Luke Kennard scored a career playoff-high 27 points, LeBron James had 19 points and 13 assists, and the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers capitalised on Kevin Durant's injury absence for a 107-98 victory over the Houston Rockets in the opener of their first-round playoff series on Saturday night.

Deandre Ayton had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Lakers, who pulled off an impressive win without their top two scorers.

Both teams played the opener without their most important player. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves have been out indefinitely with injuries since April 2, while Durant was a late scratch with a bruised right knee.

Los Angeles thrived by hitting 60.6% of its shots while holding the Rockets to 37.6% shooting with pesky defence.

Alperen Sengun scored 19 points and Jabari Smith Jr. had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Rockets, who finished one game behind Los Angeles in the regular season. Amen Thompson added 17 points, but Houston's young core got off to an inconsistent start after becoming the firm favourite in this series due to the Lakers' injury woes.

Game 2 is Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

The Lakers acquired Kennard from Atlanta in early February, and the NBA’s most accurate 3-point shooter became a key reserve before he seized a major role over the past two weeks in the absence of Los Angeles’ starting backcourt. He hit four 3-pointers in Game 1 while making nine of his first 12 shots.

 

Big stage. Big Plays. pic.twitter.com/xkcyw7GsXL

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 19, 2026

Murray, Jokic keep Nuggets surging 

The Denver Nuggets continued their red-hot play, getting 30 points from Jamal Murray and a triple-double from Nikola Jokic in a 116-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the opener of their first-round playoff series.

Jokic had 25 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists and a bloody nose in a physical game between the Northwest Division foes. There were 42 fouls called, along with an unsportsmanlike technical on Jaden McDaniels for pushing Jokic in the back and a technical on Nuggets coach David Adelman.

Murray went 16 of 16 from the free-throw line for Denver, which has won 13 straight since losing on March 18.

The Nuggets trailed by as many as 12 points early but used a 17-2 run in the third quarter to build a double-digit lead. The Timberwolves, who were held scoreless for more than four minutes at one point in the third, trimmed the deficit to 97-95 with 6:23 left.

Jokic had a five-point stretch to hold off Minnesota. Murray had one of the biggest shots of the game from halfcourt. With the shot clocking winding down, he heaved it at the hoop and it grazed the rim to reset the clock. It eventually led to a dunk from Aaron Gordon that gave Denver a 108-101 lead with 1:50 left. Gordon had 17 points despite early foul trouble.

Anthony Edwards scored 22 points while playing on a sore right knee.

Game 2 is Monday night.

 

https://t.co/LqnF1w75Az pic.twitter.com/QUr6RWHGvz

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 19, 2026

Brunson starts fast in Knicks’ win

Jalen Brunson scored 19 of his 28 points in the first quarter and Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 of his 25 in the second half to propel the New York Knicks to a 113-102 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series.

OG Anunoby added 18 points and Josh Hart had 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks in their first postseason game under Mike Brown after making four trips in five years under Tom Thibodeau, capped by their first trip to the Eastern Conference finals since 2000 last year.

The No. 3 seed in the East again this season hosts Game 2 on Monday night.

CJ McCollum had 26 points and Jalen Johnson added 23 for the Hawks, who went 20-6 after the All-Star break to earn the No. 6 seed.

Brunson, who already owns the Knicks' record with eight 40-point games in the postseason, was almost halfway to another in the first quarter. He made his first six shots and had 19 points as the Knicks led 30-24. McCollum had 12 points in the second as Atlanta cut it to 57-55.

Brunson didn't do as much in the second half, but Towns took over after he was just 1 for 6 for six points at the break.

 

Game 1

Jalen 28 PTS | 5 REB | 7 AST | 1 STL
KAT 25 PTS | 8 REB | 4 AST | 3 BLK
OG 18 PTS | 8 REB | 1 STL
Josh 11 PTS | 14 REB | 5 AST | 3 STL
Mikal 11 PTS | 2 REB
Jordan 8 PTS | 2 REB pic.twitter.com/iisoJXgexq

— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 19, 2026

Mitchell leads Cavs past Raptors

After a tight first 24 minutes between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, the Cavs needed just six minutes into the second half to turn a close game into a blowout.

Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 32 points and Max Strus added 24 points off the bench to power fourth-seeded Cleveland to a 126-113 victory over fifth-seeded Toronto in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round play-off series.

James Harden chipped in 22 points and 10 assists while Evan Mobley contributed 17 points and seven rebounds for the Cavs, who outscored the Raptors 54-38 in the paint and 22-6 in transition.

Leading 61-54 at halftime, Cleveland opened the third quarter on a 21-6 run to take control, grabbing an 82-60 advantage. Strus scored the final eight points of that spurt, draining a pair of 3s followed by a driving layup at the 5:37 mark of the third period.

Mitchell scored 19 of his points after halftime to help him to an NBA-record ninth straight series opener, tallying at least 30 points.

RJ Barrett led the Raptors with 24 points and Scottie Barnes had 21 points and seven assists but also turned the ball over five times.

Toronto played without starting point guard Immanuel Quickley because of a right hamstring strain, and his replacement, Jamal Shead, scored 17.

Quickley was injured in the regular-season finale, and coach Darko Rajakovic didn’t rule him out for Monday’s Game 2.

With a Cavaliers win! #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/CLvJanFCiz

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) April 18, 2026