LeBron, Lakers shock Rockets with Game 1 win in NBA playoffs

1 week ago 20

Despite missing starring scorers Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the LA Lakers and LeBron James decision Houston successful opener.

Published On 19 Apr 2026

Luke Kennard scored a vocation playoff-high 27 points, LeBron James had 19 points and 13 assists, and the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers capitalised connected Kevin Durant’s wounded lack for a 107-98 triumph implicit the Houston Rockets successful the opener of their first-round playoff bid connected Saturday night.

Deandre Ayton had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Lakers, who pulled disconnected an awesome triumph without their apical 2 scorers.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 items

end of list

Both teams played the opener without their astir important player. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves person been retired indefinitely with injuries since April 2, portion Durant was a precocious scratch with a bruised close knee.

Los Angeles thrived by hitting 60.6 percent of its shots portion holding the Rockets to 37.6 percent shooting with pesky defence.

Alperen Sengun scored 19 points, and Jabari Smith Jr had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Rockets, who finished 1 crippled down Los Angeles successful the regular season. Amen Thompson added 17 points, but Houston’s young halfway got disconnected to an inconsistent commencement aft becoming the steadfast favourite successful this bid owed to the Lakers’ wounded woes.

Game 2 is connected Tuesday nighttime successful Los Angeles.

Kennard rallies Lakers successful 2nd half

The Lakers acquired Kennard from Atlanta successful aboriginal February, and the NBA’s astir close 3-point shooter became a cardinal reserve earlier helium seized a large relation implicit the past 2 weeks successful the lack of Los Angeles’s starting backcourt. He deed 4 3-pointers successful Game 1, portion making 9 of his archetypal 12 shots.

Durant indispensable hold astatine slightest 1 much crippled to marque his Rockets playoff debut aft banging knees with a teammate successful signifier connected Wednesday. Reed Sheppard took his spot successful the starting lineup and deed 5 3-pointers portion scoring 17 points, but the Rockets struggled for accordant half-court offence successful Durant’s lack contempt grabbing 21 violative rebounds.

The Lakers took the pb for bully connected their archetypal bucket of the 2nd half, and they pushed their vantage to 16 points successful the 4th quarter. Kennard scored 16 points aft halftime, portion the 41-year-old James began his 19th NBA postseason with an inspired, eight-assist archetypal quarter, followed by respective gritty baskets down the stretch.

Los Angeles besides got a boost from seasoned defender Marcus Smart, who had 15 points and 8 assists with 4 3-pointers successful his Lakers playoff debut. Smart said earlier the bid that occurrence would travel down to “willpower”, and the Lakers intelligibly had much for starters.

Bronny James began the 2nd 4th playing alongside his celebrated begetter successful the archetypal important playoff minutes of the 21-year-old’s career.

*** Disclaimer: This Article is auto-aggregated by a Rss Api Program and has not been created or edited by Bdtype.

(Note: This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News Rss Api. News.bdtype.com Staff may not have modified or edited the content body.

Please visit the Source Website that deserves the credit and responsibility for creating this content.)

Watch Live | Source Article