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Turkish NBA player Alperen Sengun racked up 23 points and 11 assists as the Houston Rockets defeated the Chicago Bulls 119-113 at home.
Sengun posted a near triple-double performance with 23 points, 11 assists, 7 rebounds and 1 block against Chicago.
Kevin Durant added 28 points and 10 rebounds for Houston. Amen Thompson contributed 23 points to the victory.
Chicago's Tre Jones scored 34 points but could not prevent the loss.
In the Western Conference's top two team matchup, first-place Oklahoma City Thunder defeated San Antonio Spurs 119-98 at home.
Thunder extended their winning streak to four consecutive games. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 34 points.
San Antonio's Stephon Castle scored 20 points while Victor Wembanyama finished with 17 points.
The Los Angeles Lakers ended their three-game losing streak by defeating the Atlanta Hawks 141-116 at home.
LeBron James recorded 31 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds for the Lakers. Luka Doncic added 27 points and 12 assists.
Atlanta's Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 26 points. CJ McCollum contributed 25 points for the Hawks.
Sengun is averaging 21.7 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game this season. He is also recording 6.6 assists per game.
The 23-year-old Turkish center was drafted 16th overall by Oklahoma City in 2021 before his rights were acquired by Houston. Entering the 2024-25 season, Sengun appeared in 210 games with 148 starts while averaging 14.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
In 2023-24, Sengun was one of six players to average at least 20.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
Sengun is the first player in NBA history to record at least 3,000 points, 1,500 rebounds and 700 assists while playing fewer than 6,000 minutes through the first three seasons of a career.
Sengun played professionally in Türkiye before joining the NBA. In 2020-21, he was named Turkish Super League MVP while playing for Besiktas.
Sengun was a member of the Turkish senior national team and competed in qualifiers for the 2021 Olympics. He helped Türkiye win silver at the 2019 FIBA Under-18 European Championships and earned All-Tournament Team honors. Before basketball, Sengun was also competitive in swimming.
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