Kevin Durant was on the sideline in street clothes on Wednesday night, watching his Houston Rockets teammates take care of the ball in the clutch and hold off the Lakers, to pick up their second win in a row and make this a 3-2 series, one where there is begining to be a legitimate question about whether the Rockets could make history as the first NBA team to come back from 0-3 down and take a series.
Durant is not suiting up for Game 6 in Houston on Friday either, Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Thursday’s episode of “Get Up.”
“Sources tell me Kevin Durant will be out for Game 6. He’s not going to be playing, so he will have missed five of six games so far in this series. He’s dealing with a bone bruise in his left ankle. We know he dealt with a tendon bruise that sidelined him for Game 1, but this bone bruise is a two-week minimum injury. He’s just over one week right now.’
That suggests that if there is a Game 7 back in Los Angeles on Sunday, Durant will not play in that either.
The Rockets won a huge game on the road without KD on Wednesday night, getting strong play from Jabari Smith Jr., and this was a team that learned from its mistakes in the clutch in Game 3 and didn’t repeat them in Game 5. The Rockets have settled their offense down in the half-court, Alperen Sengun is being more patient and picking the defense apart better with passes, and the Rockets hit their 3s. Combined with a tenacious defense, there is a path for them to history even without Durant.
Austin Reaves returned for the Lakers and gave them a boost with 22 points and six assists off the bench, but he wore down as the game went on and was 1-of-8 shooting in the fourth quarter. If the Lakers are going to avoid being on the wrong side of history, they need more efficiency from him.
