Rockets Race Past Bulls, 143-107, For Fifth Straight Win
Painting the Way. Room for Rest. Dime Carryover.
Houston held a slim one point lead, 27-26, after the first quarter in Chicago on Monday night. Once the second quarter began, the Rockets blasted off, outscoring the Bulls by 35 points the rest of the way en route to a 143-107 win on Sunday night. The victory is Houston’s fifth in a row, and the Rockets are now 9-2 since losing two of their first three games to start the season. Houston dominated Chicago in the interior, as the Rockets scored a whopping 80 points in the paint. It’s only the fourth time in the franchise’s history that they’ve scored 80 paint points. Granted, the Bulls are a terrible defensive team, but the Rockets took advantage on the way to a much-need easy victory on the first part of a back-to-back.
Fred VanVleet scored a season-high 28 points, and sparked Houston’s run in the second quarter that distanced the Rockets from the Bulls. FVV also had 7 rebounds and assists apiece, as the point guard’s play continues to return to last season’s form after he sat out one game to nurse an injury. Alperen Sengun notched his second consecutive triple-double on the season. Houston’s All-Star caliber center finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, to go along with 2 blocks in a dominant performance.
All five starters, along with Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard, scored in double figures for the Rockets. Sheppard had the best game of his young career. The rookie finished with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Tari Eason scored only 4 points, but he wasn’t needed like usual, as Houston was in cruise control of this game from the midway point of the second frame. Given this was the first of a back-to-back, the Rockets took care of business early, helping themselves for a much tougher matchup coming up on Monday night. Ime Udoka was able to let the end of his bench loose in the fourth quarter, and no starter played more than 28 minutes of action.
The Rockets grabbed a season-high 66 rebounds, and dished out a season-high 34 assists. Houston absolutely dominated Chicago after the first period. The squad has been moving the ball well during this win streak. They’ll need to continue the trend if they want to beat a much better Bucks team tomorrow night in Milwaukee. The Rockets scored 32 fast-break points against the Bulls, doubling them up (32-15) in transition.
Houston now moves to 10-4 on the season. The Rockets currently have the NBA’s fifth-best record, but will be tested against a Bucks team trying to snap out of a slow start. Milwaukee is off to a rough 4-9 to start the season. But they’ll be getting Rocket-killer Damian Lillard back after he missed three games with a concussion. And they have Giannis, who dominated Houston in the last matchup. Expect a much slimmer final score tomorrow night, as the Rockets shoot for the sixth straight win to close this quick Great Lakes road-trip.