Houston Rockets @ New Orleans Pelicans
Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 7:00 PM ET
Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA | Game ID: 22501088
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
NOP 29 18 33 22 102HOU 29 39 33 33 134
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Alperen Sengun has 36 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists as Rockets beat Pelicans 134-102
NEW ORLEANS -- — Alperen Sengun had 36 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists Sunday night, Houston dominated the second quarter, and the Rockets beat the New Orleans Pelicans 134-102.
Houston (45-29) moved into a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with idle Minnesota, 1 1/2 games behind Denver.
Sengun made 5 of 7 from 3-point range and added three steals and three blocks. Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. each had 20 points for Houston and Tari Eason scored 15.
Dejounte Murray had 19 points for the Pelicans. Zion Williamson and Saddiq Bey each scored 18 and Derik Queen had 13. Rookie Jeremiah Fears added 12 points and five assists for New Orleans, which has lost three straight against the Rockets.
Houston used a tiebreaking 23-3 run to open the second quarter to put the game out of reach. Sengun had 14 points in the quarter, including three 3-pointers as the Rockets took a 68-47 lead into halftime.
The Rockets, who lead by double figures throughout the second half, outrebounded the Pelicans 59-36 and committed just six turnovers.
Sengun scored at least 30 points for the third time in four games this week. The fourth-year center scored 33 points in a 132-124 loss at Chicago on Monday and 30 in overtime loss to Minnesota on Wednesday.
The Pelicans (25-51) have lost back-to-back games and 11 of 12. New Orleans shot 52% in the first quarter, including five made 3-pointers.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
NOPDM D. Murray
DQ D. Queen
HJ H. Jones
JF J. Fears
JH J. Hawkins
JP J. Poole
KL K. Looney
KM K. Matković
MP M. Peavy
SB S. Bey
YM Y. Missi
ZW Z. Williamson
HOUAH A. Holiday
AS A. Sengun
AT A. Thompson
CC C. Capela
IC I. Crawford
JG J. Green
JO J. Okogie
JS J. Smith Jr.
JT J. Tate
KD K. Durant
RS R. Sheppard
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