HOUSTON — With 26 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals, All-Star center Alperen Sengun stuffed the stat sheet in leading the Rockets to a dominant 128-97 victory (recap) over the Sacramento Kings.’
The 23-year-old connected on 9-of-13 shots (69.2%), including 1-of-2 from 3-point range, and he also made 7-of-8 free throws (87.5%).
For Sengun, Wednesday’s performance was his third triple-double of the 2025-26 season and the 11th of his career, which ranks as third-most in franchise history. Only James Harden (46) and Hakeem Olajuwon (14) have more.
Dating back to the 1983-84 season, Sengun is just the seventh NBA player to have reached those totals of points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks in a single game.
“I think we’re playing beautiful basketball the last two games,” said Sengun, whose Rockets completed a 2-0 homestand with a pair of 20+ point wins. Houston (36-21) remains at No. 3 in the Western Conference standings.
“I remember we had a lot of games like this last season, and this season has kind of been different… because sometimes we change how we play, and that affects our game,” Sengun added. “We now understand each other. We’re just going to get better and better.”
The Rockets are now 13-6 in their last 19 games, which represents significant improvement from their 10-11 mark over 21 previous outings.
Of course, some of those early season bumps were to be expected. Relative to last season’s formula, four players are now missing (Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Fred VanVleet, and Steven Adams), with the first two sacrificed in the offseason trade for Kevin Durant and the latter two lost to long-term leg injuries.
And beyond integrating Durant, the Rockets are also integrating second-year guard Reed Sheppard, who played very infrequently as a rookie. On Wednesday, the 21-year-old buried a career-high seven 3-pointers, with many coming off assists or screens from Sengun.
“He’s an amazing shooter,” Sengun said postgame from Toyota Center. “I’m always telling (Sheppard) when we know each other, it’s going to be hard to stop us. Because I can open the game for him a lot. I already know they’re going to double team me, so I can find him anywhere.”
Now at 15 games over .500 for the first time, Houston hopes to continues its momentum in Thursday’s matchup at Orlando (31-26). Tipoff of Rockets-Magic is at 6:30 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised regionally on Space City Home Network and nationally via Prime Video.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: ‘Beautiful basketball’: Alperen Sengun believes in Houston’s chemistry