LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday eased past the Houston Rockets 107-98 as the Denver Nuggets held off Minnesota in a bruising battle to open the NBA playoffs.
The Nuggets, fueled by Nikola Jokic’s 25-point triple-double and 30 points from Jamal Murray beat the Timberwolves 116-105.
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.
Photo: AP
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.
“We understand the circumstances that we’re in,” James said of a Lakers team that would be without Doncic and Reaves indefinitely after they suffered late-season injuries.
“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,” James said.id. “
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.
“He stepped up big-time,” James said.
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.
“Hopefully it’s a one-game thing,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Adelman was pleased with the way his team responded after the early punch from the visitors.
“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.”
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.
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch called the number of free throws awarded to Murray “a head scratcher.”
“Sixteen free throws is a lot,” Finch said. “It’s almost as many as we shot all game.”
“They were real fouls,” Murray said.
“It was physical,” Jokic said. “Whenever we play them it’s always interesting.”
In New York, Jalen Brunson scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 25 for the Knicks against the Hawks.
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.
In Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell scored 32 points to fuel the Cavaliers in a 126-113 win over the Toronto Raptors.
James Harden added a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Max Strus scored 24 points off the bench for the Cavs.
R.J. Barrett scored 24 points for the Raptors, who never led after the opening minutes and trailed by as many as 24.
Mitchell has now scored at least 30 points in an NBA record nine straight playoff series openers.
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