Kevin Durant was supposed to lift the young Rockets. After playoff wipeout, what now?

LOS ANGELES — Long before these Houston Rockets’ once-promising season came to a petering end with a Game 6 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, people around the NBA wondered aloud why a team that looked so good on paper visibly lacked cohesion and chemistry on the court.On March 20, barely a month removed from allegations that he had been heavily critical of current teammates on a social media burner account, the star who was brought in last summer to take the team to greater heights pushed back on that emerging national narrative.Advertisement