Amen Thompson scored a season-high 28 points with 10 rebounds and Alperen Sengun added 20 points and 16 boards to lead Houston to its fifth straight win, a 124-109 victory over the host Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
Thompson knocked down 13 of 26 shot attempts while distributing seven assists to follow up on his 27-point, five-rebound, four-assist effort in Houston’s win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
The Rockets have defeated their past five opponents by an average of 19.2 points.
Cam Spencer paced the Grizzlies with 19 points off the bench. Ja Morant contributed 17 points and eight assists and Santi Aldama scored 16, also off the bench.
The Grizzlies, whose bench averaged 49.4 points per game entering Wednesday to lead the NBA, got 60 points from their reserves. But Memphis was hampered by shooting only 38.2%.
The Rockets spent much of the opening half leading by double digits, building the advantage to 16 with Thompson’s fastbreak layup midway through the second quarter. Houston was up 60-51 at halftime.
The Grizzlies made a run to start the third quarter and trimmed the deficit to four points following a short jumper by Jaren Jackson Jr., who had been held scoreless during his 16 minutes on the court in the first half.
But Houston quickly recovered and stretched the lead to 84-63 following the third of three straight 3-pointers from Josh Okogie.
Morant continued to work his way back from a one-game team suspension, which he served Sunday following comments directed to the Memphis coaching staff after Friday’s home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. He posted an 18-point, 10-assist double-double in Monday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons.
–Field Level Media
