Alperen Sengun Has Found His Shooting Touch in the Month of March

Since the start of March Alperen Sengun has regain his shooting touch and is helping the Houston Rockets stay in the race for home-court advantage.

Mar 12, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) scores a basket during the third quarter against the Phoenix Suns at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

After the Houston Rockets' 111-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns, the Rockets' record improved to 41-25 on the season. The win was the Rockets' fourth straight victory, giving them as many wins as they had all last season.

The winning streak comes at the perfect time, as the Rockets are in a tight race for not only the division but also home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Rockets are a game behind the Grizzlies for the division lead and only a half-game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for home-court advantage.

A couple of the reasons the Rockets have been able to keep pace in the standings in the last four games because of their improved defense and a break in the schedule. Another reason for this is the play of Alperen Sengun in March.

Sengun was coming off his best season in the NBA when he averaged 21.1 points and 9.3 rebounds in 2023-24. Sengun started garner national attention and coming into this season he became the main focus of opposing teams.

That led to Sengun being double-teamed early and often throughout the season. With the added attention, Sengun saw his field goal percentage drop from last season. For most of the season, Sengun shot under 50% from the field as he faced double and sometimes triple teams all game.

Despite the added attention from defenses, Sengun made his first All-Star game appearance this past February. Since the start of March, Sengun has been even better. For March, Sengun is averaging 21.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game.

After his 7-7 performance in the win over the Suns, Sengun is shooting over 50% from the field for the first time in the entire season. The 7-7 was also the first time since Clint Capela in 2019 that a Rocket has not missed a shot while scoring over 20 points. He is shooting a blistering 68.4% from the field in his six games in March.

With only 16 games left in the regular season, the Rockets' margin for error is getting smaller each day. The Rockets probably need home-court advantage more than any other team in the Western Conference, considering the majority of their roster has never played in a playoff game. The Rockets will need Sengun to continue his stellar play if they want to grab that home-court advantage.

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