All of the built-up momentum the Los Angeles Lakers have been working so hard for these past few games were pretty much thrown out the window on Thursday as they suffered an unexpected defeat at the hands of a 17-52 Houston Rockets side. It was supposed to be an easy win for the LeBron James-less Lakers, who are currently still chasing a spot in the Play-In tournament out West, but with Anthony Davis sidelined, LA struggled mightily against the Rockets. In the end, it resulted in a 114-110 win in favor of Houston.

To be fair, the decision to have Davis sit out Thursday's game seemed like somewhat of a sound decision. The Lakers were playing on a second night of a back-to-back set, and if they had to choose one game to have their superstar big man take a night off, it would have been this one. As it turns out, however, LA simply couldn't afford it.

For his part, NBA analyst Chris Broussard of FS1 has blatantly called out the Lakers for their costly decision on AD. The renowned broadcaster also pointed out how daunting the Lakers' schedule will be the rest of the way:

“Their remaining 10 games, 9 of them are against teams that are either fighting to get in the Play-In or fighting for a playoff position,” Broussard said. “… I'm not blaming AD. Yeah, sure, he could have said, ‘No, I'm playing.' I actually would have liked that attitude from him: ‘I'm playing. We need this game. We need every game. I'm playing.' I would have loved to have seen it, but I don't think that's his personality.

“I am blaming the Lakers management, and the Lakers doctors, and the ‘science' … He's played six straight games, he couldn't have played seven?”

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If you look at it that way, then it does seem that this was a costly decision on the part of the Lakers. This is all in hindsight, though, and at this point, there's nothing more they can do about it.

The good news for LeBron James and the Lakers is that they are still well within the playoff picture out West. In spite of Wednesday's disappointing loss, LA is still 10th in the conference with a 34-36 record. It goes without saying, however, that every game from here on out is virtually going to be a must-win for them.