Christmas always offers a marquee matchup and a chance for the Lakers to play on a grand stage against one of the best teams in the NBA. Instead of using it as an opportunity to make a strong statement, the Lakers started the game with the passion of a lazy cat lying on a windowsill on a summer day.

The Houston Rockets, behind Amen Thompson and Kevin Durant, dominated in Los Angeles as the Lakers dropped their third game in a row.

The Los Angeles Lakers' run of blowout losses hit three on Christmas Day after they fell at home to the Houston Rockets, 119-96.

After a big loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Houston Rockets rebounded to end road trip with win over Lakers.

Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason made the most out of his opportunity as he had a solid performance versus the Los Angeles Lakers.

L.A. brought a similar flavor of indifference for much of its Christmas Day matchup with Houston. The Lakers repeatedly allowed Rockets ball-handlers to beat them at the point of attack, get into the paint and generate good look after good look, seemingly whenever and wherever they wanted:

The Spurs earned a third victory over the defending champs in 13 days, while the Knicks staged a big rally and Houston routed the Lakers.