Houston Rockets @ Charlotte Hornets
Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM ET
Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC | Game ID: 22500792
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CHA 33 19 26 23 101HOU 24 29 27 25 105
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Durant scores 35 points as Rockets hold on to beat Hornets 105-101
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- — Kevin Durant made two free throws with 3.2 seconds left for the last of his 35 points, and the Houston Rockets held on to beat the Charlotte Hornets 105-101 on Thursday night.
Jabari Smith Jr. added 15 points, and Reed Sheppard and Alperen Sengun each had 13 for Houston. The Rockets overcame an 11-point first-half deficit.
Grant Williams led the Hornets with 20 points. Brandon Miller scored 17 points, but was 1 of 12 from 3-point range.
LaMelo Ball , playing a day after being involved in a two-car crash in downtown Charlotte, had 11 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.
The Hornets, who had won 11 of 12 going into the All-Star break with the only loss coming to Eastern Conference-leading Detroit, looked sharp early and bolted to an 11-point lead early in the second quarter.
But the Rockets would start to pull away in the fourth quarter with Sengun making a spinning reverse layup against rookie 7-foot- center Ryan Kalkbrenner and baby hook shot on back-to-back possessions to Houston its biggest lead at 95-84 with five minutes left.
Charlotte's Kon Knueppel , who came into the game second in the league in 3-pointers, would make two 3s down the stretch but Durant was too much.
He hit four mid-range jumpers and scored 10 points in the fourth quarter including one to beat the shot clock with 44 seconds left when he drove the left side of the lane and elevated above traffic.
After Knueppel's third 3 cut it to 103-101 with six seconds left, the Hornets were forced to foul and Durant made both free throws to put the game away.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CHABM B. Miller
GW G. Williams
JG J. Green
KK K. Knueppel
LB L. Ball
PH P. Hall
RK R. Kalkbrenner
SJ S. James
TM T. Mann
TS T. Salaün
HOUAS A. Sengun
AT A. Thompson
CC C. Capela
DF D. Finney-Smith
JS J. Smith Jr.
JT J. Tate
KD K. Durant
RS R. Sheppard
TE T. Eason
CHA/HOU the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur