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Oct 24, 2026 6:30 PMPublished Oct 24, 2026 6:30 PM

Ime Udoka’s squad must overcome their road-game struggles and back-to-back woes. With seasoned veterans joining a developing young core, Houston aims to prove they can dominate outside of Texas.

The Houston Rockets have an important game on the schedule tonight, even though it’s only their third outing of the regular season. As covered on Roundtable, this will be their first opportunity to right their wrongs from last season, in particular when it comes to back-to-backs. 

Ime Udoka and his team didn’t manage to come away with wins in both games of a back-to-back until after the All-Star break. It’d be great for them to pick up a win and get that monkey off of their back early, but the Rockets could actually get two birds with one stone here. 

Another one of the main things holding Houston back last season was their record in games away from home. At 22-19, they actually performed worse on the road than the Minnesota Timberwolves, who finished lower in the standings. 

Considering last night’s very tightly contested game was technically played at a neutral site, this will also be the Rockets’ first opportunity to get a road-win this season. They can off on the right foot and show everyone that last year was just a gap year. 

Multiple veterans have been added to the roster, along with the young core continuing to grow and develop. There’s no more excuses for barely being able to win games outside of the Toyota Center in Houston. 

Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanović are battle tested and can perform on any court in the world. They’ve played in over 1,000 combined regular season games in the NBA, with many more playoff and international competition under their belts as well. 

Fred VanVleet is back and has 16 assists without a single turnover through his first two games. He’ll be out tonight, but his calming presence was definitely needed with Houston away from their home arena last night. It will be a major factor moving forward. 

Kevin Durant does his job, scoring three more points when the Rockets are on the road. From 24.5 at home, to 27.5 on the road, it’s hard to blame him for the losses. Virtually everyone else’s averages and percentages go down on the road. 

Even Alperen Şengün only increased his scoring by one single point on the road, from 19.8 to 20.8 points. I think we need more from the two-time All-Star if Houston is expected to win more consistently away from their home arena. 

They’ve capped out at 52-30 each of the past two seasons, and might not be far from that total again this year. Unfortunately, that doesn’t guarantee you home-court advantage in the playoffs. They’ll need to prove they can win on the road. 

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