The Los Angeles Lakers have gone up 1-0 in their first-round series against the Houston Rockets following a 107-98 win at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday. LeBron James was among the many Lakers to impress on this night, in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves‘ absence, and head coach JJ Redick praised the superstar forward in his postgame press conference.
“He displayed great leadership throughout,” Redick said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “And I think we talked all week about being connected offensively and trusting the pass, and he led us there in the first half, getting 10 assists. And then was able to make some scoring plays down the stretch.
“Just a fantastic overall game from him, and he gave us all he had on the defensive end,” Redick continued. “I mean, he really exerted himself on both ends, and that’s what the playoffs are.”
All eyes were on James, with his two co-stars being sidelined, and he didn’t disappoint. The 41-year-old had 19 points (9-15 FG), eight rebounds, 13 assists, two steals, and one block against the Rockets.
James had eight assists in the first quarter itself and 10 at halftime, as Redick mentioned. The Lakers had shot 64.7% from the field in the first half, and his playmaking was a big reason why the offense was rolling.
While James impressed with his playmaking, Luke Kennard did so with his scoring. Kennard set a new career-high for the playoffs with 27 points (9-13 FG) and also put up four rebounds and three assists. Redick loved how aggressive the guard was on the night.
“I just liked that he was aggressive shooting threes,” Redick stated. “I mean, he played a fantastic basketball game, but a couple shots that he’s hesitated on or got to the next thing. I mean, he just played really aggressive tonight and did a nice job. I mean, I don’t know what our overall numbers were, but we came in at halftime, and we had one of our highest paint touch rates of the entire season.
“His ability to just kind of get to the next thing and turn the corner on off-ball stuff and touch the paint for us, there’s a snowball effect to that,” Redick added. “He played a really good game.”
Redick spoke about wanting Kennard to shoot more threes right after they acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks at the trade deadline. The 29-year-old attempted five here and made all of them. The Lakers need him to stay aggressive, as he is one of their best offensive weapons right now.
Speaking of needing to stay aggressive, we get to Deandre Ayton. Ayton is one of the most frustrating players in the NBA as his effort comes and goes, and fortunately for the Lakers, they got the good version here. The big man had 19 points (8-10 FG), 11 rebounds, two assists, and one block against the Rockets.
Ayton notably played good defense on Rockets star Alperen Sengun (19 points on 6-19 FG) and rightfully earned praise from Redick.
“He was great,” Redick said. “I think he was great on both ends. Again, we’re at our best when he’s playing at a high level.”
The Lakers do look so much better when Ayton is locked in. We just don’t see that from him consistently, and it will be very interesting to see which version shows up next time out. Game 2 will be at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
