LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Durant was scheduled to miss the Houston Rockets’ playoff opener against the Los Angeles Lakers with a knee injury, leaving both teams without their top scorer to begin the first-round series.
Durant was ruled out for Game 1 on Saturday night by coach Ime Udoka, but the Rockets seem confident Durant’s bruised right knee isn’t a long-term problem.
“Hopefully it’s a one game thing, but he tried it out in practice and it didn’t feel good enough,” Udoka said.
Durant bumped knees with a teammate during practice on Wednesday, and he was added to the Rockets’ injury report on Friday. The fifth-leading scorer in NBA history led the Rockets with 26.0 points per game this season, his first in Houston.
Udoka said Durant’s knee is “very tender. … Tough to bend in certain ways. Hit it in a very awkward spot, I suppose. Pain tolerance is one part, but (also) limited movement.”
Reed Sheppard will take Durant’s spot in the fifth-seeded Rockets’ starting lineup for the opener against the fourth-seeded Lakers, who are playing without NBA scoring champion Luka Doncic and high-scoring guard Austin Reaves indefinitely.
Doncic (hamstring) and Reaves (oblique) were injured April 2. Both of their injuries typically take several weeks to heal, but Doncic traveled to Europe this month for treatment in hopes of getting back on the court sooner.
Durant’s absence injects some hope into the Lakers’ intention to hang with the Rockets long enough for Doncic and Reaves to have an opportunity to return to the postseason.
“We’re going try to make this season as long as possible so that we can get those guys back at some point,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said Friday. “We don’t know what that is, but that’s just our job. And their job is to do everything they can to be in a position to come back at some point. It may not work, but that’s what we’re trying to do.”
It is the 37-year-old Durant’s 14th trip to the NBA playoffs.
The series is his fourth career postseason meeting with 41-year-old LeBron James, who has faced off against Durant in three NBA Finals.
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