Marcus Smart stepped up to meet Kevin Durant at three-quarters court. The Lakers guard reached and poked the ball away. Instead of letting the lanky, nearly 7-foot Durant corral the loose ball, the 6-foot-3 Smart dove to secure it for himself. The Crypto.com Arena crowd jumped to its feet. From the opening minute to the…
The Los Angeles Lakers expect to be without star guard Luka Dončić for the remainder of their first-round series with the Houston Rockets, but Austin Reaves has returned to on-court activity and could return late in the series, according to ESPN, if it reaches that point. The Lakers have a 2-0 lead after a 101-94…
Luke-ah? With star guard Luka Doncic back on the Lakers sideline but still out indefinitely, Luke Kennard did his best impression of the NBA’s leading scorer Saturday, catapulting the Lakers to a 107-98 win over the Houston Rockets to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series. Kennard drained all five…
Some people may have thought that LeBron James was going to be very aggressive offensively in Game 1 of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets and look to score a lot of points. Some may have even felt that doing so was going to be necessary for him with Luka…
Getty Images LOS ANGELES — The Houston Rockets were without star forward Kevin Durant for their 107-98 loss in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday due to a knee injury. Durant, who popped up as questionable on the injury report during the week, went through pre-game warmups…
The elephant in the room for the Lakers as they enter the playoffs has been, and will continue to be, the status of their starting backcourt, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Both are out because of injuries — Doncic with a grade 2 left hamstring strain and Reaves with a grade 2 left oblique strain…
We’ve already witnessed the marvel that is the NBA playoff product compared to its often lackluster regular-season counterpart. We’re seeing every possession contested, rebounds fought for, players fighting through physical ailments and other competition-driven attributes to come to life when the pros play as if the outcome means something. Of course, that’s because it does….
Bright lights, big stage, same LeBron. Unmoved by postseason pressure, superstar LeBron James said he doesn’t plan to change his preparation ahead of the Lakers’ playoff opener against the Houston Rockets on Saturday. Approaching his record-tying 19th postseason appearance, James has reason to believe in his well-established routine. “Nothing changes for me from the regular…
Rebounding was not a strength of the Lakers over the course of the regular season. Rebounding was a strength of the Houston Rockets during the 2025-26 campaign. So, on their first day of practice Tuesday for Game 1 of the first round Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers worked diligently on rebounding drills, knowing full…
By finishing with a 53-29 regular-season record, the Los Angeles Lakers have finished as the fourth seed in the Western Conference. They managed to do so despite several injuries to key players throughout the season, and despite many national pundits predicting before the season started that they would be merely a play-in tournament team. The…
