Luguentz Dort pours in 34 as Thunder rout skidding Rockets / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports Credit Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

Luguentz Dort scored season-high 34 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 101-89 win over the visiting Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

Player of the Game EFF 30 Luguentz Dort Points 34 Accuracy 14-22 Rebounds 8 Assists 2

The Rockets saw their losing streak reach 13 games. Their only win of the season came over the Thunder in the second game, on Oct. 22 in Houston.

The Thunder led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter before Houston slowly started chipping away, cutting the deficit to five with just more than five minutes remaining in the game. However, Dort drained a 3-pointer at the other end moments later, and the Rockets never got closer than six the rest of the way.

Dort scored at least 20 points for the fifth consecutive game.

Houston, which came in averaging an NBA-worst 19.1 turnovers per game, once again struggled to hold onto the ball from the start.

On the game's first possession, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stole the ball from Jae'Sean Tate and fed it up-court to Dort for a dunk.

It was the first of eight turnovers in the opening quarter for the Rockets, leading to eight Thunder points.

Oklahoma City never trailed, taking the lead for good to close out the first thanks to a pair of Rockets turnovers over the last 1:30, leading to a 22-19 edge.

Gilgeous-Alexander had three of his four steals in the first period.

Oklahoma City made just 1 of 11 3-point attempts in the opening quarter and finished shooting just 25.6 percent from beyond the arc (10 of 39). The Thunder shot 58.4 percent inside the arc, though.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 15 points but was just 6 of 18 from the floor and 1 of 8 from long distance. Josh Giddey added 14 points and 11 rebounds in the win.

Jalen Green led the Rockets with 21 points while Tate scored 16. Eric Gordon had 15 points, and Christian Wood added 10 points and 14 rebounds.

After struggling with turnovers early, Houston had just six over the final three quarters.

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