Jabari Smith Jr., Kevin Durant power Rockets past Pelicans
Jabari Smith Jr. scored a season-high 32 points, Kevin Durant moved into sixth place on the career scoring list and Amen Thompson provided support with an all-around display as the Houston Rockets claimed a 119-110 victory over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
Smith hit seven 3-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds to ignite the Rockets. He nailed a pair of 3s during a 15-2 run in the fourth quarter that pushed Houston to a 109-90 lead with 6:09 left.
Thompson posted 20 points on 10-of-14 shooting, eight rebounds and six assists. Durant added 18 points and eight assists, and his two free throws with 15.2 seconds to play pushed Durant past Dirk Nowitzki on the career scoring list.
Alperen Sengun chipped in 21 points and, like Smith and Thompson, secured eight rebounds.
Trey Murphy III paced the Pelicans with 21 points while Zion Williamson posted 20 points. Rookie Derik Queen chipped in 15 points and five assists for the Pelicans, who've lost 13 of 15.
The Rockets turned 17 offensive rebounds into 27 second-chance points.
Durant keyed an early run in the third quarter by assisting on dunks from Sengun and Thompson before sinking a pair of free throws to lift the Rockets to an 83-70 lead. But after Thompson followed his own miss with a dunk at the 2:21 mark, the Rockets failed to make another field goal for the rest of the period. New Orleans clawed to within 85-80 as Houston finished 0 for 7 from behind the arc in the third.
Houston seized an early double-digit lead courtesy of a hot shooting start, opening 7 of 9 from the floor while claiming a 17-6 advantage that forced a Pelicans timeout. New Orleans replied with an 8-0 spurt that featured a four-point play from Jordan Hawkins, but Reed Sheppard answered with back-to-back 3-pointers for the Rockets, who took a 32-30 lead into the second.
The Pelicans continued the momentum they established late in the opening period, and when Williamson converted consecutive layups, they took a 40-39 lead with 7:59 left in the first half.
But Houston turned a series of short bursts into a 64-54 halftime lead, largely fueled by Smith and Thompson, who combined for 22 points in the period.