By Observer Sports Desk
LOS ANGELES — Playing for the second straight game without their top two scorers, the Los Angeles Lakers leaned on a vintage LeBron James performance and another Marcus Smart shooting clinic to pull out a 101-94 victory over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday, April 21, giving the fourth-seeded Lakers a stunning 2-0 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series at Crypto.com Arena.
James, 41, finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in his 19th NBA postseason. Smart poured in 25 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range and added seven assists, while Game 1 hero Luke Kennard kept rolling with 23 points, including three 3-pointers, off the bench.
It was an unlikely script. Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique strain) have both been out since April 2 with no timetable for return. Against a Rockets team that finished the regular season 52-30 and earned the West’s No. 5 seed, the Lakers were widely expected to be overmatched without their two leading scorers. Instead, they have dictated terms.
“We executed the game plan offensively and defensively, shored up some of our mistakes from Game 1, and just got into a dogfight,” James said afterward. “When we have two big guns out like we have, we’ve all got to pick up our play, and that’s all it’s about.”
The script was similar three nights earlier. In Saturday’s series opener, Kennard — acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in early February and the NBA’s most accurate 3-point shooter this season — erupted for a career playoff-high 27 points, burying four 3-pointers and making nine of his first 12 shots. James contributed 19 points and 13 assists, and center Deandre Ayton added 19 points and 11 rebounds as Los Angeles shot a blistering 60.6 percent from the floor in a 107-98 victory.
Houston played Game 1 without superstar forward Kevin Durant, a late scratch after banging knees with a teammate in practice four days before the series opener. Durant returned for Game 2 but was largely neutralized by the Lakers’ aggressive double teams, finishing with 23 points — but just three after halftime — while committing nine turnovers.
“They started doubling me from possession one,” Durant said. “I’ve got to do better and not put my teammates in bad positions when I’m swinging the ball.”
Tuesday’s matchup was the fourth career playoff meeting between James and Durant, who previously clashed in the 2012, 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals. Durant won titles with Golden State in 2017 and 2018; James captured the 2012 championship with Miami. At 41, James is still writing chapters that no player before him has written — leading a short-handed team deep into late April on the back of nearly every category on the stat sheet.
Jabari Smith Jr. led Houston with 18 points and Amen Thompson added 16 on Tuesday, but the Rockets shot just 40.4 percent from the floor and converted only seven 3-pointers. They shot 37.6 percent in Game 1, and despite grabbing 21 offensive rebounds, never translated the extra possessions into a comeback.
Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was searching for answers after Saturday’s opener. “We won a lot of areas, but just shot poorly,” Udoka said. “That’s going to be tough to beat, but there are some things we left on the table, opportunities missed.”
Game 1 also featured a generational moment for the Lakers: 21-year-old Bronny James entered the game at the start of the second quarter, appearing alongside his father in his first significant NBA playoff minutes.
The series now shifts to Houston’s Toyota Center for Game 3. The Rockets face a steep climb to extend their season; the Lakers have a chance to finish the job on the road and book a trip to the Western Conference semifinals before the month is out.