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\n\t\t\tKevin Durant will remain sidelined for Friday\u2019s game of the Rockets\u2018 first-round series vs. the Lakers, Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Thursday\u2019s episode of Get Up (Twitter video link).
\nDurant has already missed four of five games in the first round. He was inactive for Game 1 due to a tendon bruise in his right knee, returned for Game 2, and has been out for the past three games as a result of a left ankle sprain and bone bruise.
\n\u201cThis bone bruise is a two-week minimum injury,\u201d Charania said. \u201cHe\u2019s just over one week right now.\u201d
\nDespite the absence of their leading scorer, the Rockets have managed to hang around in the first round even after dropping the first three games of the series. They won Game 4 in Houston, then came away with a victory in Los Angeles on Wednesday to earn another home game on Friday.
\nWith Durant joining veterans Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams on the injury report, Houston has been rolling with a starting lineup essentially made up entirely of the team\u2019s young core, as Tari Eason joins Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Sheppard, and Amen Thompson. That five-man group has a +16.7 net rating in 73 playoff minutes so far; no other Rockets lineup has played more than 24 minutes together in the postseason.
\nCharania\u2019s assertion that Durant is likely facing a recovery period of at least two weeks suggests that the Rockets shouldn\u2019t count on having him available for a potential Game 7, though it\u2019s safe to assume the two-time Finals MVP will do all he can to try to make it back. The Lakers are also playing shorthanded, with their own top scorer, Luka Doncic, not expected to return from a hamstring strain before the end of the first round.<\/p>\n