Fred VanVleet, Alperen Sengun help Rockets roll Bulls

Fred VanVleet scored a game-high 28 points and Alperen Sengun finished with 20 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds for his second straight triple-double as the visiting Houston Rockets routed the Chicago Bulls 143-107 on Sunday.

Houston led by as many as 39 points en route to its fifth consecutive victory. The Rockets pulled away behind an 11-0 run to begin the third quarter, surging ahead 79-52.

Houston dominated Chicago inside and in transition, rolling to an 80-40 advantage in points in the paint and a 32-15 edge in fastbreak points.

Seven Rockets scored in double figures, including every starter. Jalen Green had 18 points, while Amen Thompson (16 points), Dillon Brooks (15), Reed Sheppard (12) and Jabari Smith Jr. (10) followed. Thompson added 11 rebounds for a double-double.

The Bulls emptied much of their bench late in the third quarter. Zach LaVine (15 points) and Talen Horton-Tucker (12) paced Chicago, which shot 33.6 percent. Houston shot 52.4 percent while reaching a season high in points.

Chicago was just 14-of-56 from long range. Nikola Vucevic, Ayo Dosunmu and Josh Giddey had nine points each for the Bulls, who have allowed at least 135 points four times this season.

Chicago trailed by only one point after the first quarter despite a 4-for-16 start from 3-point range. The shooting struggles continued in the second quarter, as the Rockets took a 68-52 lead into the break behind 54 percent accuracy from the floor. That compared to 33.3 percent for Chicago, including 26.9 percent from deep.

The Rockets had 41 points in the second quarter.

VanVleet led all scorers with 18 points in the first half. LaVine paced the Bulls with 10.

Patrick Williams, whose streak of five straight games in double-figure scoring was snapped, started 0-for-6 from the floor, including 0-for-4 from long range. He finished with seven points.

Giddey led the Bulls with nine rebounds. The Rockets finished plus-19 on the boards to help Houston improve to 6-3 in its past nine visits to Chicago.

--Field Level Media