Kevin Durant is expected to miss Sunday’s Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers with a bone bruise in his sprained left ankle, leaving the Rockets without their best scorer as they try to stay alive in the series. Austin Reaves was ruled out before tip-off for the Lakers, who can close out the matchup with one more win.
If Durant is unable to play, it would be his third game of the series. He missed Game 1 with a knee injury and sat out Game 3 with the ankle problem. The injury is the kind that would typically sideline a player for 2-to-3 weeks during the regular season, making a quick return difficult.
Durant’s absence matters because the Lakers have already used their defense to take control. In Game 2, he scored 20 points in the first half, but Los Angeles held him to three points after halftime and still won 101-94. The Lakers then watched the Rockets blow a six-point lead in the final 30 seconds of Game 3 on Friday night before losing in overtime, pushing the series to 3-0.
That start has come despite the Lakers playing without Luka Dončić and Reaves. LeBron James has led the effort, and the Lakers’ role players have stepped up in the openings created by those absences. Reaves had been nearing a return and was upgraded to questionable for the last two games, but he will remain out through at least Game 4.
The Rockets have become the first NBA team to face the possibility of rallying from a 3-0 deficit to win a series or being eliminated in the first round. For Los Angeles, Game 4 is a chance to finish the job. For Houston, it is about finding a response before the series ends the same way too many playoff runs do: quietly, and one game too late.