The Los Angeles Lakers shrugged off their injury worries to make a winning start to the NBA play-offs.<\/p>\n
The 18-time champions were without key players Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Maxi Kleber but 41-year-old LeBron James produced another fine display in a 107-98 win over the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n
The Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks were the other winners on day one of the play-offs, while the Phoenix Suns and Orlando Magic won the play-in tournament to book their places.<\/p>\n
James controlled the floor while racking up 19 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds against a Houston side who lost key man Kevin Durant to injury just before play started.<\/p>\n
“It’s just our play-off mentality,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.<\/p>\n
“You can’t worry about who’s in or out of the line-up. It’s our gameplan. It’s our standards. It’s how we play, and we’ve built towards that.<\/p>\n
“I thought our guys just responded well and met the moment. That’s the biggest thing. You’ve got to meet the moment in every game, and we were able to do that.”<\/p>\n
Luke Kennard continued to step up as a starter with a career play-off high 27 points as the Lakers took the opening game in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n
Durant, 37, has a bruised knee and could return for game two on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n