Rockets Beat Pelicans Due to Thrilling Third Quarter

The Houston Rockets won 109-97 over the New Orleans Pelicans. Alperen Sengun led the way for Houston with 22 points.

Houston and New Orleans were trading back-and-forth buckets to start the game, but free throws and rebounds hurt the Rockets to start. The Pelicans grabbed seven rebounds compared to the Rockets' two. Towards the end of the period, down six, Steven Adams and Sengun saw the court together, trying to see if the double-big lineup would help on defense. New Orleans got thrown off by both bigs being in the game and double-teamed Sengun, which led to a three-pointer by Tari Eason to put Houston down by three to close out the first quarter.

Midway through the second quarter, Kelly Olynyk got an offensive rebound over two of Houston's defenders and generated a second-chance look, giving New Orleans a seven-point lead. Jose Alvarado followed with one of his signature sneaky steals, leading to a three-pointer from CJ McCollum. The Rockets were able to climb back with the help of Amen Thompson checking in the game, and Eason bringing energy to the team with some big threes. Eason ended the first half with 14 points, and Trey Murphy scored 21 points of his own. The Pelicans kept a three-point lead of 59-56 going into halftime.

The third quarter was dominated by the Rockets as they held the Pelicans in their palm from start to finish. Houston started rolling early on, taking a five-point lead due to shooting 4-for-4 from the field and blizting McCollum to get a steal converting to a bucket, compared to the Pelicans' 0-for-2 from the field. Udoka put the double-big lineup of Adams and Sengun in the game, and their impact was immediately felt once again.

The Rockets got a huge stop on the perimeter as Murphy III took a deep three-pointer and missed. On the opposite end, Adams brought down an offensive rebound and dished the ball to Sengun to give them a 10-point lead for the first time in the game after being down by 11 points earlier on. Houston ended the period leading by 15 going into the fourth quarter due to being more aggressive on the glass and converting offensive rebounds into points as well as taking contact in the lane, leading to and-ones. The Rockets shot 74% from the field compared to the Pelicans' 24% shooting from the field in that frame.

New Orleans cut Houston's lead down to six points with four minutes left to play in the game, but the Rockets were able to control their lead. Dillon Brooks was sent to the free-throw line with 1:48 to go in the fourth quarter and gave Houston a ten-point lead.

The Rockets will be facing the New Orleans Pelicans once again on Saturday at Toyota Center. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. CST.

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