Charlotte Hornets @ Houston Rockets
Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 8:00 PM ET
Toyota Center, Houston, TX | Game ID: 22500737
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
HOU 26 23 26 24 99CHA 29 32 30 18 109
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Hornets extend winning streak to 8 games with 109-99 victory over Rockets
HOUSTON -- — Rookie Kon Knueppel had 24 points and LaMelo Ball added 20 to help the Charlotte Hornets roll to a 109-99 victory over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night and extend their winning streak to eight games.
Charlotte’s streak is the franchise’s longest since winning nine in a row in the 1998-99 season.
The Hornets led by 16 after three quarters and Brandon Miller scored the first five points of the fourth to extend the lead to 96-75 with about 11 minutes to go. A 5-0 run by Charlotte, with a 3-pointer by Sion James , made it 103-81 with about eight minutes remaining and Houston coach Ime Udoka pulled his starters.
It’s a second straight lopsided defeat for the Rockets, who lost 114-93 Wednesday night to a Boston team playing without star Jaylen Brown .
Kevin Durant led Houston, which entered Thursday in fourth place in the Western Conference, with 31 points and Jabari Smith Jr. added 17. It was a tough night for Alperen Sengun , who was averaging 21.2 points, and scored just seven on 3-of-11 shooting.
Miles Bridges added 18 points for the Hornets and Miller finished with 11 after sitting out the entire second quarter after getting three fouls in the first.
Coby White was with the team after a trade from the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday. But he did not play and is expected to sit out until after the All-Star break because of a nagging calf injury.
A basket by Durant got the Rockets within 7 before James and Ball made consecutive 3-pointers to push the lead to 83-70 with about four minutes left in the third.
Charlotte was up by 12 late in the third before scoring the last four points of the quarter to take a 91-75 lead into the fourth.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CHABM B. Miller
DI Diabate
GW G. Williams
JG J. Green
KK K. Knueppel
LB L. Ball
MB M. Bridges
MD M. Diabaté
RK R. Kalkbrenner
SJ S. James
TM T. Mann
HOUAH A. Holiday
AS A. Sengun
AT A. Thompson
CC C. Capela
DF D. Finney-Smith
IC I. Crawford
JD J. Davison
JO J. Okogie
JS J. Smith Jr.
KD K. Durant
RS R. Sheppard
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