On February 23, Beijing time, the NBA regular season Rockets challenged the Pelicans away, before the game, the Rockets were 24-30 and ranked 12th in the West, while the Pelicans were 33-22 and ranked 6th in the West. Pelicans starters: McCollum + Jones + Murphy + Zion + Valanciunas, Ingram is absent, Rockets starters: VanVleet + Jalen Green + Dillon + Jabari + Shin Jing.
In the first quarter of the game, McCollum threw the first to score, Dillon and Van Jordan responded with three points, Zion made a layup, McCollum and Green exchanged three points, Zion tossed, it was Shen Jing's turn to respond with three points, Varland made a basket, the two sides played fiercely, but the Rockets rebounded badly, Jones made a layup, Jabari hit a three-point shot, Shen Jing threw a shot, Varan made a basket, the difference could not be opened, Varan ate cakes, Jabari scored three points, the score was 20 drawn, Amen made a layup, the White Devils did not score three points, McCollum hit a three-point shot, and then he scored a layup, After the pause, both sides made a lot of mistakes, Van Jordan outside **, Zion picked a basket, Amen dunked violently, Nance Jr. elbowed Amen's mouth and did not blow a malicious foul, 27-31 Rockets trailed by 4 points in a single quarter.
Green didn't feel good, shooting 1-of-4 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Alvarado hit a three-point surge, Jeff also responded with three points, Amen was powerful, first dunked and scored, then pulled the rod to make 2+1, Zion broke through to respond to 2+1, during this time, the two sides chased me, Murphy hooked his hand, Amen's big hat McCollum, Shen Jing made a layup, on the other hand, Green felt bad, how to shoot how to iron, Amen continued to cut points with a basket, and he played really well, Jones made a violent dunk 2+1, the Rockets fell behind by 6 points, and then the Pelicans began to exert their strength, Varan singled Shen Jing, and scored a dunk easily, Zion dunked violently, The Rockets were in vain, and Green finally scored three points, which was not easy, but Murphy and McCollum hit three points in a row, Jones dunked, and the Rockets beat the Pelicans 52-63 at halftime.
Halftime statistics, Dillon 5 points and 2 assists, Jabari 6 points and 4 rebounds, Shen Jing 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Green 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, VanVleet 6 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Amen 11 points and 3 rebounds, Jeff 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Whitmore 1 point and 2 rebounds. On the Pelicans' side, Murphy had 5 points, 2 steals and 2 blocks, Zion had 11 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists, Valanciunas had 17 points and 9 rebounds, Jones had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals, McCollum had 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, and Alvarado had 5 points and 3 assists.
Yibian fought again, Jabari made one of two free throws, Zion picked up a basket, Shen Jing made a foul, Zion responded with 2+1, the Rockets couldn't prevent him at all, Wallan scored three points, Zion made a layup, the Rockets fell behind by 20 points, Jabari jumped to stop the bleeding in time, Shen Jing made a layup, Dillon hit a three-point shot, Green dunked, and the Rockets narrowed the gap in waves, but unfortunately the Pelicans made another effort, Jones hit three points, McCollum throws, Zion keeps scoring, the difference returns to 20+, McCollum 2+1 expands the difference, Shen Jing actually misses two free throws, With McCollum throwing, the difference came to 25 points, Jones and McCollum hit three points again, the Rockets collapsed, but fortunately, the White Devils stopped the bleeding with three points, Shen Jing scored consecutive free throws, and the White Devils dunked, and the third quarter ended with the Rockets 79-101 Pelicans.
There is still suspense about this point difference, Green and Shen Jing were directly abandoned in the last quarter, Murphy cut 5 points in a row, Amen made a layup to stop the bleeding, and then made a foul and made one of two free throws, the White Devil chased three points and actually didn't stick to three, Holiday didn't score three points, Udoka was confused again, and he had to be Holiday when he fell behind, the Rockets fought back tenaciously, Amen also hit a three-point shot, but the difference was not narrowed, Alvarado and Bullock almost clashed, Amen made a layup and continued to cut points, the Rockets once chased within 20 points, but time was running out, After Murphy dunked, the difference returned to 20 points, the White Devils dunked, the Pelicans replaced the bench lineup, and the White Devils hit three points again, but unfortunately to no avail, and finally the Rockets defeated the Pelicans 105-127.
Rocket data: Shen Jing 20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 turnovers, the data seems to be good, but the defense is too poor, Zion is a sudden and accurate, Varan is also constantly scoring on the inside, Shen Jing is a typical strong offense and weak defense, and he was directly abandoned in the final quarter. Jalen Green was 3 of 14, 2 of 8 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws and got 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, and he did not appear in the final quarter. Dillon had 7 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and VanVleet had 7 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers, and he didn't play well, which is an annual salary of 40 million, I don't know what the Rockets management thinks. Jabari had nine points, four rebounds and two turnovers on 3-of-5 shooting, 2-of-2 three-pointers and 1-of-2 free throws.
Jabari was very efficient, but unfortunately he didn't have the ball and ran back in the second half. Amen was a big surprise, shooting 9 of 13, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 3 of 5 free throws and 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 3 turnovers, whether it is offense, defense or organization, it is impeccable, and he has stood up many times to stop the bleeding, which is a fig leaf for the Rockets, in fact, Amen's performance has been good during this time, the last game against the Grizzlies got 19 points, 12 rebounds and 2 steals, if the shooting can be developed, Amen has the potential to become a superstar, Udoka can no longer be stubborn, to recognize the reality, Perhaps Amen should be in the starting line-up. Whitmore had 13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Holiday was 0-of-3 for a point. After this battle, the Rockets suffered 2 consecutive defeats, 4 years behind the Warriors0 wins, the play-offs are basically hopeless.
Pelicans stats: Zion 27 points, 3 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers, destroying the Rockets inside, McCollum 28 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Murphy 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks, Valanciunas 20 points, 14 rebounds and 3 assists, Jones 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals, Alvarado 11 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks. After beating the Rockets, the Pelicans won four straight games and rose to fifth place in the West.