{"id":570345,"date":"2026-01-30T07:56:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T07:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/570345\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T07:56:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T07:56:47","slug":"durant-scores-31-points-as-rockets-dominate-second-half-and-roll-past-short-handed-hawks-104-86-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/570345\/","title":{"rendered":"Durant scores 31 points as Rockets dominate second half and roll past short-handed Hawks 104-86"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA — – Kevin Durant<\/a> scored 31 points and the Houston Rockets<\/a> beat short-handed Atlanta 104-86 on Thursday night, ending the Hawks’ four-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

The Rockets dominated the second half after leading only 43-42 at halftime. Jabari Smith<\/a> had 14 points and Reed Sheppard<\/a> added 13. Sheppard’s 3-pointer gave the Rockets their first 20-point lead, 90-70.<\/p>\n

The Hawks held out two frontline starters with injuries. Center Onyeka Okongwu<\/a> suffered a dental fracture when he was elbowed in the mouth in Atlanta’s 117-106 win<\/a> at Boston on Wednesday night. Forward Jalen Johnson<\/a> was ruled out with left calf tightness.<\/p>\n

The Hawks said Okongwu had a successful dental procedure on Thursday and also will miss Saturday’s game at Indiana.<\/p>\n

The Hawks already were missing center Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> (left Achilles tendinitis) and forward Zaccharie Risacher<\/a> (left knee, bone contusion). Two-way rookie Asa Newell<\/a> was recalled from G League College Park before the game. Center Christian Koloko<\/a>, who signed with Atlanta on Jan. 17, made his first start in his fifth game with the Hawks.<\/p>\n

CJ McCollum<\/a> led Atlanta with 23 points. Nickeil Alexander-Walker<\/a> had 20 and Corey Kispert<\/a> added 17.<\/p>\n

Rockets center Alperen Sengun<\/a> (right ankle sprain) had nine points and 13 rebounds after being listed as questionable.<\/p>\n

Houston outscored Atlanta 35-24 in the third period and continued to stretch the lead in the final period.<\/p>\n

Houston center Clint Capela<\/a> scored 10 points in his first return to Atlanta since he was traded to the Rockets<\/a> on July 6, 2025. Capela held up both hands in a wave to the fans after he was honored with a video tribute during a first-quarter timeout.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Rockets: Host Dallas on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Hawks: Visit Indiana on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a>br\/]<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA — – Kevin Durant scored 31 points and the Houston Rockets beat short-handed Atlanta 104-86 on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[77385,676,208,3874,7,130,677,194,6],"class_list":["post-570345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-hawks","tag-77385","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlantahawks","tag-basketball","tag-espn","tag-hawks","tag-houston-rockets","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115982983786601190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}