SI:AM | LeBron James Turns Back the Clock to Carry Shorthanded Lakers to 2

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I passed right by Citi Field last night on my way home from the airport and I’m a little worried that the Mets’ curse has rubbed off on me.

In today’s SI:AM:
💪 LeBron isn’t slowing down
😬 Mets make it a dozen
🏈 Final NFL mock draft

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LeBron Leads Lakers With No Luka

Even at 41, LeBron James is still capable of taking over a playoff game.

James had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on Tuesday night against the Rockets as the Lakers won 101–94 to take a 2–0 lead in the series.

The Lakers needed a big game from LeBron with their two leading scorers sidelined due to injury. Luka Dončić (left hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (left oblique strain) both haven’t played since April 2. Reaves could return at some point in this series and has already resumed on-court work. Dončić, though, has yet to return to the practice court and remains out indefinitely.

James has done his best to ensure the Lakers survive long enough for Dončić and Reaves to get back on the floor. In addition to his do-it-all game on Tuesday, he had 19 points and 13 assists in Los Angeles’s Game 1 win, his most assists in a playoff game since 2020. LeBron’s ability as a prolific scorer and athletic defender can overshadow the fact that he’s also one of the game’s premier distributors, but the way he created opportunities for his teammates is as big a reason for the Lakers’ 2–0 lead as his scoring.

LeBron has been the star in the first two games of the series, but his teammates have also stepped up to mitigate the absence of Dončić and Reaves—none more so than Luke Kennard. The nine-year veteran scored a playoff career-high 27 points in Game 1 and followed that up with 23 in Game 2. He only had one 20-point game in the regular season, on Jan. 11 when he was still with the Hawks. Fellow veteran Marcus Smart also showed out in Game 2 with 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting, seven assists and five steals. It was his most points in a playoff game since 2020 and just the third 25-point game of his playoff career.

Smart saw plenty of action for the Lakers in the regular season, playing in 62 games (54 starts) and averaging 28.5 minutes per game, but he’s never been much of a scoring threat. The bulk of his value to a team has always been as a tenacious defender, and on Tuesday he helped stifle Kevin Durant. KD missed the first game of the series with a right knee tendon bruise, and while he scored 23 points in Game 2, he was limited by the defensive pressure from Smart and others. Durant only took 12 shots, well below his regular-season average of 17.6. He said later that he felt like he had a “bad game.”

“It was good for them to have KD out there for them,” Smart said, “and it was good for us to be able to do what we did tonight against him.”

Although he didn’t do it on Tuesday, Durant, like James, is still capable of dictating the game at this late stage of his career. He’ll need to play better as the series shifts to Houston if the Rockets want to dig out of their 2–0 hole. You couldn’t ask for a better outcome than LeBron and KD duking it out with their teams’ seasons on the line.

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SI Digital Cover: The Man Who Wasn't There — Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated; Steve Babineau/NHLI/Getty Images; Dave Buresh/The Denver Post/Getty Images

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. LeBron James’s powerful dunk to put the finishing touches on the Lakers’ win.
4. The rowdy celebration by Avalanche fans after Colorado’s goalie saved a penalty shot. They banged on the glass behind the Kings’ bench so hard that the glass shattered.
3. Nicolas Roy’s overtime game-winner for the Avalanche to take a 2–0 series lead.
2. Tigers catcher Jake Rogers’s knuckleball for his first career strikeout as a pitcher.
1. Red Sox center fielder Cedanne Rafaela’s catch while leaping into the wall.

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