NOT AGAIN!
Rockets’ late push falls short as struggles continue in third straight loss
Mar 4, 2025, 11:06 pm
Pacers defeat the Rockets, 115-102. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 28 points and matched a season high with 15 assists, and the Indiana Pacers recovered after blowing a 17-point third-quarter lead to beat the Houston Rockets 115-102 on Tuesday night.
Pascal Siakam scored 18 points and Myles Turner added 16 for the Pacers, who have won six of eight.
Alperen Sengun scored 25 points and Tari Eason had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Rockets, who dropped their third in a row.
Indiana led 90-73 with three minutes left in the third quarter but immediately allowed a 15-0 run by Houston. The Rockets pushed ahead 96-95 on a layup by Amen Thompson with 8:45 left in the fourth, but Aaron Nesmith responded with a three-point play that kicked off an 18-3 run by the Pacers.
Takeaways
Rockets: They were 32-14 on Jan. 28 but have lost 11 of their past 16 games.
Pacers: Six of their next seven games are on the road. The stretch includes home and away meetings with Milwaukee, which beat Atlanta Tuesday night to remain in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, with the same record as fifth-place Indiana (35-25).
Key moment
Ben Sheppard made a 3-pointer — his first basket of the game — early in the fourth quarter to stop Houston's 15-0 run and give Indiana a five-point advantage.
Key stat
Haliburton reached double digits in assists for the sixth straight game, his longest such streak this season. He entered averaging 8.8 assists per game after leading the league in that category last season at 10.9.
Up next
Rockets: At New Orleans on Thursday night.
Pacers: At Atlanta on Thursday night.
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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.