Sometimes it’s nice to have a relaxing win against a team the Rockets really should beat. That doesn’t always happen, but tonight it did. While the Rockets seem unlikely to hit a pre-season win prediction of 52, they have leveled their road record at 19-19, and they did it in dominant fashion at The Big Smoothie. The Pelicans don’t have anything much to play for, but they don’t have anything not to play for either. Neither wins nor losses will affect their draft pick, because the 25-50 Pelicans sent
their unprotected 2026 first round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for the rights to draft Derik Queen.
The game started competitively, with the Rockets and Pelicans each scoring 29 points in the first quarter. Rockets fans watching this occur can be forgiven for feeling trepidatious, especially given a dismal come from behind loss to the Pelicans that ranks among the worst losses of the season. But Alpern Sengun started well, and would continue well, as the game wore on. That would turn out to be pretty much all the Rockets needed.
In the second quarter the Rockets started making shots, the Pelicans stopped getting so many easy layups, and were forced to play in the halfcourt, where they aren’t especially good, it would seem. The Rockets also stepped up their defense, so the quarter was a blowout, with the Rockets winning it 39-18. That kind of quarter wins a lot of basketball games, and so it would prove.
In the third quarter the Pelicans made something of a run, with the Rockets’ focus drifting a bit, perhaps. Kevin Durant took that moment to splash a number of middies, and stop the run. From there the Rockets would play the Pelicans even in the period, so their 21 point lead was preserved.
In the fourth garbage time arrived quickly, but the Pelicans wouldn’t admit it until about 5 minutes remained, when they pulled their starters. The Rockets avalanche of the second quarter wasn’t mirrored, but it was imitated in the fourth, with the Rockets winning it 33-22, to finish the contest with a 32 point lead.
It’s about that simple, though some things are worth mentioning. Sengun was completely dominant, against a fairly big New Orleans frontcourt, featuring Yves Missi, Zion Williamson (who doesn’t appear to run except on offense), Earl Entry Hall of Famer Herb Jones, Karlo Matkovic, the aforementioned Queen, and old Rockets nemesis, Kevon Looney. That’s a lot of big men, and not a one of them could slow down Alperen Sengun. Alpie finished the night with 36 points on 12-23 shooting, which included 5-7 on three pointers. He went 7-8 from the freethrow line, grabbed 14 rebounds, dished 7 assists, had 3 steals and 3 blocks, and 0 turnovers. A really magnificent game from Alpie who has simply looked like a different player since taking a game off to recovery from injury, or exhaustion, or something.
Also having very good nights, though with less scoring, were Kevin Durant, whose 20 points were plenty, and whose 7-16 shooting was mostly brought down by going 1-7 from the three point arc. He added 6 assists to 2 turnovers. Jabari Smith also added 20, on 7-15 shooting, and 4-9 from three. He only grabbed 4 rebounds, but the Rockets utterly dominated the boards tonight, 59-36. This included Alpie’s 14 rebounds, but also Clint Capela’s whopping 14 boards in 16 minutes.
Amen Thompson had 14 points on 5-10 shooting, added 8 boards, 6 assists, and had 3 steals. He even played a comparatively low 35 minutes. Reed Sheppard had a quiet night, and only played 21 minutes, as he was frequently targeted by New Orleans, especially Dejounte Murrary, who wasn’t really slowed by anyone else, either, going 8-14 with 6 assists. Sheppard did end up making some 3pt shots, at 2-5.
The best news might have been a return of a good Tari Eason. Tari had 15pts on 6-12 shooting, 3-5 from long range, and had 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal in 22 impactful minutes.
Or perhaps the best news was the Rockets only turned the ball over 6 times. The offense was largely in the hands of Sengun and Thompson. Sengun forced the defense (in as much as NOLA defends) to come out on him by making 3pt shots. This opened space elsewhere, but maybe more importantly, reduced the clogged, ineffective, Kevin Durant play initiations in the game. In any case, not giving up points on lots of live ball turnovers made a huge, and most welcome, change.
The Rockets return home to face the Knicks on Tuesday, and everyone should be in a good frame of mind after this one. Especially the most dominant +/- player on the court: Aaron Holiday at +41 in 25 seemingly innocuous minutes.
