The Houston Rockets wasted no time making a statement in their season opener Wednesday night, rolling past the Dallas Mavericks 128-110 at the Toyota Center behind a 30-point burst from both Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr.
Houston did most of its damage early. By halftime, the Rockets had stacked up a 70-38 lead, with Durant and Smith each putting up 16 points in the opening two quarters. From there, the game turned into a controlled cruise, and Houston had emptied its bench by the fourth quarter on the way to its first win of the season.
Durant’s night ended with 30 points on 10-for-16 shooting, including 2-for-4 from three, plus 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He also committed 4 turnovers and led the team with 37 minutes, despite Ime Udoka’s preseason promise of less KD minutes.
Smith matched him point for point and did it efficiently, finishing with 30 on 11-for-17 shooting and 4-for-8 from deep. He added 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, with just 1 turnover.
Fred VanVleet gave Houston a steady hand as a floor-setter, even though his shot wasn’t falling. He went 2-for-8 from the field for 6 points in 30 minutes, but he also piled up 11 assists without a turnover.
Alperen Sengun turned in a strong all-around performance despite 4 turnovers of his own, finishing with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 9-for-15 overall and 2-for-2 from three. Amen Thompson chipped in 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, and Marcus Smart added 10 points and 2 assists in 26 minutes off the bench to complete Houston’s group of double-digit scorers.
The Rockets also had to navigate a short night from Tari Eason, who was ejected after a flagrant 2 and played only three minutes, finishing with 2 points. Reed Sheppard struggled to find rhythm, going 1-for-6 from the floor for 3 points, 4 assists and 2 steals, and he logged just 16 minutes even with the game well out of hand. Bogdan Bogdanovich contributed 5 points in 13 minutes and knocked down a three.
As a team, Houston shot 53 percent from the floor, hit 16 of 36 from beyond the arc and won the rebound battle 42-33.
Dallas got 32 points from Cooper Flagg in the loss. On the Houston side, Jabari Smith’s start to the season has plenty of attention after a strong preseason and another polished showing to open the regular season.
In Other News...
Rockets Opening Week Plan Sends An Early Message About Two Veterans
The Rockets are wasting no time making their opening-week priorities clear. Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams will both sit the first back-to-back of the season, a move that says plenty about how Houston wants to handle two veterans it expects to lean on over the long haul. VanVleet gives the offense structure, while Adams brings the kind of interior presence the team needs when he is available, but the Rockets are already choosing caution over pushing either player too early.
What makes the decision even more interesting is how Houston plans to cover the minutes when VanVleet is sidelined. Marcus Smart is set to start at point guard in those games, giving the Rockets a different look than the one Reed Sheppard would provide. It is an early reminder that the rotation is going to be managed carefully, especially with Adams injury history and the teams clear intent to keep him on a controlled workload from the start. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Opener Took A Heated Turn That Changed The Night
Tari Easons night took a sharp turn just minutes into Houstons first regular season game, the kind of early-game chaos that can alter the mood of an opener in a hurry. Fresh off signing a contract extension, Eason got tangled up with P.J. Washington in a physical sequence that quickly escalated, and the result was a flagrant foul and an ejection before the Rockets had even settled in.
Even with Eason gone, Houston kept control of the game and had built a sizeable cushion by halftime, which made the early flashpoint feel even more jarring in hindsight. For a team trying to establish its tone right away, the incident was the kind of reminder that the Rockets can be at their most volatile when the stakes are still low and the emotions are already high. [Read more 🡒]
Rockets Could Be Watching One Huge Mavericks Decision Closely
Kyrie Irving has made it clear he wants to stay with the Mavericks, even as trade chatter continues to swirl around him. For Houston, the noise matters because any major shift in Dallas could send ripple effects through the Western Conference, and the Rockets are among the teams that would be watching closely if the situation ever moved past speculation.
Some analysts have already kicked around Houston as a theoretical landing spot if Irving ever changed course, which would instantly make the story relevant for a Rockets team always monitoring the next big move. For now, though, it remains a hypothetical layered on top of a rumor, with no official trade talk and plenty left unresolved about whether Dallas would even go that route. [Read more 🡒]