Latest news and updates about the Rockets
Across the regular season, the crowd at Lakers games does not rank among the best in the league. The lion’s share of the blame falls on ownership for pricing out the common, diehard fans and replacing them with fans who too often view the game as a status symbol rather than a chance to root […]
The score of this one might suggest that the Rockets weren’t in fact spanked, by the Lakers. They were. This was a wire to wire win for LA, and at no point did it seem like the Rockets were going to push past LA, take a lead, and keep it. The Lakers held the Rockets […]
The deck was stacked against the Lakers heading into the playoffs, but what awaited them was a tower of cards ready to topple over in the Rockets. Kevin Durant being a surprise scratch pregame tilted the tower to the brink of falling and the purple and gold made it a mission to finish the job […]
A career night from Luke Kennard and a double-double from LeBron James powered the Lakers to a Game 1 win over the Rockets, 107-98. After finding out pregame that Kevin Durant would be out due to a right knee contusion, the Lakers took full advantage of the opportunity. LA grabbed a lead in the first […]
Houston Rockets vs Los Angeles Lakers April 18, 2026 Location: crypto.com arena, Los Angeles, CA TV:ABC Radio:KBME Sports Talk 790 / KLTN 102.9 (en español) Online: ABC/ESPN? Time: 7:30 PM CST Probable Starting Lineups Rockets: Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun Lakers: Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, Jake Laravia, Lebron James, […]
After two brutal injury blows to end the season, the Lakers are on the other end of the pendulum this time. Prior to Saturday’s Game 1 against the Rockets, Houston head coach Ime Udoka said Kevin Durant would be out for the contest. KD had been listed as questionable with a right knee contusion, an […]
The Lakers have had a history with many teams, including this year’s matchup in the Rockets. One might not think the Lakers and Rockets have any history together, but there is one surprising link between the two franchises. Pat Riley. Drafted by the San Diego Rockets in the 1967 NBA draft as the seventh pick […]
This is a lose-lose series for the Houston Rockets. If the Rockets win the series, then the narrative will be that the Los Angeles Lakers were hurt and of course the Rockets won. If Houston loses the series, they were frauds all along and will need to make wholesale changes this summer to retool around […]
Start time and TV schedule Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets When: 5:30 p.m. PT, Apr. 18 Where: Crypto.com Arena Watch: ABC After months of grinding through the rigorous challenge that is the NBA regular season, the playoffs have arrived and the state of the Lakers has been more uncertain than ever. With Luka Dončić and Austin […]
With the dust settled on the regular season, the Lakers now turn their attention to the playoffs and their first- round matchup with the Houston Rockets. Despite having a better record and home-court advantage over their Western Conference counterpart, Los Angeles is projected to be a large underdog in the series. That’s the harsh reality of […]
There’s a whole other article here that’s tempting to write. Several, even. How about “If the Rockets lose to the Lakers, Ime Udoka should be on the hot seat”? That is a position that could easily be justified. Luka Doncic is out for Game 1, and questionable for Game 2. Austin Reaves is questionable for […]
Happy NBA Playoff week! With the first round Rockets-Lakers series tipping off Saturday night, I figured it would be a good time to highlight three things I am looking forward to going into this series, and hopefully many series after! (Disclaimer: the items on this list are in no order, and are my personal hopes!) […]
The minute both Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves were diagnosed with their respective grade-two muscle injuries, the Lakers immediately became the team every other Western Conference playoff entrant wanted to face. JJ Redick said as much at the end of the regular season and no amount of medical treatment – whether here or in Spain […]
On Saturday April 18th at 7:30 PM CST, the world will be tuning on to watch two of the greatest players of all-time square off in the postseason for the fourth time in the careers of Kevin Durant and LeBron James. All week the talking heads have been discussing the matchup, and the main focus […]
Now that the Lakers are set to play the Rockets in the playoffs, LA can focus on just one opponent and game plan for them. The good news for the Lakers is that they won the regular-season series against Houston 2-1. The obvious bad news is that they’ll have to play without Austin Reaves and […]
The NBA Playoffs are coming up quickly now that the regular season is over. The Rockets came in fifth, therefore they will play the Los Angeles Lakers, who came in fourth, in a best-of-seven series. The higher-seeded team (Los Angeles) will host the first two games, as usual. After that, the series will go to […]
For the second year running, the Lakers will enter the playoffs with home court advantage. Unfortunately, the odds of this series playing out better than the last remain low. The Rockets await the Lakers this postseason, but the LA side they will meet is a much different one than the one they played during the […]
The injuries to Lakers stars Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves brought a cloud of uncertainty. Neither player has a set timeline for their return and they have many more questions than answers about their status. When it comes to Reaves specifically, after the initial news of his diagnosis, there has been little other updates or […]
The Lakers started their week of preparation leading up to Saturday’s Game 1 meeting with the Rockets with the question on everyone’s mind. When will Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves return? Head coach JJ Redick fielded that question for the first of what will be many times on Tuesday and had a definitive, if not […]
Alas, the 2026 NBA postseason is upon us. It took a while to get here. About six months, in totality. The regular season was an entertaining one, for sure. Let’s not get that mistaken, however, it became a war of attrition, on many fronts. Some teams limped across the finish line. The Los Angeles Lakers […]
Everyone loves a best-case scenario. Well, folks, Houston Rockets fans (finally) have one. Why finally? It’s been a challenging 2025-26 season. Fred VanVleet was down from the onset. Steven Adams didn’t take too long to follow. Without a pair of players whom the Rockets saw as integral to their game plan, there were times when […]
The regular season may be over, but there’s still time needed for the dust to settle. Now that teams are locked into their positions, it’s time to look at where the Houston Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick owed to the Sixers ended up. The Rockets ended the season winning nine of out of their last 10 […]
“They say they want you successful, but then they make it stressful, you start keeping pace, they start switching up the tempo.” – Mos Def Can’t print the name of the song. Realistically, the comparison is arguably offensive. The Mighty Mos Def is talking about racial inequality in America. This article is going to be […]
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rockets fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. This week’s question asked about the teams in Houston’s playoff tier — the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and […]
It’s going to be tough to write 300+ words about Sunday night’s season finale between the playoff bound Houston Rockets and the obviously tanking Memphis Grizzlies. I may have to rely on a few random famous Ron Burgundy warm up quotes such as, “How now brown cow.” With the Rockets being locked in as the […]