It hasn’t been a great season overall for the Houston Rockets. After reaching the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference last year, a disappointing playoff exit paved the way for them to trade for Kevin Durant in the offseason. However, the 2025-26 season hasn’t seen the level of success most people anticipated.
Despite falling to the No. 5 seed, injuries to Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves opened the route for a potential first-round victory.
But after falling behind 3-0, a victory in Game 4 hasn’t moved people toward the Rockets. Instead, most believe the series will end on Wednesday.
Why the Houston Rockets’ Season Could End in Game 5 vs. the Lakers
Adding Durant to a team that desperately lacked offensive consistency seemed like a match made in heaven. However, chemistry issues and the lack of a true point guard severely hurt the team throughout the regular season.
Add in alleged burner accounts, and the problems continued to compound. However, even with all those caveats, the Rockets finished the season with 52 wins while going on a 9-1 stretch heading into the playoffs.
As a result, there was still some optimism about what they could accomplish with a top-10 defensive and offensive rating and the sixth-best net rating in the NBA. The injuries to Reaves and Dončić certainly helped matters, as the Los Angeles Lakers had to rely on Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart instead.
However, LA thoroughly outplayed the Rockets through the first two games before stealing the third game in heartbreak, as Houston choked away a six-point lead with less than 30 seconds remaining.
Even though they won Game 4 in a 115-96 rout, Brandon Jennings isn’t convinced about their chances in the series. A nine-year veteran in the league, Jennings was a bona fide scorer who averaged 14.1 points per game for his career.
Making an appearance on “Gil’s Arena,” he made his assessment about the Rockets crystal clear.
“This is over. I’ve been telling y’all Houston was overrated all f*cking year. I also feel like if they had Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, it’s a different series, and I think they’d get the Lakers out of here.”
Instead, he believed the blame lay with their offseason work. “They made a choice and a decision. They gave up on their youth.”
Parting ways with Green and Brooks in the Durant trade left Houston without many capable bodies to throw at opponents.
Moreover, as good as Durant has been individually, he hasn’t been able to solve all their offensive woes. And his age played a factor in the postseason, as he’s missed three of the first four games of the series.
It’s unlikely that he’ll be back for Game 5 either, but it seems like this chapter is over for the Rockets already.
