The Lakers limped painfully into the playoffs Saturday night only to delightfully discover a miracle salve.
An opponent as mangled as they were.
Yes, the Lakers are beginning this tournament seriously hampered by the indefinite absences of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
But — surprise, surprise — the Houston Rockets showed up with a bad leg of their own, a recently suffered knee contusion that sidelined leading scorer Kevin Durant for at least the first game of this first-round series.
The result? Check out the wide-mouthed scream unleashed by the Lakers’ Luke Kennard midway through the fourth quarter.
The Lakers: Loud and surprising and inspiring.
Read more: Shorthanded Lakers knock off Durant-less Rockets in playoff opener
The Rockets: None of the above.
No Durant meant no Laker problem, a potentially tough battle never appearing in doubt, the Lakers earning a 107-98 victory at Crypto.com Arena that represented the triumph of connection over confusion.
The Lakers were connected, apparently having had time to adjust to the loss of their two leading scorers, LeBron James acting as a brilliant playmaker for scorching hot shooters like Kennard, who hit all five of his treys in scoring a career playoff-high 27 points.
The Rockets were confused, Durant being a late scratch and their attack being lost without him, Reed Sheppard and Amen Thompson combining for 38 shots and a bunch of misses.
At one end, the Lakers were perfectly executing, the 41-year-old James becoming the oldest player to have 13 assists in a playoff game, Deandre Ayton missing only two of 10 shots inside, so much nifty passing, so many open looks.
On the other end, the Rockets were a complete mess, dissolving in two whining technical fouls in the third quarter that sealed their fate.
The Lakers might be missing Doncic and Reaves but, man, the Rockets really, really, really missed Durant.
The Lakers were good enough to win despite being outrebounded 21-3 on the offensive glass. They were good enough to survive despite committing 20 turnovers.
They were so efficient despite their obvious deficiencies, one has to wonder … could this one game blend into several games? Say, as many as three more wins in this best-of-seven series?
Could the Lakers actually steal this first round?
At first glance, this result could mean nothing, just one fortunate win by an injured team against another injured team, the Lakers underdogs again in Game 2 if Durant returns as expected.
However, this result could also mean everything, the Lakers gaining the confidence they need to defeat the Rockets even with Durant, this being a game that could create the kind of rich belief that could result in a deeper spring run.
Lakers center Deandre Ayton dunks between two Rocket defenders in Game 1. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Think about it. This game could be a springboard to a series win that would lead to a Western Conference semifinal series in two weeks. By that time, even though the odds are against it, let’s say Doncic and Reaves attempt to play and, even though the likely opponent would be the NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder, who knows what happens?
It won’t happen. It can’t happen. It was recently written in this space that it should never happen, that the Lakers shouldn’t risk further injury by rushing back Doncic or Reaves, that they should forget about this season and focus on next October.
Then again … who knew Kevin Durant would bang his knee? And who knew the NBA would stretch out this first-round series long enough to give Doncic and Reaves more healing time?
Enough, enough. Let’s put a pause on all this speculation and just enjoy what Saturday’s playoff opener wrought.
For the first time since the two injuries, the Lakers were fun again. For the first time since they went 15-2 in one stretch this spring, they seemed actually really good again.
After they blew a distraction-filled, first-round series against Minnesota last season, coach JJ Redick has long preached to them about ignoring the noise and creating a singular playoff mentality. That mentality was in full effect Saturday as they played as if they were at full strength, and the Rockets were at full strength, and they were just the better team.
“You can’t worry about who is in or out of the lineup,” said Redick. “Its our game plan, our standards, it’s how we play, we’ve built toward that.”
And thus bulldozed the hapless Houstoners.
“Our guys … met the moment,” he said.
Coach JJ Redick and the Lakers executed a game plan to steal Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
So did Redick, who deserves credit for reacting to the late news of Durant’s absence, as he and his esteemed coaching staff drew up effective adjustments on the fly.
“There’s a lot that you have to do with Kevin,” Redick acknowledged. “You scrap that and move on to all the other stuff.”
Meanwhile, the Lakers showed some seriously good stuff early, coming out firing in the first quarter, scoring on their first three shots, eight of their first nine, and eventually 16 of their first 20.
James was everywhere, moving the ball, setting up his teammates, recording an amazing eight assists in the first quarter, his best single assist quarter among his 294 playoff games. All that, and during the quarter he flew into the baseline seats striving for a loose ball.
“He displayed great vision throughout,” Redick said of James, who scored 19 points in 38 minutes and was a team-high plus 11. “We talked all week about being connected offensively. He led us there.”
The tone had been set … and continued to be set after James made a flying pin-against-the-backboard block of Thompson in the second quarter … and then he really got loud after Houston took advantage of all those Lakers turnovers to take a brief lead early in the third.
James barked at Rui Hachimura, who screamed back, ‘What?’”
Play better, that’s what. And that’s exactly what they did, Hachimura hitting a three, Kennard hitting a three, James scoring twice on back-in layups and then making a great steal at midcourt. The ferocity of the Lakers answer rattled Houston such that the Rockets were hit with two technical fouls on unbridled anger from Jae’Sean Tate and coach Ime Udoka. Then they absorbed further insult on a soaring blocked shot by Jake LaRavia.
By the fourth quarter, this game was over, leaving it to Kennard to send the crowd howling into the night by supplying three fourth-quarter treys on three attempts and making a Game 1 MVP out of Rob Pelinka.
The Lakers embattled basketball boss smartly acquired renowned shooter Kennard from the Atlanta Hawks in early February for Gabe Vincent and a second-round draft pick and … are you kidding me? Kennard was making half of his three-point attempts at the time of the trade. How did Pelinka acquire him so relatively cheap?
“I liked that he was aggressive,” said Redick of Kennard’s Saturday showcase. “There’s a snowball effect to that.”
Before this series, the Lakers had a snowball in hell’s chance of winning it.
Now? Bundle up.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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