HOUSTON — If we’re being honest, no one outside the city looked at the Rockets’ schedule and said that Friday night’s matchup between Houston and the Detroit Pistons was a game to watch.
If we are honest with one another, there were probably fans within Houston that chose to participate and watch the other activities.
Buy Rockets TicketsThere were different events near Toyota Center, such as concerts and the annual fan fest surrounding the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as the city hosts the Final Four at NRG Stadium.
Over at Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros held their ring ceremony Friday as they received their 2022 World Series championship rings before taking on the Chicago White Sox.
So, a matchup between two teams with a combined win total of 34 (Houston 18, Detroit 16) games barely moved the needle — unless you did not want to fight the crowds at the other events.
Yet, fans at Toyota Center took in a glimpse into what the young Rockets can become in the future as Houston defeated Detroit, 121-115. The Rockets have now won four of their last six games at home.
The dynamic backcourt of Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green carried over momentum from their previous game in Brooklyn, where they came up short in the fourth quarter. Porter finished the game with 33 points, and Green scored 32 to help the Rockets end a seven-game losing streak and sweep the season series over the Pistons.
It was the first time this season and the third time ever that Green and Porter scored 30-plus points in the same game. The previous times were in 2022 against the Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn Nets.
“They know how much confidence I have in them,” said Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas about Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green. The two guards combined for 65 points in a 121-115 victory over the Detroit Pistons. #Rockets #Sarge pic.twitter.com/xTdi3eBJLc
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) April 1, 2023
“We wanted this one bad,” Porter told reporters postgame. “Definitely, the last couple of games, we felt like we should have closed some out. We knew that Detroit was our first home game back, and we definitely wanted this one to start off our home stretch.”
Porter also had four steals while making 7-of-13 attempts from 3-point range. He became one of only two Rockets to have ever recorded at least 30 points, four steals, and seven made 3-pointers in a game, joining former franchise icon James Harden — who completed the feat four times during his Houston playing days.
As for Green, he continued his upward trajectory as he looks to become one of the NBA’s future stars. He added 5 assists with his 32 points, which gave him five straight games with four or more assists. Beyond that, Green now has the ninth-most 30-point games by a player 21 years old or younger through his first 139 career played.
One reason Porter and Green had so much success Friday was due to a pick-and-roll play that assistant coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah recently drew up to help relieve some of the defensive pressure that the two young guards have continuously faced this sseason.
“Mahmoud’s been telling me to put that pick and roll in for a month, and I finally did it tonight,” said Rockets head coach Stephen Silas. “Rick Higgins was like, ‘Put it in,’ so I put it in, and they went. They were playing off each other, getting downhill. They drew the second defender to make the play to the other one. They were just playing off each other. I think we saw a lot less of them kind of bouncing things out and more of them just attacking and making the reads.”
Silas knows that his young backcourt tandem with Porter and Green has potential. While some of their inexperience occasionally seeps through and affects their production, he still believes in them and what they can accomplish on the court.
“They know how much confidence I have in them,” Silas said. “If they don’t know how much confidence I have in them, then something’s wrong. I was proud of the way they played.”
On Sunday, Houston continues its final homestand of the 2022-23 season by hosting the Los Angeles Lakers at Toyota Center.
