Jalen Green scored 34 points and Alperen Sengun added 31 to help the Houston Rockets to a 135-119 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. Houston led by as many as 30 points in the second half before the Lakers used a 20-5 run to get within 10 with four minutes left. The Rockets scored the next six points, with three from Green, to make it 127-111 with about three minutes left and the Lakers removed all their starters.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell scored 23 points apiece for the Lakers, who had won two in a row, capped by a 145-144 double-overtime victory over Golden State on Saturday.
Cam Whitmore had 20 points off the bench for Houston, and Jabari Smith Jr. had 18 points and nine rebounds in his return after missing four games with a sprained left ankle. Green and Sengun also had 12 rebounds and seven assists each to help the Rockets to the victory.
The Rockets were up by 25 points after a basket by Sengun with about nine minutes left when the Lakers used a 12-3 run to get within 119-103 midway through the quarter.
Soon after that, James was knocked to the court after being hit in the face by Brooks as the two fought for a rebound. James remained face down on the court for a couple of minutes while team officials attended to him before getting up and walking off the court.
The play was reviewed and determined to be a flagrant 1 foul, and James remained in the game.
James missed both free throws, but made a layup seconds after that to start an 8-2 run that cut the lead to 121-111 with four minutes to go.
The Rockets led by 18 at halftime and opened the third quarter with a 16-4 run to make it 94-64 with about 7½ minutes left in the quarter.
Houston was up by 29 a couple of minutes later before the Lakers used an 11-2 spurt, with five points from Davis, to cut the lead to 101-81 with about two minutes left in the third.
The Lakers’ Jarred Vanderbilt was ejected in the second quarter after getting two technical fouls during an exchange with Brooks.
Jarred Vanderbilt ejected for shoving Dillon Brooks 😭 pic.twitter.com/8EAa4hX7HY
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) January 30, 2024
Vanderbilt got his first technical foul after pushing Brooks below the neck after a basket by the Lakers with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Brooks was walking away from Vanderbilt and had his back to him when Vanderbilt tapped him on the back of the head, drawing another technical and an immediate ejection.
