CHICAGO (SportsRadio 610)- With the game tied at 112 and 23.2 seconds left on the clock, Jabari Smith Jr found himself on an island against one of the NBA's best and craftiest isolation players.
Over the course of his 14 NBA seasons, DeMar DeRozan has made a living out of making opposing defenders look silly, and for 20 seconds he tried to do the same to Smith, but the Rockets second-year forward didn't break.
"That was big for him, for his growth and development," Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said after the Rockets 124-119 overtime loss in Chicago on Wednesday.
With the Rockets over the foul limit, DeRozan took the inbounds pass and waited on the left wing for 12 seconds. He then took two dribbles with his left hand, two with his right, tried a crossover, before taking a couple of steps backwards. He then had to settle for a contested 20-footer with 3.5 seconds left that missed long.
"You're not gonna stop what he's getting to, but just trying to make it tough on him, and I think I did that," Smith said. "He shot a tough fadeaway, a shot that he's made a lot of times."
With Smith spending a good amount of time on him, DeRozan finished Wednesday's game with 19 points on just 5-of-19 shooting, and at the offensive end, the 20-year old connected on half of his 14 field goal attempts, scoring 18 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
"He played great defense," Rockets center Alperen Sengun said. "He been doing great defense. Every day, (he's) our best player. He is so focused on defense. He makes shots. He's important for us."
Smith's offensive efficiency has taken a big leap in his second NBA season, after Wedensday's game his shooting has increased to 47.4 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from behind the three-point line from 40.8 percent and 30.7 percent as a rookie, but his defense is where he believes he's made the biggest leap.
"I think as a rookie I couldn't guard.
"I think my consistency, just playing hard has improved. Just knowing where to be on defense, being able to help more, being in the right spot. Still have a long way to go, but I think it's definitely improved."
Along with defending DeRozan, Smith spent a good chunk of time guarding centers Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond, giving him a level of versatility that makes him incredibly valuable today and in the future.
"It's just a matter of kind of getting those matchups under his belt," Udoka said. "I think a lot of guys saw that for the first time tonight. We talked about DeRozan's pump fake sweep through and all the things. Some of our rookies went for it, and so they just got to get accustomed to certain guys, and I think Jabari is getting more used to that in his second year."
