{"id":712458,"date":"2026-04-17T13:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712458\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:30:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:30:24","slug":"lebron-james-weighs-in-on-kevin-durant-duel-but-highlights-another-rockets-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712458\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James weighs in on Kevin Durant duel but highlights another Rockets factor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">LeBron James is expected to carry the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 against the Houston Rockets next Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The absence of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, two key contributors, has increased the spotlight on James, particularly in a high-stakes playoff opener.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Right now, much of the attention has centred on his matchup with Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At 41, James remains at the centre of the narrative, and he addressed the challenge of facing the \u2018Slim Reaper\u2019 as anticipation builds around the clash.<\/p>\n<p>LeBron James praises Kevin Durant but warns about Houston Rockets\u2019 depth<img alt=\"Photo by Tim Warner\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/a5ea597c47fbaaa21cbea08c392f4997.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Tim Warner\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">James acknowledged Durant\u2019s quality but made it clear that the Rockets cannot be defined by one player alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI think last time we were in Houston I told you guys how great he [Durant] has been since he picked up a basketball. So that\u2019s one part of it. Obviously, we know that\u2019s the head of the snake,\u201d he began by saying (via Lakers Nation).<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cYou know, it\u2019s the Houston Rockets, they have some damn good players on their team. So, not just a KD team, it\u2019s a whole group. Like I said, KD is going to do what KD does. He\u2019s a Hall of Famer, we know that. So, we have to prepare not only for him but for the whole group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Houston Rockets supporting cast adds further challenge<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Durant leads Houston with 26.6 points per game according to SofaScore, setting the standard offensively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">However, the Rockets have multiple scoring options behind him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Alperen Sengun averages 20.8 points, while Amen Thompson contributes 18.3 and Jabari Smith adds 15.8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Lakers won two of their three meetings against the Rockets this season, but Houston\u2019s depth now poses a bigger threat while JJ Redick\u2019s team has to deal with significant absences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James is expected to carry the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 against the Houston Rockets next&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[1307,883,1013,7,292,194,4066,1346,1661,938,88864,185,150,368,6,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-712458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-amen-thompson","10":"tag-austin-reaves","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-rockets","14":"tag-houstonrockets","15":"tag-jabari-smith","16":"tag-jj-redick","17":"tag-kevin-durant","18":"tag-lakers-nation","19":"tag-lebron-james","20":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","21":"tag-luka-doncic","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116420295575112933","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}