{"id":579644,"date":"2026-02-03T14:17:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T14:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/579644\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T14:17:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T14:17:38","slug":"sengun-leads-rockets-past-pacers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/579644\/","title":{"rendered":"\u015eeng\u00fcn leads Rockets past Pacers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            INDIANAPOLIS<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6981baf03f4eea9745282db8.jpg\" alt=\"\u015eeng\u00fcn leads Rockets past Pacers\"\/>                <\/p>\n<p class=\"image-description\">Houston Rockets center Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn (28) gets a dunk in front of Indiana Pacers guard Johnny Furphy (12) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hurriyetdailynews.com\/index\/alperen-sengun\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn<\/a> finished with 39 points and 16 rebounds as the Houston <a title=\"rockets\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hurriyetdailynews.com\/index\/rockets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rockets<\/a> bagged their third consecutive victory with a 118-114 defeat of the Indiana <a title=\"pacers\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hurriyetdailynews.com\/index\/pacers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pacers<\/a> on Feb. 2.<\/p>\n<p>Turkish international \u015eeng\u00fcn, who was one of the most notable omissions from this month&#8217;s NBA All-Star Game, dominated at both ends of the court as the Rockets squeezed home.<\/p>\n<p>He made 13 of 25 from the field and 13 of 18 from the free-throw line including 8 of 12 during the fourth quarter and grabbed 16 rebounds.<\/p>\n<p>Jabari Smith Jr. backed \u015eeng\u00fcn with 19 points while Amen Thompson added 16 points as Houston improved to 31-17 to remain fourth in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, the Minnesota Timberwolves (31-20) saw their four-game unbeaten streak halted by the Memphis Grizzlies in a 137-128 defeat.<\/p>\n<p>Memphis, missing the injured Ja Morant, improved to 19-29 thanks to 30 points from Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Seven Memphis players finished in double figures, with Ty Jerome scoring 19 points and Jaylen Wells 18 points. Cam Spencer and Vince Williams added 16 points each.<\/p>\n<p>The Charlotte Hornets edged closer to the playoff places with a 102-95 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, extending their win streak to seven games.<\/p>\n<p>LaMelo Ball was the hero for Charlotte, recovering from an accidental clash of heads with Hornets head coach Charles Lee to finish with 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists.<\/p>\n<p>Ball needed treatment for a gash near his eye after colliding with Lee as he scrambled to grab a loose pass in the first quarter.<\/p>\n<p>He returned soon afterwards to help Charlotte climb out of a 22-point hole as the Hornets improved to 23-28, just one place behind 10th-placed Atlanta in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n<p>Rising Charlotte star Kon Knueppel finished with 17 points, including four three-pointers, while Brandon Miller and Grant Williams had 16 points each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS Houston Rockets center Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn (28) gets a dunk in front of Indiana Pacers guard Johnny Furphy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[55933,7,292,194,4066,6,114,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-579644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-alperen-sengn","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-rockets","12":"tag-houstonrockets","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-pacers","15":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116007131905103575","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}