Charlotte Hornets Squeeze Past Houston Rockets Despite Strong Outing from Şengün

The Houston Rockets start the 2024-2025 NBA regular season with a tough loss, dropping an 18-point lead to the Charlotte Hornets 110-105.

Oct 23, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) drives with the ball after a rebound during the second quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Houston Rockets opened the regular season at the Toyota Center against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night. The team was without veteran center Steven Adams, which came back to hurt late in the game.

Houston started the game off cold, shooting 1-for-11 to begin the contest, but quickly picked up its shooting behind star guard Jalen Green's hot start from three. Second-year forward Amen Thompson also shined early on, picking up the pace for the Rockets on offense, and playing high-energy defense to help overcome their shooting struggles.

The story of the night, however, was star center Alperen Şengün's dominant performance against the banged-up Hornets. He put on a show in the season opener, recording a double-double with 25 points and 18 rebounds.

Charlotte stayed in the game despite Şengün's strong play, and kept eating up Houston's 18-point lead in the second half. The Rockets were unable to stop guard LaMelo Ball late in the second half, eventually blowing their large lead and ultimately dropping the game to the Hornets 110-105.

Despite the tough loss, the two newly paid stars for the Rockets proved that they were worth every penny and then some on Wednesday night. Green not only lit up the scoreboard with 28 points, but also made a huge impact on the defensive end, forcing tough shots for the Hornets.

Both Şengün and Green led Houston in scoring, and were matchup nightmares for Charlotte all night.

The Rockets also got some valuable minutes from forwards Thompson and Tari Eason. Thompson hit a three-point jumper which energized the team early in the game, and made some high-effort defensive plays highlighted by a huge block in the first half, stopping a Hornets fast break.

Eason was also all over the place on defense, getting his hands on many passes and forcing many Charlotte players into difficult shots. He made an impact on the boards as well, tipping many long rebounds to other Houston teammates and successfully boxing out at a high rate.

Although there were many positives from this game, the Rockets dropped a game where they should've won. The inability to close out games is still haunting them, and they will definitely have to go back and see what went wrong before their next outing at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.

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