HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Jae'Sean Tate didn't fill up the stat sheet during the Rockets 106-95 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, but as the team turned an eight-point deficit late in the third quarter to a two point lead in the fourth, it was Tate who found himself in the middle of everything.
"He was the reason why we had that run in the third quarter," Rockets forward Dillon Brooks said.
Tate found a way to impact the Rockets second half rally, despite managing to score just four points in 12 minutes. After he made two free throws to trim the Warriors lead to six in the final seconds of the third period, Tate was all over the place as the Rockets scored the first six points of the fourth to tie the game.
"His physicality, his versatility, and I think he was a really big part in what transpired in that third and fourth (quarter) when he brought us back," Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said. "His toughness and making plays and his aggressiveness and his focus, attention to detail, all those things that we gotta have everybody have."
After playing in all but six games his first two NBA season, Tate was only able to play in 31 games last season due to an ankle injury. He played a total of 29 minutes during the Rockets first two games of this campaign, but on Sunday he was too valuable to keep on the bench.
"He was incredible," Rockets guard Fred VanVleet said. "He played a hell of a game with his fight and his tenacity, inside there getting 50-50 balls, making plays at the rim, steals, blocks, coming down, scoring, putting pressure on the rim, he was huge for us tonight."
"That's how I need to play every night," Tate said. "That's kind of my role on this team."
Tate didn't play the final 3:47 of the game after suffering a cut on his left middle finger that required multiple stitches.
"I'll be all right," he insisted.
Entering his fourth NBA season, no player has been with the Rockets longer than Tate, who went undrafted out of Ohio State and played in Belgium and Australia before getting his shot with the Rockets.
"Me and him are kind of the same," Brooks said. "We bring that energy every single night. He finds ways to impact the game."
