Cleveland Cavaliers @ Houston Rockets
Saturday, December 27, 2025 at 8:00 PM ET
Toyota Center, Houston, TX | Game ID: 22500438
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
HOU 32 28 30 27 117CLE 24 22 17 37 100
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Kevin Durant scores 30 points to lead the Rockets to a dominant win over the Cavaliers
HOUSTON -- — Kevin Durant scored 30 points in three quarters to lead the Houston Rockets to an easy 117-100 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
The Rockets won their second straight after they lost four of their previous five games.
Durant, who also had seven assists and four rebounds, didn’t play in the fourth quarter with Houston up by 27 points after three.
The Cavaliers cut the lead to 12 on a basket by Darius Garland with about seven minutes left in the third quarter before Houston used a 15-0 run to make it 85-58 about two minutes later. After a dunk by Durant in that stretch, Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson received a technical for yelling at the officials and Durant made the free throw.
Jabari Smith Jr. capped the run with a 3-pointer before Dean Wade made a 3 to give the Cavaliers their first points in more than four minutes.
Reserve Jaylon Tyson had 23 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Donovan Mitchell added 16 points on 7-for-17 shooting for the Cavaliers, who dropped a second straight game and their fifth in the last seven games.
The Rockets scored seven straight points, with 3s from Tari Eason and Smith, to take a 16-12 lead and never trailed again.
Tyson hit a shot for the Cavaliers after that but Houston then used a 12-2 spurt, with nine points from Durant, to push the lead to 28-16 late in the first.
Reed Sheppard added 18 points and eight assists off the bench for the Rockets. Smith had 15 points to tie a career high with his fifth straight game with at least 15 points.
Houston’s Steven Adams had nine points and eight assists starting in place of All-Star Alperen Sengun , who missed the game with calf tightness.
Up next Cavaliers: Visit San Antonio on Monday night.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CLECP C. Porter Jr.
DG D. Garland
DH D. Hunter
DM D. Mitchell
DW D. Wade
EM E. Mobley
JA J. Allen
JT J. Tyson
LB L. Ball
SM S. Merrill
TB T. Bryant
TP T. Proctor
HOUAH A. Holiday
AT A. Thompson
CC C. Capela
DF D. Finney-Smith
JD J. Davison
JG J. Green
JO J. Okogie
JS J. Smith Jr.
JT J. Tate
KD K. Durant
RS R. Sheppard
SA S. Adams
TE T. Eason
CLE/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