The Houston Rockets avoided a first-round sweep with a 115-96 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 at Toyota Center on Sunday. The Rockets got this huge win to trim the deficit to 3-1 despite Kevin Durant missing yet another game with injury.
Durant has been out for three of the four games so far, and NBA insider Shams Charania reported before Game 4 that he has a bone bruise in his sprained left ankle. That typically sidelines a player for two to three weeks during the regular season, but Rockets head coach Ime Udoka confirmed in his postgame press conference that the 16-time All-Star could still play in this series.
“Yeah, possibility for sure,” Udoka said, via Rocket Fuel-A. “I think just looking at the time frame of that specific injury and what it takes, but I didn’t know how bad it was initially, like you said, and then got that prognosis. But he’s doing what he can to get swelling out, mobility back. And just like the knee, we weren’t sure when he was going to come back, but he snapped back pretty quickly to be available for Game 2.
“So it is a true game-to-game, day-to-day thing,” Udoka added.
Durant had missed Game 1 after suffering a right knee contusion during practice. The 37-year-old was able to return for Game 2 just a couple of days later, and the Rockets are hoping he makes another quick recovery.
Durant had suffered this ankle injury in the fourth quarter of Game 2. Adrenaline led him to carry on, but the ankle swelled up after the game. You wonder if not exiting then and there made things worse.
What makes these injuries to Durant so gutting for him and the Rockets is that he had been healthy for almost the entire regular season. He missed four games, but only one was due to injury. Durant was out for the 118-114 win over the Indiana Pacers on Feb. 2 due to a left ankle sprain. As for the other three, two were for personal reasons and one for rest.
The Rockets had managed to win all those games that Durant missed, which led you to believe they would be fine against the short-handed Lakers in the first round. Their opponents were without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, so they were still very much the favorites.
The Lakers, though, surprisingly managed to win Game 1 107-98. Durant’s return for Game 2 was supposed to tie up this series, but it didn’t. The Lakers won 101-94 to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Durant had an excellent start to that contest with 20 points at halftime. He struggled mightily in the second half, though, putting up just three points. Durant would finish the night with 23 points (7-12 FG), six rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one block. He also had nine turnovers, and it was a game to forget.
Then, Durant’s absence for Game 3 appeared to be the final nail in the Rockets’ coffin. They were completely written off, but found themselves with a six-point lead and the ball with about 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter. A win seemed inevitable at that point, but they spectacularly blew the game. The Lakers were able to send it to overtime and went on to win 112-108.
Udoka went off on his Rockets players after the game for their horrendous mistakes. You wondered how this group was going to respond in Game 4, especially once Durant was ruled out again, and they put in a strong performance. It might be a little too late, though. No team has ever overturned a 3-0 deficit in NBA history.
The Rockets will try, and Game 5 will tip off at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
