the first-round series<\/a>, but only the Lakers responded to the challenge with the necessary determination and production. With Durant, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves \u2014 a combined 82.8 points per game \u2014 all watching in street clothes, Los Angeles surprisingly controlled Game 1.<\/p>\nWhile the Lakers got double-digit scoring from all five starters and 60.6% shooting overall, the Rockets didn\u2019t have a 20-point scorer or anybody who could make more than 50% of his shots except reserve Tari Eason. Those results were even more disturbing because Houston grabbed 21 offensive rebounds and coach Ime Udoka thought his team got plenty of good looks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever (is) playing, we play with them,\u201d Rockets center Alperen Sengun said. \u201cBut we missed (Durant) for sure tonight, and hopefully we see him soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sengun had 19 points on 6-for-19 shooting, while Reed Sheppard and Amen Thompson got 17 points apiece on a combined 13 of 38 from the field. Sheppard went 5 for 14 on 3-point attempts, and his teammates combined to hit just six additional 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
The Rockets seem confident Durant\u2019s bruised right knee isn\u2019t a long-term problem, although Udoka said Durant\u2019s knee is \u201cvery tender. … Tough to bend in certain ways. Hit it in a very awkward spot, I suppose. Pain tolerance is one part, but (also) limited movement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fifth-leading scorer in NBA history collided with a teammate during practice on Wednesday, and he was added to the Rockets\u2019 injury report on Friday. He led the Rockets with 26.0 points per game this season, his first in Houston.<\/p>\n
Durant was a late scratch, while the Lakers have had more than two weeks to adjust to being without Doncic and Reaves, who both got hurt April 2 and are still out indefinitely.<\/p>\n
That preparation time showed. Most notably, Luke Kennard continued to step up as a starter with a career playoff-high 27 points and 5-for-5 shooting on 3-pointers, providing more reason for the Lakers to be grateful for his midseason arrival in a trade with Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I\u2019ve been here, we haven\u2019t been really healthy a lot, so this just speaks on the guys in the locker room staying ready, being ready,\u201d Kennard said. \u201cGuys stepping up in big moments, making big shots. I feel like everybody did that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deandre Ayton delivered a confident 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Rui Hachimura also showed offensive aggression \u2014 an all-too-rare quality in the forward \u2014 while scoring 14 points. Veteran guard Marcus Smart added 15 points and eight assists, and 41-year-old LeBron James merely controlled the floor while racking up 19 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just our playoff mentality,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick said. \u201cYou can\u2019t worry about who\u2019s in or out of the lineup. It\u2019s our game plan. It\u2019s our standards. It\u2019s how we play, and we\u2019ve built towards that. I thought our guys just responded well and met the moment. That\u2019s the biggest thing. You\u2019ve got to meet the moment in every game, and (the Lakers) were able to do that. There\u2019s a lot that you have to do (against) Kevin, and you just kind of scrap that and you move on to all the other stuff we worked on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Durant\u2019s absence and the Lakers\u2019 performance in Game 1 have both suddenly provided significant credibility to the Lakers\u2019 determination to hang with the Rockets long enough for Doncic and Reaves to have an opportunity to return to the postseason. This series schedule even contains an extra day off before three of the next four games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going try to make this season as long as possible so that we can get those guys back at some point,\u201d Redick said Friday. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what that is, but that\u2019s just our job. And their job is to do everything they can to be in a position to come back at some point. It may not work, but that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Kevin Durant was ruled out of Houston\u2019s playoff opener against the Los Angeles Lakers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[32749,6372,9121,23006,1770,3267,56,58,57,4854,6371,58346,4846,23008,9922,6393,4646,65714,58264,3080,6539,89148,50576,154,6380,27,1760],"class_list":{"0":"post-256720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-amen-thompson","10":"tag-athlete-injuries","11":"tag-austin-reaves","12":"tag-basketball","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-houston-headlines","16":"tag-houston-news","17":"tag-houston-rockets","18":"tag-ime-udoka","19":"tag-j-j-redick","20":"tag-kevin-durant","21":"tag-lebron-james","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","24":"tag-luka-doncic","25":"tag-luke-kennard","26":"tag-marcus-smart","27":"tag-nba","28":"tag-nba-basketball","29":"tag-nba-playoffs","30":"tag-rui-hachimura","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-tari-eason","33":"tag-texas","34":"tag-tx-state-wire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}