ROCKETS WIN AGAIN!
Jalen Green scores 34, leads Rockets to 11th straight win
Mar 30, 2024, 10:41 am
ROCKETS WIN AGAIN!
Jalen Green scored 30 of his 34 points in the second half and had nine rebounds as the Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 101-100 on Friday night for their 11th straight win.
Fred VanVleet had 22 points, Amen Thompson added 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Jabari Smith Jr. finished with 14 points for the Rockets. Houston scored 27 points off 21 Utah turnovers and outscored the Jazz 25-12 in second-chance points.
Dominating the offensive glass and winning the turnover battle helped the Rockets offset a sluggish start and 38.5% shooting from the field.
“You don’t hang your head when it’s not going easy early,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “We were guarding well enough, and we knew the worm would turn as far as the shooting.”
John Collins led Utah with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Collin Sexton added 29 points for the Jazz, who lost their eighth straight game. Kris Dunn finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Utah had chances to snap its skid, but ultimately couldn’t overcome multiple careless possessions at critical junctures.
“They got 11 more shots than we did, plus shooting nine more free throws than we did, so we lost the possession battle by a pretty big number tonight,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "We’ve got to continue to take care of the ball.”
The Rockets trailed the entire first half but swung momentum their way during a third-quarter scoring outburst from Green.
Green had five of Houston’s first six baskets of the second half to power a 20-7 run that put the Rockets up 61-54 midway through the third quarter. He scored 20 of his team’s 28 points in the quarter.
“We came out running plays for me at the beginning of the third,” Green said. “I was just taking what the defense gives me and shots were falling.”
Utah surged back in front behind a 16-2 run. Sexton fueled the run with a 360-degree dunk and punctuated it with a finger-roll layup that put the Jazz up 74-69.
Houston pulled ahead for good when Green tipped in a layup and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as part of a 14-3 run. Green’s second 3 gave the Rockets a 92-85 lead with 3:45 left.
Utah cut the deficit to one with 1:21 remaining on a turnaround jumper from Johnny Juzang. VanVleet banked in a pullup jumper and Green hit two free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory.
Green has finished with 30 or more points five times in his last eight games.
“He’s been carrying us pretty much since the All-Star break,” VanVleet said. “We trust him and want to keep giving him the ball in his spots and letting him create. He can get hot.”
Houston sputtered to a season-low 13 points in the first quarter while shooting just 21% from the field over that stretch.
Collins and Sexton combined for six baskets and 21 of Utah’s first 23 points to help the Jazz overcome an 0-of-10 start from 3-point range and take advantage of the Rockets’ early struggles. Their production helped Utah carry a 23-13 lead into the second quarter.
Utah led by 13 points in the first half, going up 39-26 on a pair of 3-pointers from Collins. The Rockets closed the gap before halftime when Smith capped a string of three consecutive Houston baskets with a dunk to make it 43-39.
“It was a little rough around the edges with some attention to detail, but I thought we competed for 48 minutes,” Collins said.
UP NEXT
Rockets: hosts Dallas on Sunday.
Jazz: At Sacramento on Sunday.
__
The late ex-catcher and longtime broadcaster Joe Garagiola wrote a book called “Baseball is a Funny Game.” He wasn’t kidding, whether he meant funny as amusing, peculiar, or both (he meant both). The Astros lived it this past week, following a very satisfying three-game slap down of a previously red-hot Dodgers team in Los Angeles by having a Cleveland Guardians squad that staggered into Houston on a 10-game losing streak sweep the Astros three straight. As I put it during one of our “Stone Cold ‘Stros” podcast episodes this week: baseball, like a word that rhymes with spit, happens. The Astros try to clean it up this weekend with a chance to kick dirt on the Texas Rangers’ presently extremely faint American League West hopes. While no fun to endure, the Astros getting swept is no big deal. They weren’t going the rest of the season without any more bumps in the road. Unless they falter badly and/or Seattle has a huge rest of the way, the Astros' 29-10 surge before the Cleveland series is the stretch that will most define them making the playoffs for the ninth year in a row. The Astros hadn’t lost a home series since early April. Their longest losing streak all season remains just three games. They have to beat the Rangers Friday night to keep it that way.
Erratic starting pitchers Lance McCullers and Jack Leiter match up in the series opener, then it’s a pair of humdinger matchups. Saturday Framber Valdez goes to battle opposite Jacob deGrom. Sunday Hunter Brown starts on four days rest for just the second time this season countering the Arlington team’s Nathan Eovaldi. Framber tries to bounce back from his worst showing in over two months. Brown tries to rebound from his worst start since July 6 of last year. deGrom is quite a story. There has been no more dominant starting pitcher in his generation. It’s just that deGrom almost makes McCullers’s injury history look not so bad. Jacob deGrom won National League Rookie of the Year in 2014. He won back-to-back NL Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019, then finished third in the short 2020 COVID season. In 2021 he was off to what if maintained would have been one of the greatest seasons ever. 15 starts with a 1.08 earned run average. 92 innings pitched, a comical total of just 40 hits allowed, with only 11 walks, and 146 strikeouts. Sicko stuff. Then his shoulder fell off. deGrom missed over a year, came back and made 11 starts in 2022. All of that as a New York Met. The Rangers then crossed their fingers and gave him a five-year 185-million dollar free agent contract. DeGrom lasted six starts in 2023 before needing his second Tommy John surgery. The Rangers of course went on to win the World Series without him. deGrom returned to throw 10 innings late last season and looked good. With everyone around the Rangers holding their breath, deGrom has not missed a start this season. While not striking out batters near his rate in the past, deGrom has been fabulous. He’ll take the mound against the Astros sporting a 9-2 record (for a losing team) and 2.29 ERA. deGrom's career ERA is 2.50. He is 37 years old.
Options dwindling
All you can ask of players is that they prepare well, be mentally focused, and play their best. There is only so much juice to be squeezed from lemons. Zack Short, Cooper Hummel, and Taylor Trammell each played every inning of the Guardians series. They are 30, 30, and 27 years old respectively. Short has the highest career big league batting average of the three. That average is .169. Hummel sits at .167, Trammell at .165. Short went zero for 11 with seven strikeouts. Hummel went one for eleven and struck out in his last six at bats. Trammell actually had a good series going three for eleven including a three-run homer and a double. Bigger picture, manager Joe Espada is filling out a lineup card with one hand tied behind his back.
Espada’s task got no easier with the latest seemingly Astros-nomically inept medical work. It is mind-blowingly ridiculous that Jake Meyers further damaged a calf muscle while taking the field Wednesday night, just three days after he left a game with that calf ailing him. Organizationally the Astros look like a clown show on this (pretty sure Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez would co-sign). At least the All-Star break arriving after play Sunday will cover four days of Meyers’s absence, which is a good bet to extend beyond that, maybe well beyond that. That absence will be sorely felt. Beyond his elite patrol work in center field, Meyers’s offense this season made the leap from atrocious to well above average. About to come off the injured list, Chas McCormick gets one last chance to revive his Astros’ career. Decent prospect Jacob Melton is a center fielder who remains out injured. Kenedy Corona was called up this week when Christian Walker went on paternity leave. Corona also plays center field but is not a meaningful prospect. If Meyers is to miss months not weeks, general manager Dana Brown almost has to pursue an outfielder via trade.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
_____________________________________________
*Looking to get the word out about your business, products, or services? Consider advertising on SportsMap! It's a great way to get in front of Houston sports fans. Click the link below for more information!