Rockets Beat Nuggets 110-100: Durant and Sengun Post Double-Doubles to Snap Houston's Two-Game Skid
Houston led by 19, lost the lead entirely in an 18-2 Denver run, and took it back for good: 110-100 at Toyota Center. Kevin Durant had 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists; Alperen Sengun added 20, 11 and eight; Jamal Murray's 38 were not enough.
The Houston Rockets needed a win and, eventually, got one the hard way. Houston beat the Denver Nuggets 110-100 at Toyota Center on Monday night, snapping a two-game skid behind double-doubles from Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun — after watching a 19-point lead disappear entirely in the third quarter.
Durant finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, and Sengun added 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Jabari Smith Jr. scored 14 with seven rebounds, and Fred VanVleet and Tari Eason scored 12 apiece. Houston's fast start built the cushion: six 3-pointers in the first quarter, a 32-24 lead, a run that stretched to 14-0 in the second and a margin that reached 19 points before Denver clawed back to 52-40 late in the half.
The collapse, when it came, was sudden. Consecutive 3-pointers by Nikola Jokic and Cameron Johnson sparked an 18-2 Nuggets run that erased Houston's 58-42 lead, and Jokic's layup tied the game at 60-60 with 5:04 left in the third. Houston answered with its defense — a Marcus Smart midcourt steal, transition baskets by Eason and Smith, and Durant free throws — and carried a 77-68 lead into the fourth, where timely 3-pointers from Reed Sheppard, Smith and VanVleet (6 of 11 from deep in the quarter as a team) closed the game out.
Denver's two stars nearly stole it anyway. Jamal Murray scored 15 of his game-high 38 points in the fourth quarter, and Jokic finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists; no other Nugget reached double figures. Houston improves to 8-3 after losses to Minnesota and Phoenix had followed its 7-1 start, and Denver falls to 5-4. Next for the Rockets is a Wednesday home date with Golden State.
