{"id":591701,"date":"2026-04-18T12:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T12:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591701\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T12:23:10","slug":"los-angeles-lakers-vs-houston-rockets-in-playoffs-how-to-watch-lebron-kevin-durant-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/591701\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets in playoffs: How to watch LeBron-Kevin Durant clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the fourth time ever and the first time outside the NBA Finals, LeBron James and Kevin Durant line up for a playoff duel. Might it be the last time, too?<\/a> James\u2019 Los Angeles Lakers meet Durant\u2019s Houston Rockets for a marquee draw in the opening round.<\/p>\n

This pairing is momentous and epochal. James has four championships, four MVPs and the league\u2019s all-time scoring record. He\u2019s redefined basketball stardom as we know it. Durant has two rings, an MVP and four scoring titles. He is the original unicorn who typifies modern offense. They\u2019re two of the greatest bucket-getters in postseason history \u2014 KD is fourth-best at 29.3 points per game, while the King is sixth at 28.4.<\/p>\n

Granted, this series has moving parts beyond its binary stars. Houston deploys a towering starting lineup under coach Ime Udoka. There\u2019s fertile proving ground for the younger Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn and Amen Thompson. Los Angeles is reconstructing itself<\/a> in real time without Luka Don\u010di\u0107 or Austin Reaves. JJ Redick faces a unique test to his sideline savviness. Check out the upcoming schedule below, alongside recent and historic head-to-head showdowns.<\/p>\n

How to watch No. 4 Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. 5 Houston Rockets<\/p>\n

Watching in person? Get tickets on StubHub<\/a>.<\/p>\n

GameDateTime (ET)TVStream<\/p>\n

1: @ LA<\/p>\n

Sat., April 18<\/p>\n

8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

ABC<\/p>\n

2: @ LA<\/p>\n

Tue., April 21<\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

NBC<\/p>\n

Peacock<\/p>\n

3: @ HOU<\/p>\n

Fri., April 24<\/p>\n

8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Prime Video<\/p>\n

Prime Video<\/p>\n

4: @ HOU<\/p>\n

Sun., April 26<\/p>\n

9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

NBC<\/p>\n

Peacock<\/p>\n

5*: @ LA<\/p>\n

Wed., April 29<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

6*: @ HOU<\/p>\n

Fri., May 1<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

7*: @ LA<\/p>\n

Sun., May 3<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

TBD<\/p>\n

* if necessary<\/p>\n

ABC and NBC are free over the air. ABC is also available with an ESPN Unlimited subscription.<\/p>\n

What to know about the Lakers<\/p>\n

The purple and gold went 53-29, the most wins L.A. has totaled in a season since 2010-11. Redick had the rotation humming down the stretch; the Lakers won 15 of 17 games in March. Then came the fateful nightmare against the Oklahoma City Thunder \u2014 Don\u010di\u0107 strained his hamstring and Reaves strained his oblique during an April 2 blowout loss. Both are out indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles went 3-2 after those injuries. It beat the Golden State Warriors sans Stephen Curry, the Phoenix Suns sans Devin Booker and the very bad Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n

The Lakers put up a minus-43 in 1,652 minutes without Don\u010di\u0107 this season. They were a minus-38 across 2,179 minutes without Reaves. Any upset efforts start with James, still hulking and perpetually shrewd in year No. \u00a023. His inevitable final bow is somewhere on the horizon, but when exactly remains to be seen. According to The Athletic\u2019s Dan Woike and Sam Amick, \u201cretirement remains a real possibility<\/a>\u201d for the NBA great.<\/p>\n

James is surrounded by an eclectic group of well-traveled role players. Rui Hachimura and Luke Kennard bring 3-point range to relieve the offense, while Marcus Smart is a professional pest on the defensive perimeter.<\/p>\n

Deandre Ayton caught some heat for his unprompted slight of Clint Capela<\/a>\u00a0in February. The center then did some soul-searching<\/a> and bought into Redick\u2019s vision. He is now carrying massive weight against Houston\u2019s frontcourt \u2014 which, of course, includes Capela himself.<\/p>\n

What to know about the Rockets<\/p>\n

Houston nearly matched its opponent at 52-30. The Rockets had the exact same record in 2024-25, before Durant was rocking red. Though that looks underwhelming on its face, the current team is better equipped to force playoff pressure. Following a first-round exit last spring, the franchise seeks its first series win since 2020.<\/p>\n

Udoka\u2019s Rockets committed the fewest fouls of any team this season and led the NBA in offensive rebounds. While the previous playoff berth was undone by a lack of half-court creators, this run features an all-time mismatch. Durant remains an elite scorer at 26 points per game and 52\/41.3\/87.4 percent splits, though a knee injury landed him as questionable on the Game 1 injury report.<\/p>\n

Thompson is one of Fred Katz\u2019s picks for his All-Perimeter-Defense second team<\/a>. The third-year wing disrupts pick-and-rolls and cooks up takeaway chances. \u015eeng\u00fcn has been a game-changing presence in the middle, as detailed by William Guillory<\/a>. Three-point volume comes from stretchy big man Jabari Smith Jr. and punchy bench shooter Reed Sheppard.<\/p>\n

The Rockets won nine of their final 10 regular-season games, and they finished sixth in net rating. They\u2019re a viable Western Conference contender, so long as their turnovers are kept under control.<\/p>\n

Head-to-head matchups this season<\/p>\n

The Lakers won two of three regular-season meetings. That first game was in Los Angeles on Christmas Day, and it turned into a Rockets rout behind Thompson\u2019s 26 points and Durant\u2019s 25.<\/p>\n

The others were in Houston across a three-day stretch. On March 16, the Lakers warped their hosts to 5-of-26 struggles (19.2 percent) from beyond the arc. On March 18, L.A. made 15 of its 32 treys (46.9 percent) and topped 60 percent from the floor.<\/p>\n

Now for the much-needed caveat: Don\u010di\u0107 balled out in both Ws. He averaged 38 points in those two March games. But James more than held his own in the second one, a near-perfect 30-piece on 13-for-14 shooting.<\/p>\n

Lakers vs. Rockets playoff history<\/p>\n

The Lakers lead the all-time series 6-3. The Rockets claimed the first two matchups, including a 4-1 stunner in the 1986 Western Conference finals. Hakeem Olajuwon went for an absurd 31 points and 6.2 stocks (steals+blocks) per game, which put his side ahead of the \u201cShowtime\u201d dynasty. Ralph Sampson clinched it<\/a> at the Forum with a last-second volley<\/a>. Olajuwon and the \u201cClutch City\u201d Rockets won a first-round series in 1996 as well.<\/p>\n

Since then, it\u2019s been all L.A. The Shaquille O\u2019Neal-Kobe Bryant Lakers took opening series in 1999 and 2004. Bryant and Pau Gasol survived a seven-game grinder<\/a> during 2009\u2019s second round, en route to their finals triumph.<\/p>\n

The 2020 championship team eliminated James Harden\u2019s Rockets in the conference semifinals. James and Anthony Davis each averaged 25-point double-doubles in that bubble series.<\/p>\n

Streaming and ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process, and do not review stories before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the fourth time ever and the first time outside the NBA Finals, LeBron James and Kevin Durant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[5050,1055,355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-591701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-houston-rockets","9":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}