It’s been another less-than-ideal postseason for the Houston Rockets. They headed into their first round series against the Los Angeles Lakers with a heavy amount of optimism, especially with the Lakers missing two of their best players in Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic. The Rockets, however, responded by laying an egg in the first three games of the series, both with and without Kevin Durant. Despite winning Game 4 without KD, the Rockets are still down 3-1 in the series. It would take a miracle
to become the first team in NBA history to bounce back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series. And now it looks like things are about to get even harder, with a new report saying Austin Reaves is “optimistic” that he’ll be able to return for Wednesday night’s Game 5.
Reaves had a huge year this season, averaging a career high 23.3 points per game to go along with 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds. He shot 49 percent from deep and 36 percent from the field while also snagging a 64.1 percent true shooting percentage, putting him in elite company. This was a big loss for the Lakers.
And with the Rockets struggling a bit with depth in the backcourt, this could be a real difference maker in the Lakers closing out the Rockets early. Houston won one of four with Reaves out. They’re going to need to step it up yet another notch if they hope to win again with Reaves back in the lineup.
The Rockets probably put Amen Thompson on Reaves, who can hopefully bother the Lakers guard with his physicality and length, leaving Reed Sheppard to handle Marcus Smart, who’s been having a good series. Houston’s lack of backcourt depth is now going to play an even bigger role. Aaron Holiday is also going to need some solid minutes off the bencn in order to help mitigate L.A.‘s backcourt advantage.
Kevin Durant is also out again on Wednesday, which means the Rockets are going to have to find their offense again to keep up with the Lakers adding a 23-point scorer into the lineup. Coming back from a 3-0 deficit was always going to be hard. But it’s looking like it’s about to get even harder.
