The Rockets prayer started with Jalen and ended with Amen
In what unintentionally became a home-and-home series, the Houston Rockets got together for the third time this season with the Memphis Grizzlies and the home team showed the grit and toughness Rockets fans are beginning to fall in love with.
The in the first quarter it looked like Jalen Green and Ja Morant might just play full court one-on-one as they both came out aggressive and firing. On the first play of the game Jalen made the decision to go under and Edey screen that allowed Morant to get a wide open three-point shot that he buried, and that seemingly set the tone for him and the Grizzlies who scored 30 points in each the first three quarters.
Rockets had some missed assignments that allowed the Grizzlies to shoot 51 percent from the floor in the first half. Fortunately, Jalen green was on fire, scoring 22 points in the first half on 8/10 shooting, including 3/3 from the three-point line. He and Cam Whitmore’s 10 first half points off the bench kept the Rockets in the game after falling down by double digits in the second quarter. They briefly took the lead until Tony Brothers made a call that even now no one is really sure what it was. But gave the Rockets a turnover, and it allowed the Grizz to go on a 6-2 run and take a 60-57 lead into the half.
The second half started out competitively up until the point that Dillon Brooks drew a technical foul on Desmond Bane, and it appeared for that moment that Brooks merely adopted the dark, and Bane was born in it. Bane owned the third quarter, and the lead reached 91-78 with less than two minutes to go in the third. That was when the Rockets went on a 9-1 run to end the quarter and cut the deficit to five points at 92-87.
The Rockets saw the deficit reach double digits again in the fourth, but they kept fighting. Despite foul trouble from Sengun and Dillon Brooks, the Rockets were fueled by Jalen Green and Amen Thompson. A 16-2 run gave the Rockets a brief 107-105 lead with less than five to go. From that moment on it was a rollercoaster affair. Jalen Green carried the Rockets offensively as he scored a career high 40 points. Amen Thompson played excellent defense in the fourth, masterfully played in his favorite dunker-spot, and hit two clutch free throws with 8.8 seconds in the game to put the Rockets up 118-115.
Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins chose not to call a time-out, and the Rockets chose to foul Ja Morant and play the free throw game, rather than risk the Grizzlies tying the game with a three. Ja Morant missed both free-throws and Amen grabbed his 13th rebound of the game to go along with his 4 assists, 5 blocks, and 2 steals. After Fred VanVleet laced two free-throws, Desmond Bane hit a meaningless three-pointer giving the Rockets the gutsy win 120-118, giving them the ever-important tiebreaker over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Rockets are now 26-12 on the season which is good enough for second place in the Western Conference, just 5 games back of the Thunder. The Rockets hit the road for a three-game trip staring in Denver on Wednesday versus the Nuggets. Catch the game on Space City Home Network, or listen on Sports Talk 790 AM.