Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Fri, May 1, the Los Angeles Lakers faced the Houston Rockets in the sixth game of their first round series. Following a couple of losses to the Rockets on Sun Apr 26(116-95) and Wed Apr 29(99-93), the Purple & Gold were looking to close out their first-round opponent who wouldn’t go down without a fight. Issues such as low offensive efficiency caused by a high number of turnovers and Houston scoring points off of steals were kind of rough road patches that prevented the Lakers from closing out the series sooner. With all the other series in the Western Conference being finished and the Oklahoma City Thunder having an easy sweep over the Phoenix Suns and some extra time to rest up, the Purple & Gold needed to close this series out desperately on Friday night at the Toyota Center. One good thing was that Austin Reaves was back and he had a 22-point showing in Game 5. Now Reaves was in the starting lineup and looking to help the Lakers clinch their first playoff series win in three years.

The game started out pretty tight with the Rockets having an early edge halfway through the first quarter. The lead was 16-11 Houston when things started to swing in the direction of Los Angeles. Reaves had an and-one basket and three-point play, then Luke Kennard made a big three-pointer that gave the Lakers the lead. Another missed shot for the Rockets led to a three-pointer by Jake LaRavia and after a timeout from the Rockets, Rui Hachimura made a clutch three. It was a 23-18 lead for the Purple & Gold at the end of the first quarter, but their scoring run was just getting started.

In the second quarter, the Lakers kept their foot on the pedal as LeBron James made a fadeaway shot and then lobbed up a layup assist to LaRavia that was made. LeBron made a big three-pointer to push the lead to double-figures and he made a layup to increase the lead to 14. The scoring run continued as it ended with a 27-3 mark in favor of the Purple & Gold. The Rockets’ offensive execution was basically dead and without Kevin Durant for a fourth straight game in this series, Houston was getting seriously exposed and that was a major problem. The Lakers had some incredible defensive stops with some steals and clutch blocks along with drawing a few offensive fouls(Marcus Smart specializes in that department). Hachimura and James made a couple of threes to push the lead up to 18 before halftime. This was a low-scoring contest and the Purple & Gold were definitively winning it. LeBron had 16 first-half points while Hachimura was making a few threes to step up his offensive game. As long as they continued this incredible work, the Purple & Gold would be well on their way to the next round.

In the second half, the dominant performance continued to expand for the Lakers. LeBron and Rui were leading the way in scoring, with Reaves starting to step up his offensive game. The lead grew to as high as 25 points and even though the Rockets won the third quarter(by two points), there was no way they were going to win this game. There was a moment in the fourth quarter where JJ Redick was not pleased with the team’s defensive effort, but it was only a rare slip-up. The Lakers sealed off the game and won by a final score of 98-78. For the first time since a Conference Semifinals victory over the Golden State Warriors in 2023, the Purple & Gold had won a playoff series. Plenty of players on that roster are on this roster, including LeBron, Reaves, Hachimura and others.

The three-headed monster tonight was those three players listed above. The King had another solid performance in a close-out game in a series as he led all scorers with 28 points and had seven rebounds and eight assists as well. Hachimura stepped up big time with 21 points and five made three-pointers to go with six rebounds. Reaves had a solid 15 points in his first game back in the starting lineup since returning from his oblique injury. Three other players scored 7 points each and the team had nine blocks along with forcing 11 turnovers against the Rockets, who lost in the First Round for the second straight season on their home floor. Amen Thompson led Houston in scoring with 18 points and Alperen Sengün, who had himself a solid few games in this series, scored 17 and grabbed 11 boards for a double-double.

Now the focus shifts to the next round, where the Lakers face a monumental task in taking on the defending champions in the NBA in the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had themselves a strong regular season in securing home-court advantage in the entire playoffs with a 64-18 record. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a likely MVP candidate, the Thunder are surrounded by a load of great supporting cast players. One of them is currently hurt with a hamstring in Jalen Williams, who is currently considered week-to-week. But players for OKC stepping up in Williams’ absence are Chet Holmgren, Ajay Mitchell, Isaiah Hartenstein and a few others. The Thunder are seeking to be the first repeat champion in the NBA since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018. The Lakers have played OKC before in the playoffs and it was in the second round of the 2012 playoffs. The Thunder won that series in five games as they had a young trio in Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook fuel them all the way to the NBA Finals, where they were beaten by a Miami Heat team with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Kobe Bryant tried his best to keep the Purple & Gold alive in that series, but they only mustered one win in the series and lost two tight games on the road in Oklahoma.

In modern times, the Lakers are still without Luka Doncic, who is continuing to try and recover from a hamstring injury that he suffered on the floor at the Paycom Center on Thur, Apr 2. Doncic’s status for a possible return in the series is currently unknown and the Lakers desperately need him back. The Thunder defeated the Lakers in all four matchups in the regular season, including three of them that were blowout results. The only real close game in the season series came on Mon, Feb 9 at Crypto.com Arena, where both teams were without Luka Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander respectively. The Thunder had a one-point lead through three quarters and they pulled away late in the fourth for a 119-110 victory. Williams led OKC in scoring with 23 points and contributing players to the win included Isaiah Joe(19 points, four made threes), Alex Caruso(17 points) and others. So, in this upcoming series, both teams will be without a key forward in their starting lineups to start out and there will be much debate as to whether the Lakers can give the Thunder a run for their money without a fully healthy Doncic.

The series will begin on Tue, May 5 in OKC and Game 2 shall be on Thur, May 7. The series shifts to L.A on Sat May 9 and defending home court will be important for the Purple & Gold if they are to legitimately challenge the Thunder. For now, the Lakers are successful in defeating the Rockets and winning a first-round series for the first time under JJ Redick. No matter what happens next, this team has shown what they are capable of when everything is clicking offensively and defensively.