The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off the 2026 NBA Playoffs on Saturday evening, hosting the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Unfortunately, the Lakers went into the postseason without their two leading scorers as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves both continue to work their way back from injuries. The playing field was evened a bit for Game 1, however, with Kevin Durant being ruled out for the Rockets. With that being the case, the Lakers were able to take care of business at home with a 107-98 victory.
It was a nice start for the Lakers as each member of their starting five had a bucket each to jump out to a 10-4 lead before a triple by Jabari Smith Jr. settled the Rockets in.
LeBron James was running the offensive to perfection early as he had seven assists in the first seven minutes. The Lakers were getting whatever they wanted offensively in the first quarter, but to their credit, the Rockets were sticking with them and only trailed 33-29 going into the second.
The Lakers steadily began building the lead up as the Rockets struggled to take care of the ball early in the second quarter. After an alley-oop from Marcus Smart to Deandre Ayton, L.A. had a double-digit advantage for the first time.
While the Lakers were playing physical, they were also committing a lot of fouls as Houston was living at the free throw line to stay within striking distance. After a poor close to the half, the Lakers went into the locker room with 50-48 lead.
Reed Sheppard began the third quarter with a 3-pointer as the Rockets came all the way back to take the lead. That was short-lived, however, as James went into attack mode with a pair of buckets inside. That started a 15-5 run to go back up by nine.
Similar to the Rockets in the second quarter, the Lakers got in the bonus early in the third and were living at the free throw line. This naturally led to some frustration for Houston, who picked up two technical fouls. With the Lakers struggling at the free throw line though, they only led 75-66 going into the fourth as the Rockets continued to hang around.
Rui Hachimura had a pair of midrange jumpers and then Kennard and James hit back-to-back triples as the Lakers finally began to take control of the game early in the fourth. After another 3 by Kennard, they went up by 16 and never looked back from there in the victory.
Houston got the deficit down to nine with a couple of minutes to play, but Ayton made a floater to put an end to any sort of comeback attempt.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers and Rockets will return to the court for Game 2 of their first round series on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. PT at Crypo.com Arena in a game that will be televised on NBC and Peacock.
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