Alperen Şengün produced his eighth double-double and helped the Houston Rockets fend off a fourth-quarter cost from the visiting Washington Wizards in a 107-92 victory on Monday.
Şengün paired 27 factors with 17 rebounds to tempo the Rockets, who overcame the absence of level guard Fred VanVleet (hamstring). Houston recorded solely 13 assists, counting on transition alternatives and a dominant efficiency from Sengun within the paint to outlive.
Kyle Kuzma scored eight factors throughout an 11-4 Wizards run that opened the fourth and reduce the deficit to 86-80. Following a Houston timeout, Şengün transformed a dunk and a driving layup earlier than nailing a 3-pointer to assist the Rockets reclaim management and a double-digit lead at 93-80.
Jalen Green added 18 factors for the Rockets. Amen Thompson added 13 factors, eight rebounds and 4 steals, whereas Aaron Holiday and Jabari Smith Jr. tallied 11 factors every.
Houston recorded 23 fast-break factors and dominated the Wizards on the glass, ending with a 58-34 rebounding benefit, with Smith chipping in 9 boards and Tari Eason including 10 factors, six rebounds and three steals.
Kuzma led the Wizards, who’ve dropped 5 consecutive video games, with 18 factors. However, he wanted 18 photographs to achieve that complete, reflecting the poor taking pictures from the Wizards (35.5 p.c). Jordan Poole missed 9 of 14 photographs en path to 11 factors, whereas Alexandre Sarr, the second general choose within the NBA draft, shot 2 of 9 for 5 factors.
Both the Rockets and Wizards rapidly recovered from ragged begins.
In the primary quarter, Washington bought a mixed 15 factors from Carlton Carrington and Bilal Coulibaly to offset a balanced scoring assault from Houston, which bought six factors apiece from Smith, Şengün and Green. Washington shot %52.2 within the opening interval however trailed 30-28 getting into the second due partly to the Rockets’ aggressiveness, which yielded 10 free throws in comparison with 4 for the Wizards.
When the Rockets threatened to run away late within the second, Kuzma helped the Wizards vogue a response. Houston prolonged to its largest lead of the half at 55-40 on back-to-back steals and transition layups from Green and Eason. But Kuzma drilled a 3-pointer and transformed a driving layup to tug Washington to inside 57-49 on the intermission.
The Rockets shot 51.2 p.c earlier than the break regardless of recording solely 4 assists.
Source: www.dailysabah.com