The Houston Rockets‘ run in the 2026 NBA Playoffs might be coming to a shockingly early end after they fell to a 3-0 series deficit to the Los Angeles Lakers after a 112-108 OT loss in Game 3. Even though the Rockets were without Kevin Durant, they once again failed to capitalize on the opportunity to win by allowing the Lakers to make an improbable fourth-quarter comeback before running out of steam in OT.
Durant’s absence meant that Coach Ime Udoka would rely on a very tight rotation, which saw his starting five all play 44 minutes or more in the loss. One of the five was Tari Eason, who put up five points, four rebounds, and four steals on 2-9 shooting from the field. He did end the game with a +6 plus/minus, but his poor offensive contributions saw his teammates not rely on him for buckets down the stretch.
As the Rockets fell to this devastating loss in OT, Eason’s mother was going off on an angry and abusive rant on social media.
“Pass the mother—- g-d–mn son of a b—h f—ing g-d–mn f—ing s–t f—ing ball, f—ing pass it to the f—ing open f—ing g-d–mn f—ing man!!! I’m logging off. Enough.”
The post is linked above as well, since the censoring definitely makes it a lot harder to comprehend. It’s safe to say that Eason’s mother wasn’t happy about her son being iced out of the offense in the fourth quarter and OT. Eason shot 0-4 through these periods, with three of those misses being open three-point opportunities, so it does make sense why his teammates had low confidence in him.
Eason has averaged 10.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.3 steals through this series, as his offensive struggles from the end of the regular season have followed him into the postseason. He was shooting over 40% on threes for most of this season before going through a cold stretch through March and April, where he shot 21.4% from three. He’s shooting 33.3% from three in the Playoffs as well, with his poor spacing hurting the Rockets’ offense, especially in Durant’s absence.
Eason averaged 10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.2 steals as a 35.8% three-point shooter to end the regular season, with the 24-year-old forward proving to be a core member of the team’s rotation. He’s still an incredibly strong defensive player, but it seems Houston has enough defensive players and not enough players who contribute to the score line.
The Lakers have drained the life out of Houston’s offense all series, with their commanding 3-0 lead proving they’ve been clearly superior to the Rockets.
We have seen Eason’s mother be a very active X user, sending messages about the game and his son’s performances all year. However, it seems the likelihood of the Rockets’ season ending in the first round against a depleted Lakers squad led to a passionate immediate reaction on social media.
