At 9:00 a.m. Beijing time on December 27, the NBA regular season continued, and the New Orleans Pelicans sat at home to face the visiting Houston Rockets. In this game, the Pelicans' three big men Zion, Ingram and Alvarado were absent, and after four quarters of fierce battle, the Rockets finally beat the Pelicans 128-111 to win four consecutive victories, while sending the opponent to eight consecutive defeats.

Statistics:

Rockets: Jalen Green 30 points, Shin Jing 10 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, Amen 9 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, VanVleet 25 points, Whitmore 27 points, Tate 10 points;

Pelicans: Murphy 21 points, Jones 10 points, McCollum 13 points, Murray 17 points, Boston 17 points, Green 11 points.

Both Injuries and Stoppages:

Rockets: Dillon (ankle), Ethan (calf);

Pelicans: Zion (hamstring), Alvarado (hamstring), Matkovic (back), Ingram (ankle).

Tournament Progression:

At the beginning of the first quarter, the Rockets opened with a 7-2 attack wave to establish a lead, and Jones made a layup to bite the score. VanVleet's three-point response continued to extend the lead. After that, the two sides alternated scores, and the Rockets maintained a six-point lead. In the middle of the quarter, the Pelicans suddenly came out of their power and scored six points in a row to narrow the gap to three points. However, the Rockets immediately stabilized their position, and played another wave of 16-2 super scoring climax to instantly expand the difference to 17 points, and Green dunked and finally scored the first sports goal in nearly 4 minutes to stop the bleeding. Tate responded with two more points, and the first quarter ended with the Rockets leading the Pelicans by 15 points at 37-22.

Back in the second quarter, Amen made two fouls and one free throw to continue to expand the lead, Theis also made a foul and made two free throws to catch up with the score, and the two teams continued to alternate scores, but the Rockets were more efficient, with Smith hitting a free throw and Whitmore making a layup, the Rockets have taken a lead of more than 20 points. McCollum hit a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, and after that, the two sides fell into a long scoring drought, and McCollum hit another three-pointer to stop the Rockets. Jalen Green hit a windmill dunk after a timeout, and Earl hit a cold-blooded three-pointer in response. At the end of the quarter, the Rockets scored four points in one minute, and at the end of the third quarter, the Rockets led the Pelicans by 18 points at 61-43.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Jalen Green came up and hit a three-pointer to widen the gap to 20+ again, and Murphy hit a free throw to continue to catch up. After that, the two sides scored each other, and the Rockets played another wave of 9-3 scoring climax to extend the difference to 24 points, and it was Murphy who hit a three-pointer to help the Pelicans stop the bleeding. The two sides fell into a stalemate again, the score alternately rose, and in the middle of the quarter, Murphy hit another three-pointer to narrow the difference, but the Rockets sent another wave of 9-1 attack climax, and the Pelicans completely collapsed. The Rockets scored five points in a row, Murphy dunked it, and at the end of the third quarter, the Rockets led the Pelicans by 28 points at 102-74.

In the final quarter of the game, Boston made a jumper, Amen dunked in color, Boston scored another 2 points, Jones also made a layup, and the point difference was constantly narrowed. However, the Rockets also scored four straight points to stop the Pelicans. After the timeout, both sides switched to the bench, and the Pelicans surrendered with nine minutes left in the final quarter. In the bench battle, although the Pelicans continued to close the score, they failed to make too many waves, and finally the game was over, and the Rockets beat the Pelicans 128-111 on the road.

Both teams start:

Rockets: Amen, Smith, Shin Jing, Jalen Green, VanVleet;

Pelicans: Jones, Murphy, Missy, McCollum, Murray.