Durant’s late – JJ Redick said Kevin Durant’s Game 1 scratch—reported little over an hour before tip—didn’t change the Lakers’ playoff mindset after their 107-98 win.
LOS ANGELES – The Lakers learned that Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant would miss Game 1 only a little over an hour before tip-off, but the team’s game plan barely flinched.
That was the central message from Lakers head coach JJ Redick after Los Angeles closed out a 107-98 win. insisting the late-breaking injury news did not require a wholesale mental reset.. Redick framed it as a continuation of what the team had been rehearsing for months: playoff preparation. execution standards. and discipline once the ball goes up. regardless of which lineup takes the floor.
Redick acknowledged the practical reality of playing a new opponent configuration on short notice—especially with a player of Durant’s gravity—but he kept the emphasis on process rather than circumstance.. The Rockets’ game plan was different, the matchups were different, and the moments in-game could tilt toward new roles.. Still. Redick argued the Lakers were already built to handle adjustments. because their identity was not dependent on any single star matchup.
A crucial detail in the setup: the news came extremely late. with Rockets head coach Ime Udoka announcing Durant’s absence at the opening of his pregame press conference.. For Redick. that timeline mattered mainly in how it tested the team’s readiness to respond quickly—something playoff teams are expected to do even when information arrives after the schedule has already narrowed to hours instead of days.
What stood out in Game 1 was that Los Angeles played like a team that had already decided how it wanted to win.. The Lakers led at the end of every quarter. and by the second half they gradually pushed their advantage into double digits.. In other words. even with a late scratch on Houston’s side. the story of the game stayed mostly about Los Angeles’s rhythm—offensive organization. defensive structure. and the ability to convert effort into separation.
The human part of this is simple: playoff basketball punishes hesitation.. When something changes right before tip. there’s a temptation to second-guess—whether it’s about shot selection. defensive assignments. or even how hard to press in specific rotations.. Redick’s comments suggest the Lakers resisted that urge.. They stayed locked into the habits practiced during the week leading up to the opener. and they treated Durant’s absence as a variable. not a disruption.
LeBron James reinforced the same theme from a player’s perspective.. He said the Lakers spent significant time on offense during the week before Game 1 because the team’s style is different than what fans might remember from earlier in the season.. In his view, the core game plan didn’t shift as dramatically as the late news itself might imply.. Yes. getting the information late changed certain situational considerations. but James emphasized that the Rockets remain dangerous—especially when you remove nothing from their ability to create problems. even if one star is not on the floor.
That framing matters for what comes next.. Series momentum often gets measured by scores. but it also gets built by decisions: how a team handles the unexpected. how quickly it assigns ownership of new matchups. and whether it can turn “late information” into “early advantage.” The Lakers got those answers in Game 1—controlling the pace long enough to dictate the feel of the night. then making Houston play catch-up as the lead grew.
Houston’s side of the equation is also worth watching as the series moves forward.. Even without Durant for Game 1, the Rockets still represent a coherent threat with multiple ways to score and disrupt.. A late scratch can change preparation and strain rotations. but it can also force other players to step into higher-leverage roles immediately.. For Los Angeles. the danger in reading too much into one game is assuming the series will look the same once the lineup math shifts again.
With two days between Game 1 and Game 2. the Lakers will likely use the extra time to sharpen whatever situational wrinkles were influenced by Durant’s absence.. The series then heads to Houston for Games 3 and 4. where crowd pressure. travel. and home-court adjustments routinely raise the stakes of every possession.. For Redick. the real test won’t be whether the Lakers can outplay a specific lineup on a specific night—it’s whether they can keep treating playoff basketball as the same disciplined standard. even when the information arrives too late to be comfortable.
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