ghysports

By: Gordon Yancey/ghysports

The Houston Rockets play the Detroit Pistons tonight (10/24/2025) at 7:00PM Central Time.

The first game of the season did not go as planned in my opinion. Before I get into the good, lets talk about the bad. A few players did not play that well. The 1st one being Reed Sheppard. Reed is a hard player to gauge because he never really got any meaningful minutes in his rookie season, and was thrust into a role he was probably not yet ready for. He was not efficient, he was being hunted on defense whenever he was on the court, and he had a hard time getting the ball up court, but there were some positives. He seemed confident. That was my main gripe with Reed last season when he did get minutes. He always seemed too passive, and didn’t look for his shot. Against the reigning champs, he didn’t seem passive. The other player I was slightly disappointed with was Amen Thompson. Overall he played an amazing game. He was guarding the former MVP the best anyone could, he was facilitating, and getting to the rim. The problem was the fact that he shot 0/7 from behind the arc. That is essentially 7 extra turnovers in a game that went to two overtimes. Once again though, I am glad that he seemed confident enough to take them.

Now, the good.

ALPEREN SENGUN. Alpi finished the game with 39 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. He also shot 12/24 from the field which included his career high of 5 three pointers on 8 attempts. His superstar leap is officially here. It seemed like whenever he shot a 3, it was going to fall. Another extremely bright spot was his free throw shooting. He is a career 69-70% free throw shooter, but in game 1, he made 10/11 from the line which is 90.9%. Obviously he will have games where he doesn’t shoot this well, but it is still a great sign for the future as to what he is capable of doing.

Tonight’s game against the Pistons will showcase the same starting 5 of Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams. I am interested to see if head coach, Ime Udoka will make any changes in how the offense will run. The only downside to the big lineup is the spacing issues and the clogged paint. Obviously the Rockets will not go against OKC, AKA the best defense in the NBA every single night, so the complaints with Reed, Amen and others will not always be the case. Against a more mild defense, I am very intrigued to see what our guys can do.