Brandon Ingram scored 26 points and the host New Orleans Pelicans won their fourth straight game by defeating the Houston Rockets for the second time in three days, 110-97 on Tuesday night.
Jaxson Hayes and Naji Marshall scored 14 each, Jonas Valanciunas added 13 before fouling out, Jose Alvarado had 12 and Herbert Jones had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, who won 120-107 on Sunday night in Houston.
New Orleans was short-handed, after starting guard Josh Hart and backup Nickeil Alexander-Walker were part of a seven-player trade completed earlier in the day. CJ McCollum and others are coming to the Pelicans.
Kevin Porter Jr. scored 27 points, Christian Wood had 19, Jalen Green had 12 and Alperen Sengun and Garrison Mathews 11 each for the Rockets, who lost for the seventh time in their last eight games.
Wood, Sengun and Jae’Sean Tate had nine rebounds apiece for Houston.
The Pelicans scored the first four points of the third quarter to extend their lead to 68-53.
The Rockets pulled within nine on two free throws by Wood with seven minutes left in the period, before Devonte’ Graham’s 3-pointer and Ingram’s three-point play gave New Orleans a 76-61 lead with 6:08 left.
Porter scored five consecutive points as Houston trimmed the lead to 78-70 late in the quarter. The Rockets got within six points twice before the Pelicans grabbed an 86-76 lead at the end of the third quarter.
New Orleans scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, but Houston scored the next four. Marshall’s layup and Trey Murphy III’s three-point play gave the Pelicans a 95-80 lead.
The Rockets led by eight points twice in the game’s first five minutes before the Pelicans’ offense got going.
New Orleans used an 8-0 run to take a 31-27 lead with just over a minute left in the first, but Porter answered with a 3-pointer. Hayes scored the final four points of the period, which ended with the Pelicans leading 35-30.
New Orleans had a 9-2 run that increased the lead to 44-32 early in the second quarter. Houston closed within six points three times in the quarter, but Graham made two 3-pointers in the final minute to help the Pelicans take a 64-53 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
