THE Houston Rockets took the road against the Phoenix Suns and got off to a hot start and a big lead, and despite the Suns closing the gap to one point in the fourth quarter, Houston responded and finished with a 118-109 victory for a well-deserved road victory.
Jalen Green led the way with a big night, finishing with 34 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals on 12-of-23 shooting from the floor. He was also 6 of 12 from deep for the night to lead the Rockets to victory.
Houston also had a big night from Fred VanVleet. He hasn’t been very good offensively lately, but he was strong Saturday night, finishing with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 11 assists on 8-of-15 from the field and 6-of-12 from deep, including a huge triple . in the fourth to extend Houston’s lead once the Suns got within a point.
Alperen Sengun continued to do things with Alpie, as he finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds on 9-for-21 shooting, while Dillon Brook scored 11 points and Jabari Smith Jr. had 14 points.
Houston got very little punch from its bench, with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals from Amen Thompson leading the second unit, but the Rockets only had 14 bench points total. Fortunately, the extra points weren’t necessary and Amen obviously filled up the stat sheet. However, Cam Whitmore only had 4 points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Kevin Durant led the way for Phoenix, finishing with 30, while Devin Booker threw 24 but was forced to leave the game with an ankle injury.
The Rockets improve to 26-34 on the season, picking up just their sixth road win, and will return to action Tuesday night with a matchup against the San Antonio Spurs.
