Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Somebody really needs to tell Reggie Miller to stop calling Alperen Şengün “Shane Goon.”
In today’s SI:AM:
⛈️ Opening night classic in OKC
🦅 Why the Eagles won’t trade A.J. Brown
⚾ World Series position-by-position breakdown
If you’re reading this on SI.com, click here to subscribe and receive SI:AM directly in your inbox each morning.
An L for KD in OKC
If Tuesday night’s double overtime marathon between the Rockets and Thunder was a sign of things to come, then we’re in for a hell of a battle in the NBA’s Western Conference this season.
Kevin Durant was solid in his Houston debut (23 points on 9-of-16 shooting with nine rebounds, three assists and four turnovers), but after the game he took the blame for his team’s 125–124 loss.
“I missed the free throws, and I fouled somebody at the end,” Durant said. “I think those two plays are the reason we lost.”
Durant was referring to the free throw he missed at the end of regulation and the foul he committed on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the final seconds of the second OT.
With 9.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Durant stepped to the line with a chance to extend the Rockets’ lead to three points with a pair of free throws. He missed the first but made the second, giving Houston a 104–102 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander proceeded to drive the length of the floor and hit a pull-up jumper from 16 feet to tie the game with two seconds left.
Then, near the end of the second overtime period, SGA had the ball in his hands again with OKC trailing 124–123. He was guarded by Durant and used a pump fake to bait KD into fouling him. Gilgeous-Alexander proceeded to knock down both free throws with 2.3 seconds left to give his team the lead. Durant fouled out on the play, so he had to watch from the bench while Jabari Smith Jr.’s turnaround jumper at the buzzer went begging.
Those two plays might have been costly for the Rockets, but Durant also got away with a massive error at the end of the first overtime that went unnoticed by the officials.
After Tari Eason blocked SGA’s game-winning attempt, Durant collected the rebound with roughly two seconds on the clock. He signaled for a timeout but none was granted. That was lucky for KD, because the Rockets didn’t actually have a timeout. He should have been called for a technical foul and the Thunder should have had a chance to go to the free throw line to win the game. Instead, it went to a second overtime.
KD tried to call timeout without having any, but it goes unacknowledged, and we’re off to double overtime.
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) October 22, 2025
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/gt4zcMmq3t
“None of the three game officials saw Kevin signal that timeout,” crew chief Zach Zarba told a pool reporter. “That’s why it wasn’t granted before the expiration of time.”
Gilgeous-Alexander said Durant “definitely called timeout about three times verbally and physically with his hands” but that he thought the refs made an honest mistake.
While Durant’s debut with the Rockets was highly anticipated, it was one of his teammates who emerged as the biggest story of the night. Alperen Şengün erupted for 39 points on 12-of-24 shooting with 11 rebounds and seven assists. The 23-year-old center is coming off his first All-Star selection last season and was Houston’s second leading scorer. He’ll need to be a critical piece of the Rockets’ offense again as the team adapts to life with Durant—and without Fred VanVleet. (VanVleet tore his right ACL during an offseason workout and is expected to miss the entire season.)
With VanVleet sidelined, the Rockets played much of Tuesday’s game without a true point guard. Four of the five players in the starting lineup were 6'11". The other, Amen Thompson, is 6'7". All that length paid dividends for the Rockets on the boards as they out-rebounded the Thunder 52–38. But Houston also committed a whopping 25 turnovers to OKC’s 12. Pushing the defending champs to the limit in the opening game of the season is a promising sign for how the season might go for Durant and the team, but there are still plenty of things for the Rockets to clean up if they want to challenge OKC in the West.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Chris Mannix breaks down an epic season opener that saw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander look every bit like an MVP, Alperen Şengün shine in defeat and Kevin Durant make his long-awaited Rockets debut in a city he knows all too well.
- Albert Breer lays out three clear reasons why the Eagles won't trade A.J. Brown—and why any rumors suggesting otherwise don’t hold up.
- The Dodgers enter the World Series as heavy favorites, but a position-by-position breakdown reveals the Blue Jays may have more advantages than expected.
- Several quarterbacks’ draft stocks have shifted dramatically since Daniel Flick’s May rankings—some rising, others falling hard.
- Sports Illustrated’s men’s college basketball preseason Top 25 countdown continues with No. 8, where coach Pat Kelsey has engineered one of the sport’s fastest turnarounds, transforming his program from a punch line into a powerhouse that may only be getting started.
The top five…
… plays from opening night in the NBA:
5. Kevin Durant booing the fans in OKC who booed him.
4. Stephen Curry’s 36-foot bomb to seal the Warriors’ win over the Lakers.
3. Alperen Şengün’s putback dunk late in the first overtime to tie the game.
2. An audacious step-back three by Luka Dončić.
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-tying shot in the final seconds of regulation.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Kevin Durant Takes the Blame for Rockets’ Loss in His Debut.