Alperen Sengun’s 33 points Not Enough As Rockets Fall To Lakers, LeBron James Scores 48
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The Los Angeles Lakers had no answer for Alperen Sengun Monday night.
Sengun had the best performance of his young career inside Crypto.com Arena with a career-best 33 points (14-of-17 FG, 2-2 3PT) for the Houston Rockets during the final game of their four-game California road trip.
Unfortunately, Sengun's one-man show wasn't enough to prevent the Rockets from dropping their 11th consecutive game in a 140-132 loss.
Sengun also recorded his 22nd career double-double with 15 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.
Similar to the Lakers' defensive problems with Sengun, the Rockets replicated the issues defending LeBron James.
The 38-year-old future Hall-of-Famer scored 48 points on 16-of-26 shooting, 5-of-10 from deep, which marked the fifth time James scored 30 or more points since his birthday on Dec. 30.
Sengun's career night began with 11 first-quarter points on 5-of-6 shooting when the Rockets closed the period down 37-35. He recorded 20 by the end of the first half, but Houston trailed the Lakers 73-61 by halftime.
Eric Gordon was the only player who came close to matching Sengun's output by scoring 15 of his 19 points during the first half.
Sengun's one-man show continued midway through the third quarter until Jalen Green found his rhythm. The Rockets trailed the Lakers by 16 points before closing the quarter on a 13-5 run.
Green erupted for 11 points during the quarter to pull the Rockets within four points entering the final period (102-98). He finished with 23 points.
The Rockets fell behind by 10 early in the fourth quarter but used a 7-0 run to cut Los Angeles' lead down to 119-116 with 5 minutes and 6 seconds left in the game.
Houston and Los Angeles went back and forth during the final five minutes. The turning point that gave the Lakers some breathing room came with 1 minute and 24 seconds left when Green committed a turnover that led to a transition dunk for Russell Westbrook.
The Rockets were down 131-129 at the time of Green's turnover.
The Lakers had four additional players who assisted James in the scoring department. Westbrook came off the bench and added 24 points (9-16 FG), while Kendrick Nunn provided Los Angeles with an extra lift with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
A small historic night for LeBron:
James, in his 20th season, played in his 1,400th career game. And after scoring 48, he now needs 315 points before surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's All-Time scoring leader.
A Better fourth quarter:
After scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, Houston scored 34 points in the period against the Lakers.
Up Next:
After going winless on their current road trip, the Rockets will return to the Toyota Center Wednesday night for a match against the 11-34 Charlotte Hornets. Tip-off is slated for 7 PM CT.
You can follow Coty M. Davis on Twitter at @CotyDavis_24
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