The Lakers were still without the services of star forward Anthony Davis, but they still made it a game against the Rockets.

It was a gritty game that involved hard defense from both teams, including a third quarter that saw a ton of offensive fouls get called on early on.

The tempo was set by the stars on the floor, and LeBron James (31 PTS, 5 REB, 12 AST, 2 STL) did his best to keep the Lakers in the game.

The Rockets leaned on their pair of superstars and were paced by Russell Westbrook (35 PTS, 9 REB, 7 AST) and James Harden (34 PTS, 6 REB, 7 AST). Westbrook had a very efficient scoring night (15 of 23 from the field) while Harden continued his shooting woes from beyond the arc (2 of 9 from three).

Defense was the name of the game, though. Lakers centers Javale McGee (9 PTS, 8 REB, 3 BLK) and Dwight Howard (6 PTS, 10 REB, 2 STL, 3 BLK) were huge on that end.

The Rockets took a 65-59 lead into halftime, but the Lakers went supernova in the third quarter. They used a 12-4 run to start the third quarter to retake the lead 71-69 with 6:51 remaining, and then finished the quarter 32-17. They would never look back. They’re now 30-0 when taking a lead into the fourth quarter.

Houston couldn’t get any big runs going while LeBron was resting in the fourth quarter. They got the lead to 110-94 with 5:41 remaining.

Kyle Kuzma (23 PTS, 8 REB) had another strong showing for Los Angeles, providing a reliable second scoring option while Davis has ridden the pine due to injury. Danny Green (20 PTS, 5 REB, 4 STL) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (20 PTS, 3 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL) contributed heavily for the visitors as well.

Turnovers were a big issue all night for the Rockets, who had XX for the night. The 124-115 defeat was their third in a row.