Houston Rockets Subdue Cleveland Cavaliers, 114-104, Gain Tie for 2nd in the West
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 20 Nov 2025
Two of the teams fancied to challenge in the Eastern and Western Conference in the current NBA season, Cleveland and Houston clashed early today with the Rockets holding off the Cavaliers 114-104 at the Rockets Arena.
In a game where both teams shot poorly from the field and arc, the confrontation came down to which team had the better performing big men. And hands down, Rockets 6-11 Turkish center Alperen Sengun emerged the big winner, notching 28 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists and 1 block against a team that has last season's Defensive Player of the Year, Evan Mobley.
The Rockets were also greatly helped by relief center Steven Adams and big guard Amen Thompson who combined for 20 rebounds dwarfing the combined output of Mobley and main Cavs center Jarett Allen of just 13 boards.
Kevin Durant also made his presence felt scoring an additional 20 points with sophomore guard Reed Sheppard chipping 12 points, many of which allowed the Rockets to break away from a close game in the first quarter.
Main Cavs scorer Donovan Mitchell had a quiet 21 points though he had three triples. Former Atlanta Hawks star De Andre Hunter carried the scoring for Cleveland finishing with a team high 25 points. Mobley still managed 18 points but Allen could only put up 8 points to go with his team high 7 rebounds.
The win allowed Houston to tie the idle Denver Nuggets at 2nd place both at 10-3 behind the league leading Oklahoma City Thunder (14-1) in the West.
The Rockets get to break the tie tomorrow as they take on the Nuggets.
The loss on the other hand brought down the Cavaliers to third in the East at 10-6 behind the Conference leaders Detroit Pistons (13-2) and the Toronto Raptors which are second at 10-5.
Cleveland is sorely missing the contributions of regulars as Darius Garland and Max Struss who are still down with injuries.
Cleveland will get its chance to get even as it hosts the Rockets on December 28, 2025.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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