After the last game with a 6-point advantage to narrowly beat the Kings, the Rockets continued their road trip today, this time they came to the Utah Plateau, against the Jazz who just lost to the Lakers, sitting on the home advantage, coupled with just lost to the Lakers, the Jazz naturally hope to be able to slaughter the Rockets in front of the home fans, the result did not think of this tough Texas small strong, in addition to the second quarter, the other three quarters have maintained the lead, and finally they defeated the Jazz 116-111, giving the opponent two consecutive losses at the same time, but also let themselves usher in a wave of two consecutive wins.
In this campaign, Porter Jr. started 30 minutes, 6 of 12 shots, 3 of 6 three-pointers, cut 15 points and 8 assists, and only 1 turnover, the assist-to-turnover ratio came to 8, it is because of his selfless tandem, the 10 players on the Rockets have all scored, and Porter Jr.'s +2 plus-minus is also the highest among the starting five Tigers. Not long ago, because of a conflict with assistant coach John Lucas, Porter Jr. was also punished by the Rockets for a game ban, and after that, he also took the initiative to apologize to the whole team, and it was from that conflict that Porter Jr. seemed to have changed a person, and his playing style became more mature. According to relevant statistics, in the last 5 games, Porter Jr. can average 16 points and 6 assists per game, while the new branch leader Jaylen Green has only 12.2 points, shooting only 35.8%, and the three-point shooting rate is only a dismal 20%, and it has fallen into the iron mode at the beginning of the season.
And this game can lead the team to beat the Jazz, the top four team in the West, which is definitely a great boost to the confidence of Porter Jr., who has been looking at the problem player with colored glasses from the outside world before, admittedly in the Cavaliers period because of various criticisms off the court, became a tumor in the team's locker room, but after being traded to the Rockets last season, it can be seen that Porter Jr. really wants to become the core leader of this rebuilding team.
The same left-handed player, the same is the double guard, from The little Porter, you can really see the shadow of former Rockets star James Harden. In the 26 games played for the Rockets last season, Porter Jr. averaged 16.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, and in the game against the bucks, Porter Jr. exploded a career-high 50 points, 5 rebounds and 11 assists, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to win 50+10 in a single game, and another player in rocket history after Harden.
And this season, the Rockets in the draft with the list of the potential of the new star Jaylen Green, originally wanted to make the two become the team's double core, for this they also deliberately refrigerated the veteran Wall, the purpose is to cultivate these two, but unfortunately the two sides do not seem to call, either a game Green played well, or Porter Jr. played well, in short, it seems difficult for the two to play an excellent performance at the same time. As of now, Green has averaged 14.8 points per game, but compared to the more all-round Little Porter, he will only attack the monotony, it does take some time to slowly transform, but it is Little Porter, who joined the team last season, and with the deepening of the season, he also plays more calmly and confidently.
As of now, Porter Jr. has averaged 13 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, and his three-point shooting rate has reached 34.1%, although the score is not as good as Green, but his excellent organizational tandem ability has indeed gradually become the true core of the Rockets' backcourt, and this season he has repeatedly staged a key goal of 45 degrees on the left side to retreat from three points, saving the Rockets in times of crisis, which is really some of harden's shadow. It is true that the overall talent may not catch up with Jaylen Green, but at least in terms of maturity, Little Potter is indeed worthy of Green's good learning!