ESPN;
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.
The absence of Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, have little to no affect at all with the Lakers, while the Rockets really needed KD in this game. Plus, Lebron James was vintage and was 2 rebounds aways for a triple-double.
Game 2 of the Lakers-Rockets series will be Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
