Only two-plus seasons into Jalen Green’s career, it would seem too early for the Houston Rockets’ 21-year-old guard to face the level of scrutiny where every game is a referendum on his future.
However, when Green has a performance like he did on Monday — when he missed 9 of 15 shots, including 7 of 9 3-pointers, and did not log one minute in the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ 121-116 road loss to the Golden State Warriors — questions bubble to the surface.
The Rockets, who host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, dropped all three games of a road swing through Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the finale of that trip, the Rockets forged a fourth-quarter comeback without the second overall pick of the 2021 draft, posting 35 points in the period before succumbing to the Warriors for a second time this season.
Houston rolled with a backcourt of Fred VanVleet and Aaron Holiday down the stretch. Green is the Rockets’ second-leading scorer at 18 points per game, but his 46.2 effective field-goal percentage is the lowest of his three-season career. His absence late on Monday was telling.
“The group that was in was playing better and that had a good spark there,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said when asked why Green wasn’t on the floor in the fourth. “Just liked the energy.”
Of course, something could be said of the Rockets defensively after they surrendered a season high in points for a regulation game. Houston constructed its surprising start to the season on an effective defense, so the breakdowns against the Warriors were unexpected.
“Too many mistakes letting the shooters get too many open looks,” Udoka said. “They were 11-for-20 (on 3-pointers) at half, and out of those 11, seven were off missed coverages. And this is a team, the main team in the league, that takes advantage of mistakes.
“Obviously they’ve got high-level shooters and great execution, and we were poor on our coverage.”
Against Memphis, the Rockets won’t face that same level of exceptional shooting.
The Grizzlies remain without starters Ja Morant (suspension), Marcus Smart (foot) and Steven Adams (knee), plus valuable reserves Brandon Clarke (Achilles), Luke Kennard (knee) and Xavier Tillman Sr. (knee).
That lack of depth played a role in their 102-100 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday and continues to undermine any progress following a season-opening six-game skid.
The Grizzlies have a long road ahead before some reinforcements arrive. Their effort against Boston provided a blueprint for how they could achieve a moderate level of success.
“Second night of a back-to-back (with) different guys stepping up,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “We were piecing a lot of stuff together throughout the game. We’re trying to find chemistry with our lineups, feeling out who’s playing well in these games.
“The fight is what really jumps out. The guys playing with edge, we’re trying to establish a better edge defensively. Offensively, trying to find chemistry is a little hard right now given some influx with our rotation and the depth that we’ve got.”
–Field Level Media