LeBron vs. KD: Short-handed Lakers set to face Rockets in first round
Carlos Yakimowich
Host · Writer
LOS ANGELES — The end of the regular season has officially ended and the Lakers are the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference after finishing with a 53-29 record, the most wins Los Angeles has had since the 2010-11 season.
The Lakers are set to face the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, starting Game 1 on Saturday (5:30 PST), marking the first time since the 2018 Finals we’ll see LeBron James and Kevin Durant face off in the postseason.
Game 1 will be the 15th postseason matchup between James and Durant, as both are still putting up all-world numbers late in their careers.
In the final four games of the season without Dončić and Reaves, James averaged 25.5 points, 11 assists and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 55.7% from the field in the driver’s seat of the offense heading into the postseason.
In year 18, Durant posted 26 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 41.3% from 3 in 78 games.
Durant has had the upper hand over James in the postseason with a 9-5 record in the playoffs.
“Houston’s obviously a really good basketball team, and we’re gonna prepare, and we’re gonna fight, and we’re gonna go try to win the series," coach JJ Redick said after Sunday’s 131-107 season finale win over the Jazz.
“We’re gonna do everything we can to get our guys in a great frame of mind, great physical shape over the next four or five days and be ready to play.”
Luka Dončić (hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves’ (oblique) postseason statuses are still uncertain, but there is hope that Dončić will make an appearance at some point in the playoffs after reports of going to Spain last Monday to receive treatment on his hamstring.
Dončić’s agent, Bill Duffy, said the 27-year-old is motivated to make a return from his Grade 2 strain.
Reaves is trending toward not making an appearance in the first round with his Grade 2 oblique injury against Houston, with reports from ESPN’s Shams Charania that the earliest for him to return is the first week of May.
The Lakers averaged 116.3 points per game in 82 games this season and they are set to start the postseason without 56.8 points averaged between Dončić and Reaves, leaving 41-year-old James and the supporting cast to find a way to fulfill that production.
“We got game one, whenever that is, with the group that we have, and we’ll figure out the best way for us to put ourselves in a position to win game one," Redick said.
The Lakers finished 2-1 against the Rockets this season, but the circumstances were different with Dončić playing in all three contests.
L.A. will have a tough challenge without the NBA’s scoring champion—the second nod of his career—against a physical Houston team that finished 51-30 this season.
