On Monday, March 10, the Houston Rockets hosted the Orlando Magic at the Toyota Center in Houston.
In a physical and competitive contest, the Rockets pulled away in the second half and came away with a 97-84 win.
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Jabari Smith Jr. was the Rockets’ leading scorer, finishing with 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting from deep. Paolo Banchero led the way for the Magic, finishing with 25 points.
Tonight’s game saw Smith placed back into the starting lineup after Amen Thompson suffered an ankle sprain in Saturday night’s blowout win over the Pelicans that will sideline him for the next several games.
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In the postgame press conference, Rockets Head Coach Ime Udoka attributed Smith’s success to his confident mindset and a gameplan that set him up with favorable matchups on offense.
“[Smith had an] all-around aggressive game,” Udoka said. “Even when he was missing shots, he was hunting the right ones, taking the right ones.”
Along with a strong shooting performance, Smith had the highlight of the night on the defensive side. When Orlando’s Trevelin Queen broke free on a fast break in the fourth quarter, Smith rejected his layup attempt, smacking the ball off of the glass.
After the game, Smith said he wanted to be aggressive on defense to keep the Magic from gaining momentum down the stretch.
“I don’t really care about getting dunked on, or anything like that. I’ve gotten dunked on plenty of times,” Smith said. “If they get that bucket, they’re down 10 and they’ve got some action. Whether you finish it or not, we didn’t want to give them a free layup.”
Tonight’s matchup was the first of two between the Rockets and the Magic this season. The cross-conference squads will meet again in Orlando on March 19.
Game recap
First quarter
Houston’s offense struggled to find its footing in the first few minutes of action, and the Rockets scored just six points through the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game. Houston fell behind 15-6.
A spark from Jalen Green seemed to jolt the Rockets awake, as he assisted Alperen Sengun on back-to-back layups and then buried a three. After Sengun converted a shot from the midrange to bring Houston’s deficit to 19-15, Orlando took a timeout.
With the score tied at 19, Steven Adams missed a free throw, and Sengun got the offensive board. While in the paint, Sengun bounced a no-look, behind-the-back bounce pass to a slashing Tari Eason, who rewarded the flashy dish with a converted layup.
Sengun found Adams inside for a dunk on the Rockets’ next possession, and Houston led 23-19 at the end of the first quarter.
Second quarter
The Magic regained the momentum early in the second quarter, knocking down three early three-pointers en route to a 30-27 lead. After a Rockets’ timeout, Jabari Smith Jr. immediately tied the game with a three of his own.
With Paolo Banchero back on the floor, the Magic retook a slim lead that they held for several minutes until Green found Dillon Brooks for a game-tying triple. On Houston’s next possession, Green swished a three to give the Rockets the lead.
A few possessions later, Brooks faked out Banchero with a shifty move into a step-back jumper, which he nailed as the crowd went wild. With just over two minutes remaining, the Rockets led, 47-42, and the Magic took a timeout.
At the half, the Rockets led 51-46. Green led the Rockets in scoring with 12, while Brooks and Adams each had 11. Banchero led the Magic offensively with 15.
Third quarter
Eason got the scoring going in the third, intercepting an errant sideline out-of-bounds pass and taking it the other way for a fast-break jam. Banchero continued to carry the Magic’s offense, scoring a three and a layup to open the Magic’s second half scoring.
Paolo’s efforts to match Houston’s team scoring proved to be insufficient, and the Magic called a timeout after a three-ball from Smith extended the Rockets’ lead to 63-51.
The teams traded baskets from there. The most notable play from the final stretch of the third quarter was a foul called against Houston’s Aaron Holiday. Boos flooded the arena after the replay on the jumbotron revealed that Orlando’s Anthony Black swung his head back to make it appear that he was hit in the face as Holiday set a screen, despite his face not being touched.
At the end of three, the Rockets held a 75-62 advantage.
Fourth quarter
Houston’s Jeff Green got hot from beyond the arc as the fourth got underway, knocking down a pair of early threes to extend the Rockets’ lead to 18 points.
The Magic engineered a quick five-point swing with a Jonathan Isaac three-pointer and a Trevelin Queen steal and dunk. However, Smith nailed a crucial three on the other end to keep the Magic’s minor boost in momentum from turning into anything more.
In quite possibly the biggest highlight of the night, Queen stole an errant pass by Jalen Green and dribbled free on the fast break. As he was laying the ball up, Jabari Smith Jr. flew in from behind and smacked the ball into the backboard. Green corralled the rejection off the glass, and Brooks turned it into a Rockets’ three on the other end that made it a 92-77 ballgame with three-and-a-half minutes to play.
With the Rockets nursing a healthy lead in the game’s final minutes, both squads elected to put in their bench players. Houston walked away with the 97-84 win.
