The Houston Rockets played Monday night’s game without Kevin Durant. Add in the already missing Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams, and you have practically half of your rotation in street clothes. While Durant sat with an ankle sprain, it allowed NBA All-Star snub Alperen Sengun to state his case, as he went off for 39 points, 16 rebounds and 5 assists to lead the Rockets to a 118-114 road win over the Indiana Pacers.
Sengun also shot 13-for-25 from the field and helped the Rockets on a late 12-2 run
in the fourth quarter that helped put the game away for Houston.
In addition, the Rockets also got 19 points and 4 rebounds from Jabari Smith Jr. He also added a steal and a block and shot 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Amen Thompson finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks on 6-for-15 shooting from the field, and Reed Sheppard, who drew the start with KD out and played 25 minutes, had 11 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block, but he only shot 1-for-7 from deep.
As for the Pacers, they were led by Pascal Siakam, who finished with 27 points, and Benedict Mathurin, who finished with 25 points.
The Rockets move to 31-17 with the victory and move to an over .500 record (14-13) on the road. They still sit in fourth-place in the NBA’s Western Conference, one game behind the third-place Denver Nuggets, and 1.5 games ahead of the fifth-place Minnesota Timberwolves. The second-place San Antonio Spurs are just 1.5 games in front of the Rockets.
The Rockets are currently on a 52-win pace, which would give them the exact same record that they had last year. And while that looks like a successful season on paper, I don’t think anyone was hoping trading for KD would just be a linear move. Injuries have really depleted this team, including Tari Eason missing a bunch of games as well, but the Rockets seem to have also lost some of their identity from last year, and I think that’s probably the biggest issue with this year’s team. Last year, they were young, fast, and high-effort defenders. What is Houston’s strength this season? They still have a high defensive rating and good offensive one as well, but their strengths seem a little more nebulous this year. Tell us in the comments what you think is the Rockets identity in 2025-2026.
The Rockets will be back in action on Wednesday versus the Boston Celtics.
