{"id":712595,"date":"2026-04-17T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712595\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T17:44:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T17:44:00","slug":"kevin-durant-returns-to-playoffs-leading-houston-rockets-into-clash-with-los-angeles-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712595\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Durant returns to playoffs, leading Houston Rockets into clash with Los Angeles Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Kevin Durant<\/a> is back in the playoffs after missing out last season and he and the Houston Rockets<\/a> are hoping to make some noise this postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful to be here healthy with a team that\u2019s looking forward to trying to do some big things,\u201d he said. \u201c(What) a difference a year can make and I\u2019m just grateful to be back in this position. I don\u2019t want to take any moment for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first season in Houston after this summer\u2019s blockbuster trade from Phoenix, Durant leads the young Rockets into the playoffs where they\u2019ll open their first-round series with the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Durant missed the last seven games of the regular season last year with an ankle injury as the Suns went 1-6 to fall out of playoff contention.<\/p>\n

This season he finished second in the league by playing 2,840 minutes despite being in his 19th NBA season.<\/p>\n

And he can\u2019t wait to play more \u2014 hopefully a lot more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get on the court and you get a chance to be healthy you want go out there and take advantage of that opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durant led the Rockets this season by averaging 26 points a game as he became the oldest player in NBA history to score at least 2,000 points in a season.<\/p>\n

Coach Ime Udoka said Durant has brought so much to his team since the trade but most importantly is that the Rockets knew they could always count on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the availability on a night-to-night basis,\u201d Udoka said. \u201cBeing able to play this many games at this stage in his career and the efficiency that he does it with \u2026 just the fact that he\u2019s durable and available with the injuries in his past, is very impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rockets are aiming for their first title since winning back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995. They\u2019re in the playoffs for a second straight season after being eliminated by the Warriors in the opening round last year in their first postseason appearance since 2020.<\/p>\n

Durant is the fifth-leading scorer in league history, a two-time NBA champion, a 16-time All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist. He brings a championship pedigree to a team where the four other players in the starting lineup have all made just one playoff trip.<\/p>\n

So, with all he\u2019s accomplished, how much does the prospect of winning another championship motivate him?<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning every day is the most important thing,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously the main objective is to win a title, but you can\u2019t do that unless you take care of each day first.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lesson that has been invaluable to Durant\u2019s teammates this season. Twenty-three-year-old Amen Thompson<\/a> said he\u2019s tried to mirror Durant in everything he does, from his work in the gym to how he takes care of his body.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s great and I want to be great,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of young guys that want to be great, so just having that as something to look at every day and just being teammates with him is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durant\u2019s mentorship and positivity have also been a boost to the Rockets. Alperen Sengun<\/a>, who is also 23, said before Durant joined the team he would get down on himself when he\u2019d struggle offensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to care a lot when I used to miss shots,\u201d Sengun said. \u201cBut when I miss shots now, he\u2019s already screaming in my ear: \u2018It\u2019s gonna come.\u2019 So, he\u2019s helped with a lot of things, but the big thing is confidence, especially confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Durant has often encouraged his teammates and given them advice throughout the season, he doesn\u2019t plan to impart any words of wisdom to them as the playoffs commence.<\/p>\n

\u201cNope,\u201d he said. \u201cJust jump in the fire and let\u2019s see what happens, man. We can all get advice and words of encouragement from everybody in our lives and it\u2019s not going to be like actually being in that action.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s confident that the Rockets are ready for the challenge after they ended the regular season by winning nine of 10 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest stage of basketball and there\u2019s a lot that comes around the game, but at the end of the day, when that ball\u2019s tipped up, it\u2019s just basketball,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, we all know how to play at this level, and we all know what it takes to win basketball games. We\u2019ve just got to do that consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/p>\n

Kristie Rieken, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Kevin Durant is back in the playoffs after missing out last season and he and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,292,194,4066,6,211,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-712595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-rockets","11":"tag-houstonrockets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-rockets","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116421293766219141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712595","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=712595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}