Kevin Durant shouldered the blame for the Houston Rockets' loss to the Los Angeles Lakers after failing to find a way through the latter's defense.

The Lakers put in a strong defensive performance in the fourth quarter to earn their 100-92 victory and stun the Rockets.

Houston had taken an 88-85 lead with 6:12 remaining, but they failed to score another field goal after that, and Los Angeles seized control, helped by the Rockets' nine turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Durant finished with 18 points but only got two of those in the second half, and committed seven of Houston's 24 turnovers, with the Lakers throwing double-teams at him in the final frame.

"I just felt like I lost the game for us," said Durant. "It's that simple.

"Of course, we probably could make more 3s, but it's on me. I mean, to be honest, I'm the offense, and the opposing team is going to use all their resources and not let me get comfortable.

"First half, I got comfortable in iso, comfortable coming off of pindowns, pick-and-rolls, and they decided not to let me get comfortable no more. So, I got to be smarter, better with the ball.

"I got to maybe shoot over some of them double-teams, but space out, be ready to catch and shoot, be ready to be a screener, just be in a dunker spot, just being able to be there as a resource for my team-mates to provide space. I didn't need to have the ball as much as I did."

Final pic.twitter.com/VO6YAv1Ydl

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) March 17, 2026

The Lakers, with a 43-25 record, increased their cushion over the Rockets (41-16) to one and a half games in the fight for third in the Western Conference.

Houston, meanwhile, are only a half-game ahead of the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Lakers extended their winning run to six games, with Luka Doncic leading the charge with 36 points, while LeBron James had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists.

But it is their defense that has caught the eye recently, having made a steady improvement at that end of the court – in the second half, they held Houston to 35 points and forced 15 turnovers.

"It's something that we've struggled with earlier in the season," Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

"I think that shows the commitment that our guys have right now to that end of the floor, understanding we're going to win with both sides of the ball.

"We won a lot of games with the offensive side of the ball, and we've shown, I think, now – whether it's been the [New York] Knicks game, the Wolves game, this game – we can beat good teams with defense."