Houston is back on the winning track!
The Houston Rockets took care of business on Wednesday night, as they romped over the Indiana Pacers 130-113. Alperen Sengun led the way with 31 points, 12 rebounds and 2 assists on 12-for-19 shooting from the field.
There were no second or third quarter blues for the Rockets in this one, as the went up by 9 at the break and went on a run in the third quarter as well. Though the Pacers got within three at one point in the third before Houston’s big burst helped to build a 21-point lead before settling into the final margin of a 17-point victory.
Houston’s defense wasn’t quite as sharp in this one as they have been, allowing the Pacers to put up 113 points on 53 percent shooting, but they did force a big 23 turnovers from Indiana to spearhead the transition game into 23 fastbreak points on the night.
Sengun got help on the offensive end by Jabari Smith Jr., who scored 23 points with 8 rebounds on 8-for-13 shooting from the floor and 3-for-5 from deep. Houston also got 18 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals from Fred VanVleet, who also shot 4-for-8 from beyond the arc, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals from Jalen Green, though he was just 5-for-13 from the field and 1-for-6 from three, and 11 points, 9 rebounds and a whopping 6 steals from Tari Eason, who was basically everywhere last night.
Houston shot 46.1 percent from the field and were just 12-for-36 from deep, but they won the rebound, turnover and free throw battle, along with having more fastbreak points and points off of turnovers to lock down the battle of intangibles.
As for the Pacers, they were led by 24 points fron Quenton Jackson and also got 21 from Pascal Siakam. Those two shot a combined 18-for-26 from the field for the Pacers.
The Rockets move to 11-5 on the season and are just one game back from first place in the Western Conference. They’ll be back in action on Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers.