Kevin Durant Says He Likes That Rockets are 'Pissed Off' After 0-2 Start to Season
Kevin Durant isn't happy that the Houston Rockets have dropped their first two games of the regular season, but he is encouraged by the response the team has shown to these losses.
Speaking to reporters after Friday's 115-111 loss to the Detroit Pistons, Durant said the coaching staff and his teammates are "pissed off" right now and he likes "that kind of energy" from this group.
The Rockets were thrown a curveball late in the offseason when it was revealed Fred VanVleet tore his ACL and could miss the entire 2025-26 campaign.
Amen Thompson was put into position to be their starting point guard with VanVleet out. Second-year guard Reed Sheppard has also been thrust into an expanded role.
The results, albeit in a very small sample size, have been discouraging thus far. The Rockets rank in the bottom half of the NBA in both offensive and defensive rating.
Some defensive regression was to be expected, particularly from the bench unit with Sheppard playing more minutes, after posting the fifth-best defense in the league last season.
The most discouraging part of the Rockets' performance through two games is that the offense is worse than the 2024-25 unit that ranked 12th in the NBA. Adding Durant was supposed to solve their need for a go-to scorer in the half court.
Durant is off to a strong start with 30.0 points per game on 52.9 percent shooting. Alperen Şengün is a key driving force for the offense with 28.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists through two games.
Thompson, Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason are all shooting 40.0 percent or worse from the field. Sheppard is at least connecting on 45.5 percent of his three-point attempts, but that's being offset by a minus-20.6 net rating.
There's no reason to hop off the bandwagon just yet, especially since the Rockets did take the Oklahoma City Thunder to double-overtime in the opener, but there might be more flaws with this roster that are being exposed with VanVleet out of action.
The Rockets will go for their first win of the season on Monday when they host the Brooklyn Nets at the Toyota Center.
