The non-play of the two injured Lakers’ best scorers was brilliantly compensated by two players. LeBron James with 19 points and 13 assists, making him the oldest player in NBA history to have 10 or more assists in a playoff game.
Luke Kennard stood out especially and unexpectedly. He was the best scorer of the game with a personal record 27 points. He shot 9/13 from the field and didn’t miss any of his five three-point shots.
Kennard was brought in at the beginning of February from the Hawks, and the most accurate 3-pointer in the NBA became the Lakers’ key reserve before he assumed the main role in the last two weeks due to the aforementioned injuries.
The unexpected hero replaced the top scorers
He opened the playoffs by scoring three times his average. Deandre Ayton scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who pulled off an impressive win without key players. The Lakers were compensated by Marcus Smart, who had 15 points and eight assists with four three-pointers. Smart said before the series that success would depend on “willpower,” and the Lakers clearly had more of it early on.
Houston missed Kevin Durant, but there was no one worthy to replace him. The Lakers hit 60 percent of their shots, while holding the Rockets to 37.6 percent. That margin allowed the Lakers to win despite attempting just 66 shots – the fewest in an NBA game in the past three seasons – and despite holding their opponents to 21 offensive rebounds.
LeBron explained how the heavily weakened Lakers succeeded
“That’s what we have to be — a strong team,” James, 41, said after making his 19th NBA playoff start, adding, “When you’re missing as much firepower as we are with AR and Luke off the court, we all have to do our jobs and maybe have to do a little bit more, protect each other offensively and defensively, and I think we did that tonight.”
Houston had a lot of players with a solid performance, but no one stood out. Alperen Sengun scored 19 points, and Jabari Smith Jr. he had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Amen Thompson added 17 points, as did Reed Sheppard, who made five 3-pointers.
(Vijesti.ba)
