Views From the Game: Kevin Durant Closes Out the Phoenix Suns

The Houston Rockets welcome the Phoenix Suns into town after a tough loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night. The Rockets saw their four game win streak come to an end as they fought uphill for most of the second half and came up just short.

To make matters even worse, the Rockets lost Alperen Sengun, their All-Star center, one minute into the game, and Sengun was ruled out for the rest of the game after suffering a sprained ankle shortly thereafter. The Rockets were already without Steven Adams, who missed the game with a sprained right ankle. The Mavericks were able to take advantage of the Rockets' loss of non-Kevin Durant minutes by a wide margin.

Before Monday night's game, Ime Udoka gave an update on both Steven Adams and Alperen Sengun. Adams was back in the lineup and the starting lineup, but Sengun would miss 10-14 days and would be reevaluated at the end of the week. That means Sengun could miss up to as many as eight games before his possible return.

Udoka also talked about how difficult it was to adjust their entire game plan on the fly after the Sengun injury on Saturday. Even though they will be more prepared for Monday's game, it is still a significant blow to the Rockets' overall game plan not having their All-Star center.

The Rockets had defeated the Suns six games in a row coming into Monday's contest and were looking to get off to a fast start as the Suns, who were coming off an impressive win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

Houston Rockets vs Phoenix Suns

The Rockets got off to a slow start as they turn the ball over and missed a few easy shots at the rim. Ime Udoka called a quick timeout after the Rockets went down 7-2 early after a Amen Thompson turnover. The Rockets were able to get back into the game despite the early turnovers. The Suns made multiple 3-pointers in the last few minutes to take a 29-25 lead into the second quarter.

The second quarter was a strange one, to say the least. The game had several stoppages due to a clock issue, and it got to the point where they had to turn off the shot clock and the Jumbotron and have the in-arena announcer, Johnathan Sanford, call out the time and score every 10 seconds.

Ater a lengthy break, the two teams were able to get into some type of groove as the Suns again were the more aggressive team and took a 60-54 lead into halftime. Despite trailing by as many as 13 points in the third quarter the Rockets were able to get back in the game and tie the game at 78 all going into the fourth quarter.

It was a back-and-forth contest for the entire fourth quarter that came down to the last possession after a Devin Booker missed 3-pointer. The ball came to Kevin Durant, and, as he has done his entire career, he came up clutch, nailing a 28-footer over the defender to give the Rockets the 100-97 win over the Suns.

It was the Rockets seventh straight win over the Suns and here is what Durant had to say after the game about making the game winner against the team that he felt blamed him for all of their issues.

KD talks making the game winner and if it meant more making that game winner against the Suns. He said he didn't want to leave and felt scapegoated.

“ I don't want to sound to dramatic but to be kicked out of a place.”

Went on to say of course you play with a chip on your… pic.twitter.com/jD3Q4jvCgS
— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) January 6, 2026

Of course, that is bound to bring out the Kevin Durant critics, but so far, Durant has done precisely what the Rockets hoped he would: become their late-game closer and win games, as he did Monday night.