NBA (3/18) | Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets: Revenge in H-Town?
Written by: Varun Sharma
Last Update: Wed Mar 18, 2026, 3:56 pm ET
Read Time: 6 minutes
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We're back in Houston tonight for the second matchup of this back to back between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers. It's not often you get two teams playing each other back to back like this, but it always makes for good basketball.
Lots to talk about, let's jump right into it.
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Game Information
Matchup Information
- Location: Toyota Center; Houston, Texas
- Date: Wednesday, March 18th, 2026
- Tipoff: 9:40 PM EST
Key Players
- Luka Dončić (LAL): 35.7 MPG | 32.9 PPG | 7.9 RPG | 8.5 APG
- Kevin Durant (HOU): 36.5 MPG | 25.8 PPG | 5.5 RPG | 4.4 APG
Betting Odds
Odds via Lucky Rebel, an industry leader in the sports betting world.
Analysis & Breakdown
Motion in LA
The Los Angeles Lakers sit 3rd in the Western Conference, they've won six games in a row and nine of their last 10 overall. The Lakers most recent win was against this same Rockets team just two days ago, here in Houston. Los Angeles scored just 100 points, shot below 25% from three and were severely out-rebounded. Somehow, they still won the game.
The Lakers scored 21 points off of turnovers and 16 points on the fast break. Contrast that with Houston who scored just 4 fast break points and 14 off of turnovers. Luka lead the Lakers with 36 points on 51% shooting, essentially scoring 36% of the Lakers points and scoring/assisting on nearly 50% of their points.
Luka's been phenomenal this year, he's averaging 32.9 points per game this year, he's shooting 47.4% from the field and most importantly he's winning games. The Lakers have gone 6-6 without Luka this year but four of those wins have been against the Kings, Blazers, Warriors and Mavericks.
If Luka is the engine that drives the Lakers, Austin Reaves is the navigation system that gets you where you need to go. Reaves is putting up career high numbers across the board and he's finally settling into that No.2 role here with the Lakers.
With both Luka and Reaves on the floor, the Lakers offensive rating jumps 120.5 and their defensive rating drops to as low as 109.5. When you subtract Lebron James and look at lineups including only Dončić/Reaves; that offensive rating jumps to 122.5 and the defensive rating drops even lower to 107.8.
H-Town
The Houston Rockets can't string two wins together. Despite sitting 4th in the Western Conference, the Rockets haven't won back to back games since the end of February. They rank 3rd in points allowed, 5th in opponent effective field goal percentage, 1st in rebounds allowed and 7th in opponent 3-point percentage.
The Rockets defense has been great this year and it's been the driving factor behind a majority of their wins this year. Kevin Durant leads this team in scoring at 37-years old, averaging 25.8 points per game this year. Unsurprisingly, Durant's also been very efficient this year.
Durant's shooting 51.4% from the field this year, 40.2% from beyond the arc and 88.6% from the free throw line. Second leading scorer on this Rockets team is Alperen Sengun but he's also this team's biggest defensive liability.
With Sengun on the floor this year, the teams defensive rating balloons to 116.1. Meaning the Rockets are giving up 116.1 points per 100 possessions. With him off the floor? It drops to 105.0.
Sengun missed this last game against the Lakers and the Rockets held them to just 100 points. Tonight with Sengun back, I'm expecting that number to go up.
Wednesday Night's Best Bets
Austin Reaves o8.5 A/R (-120) | Lucky Rebel
I'm going right back to Reaves. Like I said above, Reaves is putting up career high numbers this year. He's averaging 23.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. He's shooting 49.6% from the field and 36.9% from beyond the arc.
Reaves has become a key piece to the Lakers success and it's why he's now seeing the second highest usage rate on the team. He's cleared this line in six of his last eight games and in 71% of games this year where he sees 30+ minutes. Reaves finished with just 8 in their last game but the Lakers also shot 23% from beyond the arc.
With Alperen back for the Rockets, I'm expecting a higher scoring game and hopefully more assist opportunities for our boy Austin.
Jabari Smith Jr. o20.5 P/R (-105) | Lucky Rebel
Even with Sengun back, I'm going right back to Jabari Smith Jr. The kid lead the Rockets with 22 points the other night and finished with a near double/double after grabbing 8 rebounds. .
The Lakers's struggle to defend on the perimeter and even more so against athletic forwards that can shoot. Aaron Gordon just scored 27 points on this same defense, grabbed 5 rebounds and shot 56.3% from the field. They followed that up by allowing Smith to go for 22/8, despite a poor shooting night from three.
Los Angeles ranks 27th in opponent effective field goal percentage, 29th in points allowed to opposing forwards and 25th in rebounds allowed to the position. Jabari's cleared this line in four straight against the Lakers and tonight's matchup should be no different.
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