On March 3, Beijing time, the NBA regular season Rockets challenged the Suns away, the two sides have met 3 times this season, and the Rockets have achieved 1 win and 2 losses. Rockets starters: VanVleet + Jalen Green + Dillon + Jabari + Shin Jing, Suns starters: Booker + Beal + Allen + Durant + Nurkic.
In the first quarter of the game, the two sides were deadlocked for a period of time at the beginning, and then the Rockets suddenly made a force, Green made a layup, Van Jordan shot, Booker scored 5 points in a row on the Suns' side, Van Jordan hit a three-point response, Green windmill dunked, and then shot a three-point shot, the Suns had no defense at all, there were many mistakes, the Rockets gradually opened up the point difference, Nurkic dunked to stop the bleeding for the Suns, as a result, Van Jordan scored three points, the difference came to double digits, the Suns offense still did not improve after the pause, Amen made a layup, Shen Jing threw it, and Van Jordan hit three points again, The Rockets bloomed more, on the other hand, the Suns played iron crazily, Amen made a layup to make 2+1, the difference was 20 points, Bol and Booker finally scored consecutive shots, and the White Devils responded with a layup, and the Rockets led by 19 points 38-19 in a single quarter.
Van Jordan and Green both scored 11 points in the first quarter, the situation changed suddenly in the second quarter, it was the turn of the Rockets to lose power, Jeff made one of two free throws, Beal hit three points in response, Nurkic made a foul, Amen missed a layup, the White Devils did not have three points, Bol outside **, Van Jordan jumped to stop the bleeding, the Suns continued to fight back, Beal made a layup, Booker shot, Green stepped back to stop the bleeding, but then the Rockets suffered a scoring drought, Durant made a foul, Nurkic throws, Durant three points chase to single digits, Okogie 2+1, the difference is only 4 points, Shen Jing and Jabari dunked in a row to stabilize the situation, O'Neal made a layup, Shen Jing hooked his hand, and the difference was 6 points, Van Jordan and Allen hit three points, and Green hit a three-point shot, and the Rockets beat 54-44 Suns at halftime.
Halftime statistics, Jalen Green 17 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, VanVleet 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, Shen Jing 13 points and 6 rebounds, Smith 2 points and 2 rebounds, Amen 5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. On the Suns' side, Durant had 7 points and 5 rebounds, Nurkic had 7 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, Beal had 7 points, Booker had 13 points, Bol had 5 points and 4 rebounds, and Okogie had 3 points.
Yibian fought again, Durant jumped + dunked in a row to score 6 points at the beginning, Shen Jing hooked his hand, Jabari hit a three-point shot, Allen made a foul, it was still Jabari who responded with a shot, Durant continued to cut points, the Rockets were not to be outdone, Shen Jing and Dillon responded in turn, Booker made a three-point foul, Green hit a three-point response, and then Shen Jing hatted Booker, Green hit three points again, the difference was 15 points, Beal and Green clashed, the former ate two T in a row and was expelled, the latter ate a T, Eubanks dunked with one arm, the Sun fought back tenaciously, The difference once chased to only 5 points, the Rockets adjusted in time, Green could still score three points, Van Jordan continued to firepower on the outside, Dillon also scored a layup, Van Jordan went on a miracle, shot three points and continued to hit, and the third quarter ended with the Rockets 89-79 Suns.
At the beginning of the critical final quarter, Thaddeus Young made a layup, Amen hit two free throws, the White Devils made a layup, the difference was 12 points, and then Durant and O'Neal scored consecutive points to chase single digits, Amen made a layup to stop the bleeding, O'Neal outside **, Booker made a layup, the difference was 3 points, Jabari and Durant made fouls successively, Okogie made a layup, the difference was only 1 point, Van Jordan stopped the bleeding in time for three points, Green dunked in the air, Dillon hit a three-point shot, and with Shen Jing making a basket, the Rockets regained the double-digit lead, Booker made another pass error, and Jabari made free throws to expand the difference, Durant shot and Booker continued to live with three points, Green responded with a layup, the Rockets also grabbed rebounds in a row, Booker returned to the locker room with an injury, the Suns were gone, and finally the Rockets defeated the Suns 118-109 and refused to reverse.
Rockets stats: Jalen Green shot 12 of 23, 6 of 12 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws and scored 34 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 turnovers. VanVleet also scored 24 points, 5 rebounds and 11 assists on 8-of-15 shooting, 6-of-11 three-pointers, and 2-of-3 free throws. Shin Jing had 21 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 turnovers, and Jabari had 14 points and 5 rebounds, with little ball possession and only 11 shots. Dillon had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, and the defense was very hard, Amen was a big surprise, contributing 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals, and the defensive end was remarkable.
Whitmore had 4 points and 4 rebounds, shooting 1-of-6 from the field, 0-of-2 from three-point range, and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. In this game, Holiday only played 6 minutes, and Udoka finally saw the reality clearly, using less Holiday and more Amen, which is the ideal rotation for the Rockets. The two sides have met 4 times this season, and the Rockets have a record of 2 wins and 2 losses, and after this game, the Rockets ended a three-game losing streak and continued to rank 12th in the West, 6 behind the 10th-placed Lakers0 wins, this gap is not small, if the Rockets want to hit the playoffs, unless they can usher in a wave of consecutive wins.
Sun stats: Durant slashed 30 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks and 6 turnovers, and did his best, Booker played badly with 24 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 turnovers, Beal had 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 turnovers, became a sinner for losing, and was ejected in the third quarter, Nurkic 7 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, Allen shot 0 of 7, 2 of 2 free throws and got 2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, O'Neal 20 points and 11 rebounds, Booker, Beal and Allen are all dragging their feet, and Durant can't take it. After losing to the Rockets, the Suns ended a two-game winning streak and fell to sixth place in the West, overtaken by the Pelicans.