The Houston Rockets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 135-119 on Monday night, with Jalen Green scoring 34 points and Alperen Sengun adding 31.
Houston led by as many as 30 points in the second half before the Lakers closed to within 10 with four minutes remaining on a 20-5 surge. The Rockets scored the next six baskets, three of which came from Green, to make the score 127-111 with around three minutes left, and the Lakers pulled all of their starters.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell each scored 23 points for the Lakers, who had won two straight games, culminating in a 145-144 double-overtime victory over Golden State on Saturday.
Houston’s Cam Whitmore scored 20 points off the bench, and Jabari Smith Jr. returned after missing four games with a sprained left ankle to score 18 points and grab nine rebounds. Green and Sengun both got 12 rebounds and seven assists to push the Rockets to win.
The Rockets were leading by 25 points following Sengun’s shot with approximately nine minutes left when the Lakers used a 12-3 run to cut the deficit to 119-103 midway through the quarter.
Soon later, James was knocked to the court after Brooks punched him in the face while they were fighting for a rebound. James lay face down on the court for a few minutes while team officials attended to him before getting up and going off.
The play was reviewed and found to be a flagrant 1 foul, therefore James remained in the game.
James missed both free throws, but then made a basket seconds later to spark an 8-2 run that trimmed the deficit to 121-111 with four minutes left.
The Rockets led by 18 at halftime and opened the third quarter with a 16-4 run to make it 94-64 with approximately 7½ minutes play.
Houston led by 29 a couple of minutes later until the Lakers launched an 11-2 run, including five baskets by Davis, to cut the advantage to 101-81 with roughly two minutes left in the third.
Jarred Vanderbilt of the Lakers was dismissed in the second quarter for two technical fouls amid an altercation with Brooks.
Vanderbilt received his first technical penalty for pushing Brooks below the neck following a Lakers score with roughly 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Brooks was walking away from Vanderbilt with his back to him when Vanderbilt tapped him on the back of the head, prompting another technical and an instant dismissal.
