On Thursday, the Houston Rockets took the court against the Orlando Magic in a back-to-back game, which they’ve not necessarily fared well in. The Rockets have gone 3-7 on back-to-backs in 2025-26, entering their showdown against Orlando.

Houston’s last game against the Magic was a close contest through and through, although the Rockets managed to pull out a 117-113 victory at home, in Houston’s Toyota Center. Kevin Durant was absolutely sensational in that game, to the tune of 35 points on 64.6 percent true shooting.

Reed Sheppard was also stellar, dropping 16 points off the bench, to the tune of 6-of-11 from the field and 50 percent from deep. Like Durant, Sheppard also had stellar true shooting splits, at a 67.3 percent clip.

Thursday night’s game was a similar story. Sheppard played big for the Rockets and sealed the deal for Houston off the bench. The second year guard had 20 points, on 7-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from deep.

Sheppard sparked a 19-point comeback for Houston in the third quarter. Clint Capela was huge in the game. He had four blocks in 16 minutes. Perhaps he heard Deandre Ayton’s comments.

And Kevin Durant was…well…Kevin Durant. Much like in the first game between the two teams. And many other games this season. Durant had 40 points on 28 shots. And he started slow. On the night, he went 2-of-10 from deep. He started 0-of-7 from three in the game.

But also didn’t miss a single free throw, going 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.

And Durant made history in the game, becoming just the sixth player in league history to score 32,000 points. The play that Durant made history was an absolute beauty.

Houston trailed 97-94 with 5:41 remaining in the fourth. Durant got his desired switch, from Paolo Banchero to Wendell Carter Jr. and hit a 3-pointer with Carter draped all over him.

Sheppard didn’t know what to say when asked about Durant’s milestone, outside of noting that it was crazy.

“That’s crazy. 32,000 is wild. He’s a great teammate, unbelievable guy. So being able to just watch what he does every night and play with him. It’s crazy.”

Durant now becomes the second-fastest player to accomplish the milestone, behind only Michael Jordan. Speaking of, Jordan is next on the all-time scoring list for Durant to pass.

Durant has 32,006 total points, while Jordan has 32,292 total points.

Based on Durant’s scoring average, he will certainly pass Jordan before the season ends.

This article first appeared on Houston Rockets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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