LOS ANGELES — Kevin Durant was ruled out of Houston's playoff opener against the Los Angeles Lakers with a bruised right knee about 90 minutes before tip-off.

The rest of the Rockets were neither ready nor able to pick up the slack.

Houston is in an early postseason hole, and the Lakers are feeling awfully good about their upset chances after Los Angeles' 107-98 victory on Saturday night.

Both teams were without their top scorer to begin the first-round series, but only the Lakers responded to the challenge with the necessary determination and production.

With Durant, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves — a combined 82.8 points per game — all watching in their civvies, Los Angeles surprisingly controlled Game 1.

While the Lakers got double-digit scoring from all five starters and 60.6 percent shooting overall, the Rockets didn't have a 20-point scorer, or anybody who could make more than 50 percent of their shots except reserve Tari Eason.

Those results were even more disturbing because Houston grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, and coach Ime Udoka thought his team got plenty of good looks.

"Whoever (is) playing, we play with them," Rockets center Alperen Sengun said. "But we missed (Durant) for sure tonight, and, hopefully, we see him soon."

Sengun had 19 points on 6-for-19 shooting, while Reed Sheppard and Amen Thompson got 17 points apiece on a combined 13 of 38 from the field. Sheppard went five for 14 on 3-point attempts, and his teammates combined to hit just six additional 3-pointers.

The Rockets seem confident Durant's bruised right knee isn't a long-term problem, although Udoka said it was "very tender. ... Tough to bend in certain ways. He hit it in a very awkward spot, I suppose. Pain tolerance is one part, but (also) limited movement."

While Durant was a late scratch for Houston, the Lakers have had more than two weeks to adjust to being without Doncic and Reaves, who both got hurt on April 2.

That preparation time showed. Most notably, Luke Kennard continued to step up as a starter with a career playoff-high 27 points and 5-for-5 shooting on 3-pointers, providing more reason for the Lakers to be grateful for his midseason arrival from Atlanta.

"Since I've been here, we haven't been really healthy a lot, so this just speaks on the guys in the locker room staying ready, being ready," Kennard said. "Guys stepping up in big moments, making big shots. I feel like everybody did that tonight."

Deandre Ayton delivered a confident 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Rui Hachimura also showed offensive aggression — an all-too-rare quality in the forward — while scoring 14 points. Veteran guard Marcus Smart added 15 points and eight assists, and 41-year-old LeBron James merely controlled the floor while racking up 19 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.

"It's just our playoff mentality," Lakers coach JJ Redick said. "You can't worry about who's in or out of the lineup. It's our game plan. It's our standards. It's how we play, and we've built toward that. I thought our guys just responded well and met the moment. There's a lot that you have to do (against) Kevin, and you just kind of scrap that and you move on to all the other stuff we worked on."

Durant's absence and the Lakers' performance in Game 1 have both suddenly provided significant credibility to the Lakers' determination to hang with the Rockets long enough for Doncic and Reaves to have an opportunity to return to the postseason. This series schedule even contains an extra day off before three of the next four games.

"We're going to try to make this season as long as possible so that we can get those guys back at some point," Redick said Friday. "We don't know what that is, but that's just our job. And their job is to do everything they can to be in a position to come back at some point. It may not work, but that's what we're trying to do."

Agencies via Xinhua