John Wall took the opening tip of his first NBA game in close two years and dribbled to the right towards the United Center logo before dishing to DeMarcus Cousins. He quickly got the ball back from his old friend and drive left against Bull guard Cobi White. Wall then came back to his right and the laid the ball in the basket.
"It was a surreal moment for me, even though it's preseason," Wall said.
Wall finished with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and nine assists in his first game inside an NBA arena since December 26, 2018 due to a torn achilles. He played 19 minutes, grabbing five rebounds and two steals in the Rockets 125-104 win over the Chicago Bulls.
"I've been through so much in the last two years," Wall added. "Not knowing if I would play basketball again, or losing my mom, having another boy, there's just so much I've been through and adversity that I feel like God gives his strongest battles to his toughest people and the team I have and the people that's in my corner show, they showed their loyalty throughout this whole process I've been through, and it's just exciting to be back in an NBA floor again."
The five-time All Star was one of three Rockets to play on Friday after missing all of last season due to an injury. Cousins, who missed last season with a torn ACL, and has played in just 36 NBA games since tearing his achilles, scored the Rockets' next five points and finished with 14 points in 15 minutes, while Gerald Green returned from a broken foot to add 13 points to the Rockets bloated total.
"I grinded for two and a half, almost three years to get back to this point, Cousins said. "I felt incredible. I feel healthy, legs underneath me, incredible opportunity to be back out on the floor playing the that I love, and I'm grateful for this moment, so I couldn't ask for a better night, I felt like everything went perfect."
The Rockets played without three likely starters, Christian Wood (elbow) while James Harden and P.J. Tucker didn't travel with the team to Chicago, but Eric Gordon played a team-high 20 minutes and scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
"Eric was awesome in the first half and attacking gaps that were available, because we were playing five out and we had De Marcus out there, stretching the defense," Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said.
Houston never trailed in the game and scored 102 points in the game's first three quarters, taking a 30-point lead into fourth period. The Rockets connected on 24-of-52 three pointers and finished the contest with just five turnovers to the Bulls to the Bulls 20.
The Rockets will stay in Chicago for the remainder of the weekend and play the Bulls again on Sunday night before traveling back to Houston to play two preseason games against the San Antonio Spurs.