The NBA regular season continues, with the Rockets hosting the Thunder. Yesterday the Rockets struggled to reverse the Hawks, boosting team morale and the Thunder were overtime Bulls. The Rockets took advantage of home-court advantage to take the lead, hitting back-to-back three-point shots to quickly gain a double-digit advantage. Yibian fought again, and the two sides engaged in a tug-of-war around a 20-point difference. Shin Kyung and Gordon teamed up to help the team maintain their advantage, and the excessive point difference made the game lose suspense early, and in the end, the Rockets lightly defeated the Thunder and ushered in a two-game winning streak.
After the young people have a fight, they are back to team spirit. Jaylen Green, Porter Jr., Shinkyung and Jabari Smith not only contributed to the team's progress, but also learned to share the ball and leave opportunities to teammates in better positions; So, in these games, the Houston Rockets played very energetically, very methodically, and the ball movement was very smooth, which was not available at the beginning of the season.
Of course, the thing that General Manager Stone and manager Silas enjoy the most is giving young players plenty of opportunities to develop and show positive things in the game. For example, Jabari Smith, who has been criticized before. In this game, Rockets Jabari Smith Jr. continued his previous good form and played steadily again, playing 32 minutes, shooting 5-of-11 (including 3-of-8 from three-point range), 2-of-2 from the free throw line, and a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds, plus 1 block, reaching a game-high +23. In the last three games, Jabari Jr. swept away his early season inconvenience, averaging 19.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and hitting 3.6 three-pointers. It is worth mentioning that in the offseason, Stone only offered a contract of about 4 years and 40 million to obtain this talented insider.
In fact, Jabari Smith has been the biggest favorite in 2022, none of them; Although the Magic and Thunder unexpectedly skipped him, Smith's talent is undoubted, he has all the qualities to be the top interior lineman of the small-ball era; Smith has excellent projection, unparalleled off-ball running, top-notch athleticism, and superior basketball IQ; He struggled too much because Jabari Smith didn't find his place in the team.
When he re-recognized himself in the game video, understood his flaws, and gained the support of his coaches and teammates, Tanhua began to show his talent. In the coming days, he needs to further develop his offensive methods and accumulate his game experience, and he is expected to become an All-Star-level interior lineman and lead the Houston Rockets back to the top.