MACAO — Kevin Durant will not play Sunday when the Houston Rockets face the Dallas Mavericks again at The Venetian Arena, Rockets coach Ime Udoka said Friday. Tip-off for the second NBA China Games matchup is set for 5 a.m. CT.
Houston planned to shut Durant down at halftime of Friday’s 135-117 win. He played 5:56 of the third quarter instead and finished with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting in 23:12.
Ime Udoka On Kevin Durant’s Extended Run Friday
Fred VanVleet opens up a lot for Houston in the pick-and-roll and understands when to score and when to find teammates, Udoka said. VanVleet played Friday for the first time since a torn ACL kept him out all of last season.
“He always wants to play, and the plan was to shut him down at halftime. He wanted to get a little more reps out there with Fred and some guys he hadn’t played with as much, and so he’s not gonna play next game,” Udoka said. “And so we want to give him an extended run tonight.”
“Like I said, he never wants to come out of the game. So we tried to get him a few stints, but played a lot of regular season minutes last year,” Udoka continued. “We want to get that down to some extent and use our depth and not have to rely on him as much. And so get him a little run now and see how the rest of the preseason goes.”
Houston went 52-30 last season and added depth with Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanović. Smart did not play Friday as a coach’s decision.
Kevin Durant Wanted More Minutes With Alperen Şengün And Fred VanVleet
Durant went 3-of-3 for 7 points in the third quarter after shooting 4-of-9 in the first half. He wanted to end the night making a couple more shots.
“Yeah, I definitely wanna play a lot. I had to ask coach to play the second half. He was going to sit me the second half, but once I seen Alpi and Fred was playing, I had to get back in there,” Durant said. “I wanted to end the game off a little better, making a couple more shots for me, so it was good that I was able to see those go down and we get a good win. I’m just hungry to play. I just enjoy playing and I enjoy showing up to work, and so I want to do this as long as I can.”
Alperen Şengün had a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in 21:47. VanVleet had 17 points and 7 assists.
Dallas played Friday without Kyrie Irving, who sat with left knee rest. Mavericks coach Dusty May said Thursday that Irving will play in one of the two games in Macao. The teams open the regular season against each other Oct. 21 in Houston.
