Deandre Ayton has helped put the Los Angeles Lakers in a 2-0 series lead, and now he is heading to Houston with the kind of playoff workload that has already shaped the first-round matchup with the Rockets. “It’s been fun,” Ayton said after the Lakers practiced Thursday in El Segundo before traveling to Houston for Game 3 on Friday.
Ayton scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Game 1, then went 3-of-8 from the field and pulled down five rebounds in Game 2 as the Lakers were outscored by five points during his minutes. The numbers tell only part of the story. Ayton’s defense has been central because of his versatility on switches and his mobility when the Lakers are scrambling out of traps, which matters in a series where Houston has forced extra possessions and made every stop feel heavier.
The Rockets have 38 offensive rebounds in the first two games and took 44 more shots than the Lakers over that stretch, even as Los Angeles held them under 100 points in consecutive games. That combination is why Ayton’s work has mattered so much: the Lakers have had to finish possessions, not just contest them. On Thursday, Ayton explained the approach in blunt terms. “I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “It’s really just multiple efforts. People say second-chance effort, but it’s like multiple efforts in the same possession. Houston, they load that up, you know, they keep possessions alive being on the glass,”
He added that the answer has to come from the entire group. “And that’s where your heart really has to kick in and just mano a mano, really boxing out your guy and closing the possession out. Just to get in our offensive rhythm. And matching their physicality takes a whole group and team.” Later, he said the Lakers feel locked in on the details after each shot, stressing that the intent has been to find a body, close the possession and get out in transition.
That is part of why coach JJ Redick keeps praising him. “We love giving DA praise,” Redick said. “We love to give him — I mean, when he does what we ask him to do, he should get all the praise in the world. Again, he’s the former No. 1 pick, and he’s doing a lot of thankless work at times, so we always praise him for that.” Ayton is in his first trip to the postseason since 2023 with the Phoenix Suns, and his role has become even more important because the Lakers needed a reliable center answer after Redick benched Jaxson Hayes in favor of small lineups late in last postseason’s first-round loss to Minnesota.
The short-term outlook now turns to Austin Reaves, who was upgraded to questionable for Friday’s Game 3 after a strained oblique suffered in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder 22 days earlier. If Reaves plays, the Lakers get another creator behind the pressure Ayton and the front line have set with their defense and rebounding. If he does not, the burden on Ayton’s nightly thankless work only gets heavier, and Houston will keep testing whether Los Angeles can keep turning one stop into the next possession.
