On February 17, Beijing time, the Rockets will have a showdown with the strongest Suns in the West this morning, unfortunately, before this game, the Rockets have news - the main center Wood, the main point guard Kevin Porter Jr. will not play in this game due to stomach discomfort. In other words, the Rockets are going to "passively" change sides in this game.
But for the Rockets, the absence of Porter Jr. and Wood, two of the sticky cores, may be a good thing, after all, we can see how Jaylen Green is performing. Previously, when Porter Jr. and Wood started at the same time, Jaylen Green was always the 3rd and 4th attack points in the Rockets' starting lineup, and he didn't have much ball power at all, and the number of shots was also suppressed very low. For the Rockets' starting lineup, Gordon can play without the ball, Tate is not the kind of player who needs to hold the ball in his hand, and Jaylen Green seems to have more ball rights and shooting opportunities.
Silas also made some adjustments to the Rockets' starting lineup, and Shinkin replaced Wood as the main center, which is also a routine operation, but it is a little surprising that Silas did not let Christopher serve as the starting point guard, but instead let the new signing Dennis Schroder, who had only played 18 minutes in the game against the Jazz, take the starting point guard position.
In the last game, Schroeder contributed 4 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists in 18 minutes, which cannot be said to be bad, but his cooperation with the Rockets players was not tacit enough. But from another point of view, the Rockets don't care about the win or loss of this game anyway, the Suns are the strongest team in the West and even the strongest team in the league, the Rockets, the last team in the league, can let go of their hands and feet to fight, even if this lineup is slightly jerky, it doesn't matter, this season's Rockets' original intention, is not to try different player combinations? Now to let Shen Jing + Schroeder start, it is also a bold attempt plan.
Judging from the performance on the court, the Rockets had a good time with the Suns in the first 5 minutes of the first quarter, and Jaylen Green was in good shape, he shot 2 of 3 in 5 minutes, 1 of 2 of 3 from three-pointers, and 2 of 3 from the free throw line, contributing to the Rockets' highest 7 points. Without the suppression of Wood and Porter Jr., How well Jaylen Green performed in this game basically reflects his true strength. If you can brush up beautiful statistics in this game, then Jaylen Green is definitely worth cultivating, and Silas is also likely to give Jaylen Green more offensive tactics in the next game.
But to take a step back, if Porter Jr. and Wood jr. weren't there and Jaylen Green's performance was still so-so, then sorry, Jaylen Green might really be reduced to mediocrity.