October 22, 2026 at 6:04 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Rockets Open With a Rout as Irving Returns for Short-Handed Mavericks

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Kyrie Irving made his comeback after roughly 18 months, but Houston's starters ran away with a 128-110 opener at Toyota Center.

Kyrie Irving's return took about 18 months to arrive, and it came on a night when Houston was in no mood to be sentimental. Irving played 24 minutes for Dallas, finished with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists, and then watched the Rockets turn the opener into a 128-110 win that was comfortable long before the final minutes. The knee kept him away for a long stretch. It did not seem to keep him from getting where he wanted on the floor, but the game around him never gave him much to work with.

The Mavericks also had to play without Dereck Lively II, who is out after right foot surgery and has no timeline for coming back. That left Daniel Gafford as the starting big man, and he had two points and three rebounds in 22 minutes. Santi Aldama, Tarik Biberovic and Caleb Martin were out as well, so Dallas was thin up front and thin on the wing. Morez Johnson Jr. and Zaccharie Risacher filled in with minutes, and Risacher grabbed six rebounds, but the Mavericks never found a way to slow Houston inside.

Cooper Flagg, in his second season, was the best of Dallas, with 32 points on a night when he shared the floor with Irving for the first time in a real game. The two did not have enough help around them to turn that into a contest. Marcus Sasser added 17 off the bench and Naji Marshall had 16 points and six assists, but P.J. Washington scored 10 and Max Christie had five. For a team trying to climb out of a 26-win season and a 12th-place finish in the West, this was a rough first step, even if the lineup was far from complete.

Houston, meanwhile, ended its opening-day drought, its first win in a season opener since 2017. Fred VanVleet was back at point guard and scored only six points, but he handed out 11 assists and gave Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson room to work. Durant led the team in minutes with 37 and scored 30, Jabari Smith Jr. also had 30, and Alperen Sengun posted a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Thompson had one of his own, with 16 points and 10 rebounds. It was an easy night for the Rockets, and the sort of start they have been waiting nearly a decade to have.

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