Rockets Beat Hornets

Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green each scored 26 points and the Houston Rockets beat the Charlotte Hornets 112-109 on Friday night.

Kenyon Martin Jr. contributed 14 points, Alperen Sengun had a double-double with 14 points and 21 boards and Jabari Smith Jr. added 13 points. The Rockets won consecutive games for only the fifth time this season, improving to 21-60.

The Hornets (26-55) played their home finale at the Spectrum Center in front of a capacity crowd, without injured starters LaMelo Ball (right ankle surgery), Gordon Hayward (left thumb sprain), Terry Rozier (right foot injury), P.J. Washington (right foot sprain) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (left shoulder sprain) and top reserve Dennis Smith (right toe sprain).

Svi Mykhailiuk led the Hornets with 25 points, Theo Maledon had 22 and Bryce McGowens 16.

Houston trailed 26-25 after the opening quarter but captured the lead for good in the middle of the second quarter and led by six, 55-49, at halftime, 85-73 after three quarters and by 14 points early in the final frame before Charlotte climbed their way back into the contest, pulling within three.

The Rockets went on a mini 6-0 run to extend the lead to nine, 108-99, before the Hornets surged again. Charlotte twice had a chance to tie on Mykhailiuk’s 3-point attempts in the final 13.1 seconds. But his first attempt was well-contested by Smith and came up short. And his second, after Martin missed two free throws, was off to the left as the buzzer sounded.

In a season that started 2-12, Houston coach Stephen Silas was happy to see his team get an “ugly win.”

“It shows that we definitely have a solid foundation for the future and that these guys work, work and work and, like we said at the All-Star break, we want to be playing our best at the end of the season,” said Silas, whose team is 8-15 since the break. “It wasn’t a great game by any stretch. But it was a win. To have an ugly win is something we haven’t done much.”

Porter agreed with his coach, saying the youthful team whose five starters are 22 or younger is gaining more and more experience.

“We’re starting to get the reps together and our chemistry is starting to gel,” Porter said. “With experience, you’re seeing growth.”

Hornets coach Steve Clifford thought his team’s 17 turnovers that led to 28 points were a difference as were his team’s inability to defend Houston’s pick-and-roll plays.

“The last three and a half minutes of the game, they ran the same play every time,” Clifford said. “We had a coverage, and we never got to the coverage, as you saw. Some of it is tough matchups, but you’ve got to be able to execute there, and we didn’t.”

Rockets: Rookie Tari Eason is one game away from becoming the first rookie to play an entire 82-game season since 2018-19. Eason, a rookie out of LSU, also is close to becoming the third player in NBA history to have 190 or more offensive rebounds and 90 or more steals while playing fewer than 1,800 minutes in a season.

Hornets: Charlotte has lost 258 player games this season due to injury or illness.

The Rockets travel to Washington to take on Kyle Kuzma and the Wizards on Sunday.

The Hornets are at Cleveland to face Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers on Sunday.