HOUSTON – Dillon Brooks scored a season-high 28 points to lead the Houston Rockets to a 116-88 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA Cup game on Friday night.

Brooks tied a career-high with six 3-pointers in eight attempts, and the Rockets made 15 of 39 (38.5%) from beyond the arc.

Tari Eason scored 22 points off the bench, Jalen Green had 17 and Alperen Sengun added 14 as the Rockets won for the seventh time in eight games. Six of those wins were by double digits. Houston is 2-0 in NBA Cup play

For Portland, Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe each scored 13 points and Toumani Camara 11.

Portland has lost two games in a row to begin a four-game trip. Previously, they won three times in a row at home. The Trail Blazers are 1-1 in the regular season tournament.

Takeaways

Trail Blazers: Portland was missing two of its top five scorers: Scoot Henderson, who was out for the first time with a left quad contusion, and Deandre Ayton, who remained sidelined with a deep bruise in his right index finger.

Rockets: At 12-5, Houston has outscored opponents by 163 points in 17 games, the highest total through the first 17 games of a season in franchise history. The previous record of 131 was held by the 1996-97 defending champion Rockets, who started the season 15-2.

Key moment

The Rockets trailed early when Eason checked in and provided a spark, scoring 12 points in an energetic 13 minutes in the first half. Eason finished with a game-best plus-minus of +33 points.

Key stat

Houston outscored Portland 23-7 in fast-break points, generating 28 points off Portland’s 21 turnovers.

Next

The Trail Blazers and Rockets meet again Saturday night in Houston for the second half of a back-to-back.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba