{"id":729696,"date":"2026-04-15T12:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/729696\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:35:17","slug":"full-lakers-vs-rockets-first-round-schedule-for-2026-nba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/729696\/","title":{"rendered":"Full Lakers vs. Rockets first-round schedule for 2026 NBA Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The regular season wrapped up, and the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/nba\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NBA;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;NBA&quot;}\" class=\"link \">NBA <\/a>playoffs are here. The Los Angeles Lakers finished fourth in the Western Conference, setting up a first-round series against the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n<p>The Rockets locked down the fifth seed, meaning this matchup kicks off as a best-of-seven battle between two teams looking to make noise in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/lamelo-ball-apologizes-bam-adebayo-trip-injury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:LaMelo Ball apologizes for Bam Adebayo trip that led to injury;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;LaMelo Ball apologizes for Bam Adebayo trip that led to injury&quot;}\" class=\"link \">LaMelo Ball apologizes for Bam Adebayo trip that led to injury<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kevin Durant and LeBron James renewing their playoff rivalry adds another layer to the first round. Their Finals history still carries weight, and seeing them square off again brings back memories of those epic battles.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers also <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Lakers\/status\/2044285930635436321?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:released;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;released&quot;}\" class=\"link \">released<\/a> the complete schedule, including dates and tip-off times, all listed in Pacific Time.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"content-list\">\n<li>\n<p>Game 1: April 18, 5:30 P.M. \u2013 Crypto.com Arena (Home)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Game 2: April 21, 7:30 P.M. \u2013 Crypto.com Arena (Home)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Game 3: April 24, 5:00 P.M. \u2013 Toyota Center (Away)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Game 4: April 26, 6:30 P.M. \u2013 Toyota Center (Away)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Game 5: April 29, TBD \u2013 Crypto.com Arena (Home)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Game 6: May 1, TBD \u2013 Toyota Center (Away)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Game 7: May 3, TBD \u2013 Crypto.com Arena (Home)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img alt=\"Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4534386760d26fc5495c8b4c89d1856d.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick<\/p>\n<p>This matchup carries a familiar edge, but the stakes jumped up considerably. The Lakers recently felt playoff-like intensity against Houston during the regular season, and they\u2019ll try to channel that energy now that the postseason officially arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/erik-spoelstra-rips-lamelo-ball-trip-heat-star-bam-adebayo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Erik Spoelstra rips LaMelo Ball for tripping Heat star Bam Adebayo;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Erik Spoelstra rips LaMelo Ball for tripping Heat star Bam Adebayo&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Erik Spoelstra rips LaMelo Ball for tripping Heat star Bam Adebayo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The problem is they won\u2019t be at full strength. Luka Doncic remains in Europe getting treatment for a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, and his return in the first round looks doubtful ahead of Saturday\u2019s 5:30 p.m. opener.<\/p>\n<p>Austin Reaves is also out with a Grade 2 oblique strain. That leaves a massive scoring gap of 56.8 points per game missing from the lineup. Those absences played a role in the team slipping to the No. 4 seed.<\/p>\n<p>Still, three straight wins to close the season locked in home-court advantage. At 41, LeBron James now shoulders the load, hoping reinforcements arrive before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The regular season wrapped up, and the 2026 NBA playoffs are here. The Los Angeles Lakers finished fourth&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":729697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[17378,46139,3136,128309,3359,57189,3363,3141,3365,1260,5565,62,271849,109440,67,132,68,7184],"class_list":["post-729696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-austin-reaves","tag-bam-adebayo","tag-houston-rockets","tag-jj-redick","tag-kevin-durant","tag-lamelo-ball","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-rockets","tag-sports","tag-tbd","tag-toyota-center","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-western-conference"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116408754317974308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}