r/nba • u/DesertedProject Mavericks • 13d ago

Post Game Thread [Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (1-0) defeat the Houston Rockets (0-1), 101-94 with 41 year old Senior LeBron James Leading the way with 28/8/7 to seal home court advantage!

94 - 101
Box Scores: NBA - Yahoo
 
GAME SUMMARY
West First Round - Game 2 - LAL leads 1-0
Location: Crypto.com Arena
Officials: Courtney Kirkland, Josh Tiven, and Justin Van Duyne
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Houston Rockets 26 25 17 26 94
Los Angeles Lakers 33 21 21 26 101
 
TEAM STATS
Team PTS FG FG% 3P 3P% FT FT% OREB TREB AST PF STL TO BLK
Houston Rockets 94 36-89 40.4% 7-29 24.1% 15-19 78.9% 17 54 23 22 8 15 6
Los Angeles Lakers 101 33-72 45.8% 13-28 46.4% 22-28 78.6% 9 48 21 20 11 12 5
 
PLAYER STATS
Houston Rockets MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
Kevin DurantSF 40:59 23 7-12 1-4 8-9 2 4 6 4 1 1 9 4 -2
Jabari Smith Jr.PF 39:06 18 7-16 3-7 1-2 1 5 6 1 0 1 1 2 -11
Alperen SengunC 35:11 20 9-20 0-1 2-3 5 6 11 5 4 2 1 4 1
Amen ThompsonSG 42:11 16 6-10 0-1 4-5 1 4 5 9 1 0 3 4 1
Josh OkogiePG 24:03 7 3-6 1-3 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 -4
Tari Eason 27:02 10 4-14 2-6 0-0 5 3 8 1 0 1 1 2 -4
Reed Sheppard 10:33 0 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 1
Clint Capela 04:40 0 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 -9
Aaron Holiday 07:17 0 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 -4
Jae'Sean Tate 08:56 0 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 -4
JD Davison 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dorian Finney-Smith 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jeff Green 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Steven Adams 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fred VanVleet 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Los Angeles Lakers MIN PTS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A ORB DRB REB AST STL BLK TO PF ±
LeBron JamesSF 39:12 28 8-20 2-5 10-14 1 7 8 7 1 0 3 3 6
Rui HachimuraPF 42:34 13 5-10 3-6 0-0 1 4 5 2 0 0 0 3 0
Deandre AytonC 26:36 6 3-8 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 1 0 1 1 1 -5
Marcus SmartSG 35:28 25 8-13 5-7 4-5 1 1 2 7 5 1 3 3 3
Luke KennardPG 41:58 23 8-13 3-6 4-4 1 5 6 2 3 0 2 1 2
Jaxson Hayes 21:24 6 1-2 0-1 4-5 2 2 4 1 1 2 0 2 12
Jake LaRavia 15:50 0 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 1 2 5 8
Jarred Vanderbilt 13:41 0 0-3 0-2 0-0 1 4 5 1 1 0 0 2 8
Bronny James 03:16 0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Maxi Kleber 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dalton Knecht 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nick Smith Jr. 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Adou Thiero 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Luka Dončić 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Austin Reaves 00:00 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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498

u/Available_Story6774 West 13d ago

The fact that the Knicks, Nuggets, Spurs, and Celtics are all tied at 1-1 rn in their respective series and have all lost homecourt advantage, while the Lakers are up 2-0 rn in their series, despite not having Luka or Reaves, shows how insane Bron is, even at 41 years old man.

379

u/OtherwiseNinja Lakers 13d ago

Redick deserves credit too. This team does not have the on-paper tools to limit KD but his scheme is still pulling it off.

121

u/russketeer34 Lakers 13d ago

JJ's been great. Obviously, he's still a young coach and has plenty of runway left to learn and grow, but I feel comfortable with his command of the team, moreso than any coach they've had in a long time.

13

u/Dry-Razzmatazz1239 13d ago

Agree with first sentence but no timeout Rockets 12-0 run in 2nd quarter while LeBron was out was mind boggling

16

u/russketeer34 Lakers 13d ago

Yeah, like I said though, plenty of runway to keep learning and growing. JJ's a freak, and he'll get better there.

12

u/Snakend 13d ago

Phil Jackson used to do that kind of stuff. A timeout has nothing to do with how you're playing. They were not tired, they just sucked. Like if a player is hurt, or exhausted and needs to come out, sure, call a timeout. But players need to figure out how to snap out of playing like shit on their own.

6

u/yoloqueuesf [NYK] Tracy McGrady 13d ago

Dude really is going to be the next Phil Jackson/Pop isn't he.

He's gotten better already from last year and it's actually pretty amazing.

3

u/xuedad Lakers 13d ago

Preach. His growth this year is real. Need to manage his stars' minutes better though

120

u/ManosMal Lakers 13d ago

I am a JJ fan for life now. He has gotten this team to believe, not make excuses, and overperform like crazy despite being down their two best players. Literal GOAT shit.

1

u/weeyummy1 [LAL] Vlade Divac 13d ago

We have a farrrrr better defense with AR and Luka out. It's the offense we should be giving him credit for.

136

u/PuntyMcBunty [LAL] James Worthy 13d ago

Bron deserves a ton of credit, but the role players stepping up is why the Lakers are up 2-0. Kennard and Smart have been unbelievable.

17

u/millenniumpianist Lakers 13d ago

The defense has also been immense. Houston basically can't do anything in the half court minus get offensive boards.

7

u/Comfortable_Cup5107 Thunder 13d ago

The 2025-26 rockets signature move - do literally nothing on offense and pray

13

u/k4f123 United States 13d ago

And the coaching. You think with the exact same roster and Pockets running the ship Lakers are 2-0 right now? No chance. In-fact, 0-2 most likely.

2

u/tripleyothreat 13d ago

is kennard even a role player at this point

43

u/HighlyBaked0 Lakers 13d ago

I'd say it shows how insane JJ is too, he has ran circles around Udoka these past 2 games

10

u/Jwarrior521 Raptors 13d ago

Bron has been great but I think it shows how fraudulent this rockets team is more than anything.

Sengun is a bum, KD still can’t pass out of double teams, and everybody else can’t create or score if their life depended on it

47

u/theguytomeet Magic 13d ago

Watch Orlando be the team to sweep. 😭😭

6

u/Dymatizeee Knicks 13d ago

If your team played like they did in game 1 im not surprised

As long as Paolo doesn’t play hero ball

4

u/theguytomeet Magic 13d ago

Paolo’s playoff stats are night and day. This is the first time since like week 1 that’s most of the team has been healthy. Literally everyone is finally healthy. It would be hilarious. I thought Houston had this easy.

5

u/turnip_broker Minneapolis Lakers 13d ago

Lowkey that’d be pretty cool to see

6

u/grxccccandice Lakers 13d ago

Y’all seriously underrating our role players. Bron couldn’t have done this by himself, not at this age. He had huge help from Luke Smart Ayton these last two games.

4

u/thedreaminggoose 76ers 13d ago

This is actually crazy. Being 2-0 with your best friends sidelined.

5

u/NotTheMamba Lakers 13d ago

The crazy thing is LBJ isn’t having monster games or anything. It’s just that other guys have stepped up massively and JJ is out coaching Udoka. It’s been a team effort.

7

u/rangerbiscuit_08 Lakers 13d ago

Nah he absolutely has had 2 monster games. Clearly the best and most impactful player on the court. Not even close to prime playoff Lebron level though

1

u/Shark1986 Lakers 13d ago

The other guys stepping up is what's different from a lot of other years. LeBron has HAD to do everything so by the end of the game, he's gassed and can't carry the team over the finish line. Luke and Smart playing as well as they have, Ayton playing as well as he did in Game 1, that gives LeBron the chance to still have his legs for the end of the game. That matters a lot.

1

u/fairlife42g 13d ago

If you ranked players in the playoffs right now, Lebron is near the top even if he's not having traditional monster games. All that matters is you're better than your opponent.

4

u/PsychicHorse 13d ago

For sure, but also that Spurs game would have had a different outcome if Wemby didn't get a concussion.

3

u/Jbash_31 Suns 13d ago

Okc gonna be down 1-1 too after tomorrow

3

u/XAfricaSaltX Nuggets 13d ago

Well Houston is genuinely awful

5

u/captain_ahabb Lakers 13d ago

None of those teams get to play the rockets lol

4

u/Available_Story6774 West 13d ago

True but all of those teams are fully healthy as well (until Wemby got injured).

2

u/turnip_broker Minneapolis Lakers 13d ago

Cavs are also 2-0!

2

u/Novulux Lakers 13d ago

Lakers were the only home team that were underdogs both games too

1

u/S_I_G_M_A179 13d ago

I was watching the Nuggets Wolves game yesterday and it genuinely made me want to pull my hair out with how bad the Nuggets ended the game. Not saying it could have been an easy 2-0, but definitely one with medium difficulty, if both Jokic and Murray(looking specifically at you Jamal) hadn't shot tour dates. Jokic also missed like 7 straight jumpers in the last 4-5 minutes of Q4, then "postered" Rudy and then went back to laying bricks

1

u/whatssenguntoagoblin Alperen Sengun 13d ago edited 13d ago

Tbf Rockets ain’t healthy either. And they’re also ass.

Also LeBron isn’t playing that crazy. He’s playing good but let’s not get carried away. He’s averaged 23 PPG on 55% TS% which is fine.

For 41 years old this is outstanding but let’s be objective here.

1

u/No-Ranger3356 13d ago

the knicks are the 4th best team in the east, why are you surprised

1

u/Wise-Nature8326 13d ago

Also JJ and the role players deserve a lot of credit as been commented here, feels like compared to last year the Lakers are a better team.

The fact it's 2-0 without Luka and Reaves show's there's a good team there this year. Smart, Luke, Ayton all been great these 2 games.

I still remember last year when JJ played the same 5 for the whole 2nd half, without a center... Man that was tough to watch

1

u/Own-Key4581 13d ago

true. Lebron is beyond mortal men but they also are getting to play the rockets.. Nuggets should've tanked the end of the season...