BBNBA Playoffs: Reed Sheppard shakes off LeBron's shove to end Lakers' comeback attempt
From a BBNBA perspective, Wednesday night’s games didn’t feature too much Kentucky flavor. Immanuel Quickley remains out for the Toronto Raptors, which dropped Game 5 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, due to a hamstring injury. And up until the final few minutes of the final game of the night, Reed Sheppard didn’t contribute much for the Houston Rockets.
Then LeBron James shoved him while jogging down the court.
Let’s set the scene real quick. LeBron’s (very injured) Los Angeles Lakers held a 3-0 series lead against Sheppard’s Houston Rockets, which have been without Kevin Durant for most of the series. But Houston fought back to win Game 4, setting up another must-win Game 5 on Wednesday night. The Rockets led by five points with about three minutes left to play before LeBron got to the rim for an easy layup. On his way back to the other end of the floor, he shoulder-bumped the 6-foot-2 Sheppard.
That activated a demon sleeping inside Sheppard, who only had eight points at the time. The former Wildcat responded by coming right back with a pull-up midrange jumper. Money. Five-point Houston lead. But even more impressive was his defensive play on LeBron. Sheppard bolted at the ball off a pick-and-roll, swiping it from LeBron’s hands before coasting to an open dunk.
A four-point Sheppard swing in less than 30 seconds. The Rockets went on to secure the 99-93 win, making it a 3-2 series lead in favor of the Lakers. Game 6 will head back to Houston on Friday night.
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Sheppard finished his night with 12 points on 5-12 shooting (2-7 3PT), six assists, and three steals in 35 minutes. It was just a couple of games ago that Sheppard’s late-game turnover cost Houston a potentially massive win. The North Laurel product didn’t let that mistake linger, though.
“After what happened in Game 3, we could have very easily shut it down and pouted and quit,” said Sheppard, who was dealing with a sickness during the day. “That’s not what we did. We watched it and we learned from it. We keep fighting and keep giving ourselves a chance to win.”
No team in NBA Playoff history has come back from 3-0 to win a series. Only four of the 159 teams down 0-3 have even forced a Game 7. Winning the next two will be anything but easy for Houston, but Sheppard at least gave his team a chance by sealing Game 5 down the stretch.
Wednesday night’s stats
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | +/- | MIN |
| Reed Sheppard (HOU) | 99-93 W @ LAL | 12 | 5-12 (2-7) | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 35 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (LAL) | 99-93 L vs. HOU | 2 | 1-3 (0-1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8 | 5 |
| Immanuel Quickley (TOR) | 125-120 L @ CLE | DNP-Hamstring | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Adou Thiero (LAL) | 99-93 L vs. HOU | DNP-CD | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Tonight in the NBA Playoffs
| TIME/TV | MATCHUP | SERIES |
| 7:00 p.m. ET | ESPN | (3) Knicks (Towns) @ (6) Hawks | NYK leads 3-2 |
| 8:00 p.m. ET | Peacock/NBC | (2) Celtics @ (7) 76ers (Maxey) | BOS leads 3-2 |
| 9:30 p.m. ET | ESPN | (3) Nuggets (Murray) @ (6) Timberwolves (Randle) | MIN leads 3-2 |
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