{"id":713991,"date":"2026-04-19T15:12:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T15:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713991\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T15:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T15:12:29","slug":"lakers-star-lebron-james-makes-nba-history-in-game-1-against-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713991\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Star LeBron James Makes NBA History in Game 1 Against Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were plenty of doubts heading into the first-round playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> and the Houston Rockets<\/a> about whether LeBron James<\/a> could lead the team without Luka Doncic<\/a> and Austin Reaves. In Game 1, he answered those questions emphatically, while adding a few historic milestones along the way.<\/p>\n

The Lakers caught a break early when Kevin Durant<\/a> was ruled out for Houston, and James guided Los Angeles to a comfortable 107\u201398 win to take a 1\u20130 series lead. While he was not overly aggressive as a scorer early on, his all-around brilliance set the tone.<\/p>\n

James came out firing as a playmaker, recording eight assists in the first quarter alone, the most he has ever had in a single playoff quarter<\/a>. He scored just four points in the period, but the approach paid off as the Lakers shot 78.9 percent from the field and built a 33\u201329 lead.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) reacts during the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Crypto.com Arena. William Liang-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old shifted gears late, scoring nine points in the fourth quarter to help fend off Houston\u2019s comeback attempt. James finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, and 13 assists, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 1-of-2 from three-point range.<\/p>\n

With his performance, James surpassed John Stockton to become the oldest player in NBA playoff history to record a points-assists double-double<\/a>. He also set the record as the oldest player to tally 10 or more assists in a postseason game.<\/p>\n

After the game, James emphasized the importance of his all-around role for the Lakers.<\/p>\n

“For me, I got to do a little bit of everything,” said James<\/a>. “It’s what the job requires. So, being a triple threat, being able to rebound, being able to pass, being able to shoot and also defend and put myself in position where I can bring value to this ball club, bring value to this team throughout this series.<\/p>\n

“It’s gonna be a game-to-game situation to see how the game plays out.”<\/p>\n

That approach worked perfectly in Game 1. Deandre Ayton added 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting along with 11 rebounds, while Luke Kennard delivered a playoff career-high 27 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

For Houston, Alperen Sengun led the way with 19 points, but no Rockets player reached the 20-point mark. The Rockets will hope to have Durant back for Game 2 on Tuesday as they look to even the series, while James and the Lakers aim to take a commanding 2\u20130 lead.<\/p>\n

Related: LeBron James Reacts to Lakers\u2019 Bronny James Move in Game 1 Against Rockets<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There were plenty of doubts heading into the first-round playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[1307,1013,7,670,247,3803,1586,194,938,185,251,150,368,1171,6,671],"class_list":{"0":"post-713991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-austin-reaves","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-brooklyn","12":"tag-brooklyn-nets","13":"tag-brooklynnets","14":"tag-deandre-ayton","15":"tag-houston-rockets","16":"tag-kevin-durant","17":"tag-lebron-james","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-luke-kennard","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-nets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116432021656969494","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}