LeBron James carried the Los Angeles Lakers past the Houston Rockets in the first-round of the 2026 NBA playoffs. On Friday, James' 28-point game gave the Lakers enough in Game 6 to lead them to the Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
On defense, the Lakers increased their level of intensity, which led them to a 98-78 win. In the first half, LA had a 49-31 lead, which helped them take advantage of Houston to start the second half. However, the Rockets were able to match them on the defensive end.
Fortunately for the Lakers, they had a betting night shooting the basketball. They shot 12-for-28 from deep throughout the game, while the Rockets went 5-for-28.
JJ Redick Spoke Highly of LeBron James
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Although it was a team effort, head coach JJ Redick gave the credit to James for taking the lead. The 18-point first-half performance he had encouraged the rest of the team to be aggressive on offense. During Redick's time speaking in front of the media, he spoke highly of the four-time champion for having the "greatest career."
According to Redick, he and the rest of the coaching staff entered the locker room, and the players turned off the lights.
"Literally every single guy was going bahhh, bahhh (goat noises)," Redick said. " It speaks to his greatness. To me, he’s had the greatest career of any NBA player. You can argue all you want, I don't really care postulate on who's the greatest of all time. He’s one of, if not the greatest of all time."
"For him to do it again and again, to answer the bell again. It's really baffling in some ways. The leadership aspect that I talked about -- he just has this ability to set the tone for the entire group. And he did that again tonight and our guys responded. I'm really happy for him."
James' teammate, Austin Reaves, revealed to the media that he said something after the game. According to Reaves, he could not believe what he saw from the Lakers star and called him "insane."
"Age, whatever, he’s been in the league for 23 years, the way he controls the game? It’s impressive. I don’t think you can say with words how special (it is). I’m happy I don’t have to play against him," Reaves said.
The Lakers will lean on James again in the second round of the postseason against the Thunder.
