For six weeks, Lakers coach JJ Redick emphasized that the focus was on his team, not their variety of opponents, as they looked to build the right mentality for the playoffs.
That stopped being the case as soon as the final buzzer of the regular season went off after the Lakers beat the Jazz on Sunday night.
The Lakers (53-29) have fully turned their attention and focus to the Rockets (52-30), whom they’ll match up against in the first round of the playoffs after finishing fourth and fifth in the Western Conference standings, respectively.
Game 1 is on Saturday (5:30 p.m.) at Crypto.com Arena.
The Rockets finished the regular season sixth in net rating (plus-5.4), while the Lakers finished 14th (plus-1.5).
They’re one of six teams that finished the regular season top-10 in both offensive rating (eighth) and defensive rating (sixth), which is typically a good marker for whether a team is a contender.
“Houston’s obviously a really, really good basketball team,” Redick said. “We’re going to prepare, and we’re going to fight and we’re going to go try to win a series.”
Redick added: “We’re going to do everything we can to get our guys in a great frame of mind and great physical shape over the next four or five days and be ready to play.”
An obvious storyline going into the playoff series will be LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant — a matchup between two of the greatest players of their generation.
It’ll mark the fourth time the legendary players meet up in the playoffs, and the first time in a non-NBA Finals series, after James’ Heat beat Durant’s Thunder in the 2012 Finals before Durant’s Warriors beat James’ Cavaliers in the ‘17 and ‘18 Finals.
For the Lakers, the top-of-the-line strategies for their series against the Rockets start with Durant, who’s in line to make his 12th All-NBA team, and Alperen Sengun, who averaged 20.4 points and 6.2 assists in his second All-Star season.
“Those are the two heads of the snake,” Marcus Smart said. “Making sure we keep those guys under control. Can’t let those other players get off as well. But the focus is those two guys and just going out there and making it as tough as possible for them.”
The Rockets’ physicality will also be a focus after they led the league in offensive rebounding percentage.
“For me, we know it and these guys know my motto: ‘The toughest team sets the rule’,” Smart said. “And the playoffs are a little bit different. Things are a lot tougher. They let you play a lot more and I think that works to my advantage and our advantage.”
In the backdrop of the playoff series will be the Lakers being without star guards Luka Doncic (Grade 2 left hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (Grade 2 left oblique strain) to start the first round – and probably longer.
Not only will they be without two of their best players and ball handlers, but the spirit of their team took a hit when both suffered their regular season-ending injuries during the April 2 road loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
The Lakers went 3-2 in the five games they closed out the season without their star duo in what was both a mental and emotional test.
“This team needs great spirit and we need our remaining guys to be healthy,” Redick said. “That was our focus last week. It’s gonna be our focus this week: Building our capacity physically, making sure we don’t do too much, making sure we don’t do too little, making sure we get through the week healthy. And then the spirit, again, creating that belief. We’ve done that with this group over these last few games and we’ve gotta continue that going into Game 1.”
Resiliency has been a common theme for the Lakers in 2025-26.
They hope that remains the case.
“You’re playing one opponent in the playoffs and there’s a bunch of things that are gonna happen,” Redick said. “Some good, some bad. You may get down in a series. You may get down in the game, you may get down in the game on the road. And just you have to play with resiliency.”