Houston faces a familiar deficit, but this year's team, altered by Durant's absence, must overcome a steeper climb to replicate last season's comeback.
At this time last season, Ime Udoka and his young Rockets unit was in almost the exact same position, surprisingly enough. On April 29th they were staring at a 3-1 deficit. It might not feel like it, but they also finished with a 52-30 record in consecutive seasons.
That might be where the similarities end though. The rosters, performances, and expectations were much different in just a year's time.
The 2025 team was spearheaded by the grittiness and leadership of Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet on the court, while Alperen Şengün ascended to stardom.
Now they’ve acquired Kevin Durant to play alongside the young Rockets core. Without him in the playoffs though, the team has struggled to stay in games against the Lakers. It should be noted that LA is also missing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Last season, the Rockets were able to shock the world, finishing the regular season with the second best record in the West. This gave them home court advantage over a veteran Warriors squad, and that proved to be a big factor. Game 6 was the only win the Rockets were able to pick up away from home.
Similarly to Game 3 in Houston this past Friday, last postseason started with the young Rockets failing to handle business at home. In a seven game series, that’s the difference between feeling comfortable at 2-2 vs fighting for your life, down 1-3.
A major difference from last season is how the playoffs started and how they were structured. While both were 3-1 series, last season started with a 1-1 tie at least. This season the Rockets were already faced with a historically insurmountable 0-3 deficit.
So while it’s not impossible to force a Game 7 again, it does look extremely unlikely. After the first two losses in LA, Houston is now 22-21 on the road this season. They’ll need to finish above .500 in order to give fans more basketball beyond tonight, and that's proven to be a struggle, per Roundtable.
I was glad to see the Rockets taking advantage of their length and athleticism for their first win of the series in Game 4, and hope to get more of that. After all, that is part of what helped them extend their postseason in 2025.
The NBA had to introduce (or emphasize) a new rule to begin this season, though I haven’t seen as many calls made recently. After Dillon Brooks and the Rockets defense scratched and clawed their way back into the series, Adam Silver took notice. There’s a breakdown of this here from Coach Nick.
Tune in tonight on ESPN to see what Ime Udoka and his team have cooked up to keep their season alive. Who knows, we might even see something that forces another rule change in 2027.