Rockets insider: An aggressive Jalen Green leads the way against Hornets

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jalen Green blasted toward the rim, a machete of a first step slicing through the Hornets’ defense. He took a hit from LaMelo Ball and turned into a twisting, backhanded reverse.

As the shot fell and whistle sounded, Green turned toward the Rockets bench and let out a long, satisfied roar before teammates greeted him with a reception line of high fives.

With that, the Rockets faced the greatest threat on the way to a 138-104 romp past the Hornets on Friday.

Green was risking a debilitating sore throat from all the times he had to punctuate spectacular moves with screams sufficient for the moment.

“My mindset is to be aggressive,” Green said after he scored 36 points in 28 minutes on Friday, giving him consecutive games scoring 20 or more for the first time since a three-game run Dec. 27 through Jan. 1. “That’s pretty much it.”

On Wednesday, after scoring 29 points against the Trail Blazers, Green said he just took what the defense gave him. No team gives as much as the Hornets, and Green began his night taking advantage.

Before long, however, he was taking whatever he wanted.

“We were getting stops and getting in transition,” Green said. “I feel like in transition is where I am at my best. Once this happens, it opens up a lot of things. Just being aggressive all game, from the start to the end.

“There are games when I don’t start aggressive and come into the third and fourth, I’m not aggressive all game. I’m not going to do that anymore.”

Green’s confidence, closely tied to his aggressiveness, had ample cause to have been shaken. He went into the past two games making 39.7% of his shots, 32% of his 3s. Averaging 17.1 points per game before those games, at the time the fewest of his three NBA seasons, he had averaged 12.7 points on 35.6% shooting before Wednesday’s game.

He still misfired from deep, making 2 of 7 3s against the Trail Blazers and 1 of 7 on Friday against the Hornets. But in those two games, he was a combined 21 of 30 inside the 3-point line, becoming especially relentless in attacking the paint on Friday.

“He’s being aggressive, getting in a good rhythm, attacking,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “And then, as always, if we play faster, it benefits him. The more stops we get, the more he gets out and runs, and I think our younger group, the second unit especially, benefits from that, is a big part of that.

“Our defensive effort, … guarding at a pretty high level, and when we get those stops, we could turn that to transition. Jalen had a huge benefit from that.”

That was how much of the game went on its way to a runaway. Through three quarters, when every starter but Fred VanVleet was done for the night, the Rockets were just 5 of 22 on 3s, but had made 30 of 47 shots inside the 3-point line and had scored 58 points in the paint, more than any team averages per game.

Even when they found their 3-point touch in the fourth quarter, with rookie Cam Whitmore hitting three straight 3s to finish with a career high 24 points to go with his career high 11 rebounds, it had ties to the attack of the basket earlier in the game.

Whitmore had missed his first three 3-pointers, but his first three field goals were all at the rim, along with a fourth drive when he drew a foul.

“I know my game more than anybody,” Whitmore said. “If I’m missing open 3s, I got to get to the basket, feel the ball a little bit. Just being more aggressive. That’s what I am.”

Whitmore has shown no lack of self-assurance. In just 20 minutes, he attempted 18 shots, with only Green, who had a few heat-check attempts before exiting the game, attempting more. But Green agreed that he might have needed the past two games to rebuild his confidence.

Getting him back to being a reliable offensive force to go along with Alperen Şengün could be almost as valuable as Friday’s return of the Rockets’ tough defense, an attribute that had regressed as much as Green’s scoring.

“It shows that our identity is when we guard at that level, we’re in good shape,” Udoka said. “So, anytime we can get stops and not have to be playing the halfcourt every time at a slower pace, it benefits a lot of guys.

It benefited Green most of all, as he matched his career high of nine rebounds and had four assists along with his season-high scoring game. But when he struggled, Udoka had sought to pick him up.

“We would have talks and one-on-one sessions, but the coaches do that every day,” Udoka said. “Our thing is to continue to be aggressive, take the right shots, make the right play, and not just rely on your offense to dictate your game. Make the right play, continue to guard and help rebound, all the things that are other ways you can impact the game, and then shots are going to fall eventually.

“With him, I’ve always said be well-rounded, not just let offense dictate his game. But he can score. When he gets that going, everything is much easier for him.”

Udoka had called on the familiar coaching advice when a shooter struggles to concentrate on other areas, and Green had defended and rebounded better through his shooting slump. But he might have needed the breakthrough that began on Wednesday and came on Friday.

“I feel like I’m a confident person already as it is,” Green said. “I worked my whole life to get to the NBA, so that’s the confidence right there. Now it’s just to keep building. That’s where I’m at.”

On Friday, he was in a better place, making that loud and clear.