The Lakers and Rockets are matched up in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs this year. This is just the fourth time that a LeBron James team has met a Kevin Durant team in the postseason in their lengthy careers and will be the first time they've faced off in the playoffs in nearly a decade.
For all we know, this could be the last time we ever see it. The good news is that both guys are still pretty good despite their advanced ages.
LeBron, who is now 41-years old in his 23rd NBA season, is the league’s all-time leading scorer. While he's dealt with injuries and adjusting to being the third option on his own team this year, he’s still averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 33.2 minutes a game. His per-36 number actually compare pretty nicely to his second year in the league when he made second-team All-NBA for the first time, more than two decades ago.
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant became the league's No. 5 all-time leading scorer this year while averaging 26 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and just under one steal and one block per game. He also shot 41% from three. That's the ninth time he's shot over 40% from three in a season. Most importantly, he's played 78 games this year. Only 27 players have been more available than KD this season.
With Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić injured, LeBron is back to being the focal point heading into the first round series. Based on this season and both player’s histories, we should be in store for a show. Though hopefully the series is closer than their previous meetings.
LeBron vs. KD: postseason head-to-head
We have to travel all the way back to the ’12 NBA Finals for the first time these two played in the postseason. Durant, 23, was coming off this third straight top-five NBA MVP voting finish as a member of the Thunder. LeBron, in just his second season in Miami, had just won MVP for the third time in four seasons.
The Heat won the series 4–1, but it felt like this was a Finals matchup that could become an annual tradition. Instead the Thunder lost in the conference finals the next two seasons, which actually set up the next time they would meet in the Finals.
Durant left Oklahoma City for Golden State in ’16 and immediately met James in the ’17 Finals in the third of four straight Warriors-Cavaliers Finals. Following the 3–1 comeback the year before, Durant and the Warriors won the '17 and '18 Finals while only dropping one game.
| Season | LeBron's Team | KD's Team | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| '11–12 | Miami Heat | Oklahoma City Thunder | Heat (4–1) |
| '16–17 | Cleveland Cavaliers | Golden State Warriors | Warriors (4–1) |
| '17–18 | Cleveland Cavaliers | Golden State Warriors | Warriors (4–0) |
The closest we got to a great series in these matchups was when George Hill missed a free throw at the end of Game 1 in '18, followed by J.R. Smith introducing the world to a new meme.
Who knows what could have happened if Cleveland took a 1–0 lead instead of wasting a performance from LeBron James where he had 51 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Rather than take a series lead, he went into the locker room and punched a whiteboard and played the rest of the series with a hand injury.
As opponents, James and Durant have played in three lopsided series. They have actually been Olympic teammates as often as they've met in the postseason. Despite the outcomes, both players have been excellent against each other's teams.
| Points | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | FG% | 3PT% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeBron James | 31.9 ppg (447 total) | 10.3 rpg (145 total) | 9 apg (127 total) | 11 | 20 | 52.2%(166/318) | 32.2% (21/65) |
| Kevin Durant | 31.6 ppg (443 total) | 8.1 rpg (114 total) | 4.8 apg (68 total) | 22 | 15 | 54.5% (157/288) | 43%(40/93) |
For some comparison to what those guys did over three Finals matchups, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists on his way to Finals MVP last year. Dončić averaged 29.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists in the ’24 Finals in a loss to the Celtics while Jaylen Brown won Finals MVP with 22.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists over five games.
Rockets vs. Lakers postseason history
While this will be the first time that LeBron’s Lakers have played Durant’s Rockets in the postseason (as it is Durant’s first season in Houston), it's far from the only time these organizations have ever met. James and the Lakers most recently beat the James Harden-Russell Westbrook Rockets inside the Disney bubble on the way to the championship.
Overall, these teams have met eight times.
| Season | Round | Result | Leading Scorer |
|---|---|---|---|
| '19–20 | Second Round | Lakers (4–1) | James Harden |
| '08–09 | Second Round | Lakers (4–3) | Kobe Bryant |
| '03–04 | First Round | Lakers (4–1) | Kobe Bryant |
| '98–99 | First Round | Lakers (3–1) | Shaquille O'Neal |
| '95–96 | First Round | Rockets (3–1) | Hakeem Olajuwon |
| '90–91 | First Round | Lakers (3–0) | Magic Johnson |
| '85–86 | Conference Finals | Rockets (4–1) | Hakeem Olajuwon |
| '80–81 | First Round | Rockets (2–1) | Moses Malone |
The Lakers have won five of the eight postseason matchups and hold a 21–15 lead in their postseason history. Only two of the series went to a winner-take-all series-deciding game and one of those was in a three-game series in ’81.
Not that any of this matters this season. The most recent series in 2020 featured 26 different players, and the only player from either team who is still on either roster is LeBron James.
On top of that, only LeBron, KD, Marcus Smart, Maxi Kleber, Clint Capela, Jae’Sean Tate, Dorian Finney-Smith, Steven Adams, Jeff Green and Fred VanVleet were alive the last time the Rockets beat the Lakers in the postseason.
So while history seems unlikely to play a part in this series, it's still pretty cool that we get at least one more matchup between LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the postseason. Here's hoping for something as memorable as it is notable.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kevin Durant Has the Postseason Edge on LeBron James, But Historically the Lakers Own the Rockets.
