Kevin Durant will not play Sunday night in Game 4, and the Houston Rockets now face elimination with the Los Angeles Lakers holding a 3-0 series lead. Houston ruled Durant out with a bone bruise in his sprained left ankle, keeping him on the sideline for his third game of the series.
The injury has changed from game to game for Durant, who missed Game 1 with a knee issue and sat out Game 3 with the ankle sprain. Coach Ime Udoka said the bone bruise is the worst part of the problem, adding that treatment and rehab have not cleared the pain and limited mobility enough for him to return.
Durant’s absence is a major blow because of what he showed in Game 2, when he scored 20 points in the first half before the Lakers held him to three points after halftime in a 101-94 Rockets loss. Houston then missed a chance to steal Game 3, blowing a six-point lead in the final 30 seconds of regulation before losing in overtime on Friday night.
The Lakers also will be without Austin Reaves, who had been listed as questionable before being ruled out for Game 4. Reaves has been sidelined since the stretch run of the regular season, and the Lakers have already played this series without him and Luka Dončić. Still, Los Angeles can close out the series with a win on Sunday, while Houston has to find a way to survive without the player it most needed to steady the offense.
The question now is not whether Durant can change the series, but whether the Rockets can extend it long enough for him to matter again. With the way Game 3 slipped away and Game 4 arriving under the pressure of elimination, Houston has little margin left.