Schedule for Lakers vs. Thunder series has been released

When the Los Angeles Lakers began the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Houston Rockets nearly a fortnight ago, they were thought not to have any chance of winning and advancing. They then took a 3-0 series lead, only to lose the next two games, and it was then thought that they were in some real trouble.

But the Lakers put the Rockets to sleep in Game 6 on Friday, 98-78, and looked impressive at times in doing so. Now they will move on to the Western Conference semifinals to face the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

The schedule for that best-of-seven matchup has been released. Game 1 will take place in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, May 5, which will give 41-year-old LeBron James and his teammates plenty of time to rest, recover and prepare.

There will be only about 48 hours between games in this series, except for Game 6 (if necessary), which will be three days after Game 5.

If the Lakers were expected to have no real shot of knocking out Houston in the first round, they will face even longer odds in this series, especially since Luka Doncic still isn't close to returning from his Grade 2 hamstring strain. But the unexpected can happen, and if Los Angeles steals one of the first two games on the road, perhaps it will be able to at least compete hard.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Schedule for Lakers vs. Thunder series has been released