No Luka Doncic. No Austin Reaves. No problem.
Luke Kennard scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 107-98 on Saturday in L.A. to open their first-round series.
LeBron James added 19 points, 13 assists, and eight rebounds in the win, while Rockets star Kevin Durant did not play due to a knee contusion.
Kennard's 27 points are a postseason career high for the 29-year-old guard, whom the Lakers acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in February in exchange for Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick.
Lakers center Deandre Ayton added a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
"We were really poised as a team," Lakers coach JJ Redick said postgame, courtesy of The Athletic's Dan Woike.
Alperen Sengun led Houston with 19 points, eight rebounds, and six assists but shot 6-of-19 (31.5%), including a pair of misses from range.
With Durant unavailable, the Rockets' offense sputtered; Ime Udoka's squad shot just 38% as a team, and despite hitting one more three than the 10 made by the Lakers, they were just 33% from distance. The Lakers hit 53% of their 3-point attempts, led by Kennard's perfect 5-of-5 display. Los Angeles shot 61% from the floor overall.
"That was my matchup," Rockets forward Amen Thompson said about Kennard, according to Will Guillory of The Athletic. "He went off. I've got to be better than that."
Game 2 is Tuesday night in L.A. Durant's status is still to be determined, but Udoka said before Saturday's loss that he hoped his absence was "a one-game thing."
