The Los Angeles Lakers (11-24) and the Houston Rockets (26-9) put on a New Year's Eve show at Toyota Center, which the Rockets won in a 148-142 double-overtime thriller.

Despite the handful of players inactive on Sunday night as well as the Lakers battling foul trouble, they again put up a valiant effort against one of the NBA's top teams just to come up short. In a video posted by Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet after the game, Kyle Kuzma opened up about what he took from the tough loss.

“We just made a few mistakes defensively. I know I made one at the end of the fourth quarter and let Gerald Green get an open three when we were up three,” Kuzma said after the game. “They just went to the line a lot in the overtimes and at the end of regulation.”

Kuzma, who finished with 23 points on 7-of-20 shots from the field, said that this was a great learning experience for him going forward.

“It was just mental error. Just a learned lesson for me, being up three like that. I was just really trying to focus on the game plan and not the situation at that time. It's definitely something to learn from for the future.”

Despite the loss, Kyle Kuzma was really proud of point guard Tyler Ennis (20 points, 11 assists and two steals) and fellow rookie guard Josh Hart (career-high 26 points and six rebounds) for their efforts on the night.

“Ty did an excellent job with his opportunity. He's been waiting all year to try to play. He earned it and took full advantage of the opportunity,” Kuzma said. “I thought he was a big reason why we were in the game the entire game. Josh came out and had a hell of a game, too.”

The Lakers, who are now in the midst of a six-game losing streak, will be right back at it on Monday night when they play their first game of 2018 against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.