Alperen Sengun scored 32 points, Kevin Durant had 30 and the visiting Houston Rockets took down the Washington Wizards 123-118 Monday night.
Houston never trailed after the second quarter in a game that turned combative in the second half.
Bilal Coulibaly had a season-high 23 points and five 3-pointers to lead the Wizards, who have now lost five in a row. Sharife Cooper had 21 off the bench for Washington in 17 minutes.
The Wizards played again without leading scorer Alex Sarr, while Jabari Smith Jr. missed his second straight game for Houston.
Amen Thompson had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Houston and Reed Sheppard added 19 along with 10 assists. Houston outrebounded Washington 59-27, with Sengun posting a game-high 13, and had 62 points in the paint compared to the Wizards’ 40.
Before the game, former All-Star Trae Young announced on Instagram that he would make his Wizards debut Thursday night at home against the Jazz. But Young wasn’t around to see the end of the game Monday night.
Midway through the third quarter with Houston up 90-73, Tari Eason shoved Wizards forward Jamir Watkins to the floor while the Rockets were setting up on offense. After a basket by Aaron Holiday for the Rockets, Eason shoved Watkins to the floor again while the two teams went back the other way.
Eason was given a pair of technical fouls and ejected, and Young, who has still yet to play for Washington since being traded by Atlanta, was also thrown out of the game for leaving the bench.
Washington cut the lead to 11 with 4:17 left in the game, but Houston had every answer. Durant made three free throws after being fouled. Sengun scored on a putback and-one to make it 116-102 with three minutes to play.
Durant, whose mother was sitting in the front row, was issued a technical foul with 29 seconds left for shoving a Wizards player out of bounds. Washington scored the last eight points of the game.
Washington sank eight threes and led 30-26 at the end of the first quarter. They finished 19-for-35 from 3-point range.
Julian Reese, the brother of WNBA star Angel Reese, made his Wizards debut getting the start at center. Reese had one basket in the third quarter and added four rebounds and three steals in 28 minutes of play before fouling out with 4:17 left.
It was Houston’s seventh straight win over Washington.
–Field Level Media
