Jalen Green matched his career high with 42 points and the Houston Rockets rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the visiting Memphis Grizzlies 120-118 on Monday.
Jake LaRavia supplied the Grizzlies with a 100-87 lead when he stole the ball and sank a layup with 9:55 to play. The Rockets then began their comeback.
Houston claimed a 107-105 lead on a Fred VanVleet 3-pointer with 4:33 left, keying a white-knuckle finish. There were seven lead changes and two ties in the fourth quarter.
Green seized the lead for Houston on a driving layup with 33.8 seconds left, and when Memphis’ Ja Morant followed with a turnover, Houston’s Amen Thompson added two free throws before Morant missed two at the line with 6.6 seconds left.
Thompson posted 19 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks and two steals while teammate Alperen Sengun logged 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Cam Whitmore tallied 16 points and hit four 3-pointers off the bench. Houston made 16 of 31 from behind the arc and shot 50.6 percent overall.
Morant paced the Grizzlies with 29 points but committed seven turnovers. Desmond Bane scored 15 of his 25 points in the third quarter for Memphis, which shot 52.9 percent but could not corral Green throughout the game.
Houston has won all three meetings with Memphis this season, two of them in the past five days.
Morant scored 10 points as the Grizzlies jumped in from 18-11, but the Rockets answered with a 10-0 run that featured 3-pointers from Green and Dillon Brooks and yielded a 21-18 lead. Memphis responded with a 9-0 spurt capped by a Jaren Jackson Jr. 3-pointer that was part of a 12-2 close to the first period.
The Grizzlies made 6 of 14 3-point attempts in the first and turned to their bench whenever the Rockets attempted to rally in the second. LaRavia scored 10 of Memphis’ 24 first-half bench points, delivering a timely tip-in and a 3-pointer before a five-point surge from Whitmore.
Green completed a four-point play that gave Houston a 55-54 lead, but Memphis scored the next six points and took a 60-57 halftime lead.
