Not missing any games works to benefit of Eason, Martin
Theirs is a club so exclusive, few members knew it existed.
The charter members receive attention, but those who can claim a place with them don’t give the honor much thought, which turns out to be the only way in.
There are 508 players who have played in the NBA this season. Just 18, including the Rockets’ KJ Martin and Tari Eason, have appeared in every one of their team’s games.
In a season with highprofile nights off, taken in the name of “load management” or “injury maintenance,” there are those who punch in every day and expect to keep on playing.
Most do it because they believe there is no other way.
“It’s not a goal of mine,” Eason said. “It’s just what is expected, you know? If I’m good to go, I’m going to go out there and play every game. It’s a dream come true. It’s the greatest job in the world, so why not play every game if I’m capable?”
As the Rockets prepared to play the Brooklyn Nets and the NBA’s current iron man, Mikal Bridges, on Tuesday, Eason and Martin said they intend to play every game this season.
Bridges’ streak of consecutive games, the NBA’s longest active run, was at 375 after Tuesday.
To keep the streak alive, the NBA had to rule that the game he watched after he was sent to Brooklyn in the Kevin Durant trade did not count as a missed game, with the deal pending and Bridges not eligible to play. The streak is made more impressive because he played in all 116 games when he was at Villanova. Since he played in 56 games with the Suns, he can play in 83 games this season, and there are no indications the Nets will have him end the streak.
“Some things as a coach you want don’t want to think about, and that’s one of the things,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said last month. “Like, you want your dudes available on a nightly basis, and Mikal Bridges is a guy that takes pride in that. He’s done it his whole career, so when you’re thinking about game-planning and what’s next for the team, when you can pen a guy in on a nightly basis, that eases the mind of a coach.”
The Rockets’ everynight players said they have given little thought to the streaks. Martin, who missed three games last season, has played in 111 consecutive games but said, “It just worked out that way.
“I just try to be available every game,” he said. “I know what I could bring to help my team win, help my teammates out.
“If I have game, I’m going to try to be out there. My leg has to be falling off for me to say, ‘All right, I’ll sit down.’ ”
It has not come to that, but the benefits of playing every night have been apparent for Eason and Martin, arguably the Rockets who have improved most during the season.
Since Jan. 15, only Martin, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis have averaged 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists while making at least 57 percent of their shots. Martin’s 12 points, 56.2 percent shooting, and 5.7 rebounds per game are the best of his three NBA seasons.
Eason has come on more recently, averaging 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals and a blocked shot in the last five games while making 54.4 percent of his shots. He is the first Rockets rookie with those numbers in a fivegame stretch since Hakeem Olajuwon in the final month of the 1984-85 season.
The way both have come on in recent weeks would seem to argue against the benefits, at least for them, of sitting out.
“I don’t really feel like load management. If you need it, then you do it,” Eason said. “My first year in the NBA, I feel completely fine. If it came down to that was what I needed to do, I would. But I’m in perfectly good health. I’m fine. I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t go out there and perform.”
Eason did, however, experience a “rookie wall.” He did not look different in his play, bringing consistent energy. But he felt it and went through a midseason stretch of 12 consecutive games scoring in single digits.
“I definitely did feel it, but I tried to push through,” he said. “I try not to let people in on it. I’m not on social media too much. I don’t really talk too much about my struggles. It happens. It happens to everybody. You just have to know your body and how to prepare yourself.”
Martin never experienced that, having spent the first half of his rookie season in the G League. He has, however, increased his playing time from 21 minutes per game last season to 26.9 this season, moving into the starting lineup since Kevin Porter Jr.’s injury Jan. 11 and remaining a starter since Porter returned last week.
Martin, Jae’Sean Tate and Porter are the only players who have been together for all or part of the past three Rockets seasons. The current starting lineup — Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Jalen Green, Martin and Porter — has started just four games together.
“It’s just getting a feel with the new guys,” Martin said. “I mean, I feel like I have a good chemistry with Jalen, Jae’Sean, Alpi (Sengun), KPJ (Porter). So I feel like I’m good with that. Now, it’s just putting in the new guys and figuring out their spots.”
Consistent lineups can help develop chemistry, but that is only possible by consistently being in the lineup. Though no one has played in as many consecutive games as Bridges, the Rockets who have played every night intend to keep playing, the only requirement for membership in the everynight club.
“For sure, for sure,” Martin said. “That’s my plan.”