Amen Thompson scored 26 points and fueled a critical fourth-quarter rally that pushed the Houston Rockets to a 106-99 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.
After Alperen Sengun, who scored a game-high 28 points on 11-for15 shooting, picked up his fifth foul with 8:29 left to play and the Rockets trailing 89-85, Thompson scored three consecutive baskets to ignite a 15-0 run that decisively swung momentum. Thompson shot 11 of 12 from the floor and added seven rebounds and seven assists.
Kevin Durant had 20 points and eight rebounds, and his jumper with 15.6 seconds left stifled the Trail Blazers for good. Portland cut an 11-point deficit to five before Durant beat the shot-clock buzzer off a feed from Thompson, whose steal on the other end snuffed a Portland fast break.
Jerami Grant paced the Trail Blazers with 21 points. Jrue Holiday added 20 points and 10 assists. Donovan Clingan (18 points, 13 rebounds) also recorded a double-double for Portland, and Toumani Camara chipped in 16 points, six rebounds and six steals.
The first half of the third quarter resulted in eight lead changes and three ties. But the Rockets went cold after Dorian Finney-Smith drained a 3-pointer that gave them a 75-71 lead at the 6:34 mark, as five-plus minutes elapsed before a Tari Eason tip-in concluded a 9-0 Portland run.
Camara and Grant were scintillating in the opening period, sparking Portland to a 31-18 lead on a Camara free throw at the 2:40 mark of the frame. That duo combined for 25 points in the first quarter and shot a combined 6 for 6 from deep before Camara missed a heave at the buzzer.
Behind Sengun, the Rockets engineered a comeback. His three-point play with 8:39 left in the half knotted the score at 39-39, and when Durant turned a Thompson pass in transition into a dunk, Houston extended to its largest lead of the first half at 51-46 with 2:52 left in the second.
Sengun had 19 points at the break, and the Rockets scored 38 of their 57 points in the paint.
