Houston Rockets defeat Sacramento Kings but lose Alperen Sengun in the final minute

The Houston Rockets pulled off an upset victory over the Sacramento Kings 112-104 at Golden 1 Center, but in the final minute of the game Alperen Sengun got injured and left on a wheelchair.

The 21-year-old was having a breakout season, averaging 21.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists, putting himself in the Most Improved Player conversation. However, with 40 seconds remaining in the game tragedy happened. Sengun ran back to contest a transition layup by Domantas Sabonis when all of a sudden he took an awkward fall. He stayed down in pain and held onto his knee before getting taken off the court on a wheelchair. This is a devastating blow to this rising star and the Rockets organization.

Alpi finished this game with 14 points and 6 rebounds. Fred VanVleet scored a team high 22 points with 9 assists while Jalen Green had 19 points. Amen Thompson had 13 points off the bench while Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr., and Cam Whitmore each recorded 10 points.

Domantas Sabonis recorded a full stat line, finishing with 25 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. De’Aaron Fox had 18 points with 9 boards while Malik Monk scored 20 points off the bench. Keegan Murray ended with 13 points.

Houston improves to 29-35 with this victory, and now winning 2 games in a row. Losing their star player in the final seconds was an unfortunate situation and at this moment they are hoping that the injury is not as bad as it looked. In the meantime they will travel to San Antonio to prepare for their matchup against the Spurs on Tuesday.

Sacramento falls to 36-27 with this loss and drops to the 7th seed in the West. Every game is important in this tough conference so losing to a below .500 team is not ideal for the Kings. They are 6-4 over their last 10 games and will look to bounce back on Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks.