Houston Rockets @ Los Angeles Lakers
Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 8:30 PM ET
Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA | Game ID: 42500171
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
LAL 33 17 25 32 107HOU 29 19 18 32 98
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Kennard scores 27, LeBron leads Lakers to surprising 107-98 win over Rockets in playoff opener
LOS ANGELES -- — Luke Kennard scored a career playoff-high 27 points, LeBron James had 19 points and 13 assists, and the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers capitalized on Kevin Durant 's injury absence for a 107-98 victory over the Houston Rockets in the opener of their first-round playoff series on Saturday night.
Deandre Ayton had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Lakers , who pulled off an impressive win without their top two scorers.
Both teams played the opener without their most important player. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have been out indefinitely with injuries since April 2, while Durant was a late scratch with a bruised right knee .
Los Angeles thrived by hitting 60.6% of its shots while holding the Rockets to 37.6% shooting with pesky defense. That disparity allowed the Lakers to win despite attempting just 66 shots — the fewest in an NBA game in the past three seasons — and giving up 21 offensive rebounds.
“That’s what it has to be — a collective group,” the 41-year-old James said after beginning his 19th NBA postseason. “When you’re missing so much firepower like we are right now with AR and Luka being out, we all have to do our job and maybe have to do a little bit more, protect one another offensively and defensively, and I think we did that tonight.”
Alperen Sengun scored 19 points and Jabari Smith Jr. had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Rockets. Amen Thompson added 17 points.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
The Lakers acquired Kennard from Atlanta in early February, and the NBA’s most accurate 3-point shooter became a key reserve before he seized a major role over the past two weeks. He hit four 3-pointers in Game 1 while making nine of his first 12 shots.
Durant banged knees with a teammate in practice Wednesday. Reed Sheppard five 3-pointers while scoring 17 points, but the Rockets struggled to score consistently.
“We won a lot of areas, but just shot poorly,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “That’s going to be tough to beat, but there are some things we left on the table, opportunities missed."
Los Angeles also got a boost from Marcus Smart , who had 15 points and eight assists with four 3-pointers. Smart said before the series that success would come down to “willpower” — and the Lakers clearly had more for starters.
Bronny James began the second quarter playing alongside his famous father in the first significant playoff minutes of the 21-year-old's career.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
LALBJ B. James
DA D. Ayton
JH J. Hayes
JL J. LaRavia
JV J. Vanderbilt
LJ L. James
LK L. Kennard
MS M. Smart
RH R. Hachimura
HOUAH A. Holiday
AS A. Sengun
AT A. Thompson
CC C. Capela
JO J. Okogie
JS J. Smith Jr.
JT J. Tate
RS R. Sheppard
TE T. Eason
LAL/HOU the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur