The Lakers and Rockets have been playing in the first-round playoff series, which is difficult but not impossible to learn from previous games. The Lakers won 2-1 over Houston, largely due to back-to-back offensive performances from Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. However, these games featured different versions of the Rockets, including a fully-healthy Houston squad without Fred VanVleet and Adams, and a Houston team without Adams and Jae’Sean Tate on March 18. This will be the first time the Lakers have seen this team, but each time featured DoncIC, Reaves and LeBron James in the starting lineup, which won't be the case for this game. Despite this, the Lakers are expected to be unfamiliar entering Game 1 at Crypto.com Arena, with their assist percentage increasing from 606% to 762% in the final five games.