The Houston Rockets were looking to bounce back after a tough loss over the weekend, and they were able to do just that as the Rockets defeated the Denver Nuggets 110-100 on Monday night to improve to 8-3.

On that note, let's take a look at three takeaways from this game and what went right for Houston and what enabled them to bounce back.

In this game, one thing that really stood out was the fact that Rockets center Alperen Sengun was able to keep pace with Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in a game that featured two great centers.

Starting with Sengun, he tallied 20 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, one steal, and one block. On the other hand, Jokic had 25 points, 16 rebounds, nine assists, one steal, and two blocks. Looking at the stat sheet, there is not much discrepancy between the performances of Sengun and Jokic, which is a great sign for Houston and demonstrates the fact that Sengun really is one of the more talented centers in the league.

All that said, this was a great game from Sengun and if he can continue to elevate his game against the top centers in the game like Jokic, the Rockets could be in a great position to compete at a high level in the Western Conference.

While a lot of focus is on the starters, off the bench, there was a key takeaway in that guards Reed Sheppard and Bogdan Bogdanovic were both able to contribute.

For the game, Sheppard has eight points on 3 for 8 from the field and 2-for-7 from three in 17 minutes., while Bogdanovic had eight points on 3-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from beyond the arc in 12 minutes. That said, the Rockets got solid contributions from Sheppard and Bogdanovic in a game against a top-tier Western Conference contender which is huge and could be a great sign moving forward.

So, as the Rockets move forward, it will be interesting to see if Sheppard and Bogdanovic both get opportunities to contribute off the bench because if that is the case, the Rockets could have one of the better scoring duos off the bench in the league.

The final takeaway from this game for Houston is the fact that forward Kevin Durant has an intriguing stat line. 

Over the course of this game, Durant had 23 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, one block, and six turnovers. In terms of efficiency, Durant was 6-for-15 from the field, 1-for-3 from beyond the arc, and 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Seeing the stat line, it is intriguing because Durant contributed in all areas and took more shots, but he did have some turnover issues, so it will be interesting to see if he can limit that in the future.

Moving forward, if Durant can continue to contribute all across the stat sheet, stay aggressive on offense, and limit turnovers, he really could have an incredible 2026 campaign and could potentially be in a position to elevate this Rockets team above where many believe they will be.

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