Houston Rockets Bench Steps up in Blowout Win Over Pelicans

Throughout the Houston Rockets' up-and-down season, a few areas have stood out the most, both on the positive and negative sides. The Rockets, despite losing Steven Adams early in 2026, are still one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA.

The Rockets are also still a good defensive team, at times elite. Those two areas have been how the Rockets have won most of their games all season. The areas they have struggled with have been shooting, closing out games, turnovers, and not getting enough production off the bench.

The Rockets, even before the season started, knew they would have to shuffle their starting lineup after the addition of Kevin Durant and especially after the offseason injury to Fred VanVleet.

That has led to the Rockets having several different starting lineups all season, with players like Reed Sheppard, Tari Eason, and Josh Okogie going between the starting lineup and the second unit.

That has played a major part in the Rockets' struggling to get consistent production off the bench for most of the season. For most of the season, the Rockets have ranked near the bottom in bench points, shooting percentage, and overall minutes played.

In some games, the Rockets' bench may not even score double-digit points combined, and that has put a alot of stress on the starters, especially 37-year-old Kevin Durant, who has been in the top three in minutes played for most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season. Amen Thompson joins Durant in the top three in minutes played as the Rockets have seen multiple leads vanish when they go to their second unit.

However in their win over the New Orleans Pelicans the Rockets not only got a dominant performance from Alperen Sengun they also got a major boost from their bench led by Tari Eason and Clint Capela.

Rockets Bench Has One of Its Best Games of the Season

The Rockets have struggled against sub-.500 teams all season long, heading into their game Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans, a team that had a chance at the buzzer to defeat the Rockets a couple of weeks ago at the Toyota Center.

Despite the Pelicans playing better of late, they still have one of the worst records in the NBA. Exactly the type of game the Rockets have lost too many times this season. The Rockets and the Pelicans were tied after the first quarter, but the Rockets took control of the game in the second quarter and never looked back on their way to their biggest win margin of the season.

As mentioned earlier, Sengun played a big part in the win, finishing with a game-high 36 points to go along with 13 rebounds, seven assists, and a career-high tying five 3-pointers. Sengun wasn't the only reason for the win, as the Rockets got contributions up and down the roster, including from the bench.

Most games, the Rockets' bench is outscored by a wide margin, but not Sunday, when the Rockets' second unit outscored the Pelicans 36-29, led by Eason and Capela. Eason finished 15 points and made 3-5 3-pointers, which is the most 3-pointers Eason has made since February 7th. They also got a big game from Clint Capela, who finished with six points and 14 rebounds in only 16 minutes.

Eason's 15 points are the major story from the bench as he has struggled for the better part of two months, and his aggressiveness and shot-making from deep were encouraging signs for the Rockets and could lead to Eason finally breaking out of his slump.

The Rockets know they will not go far in the playoffs if they dont get superstar performance from Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, but they also realize their bench has to step up in the playoffs like they did Sunday against the Pelicans.