The Houston Rockets will be aiming to even up their playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers on this Tuesday (April 21) night before the first round matchup of the 2026 NBA Western Conference Playoffs shifts to Southern California's Crypto.com Arena for Games 3 and 4.
History suggests that Tuesday is essentially a must-win game for Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and company if they want to advance to the next round. There have been only five teams in NBA history that have rallied back from losing the first two contests of a seven-game series at home to advance in league history.
It’s safe to claim that the Rockets need to be better offensively than they were in Game 1 if they want to get back in the win column.
The Rockets came into this series with the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference, and the Lakers have the No. 4 seed.
This is Game 2, and Los Angeles holds a 1-0 series lead.
For Los Angeles, Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain) is out and Austin Reaves (left oblique muscle strain) is out.
For Houston, Fred VanVleet (ACL repair) is out, Steven Adams (left ankle surgery) is out and Kevin Durant (right knee contusion) is questionable.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets vs. Lakers: Stream, lineups, injury reports, broadcast (4/21)