Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun posted double-doubles, and the Houston Rockets withstood a furious rally by the visiting Denver Nuggets and held on for a 110-100 victory on Monday.
Durant finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists; Sengun added 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. After a lengthy stretch of cold shooting from behind the arc, the Rockets got timely 3s from Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr. and Fred VanVleet in the fourth.
Smith finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while VanVleet and Tari Eason scored 12 points apiece. Houston shot 6 of 11 from behind the arc in the fourth to snap a two-game skid.
Jamal Murray scored 15 of his game-high 38 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Nuggets. Nikola Jokic added 25 points, a game-high 16 rebounds and nine assists. Murray and Jokic were the only Nuggets to score in double figures.
Jokic and Cameron Johnson drilled consecutive 3-pointers to spark an 18-2 run that erased the Rockets’ 58-42 lead. Jokic added a layup and two assists during the rally while Murray recorded a 3-pointer and a three-point play during the blitz. Jokic tied the score at 60-60 with a layup at the 5:04 mark of the third, but Houston relied on its defense to immediately reclaim the lead.
Marcus Smart recorded a midcourt steal and then assisted on an Eason layup before Durant turned a defensive rebound into a transition dunk for Smith. Eason added a steal that yielded two Durant free throws, and the Rockets took a 77-68 lead into the final period.
The Rockets made 6 of 11 3-pointers in the opening period, and that hot start helped them seize an early advantage. Eason drilled a corner 3-pointer in transition, then hit another 3-pointer just before the buzzer sounded to give the Rockets a 32-24 lead entering the second quarter.
The Rockets carried that momentum into the second period, extending their run to 14-0 and ultimately stretching their lead to 19 points. The Nuggets clawed back behind Murray and Jokic, whose floater sliced the deficit to 52-40 with 1:34 remaining in the first half.
