NBA: Rockets turn on afterburners vs Pelicans

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.

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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.

—Field Level Media/Reuters