Jalen Green‘s in-season turnaround in Houston has been remarkable, according to Mark Deeks of HoopsHype. As Deeks writes, after looking like a potential trade candidate at last month’s deadline, the Rockets guard is now making a legitimate case for a maximum-salary rookie scale extension this offseason.
Green led the Rockets to their 10th straight victory on Wednesday in Oklahoma City, putting up an eye-popping line of 37 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. Houston is now one game back of Golden State for the No. 10 spot in the West and Green is confident the club will finish in the top 10.
“We’re going to get a play-in game,” Green said after Wednesday’s win, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “We’re going to keep going.”
Whether or not the Rockets pass the Warriors – or another Western Conference team – in the standings before the end of the regular season, head coach Ime Udoka is pleased that his young squad is getting the opportunity to play meaningful games this late in the year after winning no more than 22 games in each of the previous three seasons.
“I think it’s invaluable for our young guys to go through this,” Udoka said. “And obviously making the playoffs or play-in will be another step, but just going through what they are now and coming on the other side of .500 is huge for them.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Although many of Green’s best performances – and the Rockets‘ recent winning streak – have come since Alperen Sengun went down with ankle and knee injuries, Udoka expressed confidence that the two rising stars will be able to excel alongside one another when both are healthy. “I think that they can complement each other very well,” Udoka said during an appearance on The Matt Thomas Show (Twitter audio link).
- Within a detailed story exploring the Western Conference playoff race, Sam Amick of The Athletic outlines how the Mavericks‘ play on defense has keyed the team’s recent hot streak, which includes nine wins in 10 games. Amick also cites sources who say that head coach Jason Kidd hopes to sign a contract extension with the franchise this offseason. Kidd is under contract for one more season beyond this one, notes Amick.
- After a long recovery from an Achilles injury, Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke made his season debut on Wednesday vs. the Lakers. Clarke was effective in his return, with a +15 mark in 21 minutes of action in a 12-point loss. The team intends to take a cautious approach to his playing time in the season’s final weeks, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “We’re definitely going to be smart with his minutes after the long layoff,” head coach Taylor Jenkins said. “We’ll take it week by week. It’s not going to be a game by game thing.”
- While Clarke is back in action, the Grizzlies still have no recovery timeline for injured shooting guard Vince Williams, who has been out since March 8 due to left patellar tendonitis, tweets Cole.
Yeah, wouldn’t surprise me if Green and Sengun could be formidable together. Kind of a Sabonis and Fox or Jokic and Murray-esque combo. Or Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, tbh. They were the first duo to make good use of the combo of a passing big and a mobile, aggressive guard. Arvydas Sabonis and Scottie Pippen kind of did, but it wasn’t a focus for those early 2000s Portland teams and both of them were much older and slower.
Smith Jr, Amen also very talented imo.
Biggest game:
Warriors at Rockets next Thursday
Next week
Rockets vs Mavs 2 games
Rockets vs Wolves
Heat vs Rockets
If 4-1 Rockets make playoffs
If 1-4, Rockets are doomed
If 2-3 Rockets are pretty much done.
You forgot the 3-2 superlative
Hate the warriors, but rockets don’t get in despite a genuinely amazing run the past month. The future is brighter at least
I like a lot of the young guys on the Rockets but I just don’t see how they all mesh together and work.
Sengun is a passing big man with poor defence.
Jalen Green is a high volume shooter with poor efficiency up until 12 games ago.
Amen Thompson is a real high IQ point forward who cannot shoot at all.
Tari Eason is looking more like a career role player than a real prospect anymore.
But I really like Jabari and Whitmore. Jabari in his second year is a lot more efficient and still spaces the floor and plays defence. Cam has had a slow road to receiving minutes but is a natural hooper.
They don’t own their own first round pick this year so you may aswell go for it in terms of trying to win as many games as possible, but they do own the Nets pick which is expected to be about 8th in the draft.
At this stage in the rebuild I don’t think they guys will work together long term, and I’m not sure who is the key player you try build around.