Led by a duo of 2026 NBA All-Stars in Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, the Rockets snapped their two-game losing streak with Monday’s 110-100 victory (box score) over the Nuggets.
Houston is now 8-3 on the 2026-27 season, while Denver is 5-4.
Durant and Sengun worked frequently in two-man actions, and they finished with nearly identical statistics. The future Hall of Famer had 23 points, a season-high 12 rebounds, and a season-high 8 assists, while his younger co-star had 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists.
“Shoutout to K(evin) today,” Sengun said postgame. “From the beginning, he was so aggressive. He wanted to get the ball and he was so aggressive, but he didn’t get 40 (points) tonight. You know what I mean? He got 8 assists.”
After a hot start
with 11 points in the first quarter, Denver frequently blitzed and double teamed Durant, which made it very difficult for him to finish with a high scoring total.
But that did open up possibilities to pass to teammates — Sengun by far the most frequent — to take advantage of resulting 4-on-3 scenarios.
“He’s a smart player,” Durant said of Sengun. “He sees everything. When he catches the ball, he sees both corners. He sees the lob. He sees his shot. So now it’s on him to make the right decision every time.”
“And to be honest, I feel like ever since I’ve been playing with him, about 95-96% of the time, he makes a solid decision.”
Durant connected on 6-of-15 shots (40.0%) and all 10 of his free-throw attempts, while Sengun was 9-of-17 from the field (52.9%).
Both stars also made a 3-pointer on a night in which Houston went 14-of-38 as a team (36.8%), largely due to the open shots generated from those initial two-man actions.
Other statistics of note included:
- Jabari Smith Jr.: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists; 6-of-13 shooting (46.2%)
- Amen Thompson: 8 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists; 3-of-8 shooting (37.5%)
- Fred VanVleet: 12 points, 2 assists; 3-of-6 on 3-pointers (50.0%)
- Tari Eason: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, +18 in 19 minutes; 5-of-11 shooting (45.5%)
- Jamal Murray (Nuggets): 38 points, 2 blocks, 2 assist; 14-of-23 shooting (60.9%), 5-of-8 on 3-pointers (62.5%)
- Nikola Jokic (Nuggets): 25 points, 16 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 blocks; 11-of-21 shooting (52.4%)
Led by 24 combined rebounds from Durant and Sengun, the Rockets outrebounded Denver by a 51-39 margin, including 15 on the offensive end. That resulted in a decisive 24-11 advantage in second-chance points.
Next up for Houston is Wednesday’s nationally televised game versus Golden State, which will be aired and streamed via both ESPN and Space City Home Network (SCHN).
Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. Central from Toyota Center, where the Warriors (8-3) will enter with a matching record and on an eight-game winning streak.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: ‘Aggressive’ Kevin Durant leads 8-3 Rockets to key win over Nuggets
