Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore rocket past lowly Pelicans

Jalen Green scored 30 points, Cam Whitmore added 27 off the bench and the visiting Houston Rockets never trailed during a 128-111 rout of the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night.

Fred VanVleet scored 25 points, Alperen Sengun added 10 points and 13 rebounds and Jae’Sean Tate scored 10 off the bench for the Rockets, who won their fourth straight that began with a 133-113 rout of the visiting Pelicans a week . previous.

Trey Murphy III scored 21, Dejounte Murray and Brandon Boston Jr. had 17 each, CJ McCollum scored 13, Javonte Green added 11 and Herbert Jones had 10 to lead the Pelicans, who lost their eighth straight game.

Jalen Green, who scored 34 points in the earlier win against New Orleans, made a 3-pointer to start the scoring in the third quarter and extend Houston’s lead to 21 points. The Rockets pushed the margin to 24 before Murphy made three 3-pointers and Murray made one to pull the Pelicans within 83-66 midway through the quarter.

VanVleet answered with a triple, Jalen Green added another later, and Houston extended the lead to 102-74 at the end of the third quarter. New Orleans made just one field goal in the final four minutes of the third.

Green scored the Rockets’ first five points of the game and VanVleet added eight as Houston opened a 19-12 lead. The Pelicans were within five points until Whitmore and Green connected from deep to power a 14-2 run that left the Rockets with a 39-22 lead at the end of the period.

Green (16 points) and VanVleet (10) combined to outscore New Orleans in the first quarter. Houston made 5 of 10 3-pointers in the first period, while the Pelicans missed all seven of their shots from beyond the arc.

The Rockets extended the lead to 21 points before McCollum made two 3-pointers and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl made one to help New Orleans creep within 50-36. The Pelicans got within 14 points again on a 3-pointer by Murphy, but Houston pushed the lead to 61-43 at the half.

–Field-level media