October 29, 2026 at 5:36 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Rockets run past Bucks 132-100 without Sengun to stay unbeaten

By How we produce articles

Houston played without Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams and still beat a fully healthy Milwaukee by 32, improving to 5-0.

The Rockets arrived in Milwaukee on Wednesday without Alperen Sengun, who was ruled out with lower back soreness, and left with a 132-100 win that was settled well before the fourth quarter. Sengun is the playmaking big who makes Houston's Durant-Thompson-Sengun core function. Losing him looked like the one thing that could slow the Rockets' start.

Sengun had been playing as well as anyone on the roster, averaging 24.5 points, nine rebounds and seven assists through his first four games, with 1.8 steals and half a block on top. Houston was also without Steven Adams, which left Clint Capela as the lone veteran big off the bench. Capela handled it quietly, with 10 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes. Fred VanVleet scored 24 and Amen Thompson added 23 in a team-high 33 minutes. Kevin Durant needed only 18 points in 31 minutes, and Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 16 in 15 off the bench.

Marcus Smart, the former Defensive Player of the Year, came in questionable with a forearm strain and did not play, so the Rockets also lacked one of their better perimeter defenders. It didn't matter much. Milwaukee came in with nobody on the injury report and had no excuse to point to. Tyler Herro scored 23 and Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 19, but no one else on the Bucks reached 11. Myles Turner and Kyle Kuzma, both starters, each finished with four points.

Houston moves to 5-0 for the 2026-27 season. The group that beat San Antonio earlier this week without Sengun's usual production did it again here, and by a far wider margin. The Rockets will take the record. The bigger question is how long they can keep winning like this while the injury list stays as long as it is.

Sources

All game reports