{"id":714210,"date":"2026-04-19T21:52:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714210\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T21:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T21:52:29","slug":"with-or-without-kevin-durant-rockets-offensive-approach-must-be-better-vs-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/714210\/","title":{"rendered":"With or without Kevin Durant, Rockets\u2019 offensive approach must be better vs. Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Once it became official that Kevin Durant would not suit up for Game 1<\/a>\u00a0of the Houston Rockets\u2019 Western Conference first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, it was a foregone conclusion that the Rockets would take a step back on offense. Maybe even two.<\/p>\n

But it was much worse than expected.<\/p>\n

Without Durant, Houston\u2019s offense fell off a cliff, helping to fuel the red-hot Lakers to a 107-98 victory over the Rockets<\/a> in what\u2019s already become one of the most odd series in this year\u2019s playoffs.\u00a0The absence of Lakers stars Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and Austin Reaves already deprived this series of some punch.<\/p>\n

But once Durant became a late scratch after bumping knees with a teammate during practice on Wednesday, it was almost as if the juice left Crypto.com Arena before Game 1 even started.<\/p>\n

At least that\u2019s how it looked on the Rockets sideline, as they were without the fifth-leading scorer in NBA history. Although it\u2019s been weeks since the Rockets fell victim to these kinds of lulls, Houston\u2019s performance in Game 1 was very reminiscent of how it looked during some of its worst stretches of the regular season.<\/p>\n

The half-court sets were stagnant. All-Star Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn was inefficient and erratic with his decision making. Amen Thompson was driving into crowded lanes. Perhaps worst of all, there was no one to slow down the snowball effect as one turnover or missed jumper bled into another.<\/p>\n

Despite knowing they\u2019d be without their two leading scorers to begin the series, the Lakers looked like the team more physically and mentally prepared for playoff intensity. The Rockets were a step slow from the start, allowing their struggles on offense to dictate their attitude and aggression throughout Saturday night.<\/p>\n

These problems were supposed to be in the past.\u00a0But they crept to the forefront again, with Houston\u2019s starting unit shooting a combined 34.7 percent from the field.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We got) some decent looks, but we got a little bit too stagnant hunting our own shots,\u201d said Rockets coach Ime Udoka. \u201cWhen we did touch the paint and had some kickouts, especially early in the first quarter, we got really good looks. \u2026 Felt like we had too many contested shots in a crowd at the rim over one or two people.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the biggest surprises was \u015eeng\u00fcn being a frequent culprit when the offense got stagnant. With Durant out, it could have been a great opportunity for the 23-year-old to show he can dominate against the Lakers\u2019 complicated defensive schemes and lift his team to an improbable playoff win on the road.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u015eeng\u00fcn had one of his worst games in over a month. He finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but he made 6 of 19 from the floor, and his overall performance was filled with uncharacteristic mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u015eeng\u00fcn\u2019s patience in the lane and passing vision are two of his biggest strengths, but he was unusually ineffective in both of those areas. He looked frantic trying to attack ahead of double-teams. The paint regularly was so crowded that his go-to passes weren\u2019t available, but he also missed several potential kickouts for 3s.<\/p>\n

It would be easy for the Rockets to say that Saturday was just an abnormal shooting night and their shots will start falling eventually.\u00a0While that may be true to an extent, it undersells how much of the offensive process was broken. \u015eeng\u00fcn usually controls the game by forcing opponents to react to his post-ups or deep drives in the paint.<\/p>\n

But in Game 1, \u015eeng\u00fcn was the one on his heels and struggled to find the weak spots in L.A.\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Durant returns in Game 2, the Rockets can\u2019t afford for \u015eeng\u00fcn to be this ineffective. \u015eeng\u00fcn\u2019s importance isn\u2019t just because of the points he puts on the board. His elite passing from the center spot opens up the game for the other talented forwards around him. While Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason are all capable of making plays on their own, the Rockets are most dangerous when those players are taking advantage of the attention \u015eeng\u00fcn gets around the basket.<\/p>\n

When \u015eeng\u00fcn\u2019s impact is this limited, it doesn\u2019t just bring him down; it affects everyone around him. Especially when Durant isn\u2019t there to pick up the slack.<\/p>\n

\u201cI missed a lot of shots, the shots I was making (in the past),\u201d \u015eeng\u00fcn said. \u201cIt happens. It\u2019s the first game \u2014 the first away game. It\u2019s going to come back. I\u2019m not upset about it. Of course, I\u2019m upset about the loss, but I\u2019m going to bounce back next game and come stronger. I\u2019m going to have a different mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

While most of the Rockets shot poorly in Saturday\u2019s loss, another player struggled much more than usual: Reed Sheppard.<\/p>\n

The second-year guard finished with 17 points and eight assists while shooting 6-for-20 from the field and 5-for-14 on 3-pointers. His added aggression was needed with Durant sidelined, but he settled too often for contested, pull-up jumpers instead of putting pressure on the Lakers by getting downhill.<\/p>\n

Three times, he got Lakers center Deandre Ayton switched to him on the perimeter, but he failed to punish Ayton on any of those possessions. One resulted in a failed drive to the basket. One turned into a missed fadeaway jumper. The last was a pull-up 3-pointer that Ayton partially blocked.<\/p>\n

Missing shots is one thing. That happens. But Sheppard\u2019s decision making on the ball and his ability to punish the Lakers\u2019 slower perimeter defenders seemed lacking.<\/p>\n

Sheppard\u2019s explosive scoring ability has become an essential part of the Rockets\u2019 puzzle. When he looks as disjointed as he did on Saturday, it puts added pressure on some of the role players who aren\u2019t as capable.<\/p>\n

Getting your first real playoff minutes on the road against the Lakers is never easy, and Sheppard isn\u2019t the first young player to fall victim to the bright lights. But as this series goes along, his shooting will be key. Even more than that, the Rockets need him to help stabilize the offense during certain stretches and take advantage of mismatches when they\u2019re available.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the shots he was taking, if I\u2019m being real. We need Reed to do that,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cHe\u2019s such a threat. When it comes to shooting, he demands so much attention. I like the shots; they didn\u2019t go the way we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Houston's<\/p>\n

\n Reed Sheppard had a tough night in his playoff debut Saturday night. (Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Udoka pointed to several numbers that were clearly in his team\u2019s favor, but the poor shooting prevented them from ever making it a game. The Rockets grabbed 21 offensive rebounds and scored 23 second-chance points. They also had 13 steals, forced the Lakers into 20 turnovers and scored 24 points off those mistakes.<\/p>\n

In fact, the last time a team had 20-plus offensive rebounds and 10-plus steals in a playoff game without scoring 100-plus points came in 2013. It\u2019s only happened seven times since 2000.<\/p>\n

Udoka also pointed out after the game that Houston ended the night with 27 more field-goal attempts than the Lakers, a stunning statistic, especially considering both teams had nearly the same number of free throw attempts (Rockets had 25, Lakers had 26).<\/p>\n

This was a game the Rockets usually win. They just couldn\u2019t make up for the poor shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe looks were decent. We won a lot of areas and just shot it poorly,\u201d Udoka said. \u201cWe had 27 more shots than them. We\u2019ve just got to convert those. \u2026 It\u2019s hard to win with those numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game 2 on Tuesday will be a waiting game. Will Durant be back in the lineup? Will he be moving as well as he has all season? Can he do enough to save the Rockets from these awful offensive woes?<\/p>\n

Durant is so talented that his presence alone may be enough to get the Rockets back on track. But the lesson from Game 1 shouldn\u2019t be that things would\u2019ve been different if he\u2019d played. It\u2019s that the Rockets were so bad in half-court situations that it nearly took a Herculean effort from both teams to prevent them from winning anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Once it became official that Kevin Durant would not suit up for Game 1\u00a0of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,194,150,6,478,470,4073,4072,675],"class_list":{"0":"post-714210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-houston-rockets","10":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-orleans","13":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","14":"tag-neworleans","15":"tag-neworleanspelicans","16":"tag-pelicans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116433595288085733","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714210","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=714210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}