Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Tue, Apr 21, the Los Angeles Lakers played host to the Houston Rockets in Game 2 of the 2026 Western Conference First Round. The Purple & Gold won Game 1 behind a great defensive team effort and an amazing scoring spurt from Luke Kennard, who scored 27 points and made five three-pointers. It also helped the Lakers that Kevin Durant was inactive for Houston due to a knee injury on Saturday night. The 107-98 win also had LeBron James and DeAndre Ayton score 19 points each and the other two starters scored in double figures. Now in their second playoff game without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the Purple & Gold were seeking to go up two games to none on the Rockets, who were getting Durant back on the floor. Let’s see how this all-important playoff game at Crypto.com Arena played out.

The game started with a tight score, but the Lakers were powered by 12 early points by Marcus Smart and 11 points by Kennard, with the duo combining for six made threes in the first quarter. Durant had some buckets for Houston, but Los Angeles held a seven-point edge at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter started with a couple of made threes by LeBron and the Lakers surged ahead to a 15-point lead. However, the Rockets came screaming back with 14 straight points and only surrendered five points to the Purple & Gold in the final five minutes of the first half. With the leading scorers being Smart, Kennard and LeBron along with some contributions from Rui Hachimura, the Lakers were looking to have another good second half. But with Durant on the floor this time, it wouldn’t be so easy for them to pull away from Houston.

The second half started with the Rockets taking the lead briefly, but the Purple & Gold retook control right away. Ayton had a couple of paint baskets, while LeBron made a great reverse dunk and had a couple of good assists as the Lakers’ lead went back up to eight points. For the rest of the third quarter, Houston was kept at arm’s length by L.A, who held the Rockets to 17 points in the entire period. The fourth quarter started with the Lakers pushing their lead up to 10 points on a three-point play by Jaxson Hayes. After a failed challenge by JJ Redick on a LeBron block foul, Houston tried to tighten the lead, but the Purple & Gold used their power trio of James, Smart and Kennard to continue outpacing the Rockets.

No matter what Houston did, the Lakers kept pushing their lead back up and a clutch three-pointer by Smart and a lane dunk by LeBron basically sealed off the game. The Purple & Gold held off the Rockets and won 101-94 to take a two-game lead in this First Round series. The defense was the main reason that the Lakers won as they contained Durant in the second half after giving up 20 points to him in the first half. Durant also committed nine turnovers, which accounted for 60 percent of Houston’s turnovers in this game. The Lakers committed 12 turnovers, but forced 11 steals and had five blocks as well.

LeBron led the way in scoring with 28 points, while also grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Smart had 17 first half points and 25 overall, with seven assists and five steals as well. Kennard continued his hot-shooting ways with 23 points and eight made shots from the field. The fourth wheel to this three-man show was Hachimura, who scored 13 points and had five rebounds. Between all the four starters other than Ayton, there were 89 combined points, 13 made threes(the overall team total), and a 29-66 shooting mark from the floor. That’s pretty darn good. Ayton and Hayes had six points each while there were no made shots from any other Lakers players. Meanwhile, the Rockets ran out of fuel as along with their turnovers their three big stars got into some foul trouble down the stretch with Durant, Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun each picking up four fouls each. Durant had 23 points for the game, but only three in the second half. Sengun scored 20 and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double, but he only shot 9-20 from the floor. Jabari Smith Jr had the third-most points among Houston players with 18 while Thompson tallied 16 and had five rebounds and nine assists. Four Rockets players who participated in the game had zero points, including Reed Sheppard, Jae’Sean Tate and Aaron Holiday. It was a failed mission for Houston in trying to win at least one game in Los Angeles before the series shifts back to their home floor.

The Lakers are looking very strong after being underestimated in not having their two star guards. The two guards who started in Doncic and Reaves’ places definitely had big nights, with them aiding LeBron to a 2-0 series lead. A LeBron James team has never choked a 2-0 series lead in the playoffs and as the series shifts to the Space City, the Purple & Gold will be looking to win at least one game at the Toyota Center in order to be guaranteed a chance to clinch the series in a potential Game 5 back home in downtown L.A. With two games coming this weekend, the Lakers shall look to increase their hold on the Rockets in this First Round series in the West while awaiting the possible return or either Luka or AR or both of them sometime down the road in this playoff run. For now, they are in a great spot as they defended their home court very well.