Houston Rockets 98, Los Angeles Lakers 107 — Recap

April 18, 2026 · View Preview

📰Game Summary

Final (playoffs): Houston Rockets 98, Los Angeles Lakers 107. Scoring by quarter: Q1 HOU 29-33 LAL; Q2 HOU 19-17 LAL; Q3 HOU 18-25 LAL; Q4 HOU 32-32 LAL.

Top performers (box score): Luke Kennard (LAL) 27 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 threes on 9-of-13 shooting; Deandre Ayton (LAL) 19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists on 8-of-10 shooting; LeBron James (LAL) 19 points, 8 rebounds, 13 assists, 1 threes on 9-of-15 shooting; Alperen Sengun (HOU) 19 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists on 6-of-19 shooting; Amen Thompson (HOU) 17 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists on 7-of-18 shooting.

Standouts

Top Scorer · LAL

Luke Kennard

27 PTS, 4 REB, 3 AST, 5 3PM · 9-13 FG

Scoring · LAL

Deandre Ayton

19 PTS, 11 REB, 2 AST · 8-10 FG

Scoring · HOU

Alperen Sengun

19 PTS, 8 REB, 6 AST · 6-19 FG

Season highs

Luke Kennard · Season-high 27 points

Every player's line is in the box score below; the play-by-play is available in the BlowOutAlert workspace.

📊 Game Flow

HOU 2 largest lead Q1 11:42 (HOU 2, LAL 0) · 9-0 run, Q2 1:05–Q3 11:41

LAL 16 largest lead Q4 7:56 (HOU 72, LAL 88) · 8-0 run, Q1 10:39–Q1 8:29

Swings 3 lead changes Tied 3 times

Ahead for good: Rui Hachimura makes 24-foot three point jumper (Luke Kennard assists) (Q3 8:24, HOU 54, LAL 57).

Linescore

	1	2	3	4		T
HOU	29	19	18	32		98
LAL	33	17	25	32		107

🧮 How They Scored

HOULAL

44Points in the paint40

11Fast-break points4

23Second-chance points6

24Points off turnovers5

22Bench points13

Four factorsHighlighted side won the factor

43.5%Effective FG%68.2%

11.1%Turnover %18.9%

39.6%Offensive rebound %11.5%

0.269Free-throw rate0.394

Box Score

Houston Rockets

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Amen Thompson G-F	43	17	7	7	3	1	2	7-18	0-1	3-6	0
Jabari Smith Jr. F	43	16	12	0	2	0	1	5-14	3-9	3-5	-7
Alperen Sengun F-C	36	19	8	6	1	1	3	6-19	0-2	7-9	-2
Reed Sheppard G	36	17	1	8	1	1	4	6-20	5-14	0-0	-7
Josh Okogie G	26	7	0	1	2	0	0	2-4	1-2	2-2	-10
Tari Eason F	24	16	10	2	3	0	1	7-7	2-2	0-1	-6
Clint Capela C	11	2	2	0	0	0	1	1-2	0-0	0-0	-7
Aaron Holiday G	11	0	0	0	0	0	1	0-4	0-2	0-0	-1
Jae'Sean Tate F	10	4	4	0	1	0	0	1-5	0-1	2-2	-5

Los Angeles Lakers

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Rui Hachimura F	42	14	2	0	3	2	2	6-10	2-4	0-0	+7
Luke Kennard G	38	27	4	3	0	0	3	9-13	5-5	4-6	+7
LeBron James F	38	19	8	13	2	1	2	9-15	1-2	0-2	+11
Deandre Ayton C	35	19	11	2	0	1	3	8-10	0-0	3-3	+7
Marcus Smart G	34	15	2	8	1	2	5	5-12	1-5	4-8	-5
Jake LaRavia F	18	6	2	3	1	1	1	1-3	0-1	4-4	+9
Jarred Vanderbilt F	18	3	5	0	0	0	0	1-2	1-2	0-0	+4
Jaxson Hayes C	13	4	1	0	0	1	1	1-1	0-0	2-3	+2
Bronny James G	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	+3

🔬 Advanced Stats

Houston RocketsTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Alperen Sengun	Starter	36	19	41.4	27.7	-6.0	8.2
Amen Thompson	Starter	43	17	41.2	22.1	0.0	8.0
Reed Sheppard	Starter	36	17	42.5	27.9	-9.9	4.7
Jabari Smith Jr.	Starter	43	16	49.4	15.7	-8.1	9.0
Josh Okogie	Starter	26	7	71.7	8.1	-19.2	6.0
Tari Eason	Bench	24	16	107.5	11.9	-10.0	32.0
Jae'Sean Tate	Bench	10	4	34.0	20.0	-19.8	5.9
Clint Capela	Bench	11	2	50.0	11.5	-20.3	2.9
Kevin Durant	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Dorian Finney-Smith	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jeff Green	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Aaron Holiday	Bench	11	0	0.0	16.7	-4.8	-51.9
JD Davison	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Los Angeles LakersTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Luke Kennard	Starter	38	27	86.3	20.2	+7.5	16.3
Deandre Ayton	Starter	35	19	83.9	19.4	+10.4	16.5
LeBron James	Starter	38	19	59.8	21.7	+11.4	19.9
Marcus Smart	Starter	34	15	48.3	30.0	-5.9	5.8
Rui Hachimura	Starter	42	14	70.0	13.6	+7.2	6.8
Jake LaRavia	Bench	18	6	63.0	15.4	+22.0	15.8
Jaxson Hayes	Bench	13	4	86.2	10.3	+12.6	-2.8
Jarred Vanderbilt	Bench	18	3	75.0	5.7	+14.7	4.0
Maxi Kleber	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Nick Smith Jr.	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Dalton Knecht	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Bronny James	Bench	04	0	0.0	14.3	+50.0	-100.0
Adou Thiero	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0