Fred VanVleet scored a game-high 38 points and Dillon Brooks nailed a midrange jumper to beat the shot clock and give Houston the lead for good as the host Rockets eked out a 119-116 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday in a matchup between the top two seeds in the Western Conference.
VanVleet sank four free throws in the final 4.6 seconds as the Rockets squared the season series at a game apiece and closed to within a half-game of the Thunder atop the West. Brooks’ jumper with 33.6 seconds left followed a wild scramble and gave the Rockets a 115-113 lead.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paced the Thunder with 32 points while Jalen Williams added 22 points, including a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left that sliced the deficit to one. Isaiah Hartenstein added a double-double (19 points, 13 rebounds) while Cason Wallace tallied 14 points, including two 3-pointers to match 3s from VanVleet down the hectic waning moments.
The fourth quarter featured seven ties but the Rockets, who trailed 93-85 late in the third after Gilgeous-Alexander led a 16-4 run, didn’t take their first lead in the fourth until VanVleet hit a buzzer-beating 3 with 1:29 left. Wallace responded with a corner 3 but the Rockets repeatedly answered back.
Alperen Sengun (20 points, 14 rebounds) and Jabari Smith Jr. (15 points, 14 rebounds) registered double-doubles for Houston. Sengun added nine assists, including on Brooks’ late jumper.
Aaron Wiggins scored 13 points off the Thunder bench.
The Rockets used their prowess on the offensive glass to erase an early five-point deficit, with Amen Thompson providing a 22-18 lead with his second-chance basket at the 3:38 mark of the first. Behind Brooks’ 10 points, the Rockets led by eight before Gilgeous-Alexander answered a Tari Eason 3-pointer with one of his own to cut the deficit to 33-28 entering the second period.
The Thunder used a flurry of 3-pointers to respond to a Jalen Green three-point play that lifted Houston to its largest lead, 45-34, with 7:58 left in the half. Kenrich Williams and Luguentz Dort drilled consecutive 3s to key the comeback before Wiggins and Gilgeous-Alexander sank 3s in succession that closed the margin to four, which the Thunder narrowed to 62-60 at halftime.