Short-handed Lakers knock off Durant-less Rockets in playoff opener

Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times on Apr 18, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — Above all else, the Los Angeles Lakers were committed to being resilient in Game 1 of the playoffs.

Even if they were missing their starting backcourt, the Lakers were committed to being resilient against the rugged and physical Houston Rockets, who were playing without Kevin Durant, who has a bruised knee suffered in practice.

And as a group the Lakers were, following the lead of LeBron James and a career-best outing from Luke Kennard to pull out a gritty 107-98 win over the Rockets Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.

James was magnificent as the leader of the Lakers, collecting a near triple-double with 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting, 13 assists and eight rebounds.

Kennard was outstanding in his new role as facilitator and a main hub of the offense, scoring a playoff career-high 27 points. His three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter gave the Lakers the separation they needed to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. He was 9-for-13 shooting from the field and 5 for 5 from 3-point range.

But James tied Hall of Famers Karl Malone and John Stockton with his 19th postseason, and Kennard had plenty of help from the rest of their starting mates.

Deande Ayton had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds, Marcus Smart had 15 points and eight assists and Rui Hachimura scored 14.

Game 2 is Tuesday night here.

James had eight assists in the first quarter, his career-high for assists in any quarter of a playoff game.

The Lakers followed his lead.

They started the game with a purpose, making their first four shots, missing the next and then making their next four in a row to finish the first quarter shooting 15 of 19 from the field, shooting 78.9% from the field.

Kennard was the best in the group, shooting 5 for 6 in the first quarter and scoring 11 points to help the Lakers open a 33-29 lead by the end of the first 12 minutes.

But the game slowed down in the second quarter when the Lakers scored just 17 points while the Rockets could must 19.

Forty minutes before the Lakers tipped off against the Rockets, Luka Doncic was seen walking down the hallway with his body guard toward L.A.’s locker room. Doncic was not playing because of a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, joining teammate Austin Reaves (Grade 2 left oblique muscle train) on the bench dressed in street clothes.

The Rockets announced that Durant was out for the first game because of a right knee contusion that occurred during practice Wednesday. Durant, the Rockets’ leading scorer (26.0 points per game), worked about before the game but was unable to play because of “soreness and tenderness.” The Rockets hope he’ll be available for Game 2.

“Bumped a knee in practice one of our days, on Wednesday,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Hopefully it’s a one-game thing, but [he] tried it out just shortly ago and didn’t feel good enough.”

For the Lakers, there was an element of shock they had to deal with when Doncic and Reaves were injured at Oklahoma City on April 2.

They eventually got past that, winning their last three games to end the regular season.

“Ten days ago, when our guys get hurt, I think it’s easy to look at adversity and the ups and downs of an NBA season as like some form of the basketball gods punishing you,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “The reality is it’s opportunities to build resilience. … Smart said it after our last regular-season game: ‘We’re right where we’re supposed to be.’ I think the whole season for the staff, our players, our team, our group, it’s been about building resiliency, and that’s what you need in the playoffs.”

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