On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Houston Rockets in an effort to get their first road win of the season. However, they were once again severely short-staffed as Anthony Davis joined Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Jalen Hood-Schifino on the injured list with a left adductor/hip spasm.

The Lakers didn’t try hard enough, even when key players were out. They lost by a score of 128–94, falling to 3-5 on the season.

It was no surprise that the Lakers got off to a slow start without Davis. The Rockets scored the first eight points before D’Angelo Russell scored a layup to put L.A. on the board.

Early on, Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green both made three-pointers that gave the Rockets a 17–7 lead. It was the sixth time in eight games that the Lakers were behind by more than ten points in the first quarter.

After that, though, LeBron James went on the attack. He went at Brooks for a baseline basket and then got a charge on the other end.

One player the Lakers did get back was Rui Hachimura, who had been out for four games with a concussion. He scored right away after coming off the bench thanks to a nice pass from Russell. He also made a 3-pointer later in the quarter, but the Lakers had a tough scoring quarter overall and went into the second down 32–19.

The Lakers didn’t make many changes at the start of the second quarter. They were still having trouble on the boards and at the free-throw line, just like they were in the first.

James found Hachimura for a pair of easy layups although Jalen Green quickly responded with five straight points to extend Houston’s lead to 47-29 with things starting to get out of hand. The Lakers got a much-needed basket when Taurean Prince made a 3-pointer, but Green quickly answered with his own 3-pointer.

The Lakers’ defense kept having trouble ending the half, and they went into the locker room down 66-45.

It would have had to happen early in the third quarter for the Lakers to make a run to get back in the game. It’s too bad that Green and the Rockets stayed hot while the Lakers’ offense couldn’t get going.

LeBron did his part by going to the basket and making a three-point play, which cut the lead back to 20 points in the middle of the third.

The Rockets always came back when it looked like the Lakers were going to make a run. By the end of the third quarter, they were ahead 99–71.

The game was pretty much over when Darvin Ham threw up the white flag early. The Lakers would go on to lose easily.