GREEN DAZZLES!

Green ties career high as Rockets rally to beat the Grizzlies

Rockets Jalen Green
Rockets defeat the Grizzlies, 120-118. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Jalen Green tied his career high with 42 points, capped by a layup that gave Houston the lead late, and the Rockets rallied for a 120-118 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.

The Grizzlies were down by four before Jaylen Wells made a 3-pointer followed by a steal and layup from Brandon Clarke that put them up 115-114 with just under a minute left.

Green’s layup put the Rockets on top 116-115 before a turnover by Ja Morant gave Houston the ball back. Amen Thompson was fouled and made two free throws with 8.1 seconds left to make it 118-115.

Morant missed two free throws after that and Fred VanVleet added two free throws for Houston with 2.1 seconds left to make it 120-115 and secure the victory.

It was Houston’s fourth straight win overall and second in a row over Memphis after beating the Grizzlies 119-115 on Thursday night.

Morant swished a 38-footer to put the Grizzlies up by 12 with about eight minutes to go.

The Rockets went on a 16-2 run after that to take a 107-105 lead with 4 1/2 minutes remaining. Green and VanVleet had 3-pointers during that stretch and Thompson added six points to help Houston erase the deficit.

Morant had 29 points for the Grizzlies, and Desmond Bane scored 25.

Takeaways

Grizzlies: They need to do a better job of finishing after leading by 12 in the fourth quarter.

Rockets: Green delivered the kind of dominant performance the Rockets need from him on occasion as they look to remain among the top teams in the Western Conference.

Key moment

Houston’s 16-2 run that erased the double-digit deficit.

Key stat

Houston had 15 offensive rebounds to just eight by Memphis.

Up next

Houston visits Denver on Wednesday night, and the Grizzlies play the first of consecutive games at San Antonio that night.

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Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.

Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.

Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.

Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.

Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.

After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.

 

Lack of imaging strikes again!

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.

The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.

The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?


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