Turnovers haunted Houston early, but a second-half surge powered by Eason's scoring and Şengün's triple-double snatched a crucial win from OKC.
Saturday afternoon gave Rockets fans the third and final matchup against the reigning NBA champs. A chance to finally get a win against this Thunder team, regardless of who suited up to play.
The opening night of this season came down to the wire in the double overtime thriller in OKC, but the rematch last month wasn’t quite as entertaining. The 20 point blowout was one of the numerous disappointing losses in 2026, resulting in a season low 91 points, as covered on Roundtable.
Today was a little bit of a let down before the game even started, as Amen Thompson sat out due to an illness. SGA and Jalen Williams were also in street clothes with abdominal and hamstring injuries, respectively.
Despite the lineup limitations, the first quarter was quite entertaining. Reed Sheppard shined, opening the scoring with a three ball, then a driving finish to cap off his eight points through twelve minutes.
Being tied at 28 felt like a stroke of good luck after Houston turned the ball over six times. This proved to be true after four more turnovers helped OKC go on an 18-4 run through half of the next quarter.
The Rockets regained their composure, and only turned it over one more time in the remainder of the half. Chipping the lead down to a manageable 6 points, they headed to the locker room with the scoreboard reading 46-52.
A complete flip of the script, the Rockets now went on a 20-5 run of their own, although it was segmented by halftime. Regardless, Reed tied it up at 54, forcing OKC to call a timeout two minutes into the third quarter. Ime Udoka had his guys locked in.
KD to JD gave Houston their first lead since 20-17 in the first quarter, as JD Davison knocked down a catch and shoot three from Durant. The 71-70 advantage was extended and held through the third, entering the fourth at 80-74.
Encouraged by the 12 point third quarter swing, the Rockets fought for their largest lead of the game, pushing it to nine points after a Şengün three ball.
The pesky Oklahoma team continued to fight back, eventually tying it up at 91 with 7:01 remaining.
The lead changed hands three more times before Houston evened up the fourth quarter scoring, re-establishing their six point lead with 4:32 left.
Never looking back after that point, despite the palms getting sweaty a few times with more turnovers giving OKC easy points. The final buzzer sounded with that same six point lead for Houston, 112-106.
Tari Eason finished with a team high (and season high) 26 points, while Şengün got himself another triple double. A much needed win after back to back losses this week. A win that can be directly credited to taking care of the ball, finishing with only 14 total turnovers after having 11 in the first half.