Exactly one month ago, the New Orleans Pelicans climbed out of a 25-point hole to stun the Houston Rockets in overtime.

It was the best win in what has been a frustrating season for the Pelicans.

There was no such magic this time around.

The Pelicans didn’t have enough for the Houston Rockets Sunday, falling 119-110 at Toyota Center.

“We got down and kept battling,” said Pelicans interim coach James Borrego. “They (the Rockets) had not been shooting it this well. That’s the way it goes. But I thought in general we battled and got over it. Probably the turnovers cost us too. I think eight transition turnovers. Right now, every stop for us is valuable. We’ve got to take care of the ball.”

Trey Murphy scored 21 points to lead the Pelicans (10-35). It was the eighth consecutive game Murphy has scored at least 20 points. Zion Williamson scored 20.

The Pelicans were once again without defensive stopper Herb Jones, who is dealing with an ankle injury. In their 133-128 overtime victory over the Rockets on Dec. 18 in the Smoothie King Center. Jones’ presence helped frustrate Kevin Durant. But this night belonged to Houston’s Jabari Smith anyway. Smith scored 22 of his 32 points in the first half. He made seven 3-pointers.

Durant finished with 18 points and became the NBA’s sixth all-time leading scorer. He passed former Dallas Mavericks’ star Dirk Nowitzki on the list with a free throw with 15.2 seconds left.

The Pels were just 3-of-12 on 3-pointers in the first half and got outrebounded 29-19 to trail 64-54 at the break. In the third quarter, the Pels got solid minutes from the bench to cut the deficit to 87-80 going into the fourth quarter. The bench, which got 13 points from Jordan Poole and 10 from Yves Missi, outscored the Rockets’ bench 41-23 in the game. They also got valuable minutes, particularly on the defensive end, from rookie Micah Peavy.

“Huge impact,” said Borrego. “The bench was great. They came in and gave us great effort and turned the game for us and gave us a chance. I’m really proud of that group.”

Saddiq Bey finished with 11 points. Starting point guard Jeremiah Fears scored just two points and logged just 10 minutes because of Houston’s big lineup. Borrego tried to match Houston’s size in the second half by starting Missi instead of Fears.

But it wasn’t enough. The Rockets outscored the Pels 12-0 during a fourth-quarter stretch to pull away.

The Pelicans have lost 13 of their last 15 games heading into Wednesday’s home game against the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.