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Takeaways: Kevin Porter Jr. leads Rockets in competitive loss at Phoenix

ben dubose
·3 min read
1

The young Houston Rockets (1-6) don’t yet have the elusive win that continues to evade them on a tough road trip, but point guard Kevin Porter Jr. is showing some very promising signs.

Despite playing through obvious pain from a nagging right quad contusion suffered last Wednesday in Utah, Porter kept the Rockets competitive in Sunday’s 124-109 loss (box score) in Phoenix with a team-high 26 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists. and only 1 turnover. Porter drew a career-high 14 free-throw attempts and made 11 (78.6%).

The Suns (5-1) were led by perennial All-Star guard Devin Booker, who scored a game-high 30 points on 14-of-24 shooting (58.3%). Veteran floor general Chris Paul had 10 points and a game-high 13 assists to pace Phoenix, which gradually pulled away in the second half after Houston tied the game late in the third quarter.

Backcourt mate Jalen Green added 15 points for the Rockets, but his recent shooting slump continued, as the second-year guard made just 5-of-18 shots overall (27.8%) and 2-of-7 on 3-pointers (28.6%). Second-year center Alperen Sengun tallied 16 points (60.0% FG) and 9 rebounds, while rookie forward Tari Eason had 9 points off the bench in just 11 minutes on 4-of-4 shooting.

Scroll on for highlights, analysis, and postgame interviews. Houston concludes its four-game Western Conference road trip and a tough back-to-back on Monday in Los Angeles versus the Clippers (2-4) and former teammate John Wall, with tipoff set for 9:30 p.m. Central.

Highlights

Analysis and Interviews

Story originally appeared on Rockets Wire