HOUSTON -- LeBron James shouldered the blame for the Los Angeles Lakers' 115-96 loss in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series against the Houston Rockets on Sunday after he racked up nearly as many turnovers (eight), as he did points (10) in the blowout.
"It started with me, obviously," James said after the Rockets notched their first win of the series to make it 3-1 heading into Wednesday's Game 5 (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Los Angeles. "My turnovers were unacceptable."
L.A. trailed by nine points at halftime but was blitzed by Houston 34-18 in the third quarter as James committed four of his turnovers in the period and shot 0-for-3 from the field. For the game, he was 2-for-9 (22.2%) and didn't reach double-digit points until a meaningless layup with 8:36 left in the fourth quarter cut the Rockets' lead to 24.
By that point, the game was long out of reach, with the Lakers having lost the one player who was having a strong night, Deandre Ayton, to an ejection midway through the third quarter.