Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun sparked Houston’s fifth straight win.
The Houston Rockets won their fifth straight on Wednesday night, coming out swinging against a Denver Nuggets team missing Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon and then cruising to a 128-108 victory.
Jalen Green had 34 points, including six threes (6-for-10) on 10-for-16 shooting overall from the floor along with 5 assists, and Alperen Sengun had 20 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals on 9-for-21 from the floor to lead the Rockets to victory. Green is averaging 32 points per game over his last six contests, and this dynamic duo is now showing steady glimpses of what we all envisioned they could be together.
Fred VanVleet added 16 points, 8 assists and 3 steals while Cam Whitmore once again added some scoring off of the bench, providing 16 points, 9 boards, a steal, a block and even an assist. He was 7-for-11 from the field and 2-for-4 from deep. Whitmore’s ability to provide a spark off the bench has been a huge benefit for the Rockets, and Cam has scored in double figures for three out of last four games and five out of his last seven.
Amen Thompson finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks to once again pace the defense for the Rockets.
The Nuggets got 22 points each from Jamal Murray and Chrisitian Braun, with Braun being the latest in a long line of odd players who can’t seem to miss against Houston, going 10-for-11 from the field. They also got 17 from former Rocket Russell Westbrook.
Houston now moves to 27-12 on the season and hold a firm two-game lead over the third-place Memphis Grizzlies. They remain six behind the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Rockets will be back in action tonight on a difficult back-to-back against the Sacramento Kings.