ORLANDO, Fla. _ Before Game 4 against the Houston Rockets, LeBron James bounced in the corner opposite his team's bench, barking out the fake football call like he does before every game. He fired a pass diagonal to half court, where Anthony Davis caught it and quickly drained a shot.
James celebrated, two hands in the air and a four-letter word coming out his mouth, the kind of sign that Thursday might just be a good day.
It really all fell into place for the Lakers, their spirit matching their output. They were locked in but loose, focused but having fun. And in the Lakers' 110-100 win, putting them up 3-1 over the Rockets, everyone did their part.
In a lot of ways, that's life in the NBA's bubble. With traveling parties severely limited, there's no room for dead weight. You pitch in where you can.
So when Lakers coach Frank Vogel decided to keep his two most traditional centers, JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard, on the bench, they became the team's loudest trash talkers, making sure the Lakers' energy had a shot of verbal adrenaline on hand.
McGee even anchored the Lakers' handshake line during introductions, going back-to-back with Danny Green, finger guns drawn, like a couple of special agents clearing the room.
Davis and James, the two best players in the series, didn't need to dominate, so they mostly didn't, allowing the Lakers' superior depth to rush over Houston. Davis scored 29 on 18 shots, picking on Houston's inferior size.
And while Alex Caruso scored 16, his defense gave the Rockets fits _ the masks everyone wears on campus might not cover as well as he does.
Markieff Morris, starting in McGee's place, didn't hesitate and launched from deep on the first Lakers' possession, Green shouting "There you go" as the ball left his hands. It didn't go in, but the rhythm was right, and the next time he got a look, he swished it.
And while James, who finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, got most of the night off from having to carry such a heavy load, he did manage to complete a deep ball to Davis when it counted, a two-handed wrist-flick that triggered the fastest break possible.
It was like they were just gliding Thursday, in tune with Vogel's game plan and with one another. And against the Rockets, the contrast was jarring.
For the second-straight game, Houston played without win Danuel House while the league investigated whether he broke campus safety protocol with a female guest. Before the game, coach Mike D'Antoni had few answers.
Asked whether the House situation gave Vogel a chance to remind players where they were and what rules needed to be followed, he wasn't concerned.
"Honestly, I don't feel like our group needs to have that talk," Vogel said. " ... Our guys are really locked in to the task at hand, but obviously, the situation is a reminder."
For the most part they were locked in on Thursday. But the Lakers got a little too loose in the fourth, back-to-back turnovers on inbound passes from under their own basket led to consecutive threes for the Rockets.
Houston got within five as the Lakers didn't quite stick the landing, but James found Caruso in the corner in front of the Rockets and he splashed home the game-icing three.
Russell Westbrook led the Rockets with 25 points, while James Harden scored 21 on 2-for-11 shooting from the field. He was 16 of 20 from the foul line.
