most predictable altercation of the night<\/a> took place.<\/p>\nIt began with Brooks pushing Durant to the floor on a foul with 7:36 in the second quarter, prompting Durant to jump up and start exchanging words with the Suns\u2019 resident agitator \u2014 who, a year ago, was Houston\u2019s resident agitator.\u00a0As things heated up between Durant and Brooks, the Rockets got the ball to their best scorer on the ensuing possession, and Durant made a quick move that sent Brooks tumbling to the floor before Durant pulled up and drained a midrange jumper.<\/p>\n
Over the past decade, Durant has gained a reputation for using trash talk from overzealous defenders as fuel, and once he starts barking back, it only makes him more dangerous.<\/p>\n
Following that exchange with Brooks, Durant scored or assisted on 16 of Houston\u2019s next 23 points to finish the half, which ignited his team and sent them into halftime trailing by just three points. Once Durant starts trash-talking and knocking down shots, it only raises the intensity and focus of his younger teammates.<\/p>\n
Durant\u2019s reaction didn\u2019t just remind his teammates how to react when things get chippy in a playoff environment. It showed them how to thrive among the chaos \u2014 and they followed his lead the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
And, in typical Durant fashion, he dismissed any thought that Brooks could\u2019ve been the one to get him going, sliding in a quick postgame jab: \u201cI don\u2019t think about guys like Dillon Brooks when I\u2019m out there playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he needed it more than I did. He didn\u2019t feel like he was part of the game. \u2026 That gets him going,\u201d said Durant, who finished with 24 points on 8-of-20 shooting. \u201cHe made a couple shots after that. It\u2019s fun. It\u2019s cool to compete against guys that play hard. But I don\u2019t need him or anybody to give me extra motivation to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though he wasn\u2019t even in the building, Tuesday was a Steven Adams game, too.<\/p>\n
Despite being without one of the league\u2019s top offensive rebounders following his season-ending ankle surgery in January, Houston still pummeled the smaller Suns on the offensive glass.\u00a0The Rockets finished with 37 second-chance points after grabbing 24 offensive rebounds, which fell one short of tying the team\u2019s season-high.<\/p>\n
Crushing the offensive glass helped the Rockets control the pace of the game and demoralize the Suns during stretches when some of their better defensive possessions didn\u2019t result in a stop.<\/p>\n
The beauty of this Rockets roster is that, even though they haven\u2019t been able to play some of the massive frontcourt lineups they leaned on early in the season with Adams, they still can dominate the glass with some of their unique perimeter players who love to operate in the paint.\u00a0Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Josh Okogie accounted for 12 offensive rebounds collectively; Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn grabbed seven offensive boards alone.<\/p>\n
As the Rockets kept attacking the offensive glass, it helped them build confidence on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great because we were turning the ball over too much. They got 39 free throws, so it kind of balanced it out with 37 second-chance points for us,\u201d Udoka said. \u201cIt gave us some extra possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28682071-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka watched his team outrebound the Suns 64-41 on Tuesday, including 24-10 on the offensive glass. (Mark J. Rebilas \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
In the end, once it came time to put the Suns away for good, Tuesday became an Amen Thompson game.<\/p>\n
The Rockets\u2019 do-it-all combo guard responded to his early altercations with Green in the first half and impacted the game in numerous areas. He defended Green and Booker at a high level when his number was called. He scored in transition. He attacked the offensive glass. He played in the dunker spot and took pressure off \u015eeng\u00fcn.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, when the game slowed down, Thompson took control of the offense and he made sure Houston got good shots every time down. He used his voice. He directed Durant and \u015eeng\u00fcn to make sure they got the ball in their spots. He shook off Suns defenders who tried to speed him up by pressuring the ball. He showed poise.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s final stat line was quite impressive \u2014 22 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and three steals \u2014 but it still didn\u2019t capture all the little things he did to impact winning for his team down the stretch. He accounted for 12 points, three rebounds and three assists in the fourth quarter alone. Durant called his performance in the closing moments \u201csurgical.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was, without question, one of Thompson\u2019s most complete performances of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe controlled the game. He was on some real (point guard) s\u2014 tonight,\u201d Rockets forward Jabari Smith said after the game. \u201cHe was demanding the ball, getting us in sets. The ball pressure wasn\u2019t rattling him. He calmed us down. Obviously, nobody can stay in front of him. He kind of took us home in that last 10 minutes (of the fourth quarter).\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as we\u2019ve focused on the progression the Rockets have made offensively during this current win streak, Tuesday\u2019s victory almost felt like a throwback to last season when Houston burst onto the scene by being tougher, meaner, more physical and more fearless than most of their opponents on a nightly basis. That\u2019s the style of basketball Udoka promised to bring to Houston when he took over as head coach three years ago.<\/p>\n
As this team continues to hit its stride before the start of the playoffs, it\u2019s learned to combine some of that toughness with the scoring prowess that\u2019s necessary to compete with the best of the best \u2014 blending Durant\u2019s flash with Udoka\u2019s substance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows our resiliency. The type of team we\u2019ve been all season,\u201d Durant said. \u201c(Tuesday) was one of my favorite wins of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Emotions were already high Tuesday, as Kevin Durant played his first game in Phoenix and Jalen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,194,6,2065,472,4045,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-705177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-houston-rockets","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-phoenix-suns","13":"tag-phoenixsuns","14":"tag-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116369086804901609","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705177","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=705177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}