Fil-Am Jalen Green Rising as Rockets take down Devin Booker, Suns in Arizona shootout, 122-121
By Emmanuel Rivera, RRT PhilBoxing.com Sat, 03 Dec 2022
December 2, 2022
Long story short, the Rockets (6-16), the worst team in the Western Conference, beat the best in the West Suns (15-7)- snapping the top-seed’s 6-game win streak at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Jalen Green, rookie star of Filipino and American descent, poured 21 of his 30 points in the second half and helped the Houston Rockets overcome a 16-point hole defeating the Phoenix Suns 122-121 on Friday night.
“That's what I want to be known as in this league, a two-way player who is also a scorer,” the 20-year-old Green said humbly assessing his performance, (30 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists), “I've got to start somewhere.” (source: NBA .com as quoted by ESPN).
In the final two minutes of the game, the Rockets blew a 6-point lead despite the significant output of Jabari Smith Jr. who scored 17 points (6 rebounds) and Kevin Porter Jr. who dropped 15 points (7 assists).
With 49 seconds left, the Suns’ Devin Booker then Cameron Payne tied the game at 121-all with back-to-back treys.
The final 28.8 seconds seemed like an eternity for the Suns, as Mikal Bridges fouled Green who made 1 of 2 free throws to push Houston up by a point, 122-121.
The Suns then desperately tried four times to close the show but failed due to consecutive misses by Payne, Booker, Bridges and, lastly, Booker at short range just before the buzzer sounded.
The three-time All-Star Devin Booker’s last-second miss negated an otherwise sterling performance scoring 41 points on 15-of-25 shooting.
In sum, the Suns converted 45 of 85 baskets (52.9% FG) and sank 17 of 37 treys (46.9% 3-PT).
By contrast, the Rockets sank 40 of 81 of 81 buckets (49.4 % FG) and sniped only 8 of 24 from downtown (33.3% 3-OT).
In basketball, you only have to lead by at least one point in order to win.
Tonight, the tenacious Houston Rockets did just that.
Upcoming:
Houston Rockets: Visit Golden State Warriors on Saturday, December 3, 2022
Phoenix Suns: Visit San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
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