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LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers catches a pass during the game against Dorian Finney-Smith #2 of the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on March 16, 2026 in Houston, Texas.
In a major development, the Houston Rockets have cleared All-Star center Alperen Sengun to return for Wednesday’s rematch against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Turkish big man sat out Monday’s 100-92 loss to the Lakers, which was his second straight missed game due to a lower back injury. The news also means that Clint Capela, who started the last two games, will return to his role as a reserve big, giving Rockets head coach Ime Udoka a deeper bench to deploy against the Lakers.
Sengun, averaging 20.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and a career-high 6.1 assists, needs to appear in at least seven more games to qualify for All-NBA accolades and other end-of-season awards. He has played 58 of the Rockets’ 67 games thus far, having missed considerable time earlier in the year with a sprained ankle.
Rockets Need Alperen Sengun
The Rockets really missed Sengun during Monday’s loss to the Lakers, as their offense became heavily dependent on Kevin Durant, who scored only two second-half points after being double- and triple-teamed by the Lakers.
After the loss, Durant admitted that the Rockets were easy to defend because the entire Lakers defense was focused on denying him the ball due to Sengun’s absence.
“I just feel like it just makes us stagnant,” Durant said of Rockets without Sengun, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
“When I come across half [court] and then they waited on me to drive, but I know they’re coming to double, so I wait a split second. I just think the whole process is too slow. And I just think that it’s all on me, because the team, when they see me, it just feels like one-on-five, to be honest. You know what I’m saying? Because I see two guys coming up out the corner to help at the elbows and guys at the boxes. It’s almost like a zone when I get the ball up top. When I try to post up anywhere, it’s going to be double-teams. So I’m just trying to find out ways to open myself up, open my teammates up.”
Lakers Win Streak On the Line
With Monday’s win, the Lakers(43-25) claimed a 1.5-game lead over the Rockets (41-26) for the third seed in the highly competitive Western Conference. Another win over Udoka’s team on Wednesday will significantly help the Lakers secure a top-three seed for the second consecutive year, giving them home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. On the flip side, a loss to the Rockets will mean the Lakers will lose the tiebreaker after the two teams split their previous two regular-season meetings.
The red-hot Lakers have won six games in a row, which includes wins over tough opponents such as the Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks. Their defense has been tremendous during the win streak, with JJ Redick’s team holding opponents to 29.5% shooting while allowing an average of 111.2 points. The Lakers have outscored teams by 10.0 points during the win streak.
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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