Team gets chance to gauge growth
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Rockets have long understood there will be no playoffs again this season. No member of their rotation has ever experienced the postseason, with its different level of intensity, the electricity in the building, the buildup in the days leading to those special nights.
They got a taste Wednesday.
With Ja Morant’s return from his suspension, FedExForum was packed, and the Grizzlies were driven to celebrate, inspired to make the night memorable.
“I’m not sure we’ve had an emotional night on the road, but I think we responded pretty well,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said after the 130-125 loss. “We kind of settled down and knew what it was going to be. I told them before the game it was going to be an emotional game, and there was going to be energy in the building. Once it happened, maybe we were staggered a little bit, but we got back.”
Rockets visits don’t often inspire such emotion. There can be a take-careof-business approach through much of the season, with only the late push for playoff spots or positioning bringing greater levels of intensity.
The Rockets felt the difference Wednesday, the first game of a pair against the Grizzlies this week to start a five-game road trip entirely against teams in the top six of their conferences. While the road trip is certain to be “a beast,” as Silas put it, it could turn out to be beneficial. It was Wednesday.
“It was fun,” Rockets guard Jalen Green said. “I think everyone rose to the occasion. The energy in the building was good. I think we fed off that.
“We’re getting the best of everybody, right now. Our goal for the rest of the season is just to mess the standings up. Everybody’s trying to get their best (positioning) for the playoffs. We’re trying to finish the season strong, stay together, hopefully take the momentum into next season.”
There are lessons to be learned from those experience, as much as the Rockets have sought to glean something from a season stuck on the bottom of the standings.
Silas cited “those little details that you need to get over the hump in a game like this” that the Rockets let get away with turnovers on fast breaks, missed free throws and a technical foul, all in the fourth quarter.
“Completing plays throughout the game, the lobs that we had in transition that were thrown out of bounds, the little things that are just careless mistakes, those things bite you in the fourth quarter,” he said.
“It was the little things that cost us the game; technical, missed free throws, careless turnovers,” forward K.J. Martin, who had a career-high 31 points, said. “I feel like if we can clean that up, we can see as a unit what we can bring to the game every game. We just need to clean those things up.”
Yet, as the Rockets considered the little things that make a big difference, they also knew that the gap between them and one of the teams they aspire to become had narrowed.
“We’re growing and we’re learning,” Rockets center Alperen Sengun said. “We’re playing stronger. We’re playing hard. We’re learning. We’re starting to grow. Like, I’m seeing Tari (Eason) and Jabari (Smith Jr.). Tari is different. He’s like a grown … man. Jabari is different.”
Beyond different than they had been when they were routinely walloped by top teams playing in such environments, there were similarities between the Grizzlies stars and Rockets’ potential.
While Morant returned and displayed his implausible athleticism and uncanny knack for finishing through contact and crowds, Green showed similar attributes, scoring 32 points on 10 of 18 shooting.
“There’s a couple parts to it,” Silas said of his second-year guard becoming the force Morant has been in his third and fourth seasons. “There’s the strength part. I’m not sure that he’s a lot stronger than Jalen, but Jalen is only going to get a lot stronger. And then there’s the ballhandling part of it where Ja is probably a couple steps ahead of Jalen when it comes to ballhandling and attacking blitzes. He’s been in the league for longer. I see the similarities and I see Jalen continuing to improve.”
While Jaren Jackson Jr. was dominant, Smith flashed similar attributes. The gap is greater but so is the difference in age ( Jackson is 23, Smith 19) and size (Jackson carries 242 pounds, Smith 213.)
“There are some similarities there,” Silas said. “The size and strength of Jaren makes it a little easier for him to come in and do what he does in comparison to a 19-year-old Jabari. But 22-year-old Jabari will be strong and be able to recognize things earlier as far as the anticipation Jaren has as far as his shotblocking. It will be something that will develop for Jabari, as well.”
Still, there is no denying the distance between a 4527 team that is second in the West and an 18-55 team that is last.
The goal is to use experiences like Wednesday’s to get there.
“It’s always good to play against a young team who (is where) we’re trying to get,” Green said. “It’s good going out and competing against them, putting up a fight against a team like that.”