Alperen Sengun paired 36 points with 13 rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets to a 134-102 victory over the host New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
Sengun hit 5 of 7 threes, dished seven assists, recorded three steals and swatted three shots in an all-around performance.
Jabari Smith Jr. had 20 points, as did Kevin Durant, who sat out the entire fourth quarter of the blowout win for Houston (45-29), which holds a four-game lead over Phoenix for the final guaranteed playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Clint Capela pulled down 14 boards in 16 minutes off the bench.
Dejounte Murray scored 19 for New Orleans (25-51), which suffered its fifth consecutive loss.
Saddiq Bey and Zion Williamson contributed 18 points each.
Houston jumped ahead early before the Pelicans produced a 12-2 response to level the score at 29 at the end of the first quarter.
From there, New Orleans was blown away.
The Rockets started the second frame with a 23-3 burst, all while Durant was sitting on the pine.
Sengun scored 14 for the period, giving him a 20-point first half, including 3 of 3 from deep.
His lob pass for Thompson’s spectacular alley-oop dunk with two seconds left capped a 39-18 Houston quarter, which saw the margin swell to 68-47 at halftime.
The Pelicans coughed up six turnovers for the period and were outrebounded 16-5.
The Rockets’ cushion swelled to 73-49 early in the third, before New Orleans went on a 14-3 run to close the gap to 76-63.
Williamson was active offensively as the Pelicans tidied up the turnovers and improved their rebounding, but Houston finished the quarter strongly to move back ahead 101-80 with one to play.
With Durant resting again, Sengun dominated the fourth period.
The margin blew out to 128-95 late as both teams emptied their benches.
