Kevin Durant missed the first game of the Rockets‘ series vs. the Lakers – a 107-98 loss – due to a knee injury. He is listed as questionable for Game 2 on Tuesday after going through a portion of the team’s practice on Monday, per The Athletic’s Will Guillory (Twitter link).
ESPN’s Shams Charania provided more clarity on the injury during an appearance on NBA Today.
“My understanding is Kevin Durant is dealing with a deep bruise in his right patellar tendon that he suffered last Wednesday during a practice drill when he was chasing after a loose ball and collided that knee with a teammate, and that has since caused swelling (and) pain. It has impacted his range of motion in the leg as well,” Charania said (Twitter video link). “For Kevin Durant to miss a playoff game, that speaks to the severity of the injury in and of itself.”
When asked what he’s looking to see from his star player ahead of Game 2, head coach Ime Udoka said it comes down to one thing.
“I would say mobility probably,” he said, per Will Guillory (via Twitter). “The pain tolerance is one thing, but actually moving and feeling comfortable doing all the movements is going to be the biggest thing.”
The Rockets struggled to string together offense without Durant, shooting 37.6% from the field and missing eight of their 25 free throws.
Charania adds that Houston is optimistic that Kevin Durant will be available, but his status will be determined by how the leg responds between now and tip-off on Tuesday at 10:30 pm ET.
Shams with the no new information “insider” update
Doesnt matter if durant comes back from injury, the lakers will win anyway
We’ll see if you just jinxed them.
It sounds like if he plays, he’ll be playing injured. As we saw last night, the league helps road teams in the 1st 2 games…
At least the Rockets are playing in LA first, this way they arent losing the home court games
Kevin Durant, 37 years old, is yet another aging superstar reminding us that “the best ability is availability”. When a superstar misses playoff games, his team usually loses.
Meanwhile, LeBron James, 41 yrs old, has played in 293 playoff games and missed 0 (“zero”). If the Lakers win the Houston series, with Luka and Reaves injured, LeBron’s availability should be THE story.
As perspective on LeBron’s 293 games without a miss:
– Steph Curry, 38 yrs old has played 155 and missed 11.
– Michael Jordan’s last playoff game was at 35 yrs old. He played in 179 and missed 0 (“zero”).
– Kevin Durant, 37 years old, has played in 170 playoff games and missed 10.
KD is playing… let’s go
He looked awful -23 pts 6 reb 4 ast and 9 TOs
The TOs were bad. Thats directly related to no PG.
He should never be primary ball handler. He wasn’t 100%. No excuses at this point.