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The Los Angeles Lakers enter Friday’s Game 3 against the Houston Rockets with a 2-0 series lead, but the injury report still shapes the matchup as much as the scoreboard. Luka Doncic is out with a left hamstring strain, Austin Reaves is questionable with a left oblique strain, and Houston lists Kevin Durant as questionable while Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams are out.
Against that backdrop, Luke Kennard said the Lakers’ early offense has come from pace and composure. “Obviously the intensity is up in playoff basketball, but I think we’re staying under control, poised, getting to our spots, making the right reads, and knocking shots down,” Kennard said after the team scored 33 points in the first quarter in back-to-back games.
Kennard said the goal is to keep that level for all four quarters, not just the opening burst. “It’s good for us to get starts like that, especially against a physical defense,” he said, “but again, it’s how can we do it for a full 48 minutes?”
The veteran guard also framed his expanded role through the lens of his background as a high school quarterback. “Obviously communication,” Kennard said. “The word organized comes to mind. Trying to get guys in the right spot, making reads out of certain situations.”
That feel for timing has mattered more with Dončić sidelined and Reaves uncertain. Kennard said he is not trying to reinvent himself, even as the Lakers ask for more ballhandling and shot creation.
“I know what I’ve been capable of as a player,” he said. “I’ve been in positions like this before… I wouldn’t say I’m uncomfortable doing it.” He added that the late-season stretch helped him enter the playoffs with confidence because it “gave me confidence going into it.”
Kennard also pushed back on the idea that volume shooting has to come at the expense of team offense. “If it’s a bad uncontested shot that some people think I should shoot, but we get a better shot as a team, I think that’s a win for me and our team,” he said.
That mindset fits a Lakers group that has leaned on LeBron James, Deandre Ayton, and layered half-court execution while waiting on health answers. Kennard said the advantage of working under JJ Redick is that the coach understands the reality of playoff spacing and shot quality.
“We’ve had conversations about his experiences,” Kennard said. “It’s definitely great when you have a coach that has been in it, experienced it, been in the playoffs a lot, played the game for a long time.”
For the Lakers, the formula is clear: stay organized, keep the reads simple, and turn those fast starts into a full game. Kennard summed it up with one line that fits both the series and the moment. “Just trying to control what I can control out there.”
