Luke

Luke-ah?

With star guard Luka Doncic back on the Lakers sideline but still out indefinitely, Luke Kennard did his best impression of the NBA’s leading scorer Saturday, catapulting the Lakers to a 107-98 win over the Houston Rockets to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

Kennard drained all five of his three-point attempts, including three in the fourth quarter. Threes while curling off screens or taking hand-offs from teammates are routine for the NBA’s leading three-point shooter. But Kennard may have surprised even himself when he drove against Houston’s Jabari Smith, U-turned, scampered back outside the three-point line and drained a three from the wing.

The Crypto.com Arena crowd that was buzzing from the opening tip to the final horn erupted. Kennard screamed.

“My word is speechless, to be honest,” center Deandre Ayton said of Kennard’s performance. “Seeing him five-for-five in a playoff game as a Laker. Yeah, it hits different.”

The Lakers sent Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round draft pick to Atlanta for Kennard in February. The midseason trade felt relatively marginal compared to league-wide blockbusters that shuffled James Harden, Darius Garland and Anthony Davis.

Kennard has now authored several headlining performances in the purple and gold. He drained a game-winning three-pointer against Orlando. He notched the first triple-double of his career.

Saturday’s season high eclipsed them all.

Lakers center Deandre Ayton, left, celebrates with guard Luke Kennard after hit a three-pointer against the Rockets during Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“To do it especially at a place like this, playing for the Lakers on the biggest stage in basketball, it means a lot to me,” Kennard said, “and what I’ve done and just credit to the work I’ve put in and how I prepared leading up to this.”

Since Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique) were injured on April 2, Kennard has had to adjust his role to include more ball handling. He typified the Lakers’ adaptability with 32 assists in the last five games of the regular season after averaging 1.7 assists per game since joining the team. But he lamented that he wasn’t shooting to his standard.

Compared to his league-best 47.8%, his 30.8% shooting from three during the past five games felt like a slump.

Each shot, whether a make or miss, still helped Kennard develop a rhythm entering the playoffs, he said. Now if he sees even a sliver of daylight, he’ll be ready to shoot. It’s exactly what the Lakers want to see.

“I just liked that he was aggressive shooting threes,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I mean, he played a fantastic basketball game.”

Kennard, who also had three assists and four rebounds, was nine for 13 from the field as the Lakers, who shot 60.6% as a team, shot 60% or better in a playoff game for the first time since the first round of the 2009 playoffs. Led by Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, the Lakers won their first of back-to-back titles that year.

All five of the Lakers starters scored in double figures. LeBron James had 19 points and 13 assists, and Ayton had 19 points and 11 rebounds while helping keep two-time All-Star Alperen Sengun to 19 points on inefficient six-for-19 shooting. The Rockets, who were without Kevin Durant because of a minor knee injury, shot 37.6% from the floor.

“Everybody played a big role tonight and I feel that just speaks to what we’ve been the last few weeks with guys out,” Kennard said. “It’s going to take everybody. We know that. We got to continue to elevate each other and push each other and continue to be a team.”

Doncic reunited with the team Saturday after he spent the past two weeks in Europe getting specialized treatment on his Grade 2 left hamstring strain. Dressed in a crisp white button up shirt and khaki pants, Doncic sat next to Reaves on the bench. They rose to their feet every time Kennard set up for a three. They handed out high fives at every time out.

The injuries to Doncic and Reaves turned the Lakers into the perceived sitting duck of the competitive Western Conference playoffs. Critics felt the team couldn’t survive one playoff round with the 41-year-old James as its sole offensive catalyst.

A welcoming cheer from Lakers fans during starting lineups serves as a reminder that James still has backup.

“Luuuuuke!”

From AAU games in Ohio to college gyms up and down the Atlantic Coast Conference to the NBA, Luke Kennard has always been met with the same warning.

“Shooter!”

LeBron James, however, knows better than to put Kennard in a box.

The Lakers superstar watched Kennard’s career grow since he was playing on James’ AAU team in Ohio, where, yes, Kennard shot the lights out, but he also displayed the same versatility that made him a fitting emergency point guard during the Lakers’ shorthanded late-season push.

“He’s just a ball player,” James said. “… People just kind of gave him the narrative of just being a shooter. But he does so many more things. He can handle the ball, he can rebound the ball, he can make plays. … And what we’re missing right now, we need it [from him]. We need it more and more than ever.”

Beyond being the league’s leading three-point shooter, Kennard has 31 assists in the last four games, stepping up his ball-handling responsibilities for the Lakers, who must finish the regular season Sunday against the Utah Jazz without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Kennard had three assists with 19 points in the Lakers’ 101-73 win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday that clinched home-court advantage in the first round.

The 29-year-old has averaged 2.3 assists per game in his NBA career and only 1.7 per game for the Lakers (52-29) since he joined in a midseason trade. But without Doncic and Reaves, the Lakers have relied on offense by committee. During the last four games, 77.3% of the Lakers’ made field goals have been assisted.

“Just being organized, controlling pace,” Kennard said of the team’s ability to share the ball in recent games. “Guys not overthinking too much, just playing within the flow of the game.”

Lakers guard Luke Kennard celebrates with LeBron James’ after James scored at Crypto.com Arena on Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Kennard’s poise was been paramount for the team during an emotional week. The eight-year veteran who has cycled through five teams and been traded midseason twice provides steadiness, Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

“He’s a professional,” Redick said. “He comes to work, he’s a great teammate. He does what the team asks him to do. … No matter what you sort of give him, he’ll embrace it.”

Kennard was, in fact, a point guard in high school, he said proudly. While at Franklin High, he passed James on Ohio’s all-time scoring list. He solidified his status as a prolific shooter at Duke. Redick is familiar with that particular fate, he said with a wry smile.

Redick approached Kennard after Doncic and Reaves were injured against Oklahoma City last Thursday to discuss the contingency plan of him taking on more ball-handling responsibilities. The Lakers had one day of practice in Dallas, and the team walked through several plays with Kennard at different positions. It was the only practice day the Lakers have had since the season-altering injuries. The rest of Kennard’s learning has been through conversations with coaches, film study and instinctual play on the court.

He responded with his first career triple-double in the first game in his new role: 15 points, 11 assists and 16 rebounds in the Lakers’ loss to the Mavericks.

But Kennard is notoriously difficult on himself. He lamented Tuesday — after he scored 10 points with nine assists but missed both of his three-point attempts in a loss to Oklahoma City — that he wishes he was shooting better recently. During the first four games in April, he was just three-for-13 (23.1%) from three. He is still leading the league in three-point shooting at 47.8% this season.

Despite playing with a split on his left index finger after suffering an injury in the Lakers’ win over Golden State on Thursday, the left-handed Kennard made his first three-pointer Friday, getting fouled on the play to earn a four-point opportunity. He finished two-for-four from three against the Suns and six-for-12 from the floor. It was the first time he’d made multiple threes in a game since March 30 against Washington.

“We all feel like every time he shoots the ball, it’s gonna go in,” Redick said. “Whether that’s a floater, a midi, or a three I think he’s got a great deal of confidence and a lot of that comes from his preparation and his work. I think the biggest thing for us is, with our current group, having those other ball handlers so we can give him breaks from being on ball all the time.”

Getting Marcus Smart back from injury Friday helped ease the ball-handling burden on Kennard. Smart had missed nine games because of a lingering right ankle injury. Smart had six points and seven assists in his first game since March 21.

The Lakers waived guard Kobe Bufkin on Friday to open a roster spot for the postseason, possibly to add a veteran guard to bolster backcourt while Doncic and Reaves are out. The Lakers have until Sunday’s regular-season finale to sign any player waived by his former team before March 1 to standard contract.

James, playing for the second consecutive night Tuesday, had 12 assists with 28 points and six rebounds. In three appearances since the injuries to Doncic and Reaves, James has averaged 28 points, 12 assists and 5.8 rebounds on 60% shooting from the field.

Fitting James, Doncic and Reaves together came with growing pains, but pairing James and Kennard has felt simple. These two of the most prolific scorers in high school basketball history in Ohio are cut from the same cloth.

“It’s just because it’s two cerebral basketball players,” James said. “That’s why it’s seamless. He’s smart as hell. I’m smart as hell at this game.”

Huddersfield Giants have sacked head coach Luke Robinson after a poor start to the 2026 Super League season.

Giants have lost all of their opening five matches, leaving them without a point and bottom of the table.

Robinson began his second spell as Giants boss in September 2024, replacing Ian Watson, and went on to lose his first nine matches in charge before finally tasting success with a narrow victory against Hull FC at Magic Weekend last May.

Hampered by financial limitations, Robinson eventually guided the club to 10th in the final Super League standings last year.

This season, the 41-year-old has had to deal with a number of injuries to key players, including star full-back George Flanagan Jr, one of 16 first-team members who were unavailable during an injury crisis labelled as “unprecedented” by the club earlier this month.

Robinson was left looking a forlorn figure following his side’s defeat by Bradford Bulls on Friday night, which has ended up being his final match in charge.

He previously, but briefly, acted as interim head coach of Giants during the end of the Covid-affected 2020 season after Simon Woolford resigned, taking charge of the final eight matches of the campaign.

Director of rugby Andy Kelly will take charge of the first team until Robinson’s successor is appointed.

Huddersfield continue their Super League campaign with a trip to league leaders Wigan on Saturday [15:00 GMT].