NEW ORLEANS – Jalen Green scored 30 points in less than 30 minutes on the court and the Houston Rockets cruised to a 128-111 victory over the hapless, injury-plagued New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night.

Fred VanVleet made seven 3-pointers and finished with 25 points for Houston, which has won four straight and six of seven while climbing to second place in the highly competitive Western Conference.

Cam Whitmore added 27 points off the bench and center Alperen Sangun had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Rockets, who led by 30 points in the second half and sat their starters for most of the fourth quarter.

Trey Murphy scored 21 points for the Pelicans, who have lost eight straight and 17 of 18.

Brandon Boston and Dejounte Murray each scored 17 points and CJ McCollum added 13 for New Orleans, which, like Houston, limited its starters to 31 or fewer minutes of playing time after it became clear the game would not be competitive.

Takeaways

Rockets: Houston’s good recent form was obvious from the start. The Rockets never trailed, leading by 17 in the first quarter and 21 at halftime.

Pelicans: Zion Williamson has missed 22 straight games, of which New Orleans won two. Brandon Ingram missed his seventh straight game and 13th game overall this season, and the Pelicans went 0-13 without him.

Key moment

Green and VanVleet each made a pair of three-pointers around Sengun’s dunk in the first 3:26 of the third quarter to help the Rockets take a 75-51 lead.

Key statistics

VanVleet, Green and Whitmore combined for 17 of 31 points from 3-point range. The Rockets shot 18 for 47 (38.3%) from deep overall.

Next

The Rockets host Minnesota on Friday night. The Pelicans host Memphis on Friday night.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba