Houston Rockets @ New Orleans Pelicans
Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 8:00 PM ET
Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA | Game ID: 22400902
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
NOP 34 25 15 23 97HOU 31 25 33 20 109
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Rockets take over after halftime in a 109-97 road victory over Pelicans
NEW ORLEANS -- — Amen Thompson had 21 points and 11 rebounds and the Houston Rockets had a dominating second half to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 109-97 on Thursday night to open a home-and-home set.
Alperen Sengun added 22 points, eight assists and three steals, and Tari Eason scored 21 points as the Rockets snapped a three-game losing streak. They had lost their last eight road games.
Trey Murphy III scored 26 points to lead the Pelicans. Zion Williamson had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Thompson had 12 points in the second half, including a dunk to cap the Rockets' opening spurt right out of the break that put them ahead for the first time — and for the rest of the game. They later had a 12-0 run in the third quarter.
When Houston trailed by double figures in the first quarter, Thompson had a highlight two-handed slam . He went around rookie Yves Missi and made a double-clutch move to get the dunk.
Takeaways Rockets: Houston, currently the fifth seed in the Western Conference, is 11-3 against division foes this season.
Pelicans: Williamson was only 5-of-15 shooting from the field, but did hit 10 of 12 free throws.
Key moment The Rockets never led until a 9-1 run in the first two minutes of the second half, a quick spurt that Thompson capped with a dunk. They led the rest of the way, going ahead by as many as 17 points.
Key stat Thompson had eight dunks.
Up next The Rockets and Pelicans play again Saturday night, this time in Houston.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
NOPBB B. Brown
CM C. McCollum
JA J. Alvarado
JH J. Hawkins
KM K. Matković
KO K. Olynyk
TM T. Murphy III
YM Y. Missi
ZW Z. Williamson
HOUAS A. Sengun
AT A. Thompson
DB D. Brooks
JG J. Green
JS J. Smith Jr.
JG Ja. Green
RS R. Sheppard
SA S. Adams
TE T. Eason
NOP/HOU the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur