Houston Rockets 115, Denver Nuggets 101 — Recap

December 20, 2025 · View Preview

📰Game Summary

Final (regular season): Houston Rockets 115, Denver Nuggets 101. Scoring by quarter: Q1 HOU 26-29 DEN; Q2 HOU 27-16 DEN; Q3 HOU 29-21 DEN; Q4 HOU 33-35 DEN.

Top performers (box score): Kevin Durant (HOU) 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 threes on 8-of-14 shooting; Reed Sheppard (HOU) 28 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 threes on 9-of-15 shooting; Nikola Jokic (DEN) 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 threes on 9-of-20 shooting; Jabari Smith Jr. (HOU) 22 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 threes on 8-of-14 shooting; Jamal Murray (DEN) 16 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 threes on 4-of-13 shooting.

Standouts

Top Scorer · HOU

Kevin Durant

31 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST, 5 3PM · 8-14 FG

Scoring · HOU

Reed Sheppard

28 PTS, 2 REB, 6 AST, 6 3PM · 9-15 FG

Scoring · DEN

Nikola Jokic

25 PTS, 7 REB, 5 AST, 1 3PM · 9-20 FG

Season highs

Bruce Brown · Season-high 12 reboundsReed Sheppard · Season-high 6 threesKevin Durant · Season-high 5 threes

Every player's line is in the box score below; the play-by-play is available in the BlowOutAlert workspace.

Linescore

	1	2	3	4		T
HOU	26	27	29	33		115
DEN	29	16	21	35		101

🧮 How They Scored

HOUDEN

34Points in the paint50

14Fast-break points13

10Second-chance points19

17Points off turnovers24

29Bench points37

Four factorsHighlighted side won the factor

63.0%Effective FG%44.6%

17.9%Turnover %9.7%

23.7%Offensive rebound %20.8%

0.299Free-throw rate0.250

Box Score

Houston Rockets

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Kevin Durant F	40	31	6	5	0	1	3	8-14	5-6	10-11	+18
Jabari Smith Jr. F	38	22	10	2	0	1	4	8-14	5-11	1-2	+21
Amen Thompson G-F	38	16	4	6	2	2	3	7-14	0-2	2-4	+19
Reed Sheppard G	30	28	2	6	3	2	1	9-15	6-9	4-4	+10
Alperen Sengun F-C	30	8	6	4	1	1	5	4-9	0-1	0-0	+24
Josh Okogie G	29	9	3	1	0	1	0	3-5	3-5	0-0	+6
Steven Adams C	25	1	12	0	0	0	0	0-4	0-0	1-2	-10
Aaron Holiday G	8	0	4	0	0	0	3	0-2	0-1	0-0	-12
Jae'Sean Tate F	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	-6

Denver Nuggets

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Jamal Murray G	35	16	4	7	2	0	2	4-13	3-7	5-6	-12
Cameron Johnson F	32	6	4	3	1	0	0	2-10	1-3	1-1	-14
Tim Hardaway Jr. G	30	8	2	0	1	0	2	3-9	2-5	0-0	-22
Nikola Jokic C	29	25	7	5	0	0	5	9-20	1-4	6-7	-20
Bruce Brown G	28	12	12	1	2	1	0	5-8	0-1	2-2	-7
Spencer Jones F	28	9	4	2	2	0	0	4-8	1-5	0-0	+1
Jalen Pickett G	22	10	4	1	0	0	1	4-7	0-1	2-2	+1
Jonas Valanciunas C	16	10	1	1	1	1	1	5-10	0-0	0-0	-10
Zeke Nnaji F-C	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0-1	0-1	1-2	-1
Julian Strawther G	5	2	0	1	0	0	0	0-2	0-0	2-3	+7
Hunter Tyson F	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	1-4	0-2	0-0	+7

🔬 Advanced Stats

Houston RocketsTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Kevin Durant	Starter	40	31	82.3	25.0	+22.5	20.7
Jabari Smith Jr.	Starter	38	22	73.9	22.1	+25.9	11.7
Amen Thompson	Starter	38	16	50.8	21.8	+23.1	9.3
Josh Okogie	Starter	29	9	90.0	8.3	+15.4	7.2
Alperen Sengun	Starter	30	8	44.4	18.9	+28.8	5.0
Reed Sheppard	Bench	30	28	83.5	25.7	+16.4	22.5
Steven Adams	Bench	25	1	10.2	8.3	-19.2	5.1
Clint Capela	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jeff Green	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Aaron Holiday	Bench	8	0	0.0	20.8	-83.1	-29.4
Jae'Sean Tate	Bench	2	0	0.0	0.0	-200.0	0.0
JD Davison	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Denver NuggetsTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Nikola Jokic	Starter	29	25	54.2	42.4	-33.3	11.6
Jamal Murray	Starter	35	16	51.2	21.8	-17.1	12.5
Spencer Jones	Starter	28	9	56.3	12.7	+1.8	10.6
Tim Hardaway Jr.	Starter	30	8	44.4	15.9	-34.1	0.0
Cameron Johnson	Starter	32	6	28.7	14.1	-18.5	4.1
Bruce Brown	Bench	28	12	67.6	11.9	-14.6	15.2
Jonas Valanciunas	Bench	16	10	50.0	31.4	-29.4	11.5
Jalen Pickett	Bench	22	10	63.5	16.7	-3.2	9.0
Julian Strawther	Bench	5	2	30.1	18.8	+58.3	0.0
Hunter Tyson	Bench	5	2	25.0	25.0	+58.3	-11.5
Zeke Nnaji	Bench	11	1	26.6	6.9	+5.4	-4.4