Rockets Get By 76ers at Home for Eighth Straight Win

The Houston Rockets were coming off one of the wins of the season against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night and kept up the great team play back at home against the Philadelphia 76ers in a 113-102 win on Thursday night.

The Rockets improved to 51-29 on the season and stacked up their eighth consecutive victory. This is the best stretch of the year for Houston, and multiple players have contributed well. It seems like the Rockets have relied on their strengths and have significantly improved in their biggest issue of turnovers.

While it got very close in the fourth quarter as the 76ers brought what was a 28-point deficit all the way down to five, the Rockets survived in the end.

The leading scorer for Houston was Kevin Durant once again with 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists on 10/18 shooting overall. Both Jabari Smith Jr. and Amen Thompson added 19 points. The Rockets shot 45% overall from the field and got 22 points off of 16 turnovers forced.

Joel Embiid was surprisingly ruled out the morning of game day with appendicitis and underwent surgery in Houston.

Game Recap

Apr 9, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets guard Josh Okogie (20) controls the ball against Philadelphia 76ers forward Dominick Barlow (25) during the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images | Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Josh Okogie also got a surprise start with Reed Sheppard coming off the bench. It was his 30th start of the season. Okogie got a total of nine points and 10 rebounds.

Okogie scored the first basket of the game on a tip-in off a miss. Alperen Şengün worked against his countryman Adem Bona and got his floater to go after an offensive rebound.

Şengün again with some nice footwork and threw down a smooth dunk. Eason knocked down an open three as an outlet when Durant got doubled. Eason blew by with confidence on a spin move to the cup. Okogie also hit an open three in the corner.

The Rockets were great at forcing turnovers and got in transition the other way for easy baskets. Eason was in the middle of it all. The Rockets got 12 points off six turnovers from the 76ers.

Houston led Philadelphia 35-26 at the end of one in a quarter where it led by as much as 13. Eason was the leading scorer in the period with nine points.

The forced turnovers continued to help the offense as Aaron Holiday got some points off the bench. Reed Sheppard hit back-to-back threes.

The Rockets led 73-56 at halftime after having a 23 pt lead at one point.

Houston had a total of 20 points off 11 Philadelphia turnovers at the half. Meanwhile, the Rockets only had five turnovers total. Houston dominated the paint 38-22 and shot 57 percent overall from the field. The Rockets were also 5/12 (42 percent) from three.

Three players were in double digits at half, including Durant with 17 who was the leading scorer. Thompson added 12 while Smith Jr. got 10.

The Rockets got out on a quick 8-0 run out of halftime as Okogie set up a windmill dunk for Thompson. Tyrese Maxey continued to knock down triples for the 76ers, but Houston increased the lead to 28 points. The Rockets had a 96-73 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

While the Rockets rested Durant in the fourth, the 76ers slowly crept back in with a 12-2 run. The lead was down to 15 at 101-86 with under seven minutes to go. The terrible fourth quarter continued for Houston as it went without a field goal for five minutes.

Philadelphia had all the momentum and the lead went down to just seven points at 101-94. Durant made a much-needed three from the corner that ended the drought. The 76ers continued to cut into the deficit and it was just a five-point lead for the Rockets before Durant made another clutch three.

Houston lost the fourth quarter 29-17, but did enough to get it done. It was discouraging, but the Rockets found another way to win.

Up next, the Rockets take on another injured squad in the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second of a back-to-back at home on Friday night.