Alperen Sengun posted a double-double, Fred VanVleet added 19 points and the Houston Rockets held off a second-half charge from the visiting New York Knicks for a 109-97 victory on Monday.
Sengun paired 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting with 14 rebounds and five assists. Jalen Green had 15 points while Dillon Brooks chipped in 13 points. Amen Thompson had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench. The Rockets finished with a 62-38 advantage on points in the paint.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 29 points and eight assists. OG Anunoby hit 5 of 6 3-pointers and totaled 21 points while Karl-Anthony Towns produced 17 points and 19 rebounds.
The Knicks trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half but twice pulled to within a single point in the fourth quarter. Sengun responded on both occasions with baskets in the paint. When Mikal Bridges answered a Green 3-pointer with a corner 3 that cut the margin to 98-95 with 3:04 left, the Rockets found answers from several contributors to fashion an 11-2 closing run.
Tari Eason delivered a reverse layup in transition and Thompson added a thunderous dunk in the halfcourt. When Green drilled a 3-pointer with 58.1 seconds left, the lead reached 105-97.
The Rockets used a 13-3 run to yield an early 17-12 lead. VanVleet was integral to that surge and critical to the Rockets’ fast start overall, pairing 14 points with four assists in the opening period as Houston carried a 31-26 lead into the second.
Houston carved out that lead despite missing 6 of 7 3-pointers in the first quarter while the Knicks were 4 of 6 from deep, relying instead on 18 points in the paint and pristine ball security (zero turnovers).
A stretch of hastened pace helped the Rockets to a double-digit lead and, when Brooks nailed a 3 with 2:46 left in the half, Houston extended to a 61-46 lead.
But the Knicks capitalized on a sloppy close to the half for the Rockets, who committed two turnovers and missed their last four shots while Brunson and Anunoby led a 10-0 rally that sliced the deficit to five at the intermission. Brunson and Anunoby totaled 30 points in the half.