When the situation suddenly and surprisingly became dire against the Washington Wizards early in the fourth quarter on Monday, the Houston Rockets reclaimed stability by utilizing their most reliable offensive option.
Houston center Alperen Sengun led the way down the stretch of a 107-92 victory by doing what he’d done in the previous three periods: dominate the paint. After Washington cut what had been a 16-point deficit to 86-80, Sengun scored on three consecutive possessions to quickly get the Rockets back on track.
Sengun and the Rockets will host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Sengun finished Houston’s second straight win with 27 points and 17 rebounds for his eighth double-double this season. He shot 12-of-19 from the floor to continue an efficient run of offensive production. Sengun has shot better than 50 percent in four of the past five games — all Houston wins — and is averaging 21.2 points on 57.7 percent shooting during that span.
The Rockets have cultivated scoring threats from the perimeter and slashing to the rim during their protracted rebuild. But in Sengun, they have a throwback big capable of thriving on the block and providing the Rockets a sense of calm when shots aren’t falling and things are a bit too frenetic.
Simply getting the ball in to Sengun and letting him work has become a viable offensive tactic.
“It’s a luxury I talked about last year, having Alperen to always dump it in and kind of slow down a little bit,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “I’ve been around some really good scoring bigs and that settles the team all the time.
“You don’t want to be just perimeter-based or relying on pick-and-roll every time. It’s great to have that option.”
The Clippers’ four-game winning streak was snapped with a 134-128 loss to Oklahoma City on Monday, but their burgeoning cohesion on offense was again on display.
Paced by Norman Powell and his team-high 31 points, five Clippers scored in double figures against the Thunder. The Clippers had at least four double-digit scorers in each of the previous four games, with Powell leading six in double figures in wins over the Spurs and Kings.
Powell (team-high 26 points per game), James Harden (20.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and nine assists) and Ivica Zubac (16.9 points, 12.8 rebounds) have been offensive mainstays. The emergence of Amir Coffey and Derrick Jones Jr., averaging 13 and 12.4 points over the last five games, respectively, has rounded out the Clippers’ offensive attack.
The Clippers required time and game reps to settle into an offensive rhythm without Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Paul George (now with the 76ers), their top two scorers last season. That it seemed to require only 11 games for the Clippers to discover their new offensive approach bodes well for a team that appeared cloaked in uncertainty when the season commenced last month.
“We want to make sure we hit the open guy, we hit the open man and we show we’re sharing the basketball,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “We’ve been doing that. We’re starting to make 3s, we’re starting to generate more 3s, and that’s how we’ve got to play.”
