When the Los Angeles Lakers lost their two leading scorers in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to injury just before the start of the postseason, no one gave them much of a chance in their first-round series against the Houston Rockets.
It was understandable given who they were missing, but this team has overcome injuries and adversity all year to earn home-court advantage in the series as the fourth seed in the West. The Lakers have been comfortable on their home floor all year, and they went out and made a statement with a win in Game 1 after Rockets star Kevin Durant was ruled out pregame due to a knee injury.
The task was much tougher in Game 2 though as Durant returned to the lineup, giving Houston a much-needed scoring punch. Despite that though, the Lakers went out and repeated their stellar performance with another win, beating the Rockets 101-94 to take a 2-0 series lead.
While Durant got going offensively early, the Lakers’ defense eventually settled in and made life tough on him, much like they did in their two matchups in March. Durant led the Rockets with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists, but he also had nine turnovers and scored just three points in the second half as L.A. consistently found success doubling him.
Marcus Smart came up big for the Lakers on both ends of the floor as he not only had five steals, many of which while were guarding Durant, but he also had 25 points, two rebounds and seven assists on 8-of-13 shooting and 5-of-7 from deep.
Smart was made for playoff basketball, and he has shown that in these first two games for the purple and gold stepping up in the absence of his injured teammates.
LeBron James once again was the engine for the Lakers though as the 41-year-old led all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-20 shooting with eight rebounds and seven assists. James was in attack mode all night, getting to the free throw line 14 times and making 10 of them.
Another player who has stepped up in a big way in the absence of L.A.’s injured stars is Luke Kennard. He was spectacular in Game 1 and followed that up with 23 points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals on 8-of-13 shooting in Game 2.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The series now shifts to Houston for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday, respectively. No team has ever come back from down 3-0, so the Lakers have a chance to take a stranglehold on the series in Game 3.
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