LOS ANGELES — "Hyperfocus" was one of the emphasized words in practice throughout the week for the Lakers, putting those words into action in Game 1.
The Lakers powered past the Rockets, 107-98, on Saturday evening to take a 1-0 first-round series lead, led by Luke Kennard, LeBron James and a collective effort.
“We just prepared ourselves just like everything else. We had a good week of preparation," James said. "We protect the home court [in] game one, and we gotta get better over the next 48 hours going into game two on Tuesday."
With Los Angeles' backcourt duo, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, out, Lakers trade deadline acquisition Kennard and James came to the team to fill the team's missing scoring void.
Kennard finished with a playoff career-high 27 points on a perfect 5 for 5 from 3 and 9 for 13 shooting overall, while James notched 19 points and a game-high 13 assists with eight rebounds.
The Lakers weren't the only team down stars as Houston's head coach Ime Udoka announced in his presser before the game that Kevin Durant would miss the first game after bumping knees with a teammate in practice.
L.A. came out of the gates with a burst of energy and momentum behind a sellout Crypto.com Arena crowd that mostly rocked yellow playoff t-shirts gifted by the team that had every player's face on it.
Behind eight assists from James and 11 points from Kennard, the Lakers made 15 of their first 19 shots. They assisted on 14 of those made field goals.
James would reach double-digits in assists early in the second quarter, making him the oldest player in a playoff game in NBA history with over 10 assists.
By halftime the Lakers had assisted on 18 of their 22 made buckets, shooting 64.7% from the floor to the Rockets 36%.
Deandre Ayton was a factor in the Lakers’ high shooting percentage and effort on the defensive end defending Alperen Sengun. Ayton was the presence L.A. needed undermanned, finishig with 19 points on eight for 10 shooting with 11 rebounds.
The efforts of Ayton and Jaxson Hayes had Sengun finish with 19 points (Houston's highest scorer) on 19 shot attempts.
Every player in the starting unit finished in double-figures.
The Lakers aggresive apparch, sending the Rockets to the foul line behind their 12 fouls, gave Houston 14 attempts at the free throw at halftime. It was a big part in the scored being just two score game at halftime.
Then the Lakers erupted toward the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter. The Lakers reached their highest lead (16) at the end of the third after two 3s from Kennard erupted the arena, putting on a Dončić-like barrage from deep.
"I just like that he was aggressive shooting 3s... he just played really aggressive tonight," coach JJ Redick said on Kennard. "He played a really good game."
The Lakers finished shooting 60.6% from the field and 52.6% from 3 while having 29 total assists. Marcus Smart had eight of those assists with 15 points.
The Lakers and Rockets will meet for Game 2 on Tuesday, still remaining in L.A. The status on Durant is still uncertain but his unavaibltiy was a huge swing before the contest.