Injury updates for Game 1 of the Lakers-Rockets showdown! Durant questionable due to knee injury, Doncic and Reaves confirmed absent.

On April 18 Beijing time, the NBA officially released the injury report for the first game between the Rockets and Lakers. For the Rockets, VanVleet (recovering from right knee ACL surgery) and Adams (recovering from left ankle surgery) are out, while Durant (right knee contusion) is listed as questionable. For the Lakers, Doncic (left hamstring strain) and Reaves (left oblique strain) are absent. The first game between the two teams will take place at 8:30 AM on April 19.

The Lakers' injury list came as no surprise. Although Doncic could return from Europe to Los Angeles, he has not reached a condition suitable for returning to play. Reaves is also not expected to recover quickly. Therefore, the absence of both players was anticipated. On the Rockets' side, the injury situation was somewhat unexpected, with Durant listed as questionable due to a knee contusion. However, barring any serious issues, Durant is expected not to miss such a crucial game.

The first matchup between the Lakers and Rockets also signifies another playoff encounter between James and Durant. This could potentially be their final playoff meeting in their careers. The league has previously outlined milestones the two players might achieve in the playoffs.

Durant needs 188 more points to surpass Tim Duncan (5172 points) and move up to 6th place on the playoff scoring list; he requires 266 points to overtake Shaquille O'Neal (5250 points) and enter the top five historically. Throughout his career, whenever his team played at least 10 playoff games in a postseason, Durant's scoring never fell below 319 points.

In terms of field goals made, Durant has hit 1684 shots in playoff career. He needs 60 more to surpass Karl Malone (1743) and rank 7th historically. There remains a significant gap to reach Duncan (1945) at 6th and Kobe Bryant (2014) at 5th.

On the free throw list, he only needs 19 more successful free throws to surpass Karl Malone (1269) and rise to 4th in playoff free throw history. If the Rockets have a lengthy playoff run, he might even challenge Kobe Bryant (1320) for 3rd place, but the distance to Michael Jordan (1463) at 2nd is still considerable.

James has made 480 three-pointers in playoff career. He needs 22 more to surpass Klay Thompson (501) and move up to second place on the playoff three-pointers list.