Lakers locked No.4
- The Los Angeles Lakers clinched the No.4 seed in the West after finishing the regular season 53-29. (sports.yahoo.com) - They drew Kevin Durant’s Houston Rockets, marking LeBron vs Durant’s fourth playoff meeting and first outside the Finals. (nytimes.com) - With Luka Doncic out, analysts still list the series as a heavyweight matchup where bookmakers view the Lakers as underdogs. (elpasotimes.com)
The Los Angeles Lakers finished 53-29, held the Western Conference’s No. 4 seed, and opened the playoffs against the No. 5 Houston Rockets. (nba.com) That matchup was set by the final regular-season standings: Oklahoma City first at 64-18, San Antonio second at 62-20, Denver third at 54-28, the Lakers fourth at 53-29, and Houston fifth at 52-30. (espn.com) The first round began Saturday, April 18, with Game 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles because the Lakers had home-court advantage as the higher seed. The NBA’s official playoff schedule lists the first round opening on April 18. (nba.com) The series landed as a LeBron James-Kevin Durant showdown, but not in the way their earlier playoff meetings did. NBA.com’s series page framed it as more than a two-star duel, while noting Los Angeles entered short-handed and Houston expected Durant to carry a deeper roster. (nba.com) Los Angeles reached this spot without Luka Dončić, who was ruled out for the rest of the regular season on April 3 with a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring. NBA.com also reported on April 14 that Dončić and Austin Reaves both remained out indefinitely as the postseason began. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) Houston then took its own hit before the opener. The NBA reported April 18 that Durant was ruled out of Game 1 with a right knee injury suffered in practice. (nba.com) That left the series looking less like a clean superstar head-to-head and more like a test of depth from the opening tip. In Game 1, Luke Kennard scored a career playoff-high 27 points, and LeBron James added 19 points and 13 assists in the Lakers’ 107-98 win. (espn.com) The official scorer’s report listed the crowd at 19,057, a sellout, for that opener in Los Angeles. The Lakers took a 1-0 series lead while still missing Dončić, and the Rockets left needing a response if Durant’s knee keeps him limited. (nba.com) So the No. 4 seed was not just a bracket line for Los Angeles. It gave the Lakers home court, a path that opened against a 52-win Houston team, and an early chance to bank a win before the series shifts on health and availability. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2)
