ROCKETS DEFEAT NUGGETS
Green and Sengun help the Rockets beat the short-handed Nuggets 128-108
Jan 15, 2025, 10:57 pm
Rockets win again! Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
Jalen Green scored 34 points, Alperen Sengun had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and the Houston Rockets beat the short-handed Denver Nuggets 128-108 on Wednesday night.
Green, who hit six 3-pointers, continued his recent scoring surge. He is averaging 32 points in Houston's last six games, including a career-best 42 points against Memphis on Monday.
Fred VanVleet added 16 points, eight assists and three steals for the Rockets, who beat Denver for the fifth time in six meetings.
The Nuggets were without two of their five leading scorers in reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic (right elbow inflammation) and Aaron Gordon (right calf injury).
Jamal Murray and Christian Braun each scored 22 point for Denver, which had 18 turnovers in the loss, including five apiece from its starting backcourt of Murray and Russell Westbrook.
Takeaways
Rockets: Houston won its fifth in a row and improved to 10-3 in its last 13 games to solidify its standing as the No. 2 team in the Western Conference.
Nuggets: Denver, which had won eight of its previous 10 games, absorbed its most lopsided defeat since a 145-118 loss to the New York Knicks on Nov. 25.
Key moment
Houston opened the second quarter on an 8-2 run that was capped off by a corner 3 by former Nugget Jeff Green that stretched the Rockets' lead to 11 points. Houston outscored Denver 41-25 in the period to take a 69-48 lead into halftime.
Key stat
The loss was Denver’s eighth in 20 home games this season, matching the Nuggets’ home loss total across 41 regular-season games in 2023-24.
Up next
Houston continues its three-game road swing Thursday at Sacramento. The Nuggets are back in action Friday at the Miami Heat.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.