The Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks 121-114 on Saturday at State Farm Arena, improving to 3-0 to start the season behind 22 points from Kevin Durant. Reed Sheppard added 19 points and seven assists off the bench, and Houston never trailed after the second quarter.
Houston pulled away with a 33-point third quarter that built a cushion the Hawks could not fully erase. Atlanta got 26 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds from Jalen Johnson, but the Hawks shot just 27% from three-point range on 49 attempts and fell to 2-1. Houston built a lead as large as 20 points, while Atlanta’s largest lead of the night was seven.
Key Moments: How The Rockets Pulled Away
Atlanta opened the game on a 7-0 run, with Jalen Johnson scoring or assisting on each basket, and led 25-20 late in the first quarter before Houston closed the period on an 8-0 spurt capped by back-to-back Jabari Smith Jr. free throws to take a 30-26 lead into the second.
Houston extended that cushion in the second quarter. Amen Thompson scored on a driving dunk and later a driving layup, and Alperen Sengun drilled a 25-foot three-pointer to push the lead to 38-31. The Rockets carried that momentum into the second half, outscoring Atlanta 33-33 in the third quarter before holding on with 29 points to Atlanta’s own 33 in the fourth. Houston’s largest lead reached 20 points before the Hawks trimmed the final margin in the closing minutes.
Top Performers
Durant finished 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-7 from three-point range, adding four rebounds and two assists in 37 minutes with a plus-19 rating. Sheppard was nearly as efficient, going 7-of-13 from the field and 5-of-11 from three for 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists, also posting a plus-19.
Thompson grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds to go with 17 points, and Sengun contributed 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Jabari Smith Jr. added 14 points. For Atlanta, Johnson’s 26-point, 16-assist, nine-rebound night led all scorers, and Dyson Daniels (18 points, eight rebounds) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (18 points) also reached double figures. CJ McCollum scored 17 points off the Atlanta bench mix, while Onyeka Okongwu struggled offensively, shooting 2-of-8 for eight points and finishing a team-worst minus-13.
What It Means
Houston’s win kept the Rockets perfect at 3-0 atop the Southwest Standings. For the Hawks, the loss dropped Atlanta to 2-1, tied with Charlotte and Washington atop the Southeast Standings.
The box score showed where the game tilted. Houston shot 48% from the field and 40% from three on 35 attempts, while Atlanta shot 45% overall but just 27% from deep despite attempting 49 threes. Houston also made 21 of 23 free throws (91%) compared to Atlanta’s 15-of-21 mark (71%), a difference that mattered in a game decided by seven points.
What’s Next
Houston’s next game comes Monday night, while Atlanta hosts its next opponent Tuesday.
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