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[Houston Rockets]

Rockets look to bounce back versus Minnesota

After a disapointing loss following a bad fourth quarter, the Houston Rockets look to get back on track with a win versus the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.

With a solid defensive effort and team intensity, Minnesota is on the rise. Anthony Edwards leads the Wolves’ excellent scoring balance, and Julius Randle and Naz Reid provide strong interior play.Additionally, they recently defeated the Bucks handily, which gives them confidence. Meanwhile, Houston’s recent performance has been inconsistent, including a 20-point loss to the Thunder in which offensive difficulties were a significant problem. The Rockets average about 119 points per game and have impressive rebounding stats, but they have cooled off in recent games. Kevin Durant leads the Rockets in scoring ar 25-26 points per game, and has been receiving contributions from Alperen Şengün and other pieces (Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. etc).

The big story tonight is Anthony Edward’s injury. It was confirmed yesterday that the star guard would miss a second straight game with a foot injury. This should drastically alter the game plaan for Houdton as they can now focus more of their deffensive efforts on pl;ayers like Julius Radle and Rudy Gobert/

Tip Off

8:3o pm

How To Watch
ESPN, or Space City Home Network

Injury Report
Rockets
Fred VanVleet: Out (Acl),
Dorian Finney-Smith: Day-To-Day (Ankle),
Tari Eason: Day-To-Day (Ankle)

Minnesota

Anthony Edwards: Out (Foot)

Terrence Shannon Jr: Out (Foot)

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...-to-bounce-back-versus-minnesota-timberwolves

 

[Houston Rockets]

Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun lead Rockets to 110-105 win over Timberwolves

The Rockets got back on the winning track on Friday night with a 110-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were playing without Anthony Edwards. Kevin Durant had a season-high 39 points to lead the way for the Rockets. Durant was 11-for-18 from the field, 6-for-8 from deep, and evem showed off some of his playmaking chops with 7 assists to go along with 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. He did have 5 turnovers, however.

Houston also got a double-double from Alperen Sengun. He finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, while shooting 11-for-22 from the field. He also seems to finally be feeling better, as he was back to doing Alpie-like things.

SENGUN MADE RUDY LOOK TWICE

Watch the finish of Timberwolves-Rockets on ESPN and the ESPN App pic.twitter.com/l8it8WCXr4

— ESPN (@espn) January 17, 2026

The only other two Rockets in double figures were Amen Thompson, who finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on 5-for-12 from the floor, while Reed Sheppard woke back up a bit, also finishing with 14 points. He was 5-for-9 from the field and 4-for-6 from three, though he’s still struggling getting minutes out of Ime Udoka, finishing with just 19 minutes of court time. As a comparison, Josh Okogie had 1 point on0-for-4 shooting, and he still played 33 minutes. Jabari Smith Jr. continued struggle, hitting just 3-for-12 from the field, he still played 38 minutes. Reed just can’t get any love, even when he’s playing relatively well.

Outside of Reed, Houston got just 8 more total points from its bench, with Dorian Finney-Smith throwing up another stinker with 0 points in 16 minutes.

The Rockets sat Steven Adams and only played Clint Capela 12 total minutes, so the Rockets actually lost the rebound battle in this one, but they shot 46 percent and were 12-for-28 from deep, so perhaps the offense is waking up a little bit.

The Wolves were led by Julius Randle with 39 points, and Naz Reid had 25 off of the bench, while Rudy Gobert had a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double along with 2 blocks, despite being put in a blender by Sengun.

The Rockets now move to 24-15 on the season and are in the five seed, three games back of the second seed. They’ll be back in action on Sunday versus the New Orleans Pelicans.

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...ston-rockets-to-110-105-win-over-timberwolves

 

[Houston Rockets]

Rockets ready to rebound vs. Wolves

Houston Rockets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves​

January 16, 2026​

Location: Toyota Center — Houston, Texas

TV: ESPN

Radio:KBME Sports Talk 790

Online: Rockets App, SCHN+

Time: 830pm CST

Probable Starting Lineups​

Rockets: Amen Thompson, Josh Okogie, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun

Timberwolves: Donte DiVincenzo, Bones Hyland, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...-rockets-ready-to-rebound-vs-timberwolves-nba

 

[Houston Rockets]

Time for the Rockets to go all in on JD Davison

JD Davison has been an intriguing name dating back to October, when the Houston Rockets’ preseason kicked off.

Well, he’s been an intriguing name dating back to 2021, when he was a five-star point guard in high school. In fact, Davison was the top point guard in his prep class.

After a highly successful foray in the G-League, which saw him nab top honors as MVP of the league, he found his way on the Rockets in the summer.

On a two-way deal, which seemingly always get overlooked. He dazzled in the preseason.

I questioned whether he could (or should) garner a considerable role before the season even started.

Davison’s ability to shoot from deep was impossible to overlook.

As was his ability to possibly take meaningful point guard reps.

Which was all the more important, as starting point guard Fred VanVleet had just suffered a season-altering ACL injury (if not season ending).

Davison has been kept on the shelf by Rockets coach Ime Udoka essentially the entire season.

Which has been a rather interesting decision, as the Rockets have found themselves in dire need of a table-setting point guard to run the offense and help the team get into their actions and sets.

The Rockets have forcefully played Amen Thompson out of position at point guard for most of the way and have tasked facilitating and playmaking responsibilities to Kevin Durant when moving Thompson back to his natural off-ball, wing position.

On Tuesday, they gave Davison some burn.

And he showed Udoka why he should play more.

Davison played very well on both ends of the floor. Offensively, he simply makes the right plays.

And Davison is easily the best (and only) true pick-and-roll guard on the roster.

And he’s able to attack the basket, despite being fairly diminutive in nature (at least for anyone NBA-level point guard).

He has a natural feel for the game and plays under control.

He’s able to bring the ball up the court and initiate offense, which has been lacking for the Rockets. He plays up tempo and pushes the pace.

And he communicates, on both offense and defense.

Which has also been lacking (and what especially stands out about VanVleet’s absence).

In 24 minutes of action, he was a +14, posting a statline of nine points, seven rebounds, four assists (and zero turnovers) and one block.

Davison went 3-of-6 from the field and 1-of-2 from deep.

To the tune of 62 true shooting (well, 61.5 percent, to be exact).

And he found himself in Houston’s closing lineup, in a tight game that came down to the wire.

The Rockets will have to make a long-term decision rather quickly on Davison, as he’s played 35 games (including Tuesday night’s victory over the Chicago Bulls).

Two-way players are only able to be active for 50 games.

At that point, Davison would have to be signed to a standard deal in order to keep suiting up for the Rockets. Such a deal would cost the Rockets a hair over $900,000 (prorated, based on his minimum scale of $2.46 million, calculated at $30,000 per game).

Which would be well worth it. No need to speculate (unreasonably) about which player around the league will make their way onto the roster.

Let’s run it with JD Davison. He’s the only realistic option, at this point.

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...he-houston-rockets-to-go-all-in-on-jd-davison

 

[Houston Rockets]

Rockets look to keep up the momentum versus New Orleans

After a ‌tight ‌victory against Minnesota, Houston aims to snag another one against New Orleans. This year, the Rockets sit at 0-1 against the Pelicans, following a 133-128 defeat in overtime. From there, New Orleans picked up just four wins.

So far, the Rockets have shown flashes of real power mixed with some shaky stretches, pulling off wins in high-speed matchups, yet dropping others they should have claimed. In the latest outing, Kevin Durant dropped 39 points to beat the Timberwolves, highlighting his knack for those huge scoring bursts. When Houston locks in, their fast breaks and board work stand out; they often cash in on extra shots and own the glass.

New Orleans, though, packs a serious scoring punch when everybody’s fit, even amid all their troubles this campaign. Still, injuries and uneven play kept them from accumulating wins, and lately, betting lines favored the Pacers over them, pointing to deeper issues across the board.

Houston has to cut down on turnovers and draw solid efforts not only from Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, but also from guys like Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, and Jabari Smith Jr too.

Tip Off

6:00 CT

How To Watch
Space City Home Network

Injury Report
Rockets
Fred VanVleet: Out (Acl),
Dorian Finney-Smith: Day-To-Day (Ankle),
Tari Eason: Day-To-Day (Ankle)

New Orleans

Herb Jones (right ankle sprain) – Out
Dejounte Murray (right Achilles rupture) – Out

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...ok-to-keep-up-the-momentum-versus-new-orleans