Jalen Green was playing the best basketball of his rookie season when the All-Star break hit last week, and it carried over on Friday night in Orlando. Green was the Rockets high-scorer with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He also grabbed five rebounds and came up with four steals.
"He must have had three or four deflections on the defensive end," Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said after Friday's 119-111 loss to the Magic. "He got out in transition, turned the corner getting to the rim, making threes. I was really proud of the way he played."
Green is averaging 17.2 points per game in the month of February, and he's been scoring efficiently. He's shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from behind the three-point line. He scored 13.1 points per game in January on 32.8 percent shooting, 23.7 percent from long distance.
"I'm just a lot more confident," Green said. "I feel like nobody can stop me, hold me, and my teammates just gave me the ball. I don't think I'm gonna let anybody stop me, on top of that, I gotta do the best for my team. They need me as much as I need them and that's how we go take our game to another level."
Green's teammates can see his confidence grow each day.
"I think that's just with time and repetition and just playing," Rockets forward Jae'Sean Tate said. "It's still new. There still things we're all still learning. It's still his first year and I just like the way that he's responded."
No one can deny Green's physical gifts, but what has impressed Tate the most is his intelligence which has helped on the defensive end of the floor.
"I can really say that he wants to learn, and he's taking the information and he's putting it into his game. His defense from the start of the year to now is way better. It's not even close, and he got four steals tonight, and his ability to put pressure on the rim in transition. Offensively, he's great, but I'm just proud of the way that he's learned and gotten better on defense."
Green's first NBA campaign probably hasn't gone the way he expected when the Rockets drafted him second overall in July, but as he continues to get better he has a chance to make his mark over the final 23 games of the season and build some momentum going into next season.
"He got the whole team backing him," Tate said. "Y'all stay ready and stay tuned because I'm sure you're going to see some more of it."
