"We just had an off game," said Rockets guard Aaron Brooks, who was held to 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting. "They stepped up their intensity, we fumbled a little bit and they got off to a great start. They started rolling from there."

The Rockets shot 36.8 percent (28-of-76) from the field and 5-of-20 from 3-point range. Kyle Lowry hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 35 seconds to keep the Rockets from posting their lowest-scoring game in the playoffs (67 against Utah in 2007).

Nothing was falling

"We just couldn't get shots to fall," forward Carl Landry said. "Normal shots we normally make weren't falling through the rim. We got it down to 19 (points, trailing the Lakers) like seven times and just couldn't get past that. Shots were just rimming in and out."

The Rockets were forced into eight steals and turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 20 points by the Lakers. With the Lakers off and running to a 29-15 lead, the Rockets couldn't find their stroke to get closer than 15 points.

"We expected that," Rockets guard Von Wafer said. "I expected either them or us would get off to a quick start. I knew that was going to happen, and I was hoping it would be us. But they got off to a quick start and we couldn't hit anything."

Brooks, a catalyst in all three of the Rockets' victories in the series, was another focal point of the Lakers' defense. The Lakers briefly had two men on him to keep Brooks from penetrating, forcing the Rockets to beat them from the outside.

"They were just zoning up, and we didn't react well," he said.

Scola frustrated

And unlike Game 6, when Rockets forward Luis Scola got loose inside and scored 24 points, the Lakers made life miserable for Scola, holding him to 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting. He had four fouls and three turnovers.

"In games like this, it would have been nice to have a low-post presence," Brooks said. "Luis did play pretty good (in Game 6), and we didn't do that well this game. Maybe it's our fault we didn't look to him as much."

brian.mctaggart@chron.com