Alperen Sengun powers Rockets past Pelicans

Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. had double-doubles and the visiting Houston Rockets defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 106-104 on Saturday night.

Sengun had 37 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, and 11 rebounds, Smith added 26 points and 11 rebounds and Fred VanVleet scored 10 points.

Zion Williamson scored 28 points, Brandon Ingram added 19 points, Trey Murphy III chipped in with 14 points, CJ McCollum had 13 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans.

Herbert Jones Jr. made a 3-pointer to start the third-quarter scoring and the Pelicans increased their four-point halftime lead to seven.

New Orleans led by seven points a second time before Smith made a 3-pointer that tied the score at 62 with 7:39 left in the third quarter.

The Pelicans rebuilt the lead to six twice before Smith dunked to tie the score at 75 with 3:13 left in the quarter.

Ingram scored six points down the stretch and New Orleans held an 84-79 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Rockets went on a 9-1 run to take an 88-85 lead.

Murphy made three free throws to tie the score at 88 with 9:31 left in the game.

Sengun's layup with 2:10 left gave the Rockets a 101-100 lead. He added a free throw and Smith dunked for a 104-100 edge with 36.2 seconds left.

New Orleans missed 9 of 29 free throws and had three turnovers in the final 3:14.

Smith scored five points as the Rockets started with a 9-2 lead.

The Pelicans took a one-point lead on a 3-pointer by Williamson with 7:19 left in the first quarter.

Williamson scored the final four points as New Orleans trimmed the deficit to 26-24 at the end of the first quarter.

The lead changed three times in the second quarter and McCollum's free throw tied the score at 47 with 1:34 left in the first half.

Valanciunas broke the tie with a layup and McCollum added two more free throws to give the Pelicans a 51-47 halftime lead.

—Field Level Media