Alperen Sengun addressed his Houston Rockets teammates after morning shootaround as they faced elimination, then backed his words with a 19-point performance in a commanding 115-96 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4.

The win prevents a sweep and returns the Western Conference first-round series to Los Angeles for Game 5 on Wednesday. The Lakers are 2.5 point favorites over the Rockets with the series returning to Crypto.com Arena.

Sengun gathered the group after acknowledging the team's prolonged absence of key personnel. Amen Thompson, who led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting, credited the pregame address with restoring the team's belief following a painful overtime defeat in Game 3.

"He was just letting us know he didn't want to go home," Thompson said. "I was proud of him just taking that leadership role and just pulling us all back in there and being like, 'This is not how we end it. If we go out, we're going to go out and fight, but we're not thinking about going out.'"

"I think [Jae'Sean] Tate and me is the only guys left from the rebuild," Sengun said. "And I think this is my team, so I need to take care of everybody."

Houston's defense proved equally decisive. The Rockets forced 24 Lakers turnovers, generating 30 points, their highest single-game total from turnovers since a 2013 playoff contest against Oklahoma City, per ESPN Insights. Tari Eason recorded five steals, becoming the first Rocket to post 20 points and five steals while shooting above 70% in a playoff game since steals were officially tracked beginning in 1973-74.

"Backs against the wall, coming to perform," Thompson said. "Today we were making shots and capitalizing on turnovers."

Sengun ranks eighth in the NBA Playoffs in PER with a mark of 23.5.