Rockets’ Kevin Durant gets real about Stephen Curry’s form after long absence

The Houston Rockets must have found it very amusing when reports came out that Stephen Curry, who’s dominated them in the playoffs over the past decade-plus, was set to return from a 27-game absence that spanned over two months in a game against them on Sunday. And for a second there, it looks as though the Rockets were going to fall prey to an old ghost of theirs once more, as Curry put up 29 points in 25 minutes off the bench in a 117-116 win for Houston.

Curry made a few clutch shots that must have had the Rockets seeing flashbacks, but they pulled out the win thanks to some excellent execution on the final play where Kevin Durant drew two defenders which then freed up Alperen Sengun for an easy layup to take the lead. The Rockets then defended Curry brilliantly on the ensuing possession, forcing him to miss a potential game-winning triple wide-left of the basket.

After the game, Curry’s former teammate in Durant commented on how good the Warriors star looks in his return.

“We had the game in control, then they put number 30 in the game. He got them back into it so easily… he looked incredible,” Durant said in his postgame interview, via the official NBA account on X (formerly Twitter).

"We had the game in control, then they put number 30 in the game. He got them back into it so easily… He looked incredible."

Kevin Durant on Steph Curry's first game back from injury

(via @NBA)pic.twitter.com/TCVXymXNrH

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 6, 2026

Rockets should dodge a playoff matchup vs. Warriors

The Rockets ended up as the two-seed in the 2025 NBA playoffs, only for them to run into the Warriors. They then got bounced out of the playoffs in the first round in a seven-game series, continuing a worrying trend that dates back to 2015.

In 2015, the Warriors defeated the Rockets in the Conference Finals. The following year, they sent the floundering Rockets home in the first round. And then in 2018 and 2019, the Dubs stopped the Rockets in their tracks in what were their best chances of winning it all with James Harden.

This year, with the Rockets being locked out of the top two seeds, and the Dubs being strictly a play-in team, Houston will not be drawing them in the first round — avoiding the curse.

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