With Kevin Durant sidelined by an ill-timed knee injury, the Houston Rockets opened their 2026 playoff run with Saturday’s 107-98 loss (box score) in Los Angeles.
Led by LeBron James, who finished with 19 points (60% FG), 13 assists, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals, the Lakers now lead the first-round series, 1-0.
From a Houston perspective, the big story in Durant’s absence was the underperformance of the team’s so-called “young core” of prospects. Comparised of first-round draft picks from the 2021 through 2024 classes, the disappointing showings included:
Alperen Sengun: 6-of-19 shooting (31.6%), 0-of-2 on 3-pointers, 3 turnovers
Amen Thompson: 7-of-18 shooting (38.9%), 3-of-6 on free throws (50.0%)
Jabari Smith Jr.: 5-of-14 shooting (35.7%), 3-of-9 on 3-pointers (33.3%)
Reed Sheppard: 6-of-20 shooting (30.0%), 5-of-14 on 3-pointers (35.7%) 4 turnovers
The lone exception to the struggles was Tari Eason, who had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 steals in 24 minutes off the bench while making all seven of his shots.
“We won a lot of areas and just shot it poorly,” head coach Ime Udoka said postgame. “The looks were decent. We had 27 more shots than them. We’ve just got to convert those.”
Collectively, the Rockets shot just 35-of-93 overall (37.6%) and 11-of-33 from 3-point range (33.3%), easily bested by 40-of-66 (60.6%) and 10-of-19 showings (52.6%) from the Lakers.
An All-Defensive First Team selection one year ago, Thompson called out his own struggles on that end versus Luke Kennard, who finished with a game-high 27 points for the Lakers while shooting 9-of-13 overall (69.2%) and making all five of his 3-point attempts.
“That was my matchup,” Thompson said. “He went off. I’ve got to be better than that. I knew what Kennard could do today, but I’ve got to be more locked in for that matchup."
As expected, the Lakers were without Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain) and Austin Reaves (left oblique strain) due to injury. It is unclear if they will return at any point during the best-of-seven series.
Yet, even without their two leading scorers, the Lakers still won with relative ease against the Durant-less Rockets.
Game 2 is Tuesday night, also from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Tipoff is at 9:30 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised and streamed to a national audience via NBC and Peacock.
The Rockets are hopeful that Durant will return for that game, though it is not yet confirmed. More information could emerge when the team returns to practice on Monday.
More: Kevin Durant (knee bruise) misses Game 1 of Rockets-Lakers playoffs
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Without Kevin Durant, Rockets’ young core fails in Game 1 loss to Lakers