HOUSTON – The diagnosis for what went wrong in Sunday’s loss was remarkably easy to pinpoint. New Orleans approached a season high by committing 23 turnovers, leading to 29 Houston points. Despite holding a lead for long stretches of the Southwest Division matchup, the Pelicans couldn’t overcome those miscues, seeing their three-game winning streak come to an end.

Neither team held a lead of more than nine points on the scoreboard all afternoon, but Houston held the upper hand in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, winning the season series vs. New Orleans 3-1. The Pelicans dominated the Rockets in the rebounding category 63-43, but it was a much more even fight in the fourth period, where Houston turned a one-point deficit into an eight-point victory.

IT WAS OVER WHEN…

Houston’s Danuel House drained a corner three to give the Rockets an eight-point lead with 58 seconds left. New Orleans cut the deficit to six and had a chance to cut that in half, but Jrue Holiday’s three-pointer with roughly 30 seconds left misfired.

PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME

After a couple quieter games upon the debut of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram notched his third straight performance of 20-plus points. The forward totaled 28 points and 12 rebounds, while going 5/11 from three-point range.