LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers eased past the Houston Rockets 107-98 on Saturday as the Denver Nuggets held off Minnesota in a bruising battle to open the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets, fueled by Nikola Jokic’s 25-point triple-double and 30 points from Jamal Murray beat the Timberwolves 116-105.<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers powered to wins in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks beating the Atlanta Hawks 113-102 and the Cavaliers thumping the Toronto Raptors 126-113.<\/p>\n
In Los Angeles, 41-year-old superstar James launched his record-equaling 19th playoff campaign with a double-double of 19 points and 13 assists, adding eight rebounds as the Lakers shook off the injury absences of league-leading scorer Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves with a convincing victory in game one of their best-of-seven Western Conference series.<\/p>\n
“We understand the circumstances that we’re in,” James said of a Lakers team that will be without Doncic and Reaves indefinitely after both suffered late-season injuries.<\/p>\n
“We don’t have time to wait around, especially versus a hard-playing, well-coached team like Houston. So it was a good first test for us.”<\/p>\n
All five Lakers starters scored in double figures, with Luke Kennard leading the way with 27 points on nine-of-13 shooting, including five-of-five from three-point range.<\/p>\n
“He stepped up big-time,” James said.<\/p>\n
Center Alperen Sengun scored 19 points to lead the Rockets, who felt the absence of Kevin Durant after the 37-year-old star was ruled out shortly before the game with a bruised knee.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully it’s a one-game thing,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said.<\/p>\n
In Denver, three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic added 13 rebounds and 11 assists, shaking off a slow start that saw him score just six points in the first half.<\/p>\n
Murray scored 17 of his 30 in the first half to keep the Nuggets close and finished a perfect 16 of 16 from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n
The third playoff series in four seasons between the teams got off to a physical start, with more than 40 fouls called, a flagrant foul called on Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels and a technical on Denver coach David Adelman.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets trailed by as many as 12 in the first quarter before bearing down in the second period and pulling away after the break.<\/p>\n
Adelman was pleased with the way his team responded after the early punch from the visitors.<\/p>\n
“Winning a grimy game, it’s good,” Adelman said. “Both teams are experienced and used to winning these games. They know what it means to play in a physical match-up. There’s respect… there’s also a want to win.”<\/p>\n
Anthony Edwards, battling back from a knee injury, led the Timberwolves with 22 points, and Rudy Gobert added a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n
– ‘Always interesting’ –<\/p>\n
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch called the number of free throws awarded to Murray “a head scratcher”.<\/p>\n
“Sixteen free throws is a lot,” Finch said. “It’s almost as many as we shot all game.”<\/p>\n
Countered Murray: “They were real fouls.”<\/p>\n
“It was physical,” Jokic said. “Whenever we play them it’s always interesting.”<\/p>\n
In New York, Jalen Brunson scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 25 for the Knicks against the Hawks.<\/p>\n
Brunson scored 19 in the first quarter alone, and when he cooled off Towns scored 19 in the second half to keep things rolling for a Knicks team aiming to improve on their trip to last year’s Eastern Conference finals.<\/p>\n
In Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell scored 32 points to fuel the Cavaliers in a 126-113 win over the Toronto Raptors.<\/p>\n
James Harden added a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds and Max Strus scored 24 points off the bench for the Cavs.<\/p>\n
RJ Barrett scored 24 points for the Raptors, who never led after the opening minutes and trailed by as many as 24.<\/p>\n
Mitchell has now scored at least 30 points in an NBA record nine straight playoff series openers.<\/p>\n
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