HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Before his team played him for the fourth and final time this season, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was effusive in his praise of Jalen Green.
“I love the kid’s game. He’s gonna be a star,” the Lakers coach said.
Green lived up to the hype on Wednesday night by leading all scorers with a career-high 32 points on 13-of-21 shooting in the Rockets 139-130 overtime win. It was Green’s 18th straight game scoring in double-figures, and he has hit the 20-point mark in 7-of-9 games.
“I don't think he shot a bad shot tonight, and not a rushed shot,” Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said. “Every shot was calculated, and a shot that he had worked on before.”
The Lakers were physical with Green from the start of the game and limited him to 13 points through the game’s first three quarters, but he erupted with the game on the line. He scored the Rockets final six points of what was a nine-point fourth quarter, and he scored the first seven points of overtime, and putting up 10 total in the extra period. He connected on six of his last seven shots.
“We just gave the ball to Jalen and just watched,” Rockets center Alperen Sengun said through a translator. “He was so good today.”
In just his sixth NBA game, Green was held to seven points on 2-of-8 shooting against the Lakers on October 31, but scored 24 points against them two nights later, 24 on December 28, before Wednesday’s outburst, while shooting 57.7 percent from the field in those games.
“He has great shot making ability,” Lakers star LeBron James said. “Everybody looks at his athletic ability, but his ability to make shots, he's been doing this for quite a long time now, going all the way back to high school."
James first saw Green play when he was on the AAU circuit in middle and he still has the same confidence now as he did then.
"I feel like he's just getting better and better, and the great thing about him being (in Houston) is they're a super young group besides a few guys, and it's allowing him to make mistakes and learn on the fly, and that's definitely gonna benefit him."
After a rocky start to his rookie campaign, Green is averaging 19.1 points on 48.3 percent shooting over his last 16 games. He is beginning to state his case as the Rockets best player, but on Wednesday he had something else to prove: “That I’m the best rookie. That I’m the best player on the court right now.”