Alperen Sengun scored 30 points, Fred VanVleet added 21 and the Houston Rockets turned a third-quarter rally into a 112-101 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
Sengun found success with early attacks against the Nets’ defense to combat early double-teams, while VanVleet drilled six 3-pointers and doled out 10 assists. Jalen Green added 14 points and eight rebounds for Houston, which sent the Nets to their fifth consecutive loss.
The Rockets improved to 2-3 on a seven-game homestand.
Houston turned its fortunes in the third quarter by committing only one turnover following a miscue-filled first half. Houston shot 61.1 percent in the period and seized control with a 15-1 run that flipped a five-point deficit into a 74-65 lead. Green stroked a pair of 3-pointers during the rally while VanVleet also converted from deep and Sengun chipped in six points, including two free throws.
Houston carried an 87-75 lead into the fourth after Amen Thompson beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer off a VanVleet assist.
When Brooklyn center Nic Claxton converted a hook shot over Sengun that cut the Nets’ deficit to nine points, Jae’Sean Tate, Jabari Smith Jr. and VanVleet hit successive treys that stretched the margin back to 107-89 with 4:44 remaining.
Cameron Johnson and Mikal Bridges scored 15 points apiece for the Nets, who have dropped 10 of 12 games. Royce O’Neale tallied 13 points off the bench while Claxton added 12 points and 13 rebounds for Brooklyn, which shot 38.7 percent from the floor and missed 31 of 44 3-point attempts.
The Rockets’ early strategy to let the Nets, namely forward Dorian Finney-Smith, fire away from behind the arc paid only modest dividends. Finney-Smith, who entered averaging 8.3 shots per game, shot 3 of 10 in the first quarter, missing 6 of 7 from 3-point range. But Houston needed a late 8-0 run to fashion a six-point lead that the Nets sliced to 26-22 entering the second period.
Brooklyn then took advantage of the Rockets’ haphazard ball security, converting three turnovers into an 11-2 run and a 33-31 lead. O’Neale capped that rally with consecutive transition layups as the Rockets struggled with turnovers for the remainder of the half.
Houston committed 12 giveaways before halftime, nine coming in the second quarter, as Brooklyn closed the half with a plus-10 advantage in shot attempts and nine fastbreak points en route to a 50-49 lead.
–Field Level Media
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