50 wins!

Jalen Green powers Houston Rockets to landmark 50th victory

Rockets Jalen Green
The Rockets are officially back in the playoffs! Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Jalen Green scored 22 points, Dillon Brooks added 21 and the Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 143-105 on Wednesday night for their 50th win of the season.

Jabari Smith Jr. finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds off the bench, Tari Eason had 15 points and nine rebounds and Alperen Sengun had 15 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists for Houston, which shot 54% and was 19 of 45 on 3-pointers.

 

Isaiah Collier had 22 points and 10 assists, Collin Sexton finished with 18 points and Keyonte George had 14 points, for the Jazz, who lost their seventh straight game. Walker Kessler added 11 points and 12 rebounds. Utah shot 43% and were 10 of 40 on 3-pointers.

Brooks was issued a technical foul with seven minutes left in the first quarter after appearing to kick Sexton in the groin on a loose ball. If the technical is not rescinded, it would be Brooks’ 16th of the season, and he would be suspended for the Rockets’ game Friday night against Oklahoma City.

Houston's Fred VanVleet missed the game with soreness in his knee and right ankle.

Takeaways

Jazz: Utah dropped to 1-17 since the end of February.

 

Rockets: Houston, which last won 50 games in the 2018-19 season, clinched a top six seed in the Western Conference.

 

Key moment

Trailing 20-16, Green made a layup with four minutes left in the first quarter to begin a 17-6 Houston run to end the quarter. The Rockets built a 70-46 lead at halftime.

Key stat

Houston outrebounded Utah 63-39 and had a 23-6 advantage in second-chance points.

Up next

Utah travels to Indiana to face the Pacers on Friday night, while Houston hosts the Thunder that same 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 DubĂłn moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace DubĂłn 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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