron, Lakers on the cusp of reaching West finals

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The Houston Rockets didn’t show up for Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers until it was too late.

They can’t do that again Saturday in Game 5 — or else.

For the second time in these playoffs, the Rockets’ season is on the line. The Lakers lead Houston 3-1 in their Western Conference semifinal series and could clinch their spot in the West finals with a win on Saturday night at Walt Disney World. It is the only game on Saturday’s NBA schedule.

Houston has won an elimination game already; it beat Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the first round. Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni doesn’t want his club thinking about trying to win three games now, preferring instead to simply focus on getting one.

“We’ve got to win the next game,” D’Antoni said. “It’s a one-game series and then we’ll see what happens.”

The Lakers dropped Game 1 and trailed going into the fourth quarter of Game 2. They outscored the Rockets by 10 points in the final period of that game to even the series, beat them by 10 points again in Game 3 and 10 points yet again in Game 4.

LeBron James is on the brink of another conference finals, and said he’s seeing a Lakers team that is in its first playoff run together continuing to grow. He thought the Lakers played 43 good minutes in Game 4; a five-minute stretch of the fourth where Houston outscored Los Angeles by 16 points and made it a two-possession game was the omission from his tally.

“We want to strive for something better than that,” James said. “We want to work the game plan for 48 minutes. ... We’re still a team that’s growing. We’ve got some guys who have not been part of the postseason. This is our first run together.”

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