Houston overcomes a sluggish start, igniting their offense and defense to dominate the second half and secure a crucial road victory.
Houston’s win in Atlanta won’t end up on any aesthetic highlight reels, but it should land squarely in the category of games that matter.
Ime Udoka called the Spurs loss “a tale of two halves.” This one felt like the response. After a flat, disjointed opening quarter, the Rockets settled into structure, imposed physicality, and wore the Hawks down for a 104-86 road win at State Farm Arena.
The night started ugly with Houston opening 0-for-6 from the floor while Atlanta jumped out to a 7-0 run, forcing an early Rockets timeout. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and CJ McCollum fueled the Hawks early, combining to exploit Houston’s slow offensive start. Five minutes in, Alexander-Walker had 10 points while the Rockets had just seven as a team.
Then the game stalled. Both offenses fell into long stretches of missed shots and broken possessions. Atlanta missed ten straight at one point, and Houston finally found enough rhythm to climb back. By the end of the first, it was tied 23-23.
Both teams were clearly on the second night of a back-to-back, legs heavy and pace uneven. Houston’s defensive effort stayed sharp, but the offense remained clunky. They took their first lead midway through the quarter, relying more on stops than scoring bursts.
At halftime, the Rockets led 43-42 despite shooting just 38.3-percent. Atlanta was even worse at 33.3-percent, and rebounding was nearly even- an early signal that this game wouldn’t be decided by finesse.
The third quarter flipped everything.
Kevin Durant stopped hunting shots and started bending the floor with gravity and screen-setting. Atlanta couldn’t stay attached to shooters when Durant was involved in actions, and Houston finally found space. An early Rockets run pushed the lead briefly to ten after Durant knocked down his first three of the night.
That spacing mattered, but so did the work underneath it. Josh Okogie was relentless on the glass, ripping down seven offensive rebounds and turning empty possessions into extended pressure. Those extra chances kept Atlanta on its heels and rewarded Houston’s willingness to stay physical.
Durant took an elbow to the face mid-quarter- blood, no flagrant, just an offensive foul- and responded the only way he does. He poured in 16 points in the third alone, turning frustration into control. Jabari Smith Jr. matched the tone defensively, stuffing the stat sheet with blocks, steals, and clean rotations as Houston stretched the lead to 78-66 heading into the fourth.
Then came the final frame. The Rockets blew the game open without Durant and Alperen Şengün on the floor. Reed Sheppard caught fire, drilling threes and floating passes into space. Clint Capela feasted at the rim. Jabari added a career-high fifth block.
What had been a tight game became a 22-point cushion built on energy, execution, and defensive discipline.
Durant finished with 31 in 34 minutes, but the story wasn’t just the scoring. It was the way his presence unlocked everything else, and how the Hawks never recovered.
After recent lessons, this kind of controlled victory was exactly the kind of win Houston needed.