Alperen Şengün’s Strong Night Leads Rockets Past Knicks 109-97

Coming off of a tough overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets looked to get back on track Monday night as they hosted the New York Knicks at the Toyota Center.

Star center Alperen Şengün has had rough outings the past few games for Houston, even getting benched in the fourth quarter against the Warriors.

He was determined to get back on track Monday night as he went straight into attack mode early on, getting into the post and scoring easy hook shots to put the Rockets into a rhythm quickly. Şengün’s assertiveness put Knicks’ star center Karl-Anthony Towns into foul trouble early on in the game, allowing Houston to get whatever it wanted in the paint in the first half.

Star guard Jalen Green had been great for the Rockets all season long, putting up career numbers throughout the first six games of the season, but struggled early against New York.

Despite his first half struggles, Green is who Houston turned to when it needed to pull away in the fourth quarter. With less than one minute remaining and the Rockets leading by just five points, they put the ball in the young guard’s hands. The Knicks did whatever they could to try and get the ball out of Green’s hands, even sending a double team, however, Green shot a three from the wing right over two defenders and iced the game.

Houston then pulled away with a victory over New York, 109-97.

Şengün made his presence felt on Monday night. He played very physical in the paint, constantly creating offense when Green was struggling for most of the game. The young big-man scored 25 points and added 14 rebounds to help lift the Rockets to a win against the Knicks.

Veteran guard Fred VanVleet also had a bounce-back game Monday night. He had been struggling offensively to begin the 2024-2025 NBA season, but turned in an efficient performance on a night Houston really needed it, scoring 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting.

The Rockets will now have their eyes set on Wednesday night as they face their arch-rivals in the San Antonio Spurs back at the Toyota Center.

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