Rockets Beat the Pelicans, 104-101; Houston Wins Fifth Straight Game

Your Houston Rockets defeated the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, 104-101. With the win tonight, the Rockets have won two of the past three games against the Pelicans after losing the previous five meetings.

Houston has won five in a row after starting the season 0-3 while New Orleans has lost four straight after a 4-1 start. Tonight marked Houston’s second win of the season when scoring below 110 points (107 vs. Sacramento on 11/4). The Rockets won two games when scoring below 110 points last season.

The Rockets won despite being outshot 45.3% to 40.9%. Houston is 2-3 when being outshot this season after having three wins when being outshot in 2022-23.

Houston held New Orleans to 8 3FGM on 32.0% shooting after limiting the Lakers to 7 3FGM on 28.0% shooting on 11/8. The last time the Rockets held opponents below 10 3FGM in consecutive games was 3/28-3/30/22. The Pelicans have now hit fewer than 10 3FGM in three of their past four games.

The Rockets only had 9 turnovers. It is the second time Houston has recorded fewer than 10 turnovers this season (7 vs. Golden State on 10/29). The Rockets had fewer than 10 turnovers twice in 2022-23. Houston is averaging 13.1 tpg this season, down from 16.2 in 2022-23.

Jalen Green had a team-high 25 points while shooting 9-of-10 from the line. He has now scored 20+ points in six of the eight games this season and is averaging 25.3 ppg over the past three games. Green has recorded 10+ FTA in two of the past three games. He had 10+ FTA 14 times in 2022-23 after doing so twice as a rookie.

Fred VanVleet scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. He had a total of 20 points over the previous two games but has now scored 20+ four times this season. VanVleet also had 8 assists with just one turnover tonight and has 50 assists with 7 turnovers over the past six games.

Alperen Sengun had 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting. He is averaging 19.0 ppg on 61.7% shooting overall this season. The last time a Rocket averaged at least 19.0 ppg while shooting 60.0% or better through the first eight games of a season was Dwight Howard (20.1 ppg, 61.8% FGs) in 2014-15 and prior to that it was Rudy Tomjanovich (21.8 ppg, 60.7% FGs) in 1976-77.

Zion Williamson had 24 points tonight after missing the Pelicans game 11/8 due to personal reasons. He has scored 20+ points in six of his seven games played this season. Williamson is tied with George Mikan for the seventh-most 20-point games (102) through the first 121 games played of a career. Rockets Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes is sixth on that list with 103 20-point games.