Rockets make the best possible Kevin Durant statement in fascinating win vs Suns

The Houston Rockets need to be able to win big games without Kevin Durant. Against the Suns on Monday night, that's exactly what they did.

This is important in both a short and long-term sense. In each case, the reason is the same:

Durant is 37.

The Rockets can assume he'll miss games this year. On Monday, Durant was out for personal reasons - here's hoping everything is OK. Still, it's overwhelmingly likely that he'll need some time off throughout the year to preserve his body.

It's also inevitable that Durant will eventually retire. The Rockets acquired Durant as a stopgap. The idea was for him to help them contend for an NBA title over a couple of years, while keeping enough young talent to stay competitive when he left.

So far, that plan is on schedule.

Rockets look good in Durant's absence

Fans should avoid making broad conclusions based on one game.

The final score was 114-92. If we took that at face value, it suggests that the offense gets a bit worse, and the defense improves in Durant's absence. We'll treat that as statistical noise. Still, it's worth looking at some individual performances in this one.

To begin with, Reed Sheppard was surprisingly disappointing. With his starry performances of late, Rockets fans expected him to shoulder a large load in Durant's absence. Instead, Sheppard had just 7 points on 2/9 shooting from the field.

Instead, it was Amen Thompson who stepped up.

He had an impressive 28 points on 10/16 shooting from the field. Thompson took one three, and he made it. More broadly, he looked aggressive. Thompson was driving relentlessly to the rim.

Is there any correlation between his aggressive play and Durant's absence? If so, that's on Thompson. He needs to play fearlessly, no matter who he's sharing the floor with.

Otherwise, Alperen Sengun was...fine? He had 18 points on 8/14 shooting to go with 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 turnovers. He scored efficiently on low volume and turned the ball over too often, but it wasn't a bad night.

It also speaks to a larger point. The Rockets beat a red-hot Suns team despite missing Durant and getting a mediocre performance from Alperen Sengun. That speaks volumes about their season-long outlook. Arguably, this was the biggest win of the Rockets' season so far.

Here's hoping they can carry that momentum into a contest with the Warriors that Durant is expected to miss.