ESPN SC | Jalen Green is finally turning into a STAR! – Tim Legler on Rockets’ OT win over Thunder

ESPN SC | Jalen Green is finally turning into a STAR! – Tim Legler on Rockets’ OT win over Thunder

Pi up a road win and one of the toughest places to get a road win Oklahoma City they were on the second night of a back-to-back and without Shay gild just Alexander but who cares about those details the Rockets are streaking and they put up 132 on the Thunder to make

It 10 straight wins what stood out to you about this game first thing that stood out is if if uh you just watched overtime only like those five minutes of basketball that was about as entertaining as any full game I’ve watched all year overtime was amazing in

This game with the with the shot making and even some of the plays down the stretch that led to overtime look this is a great win I don’t care if Shay Gil just Alexander played or not man Oklahoma City has enough of a core there

To still be able to do it without him and they’re at home and they took the lead and it looked like early in the fourth quarter like they had this game under control and it looked like with golden state you know eventually winning that game you know this would have put

Them potentially two back if they drop it without the tiebreaker with the Warriors it it would put it would put less significance on their game next Thursday if they’re two back right so that’s what you’re looking at here and they they dug deep man they made the

Plays down the stretch Dylan Brooks was incredible when he had to be offensively Jaylen green man what a stretch he is on right now and he was again Sensational last night I was impressed man with how how bad they obviously wanted to win this game and and how hard they dug in

To make the plays that they needed to uh down the stretch so give Houston all the credit there’s nothing like a winning streak in sports but there’s like an energy and a belief a team gets and it elevates their play and you saw that last night that was a Rockets team

That’s starting to believe in themselves they have incredible energy uh and after that game some of the celebration that was coming from that team was one of hey we can see it we can taste it this this is our this is our moment and what a big

Moment it would be for them but my the story for me there’s two stories number one it’s going to be Jaylen green but to set the table for Jaylen green the thing that stood out to me about this game Chad holgren only plays 18 minutes and

Fouls out he was already as small a thin big but this game was so tiny there was most of the game was played without any bigs on the court and when I say bigs I don’t just mean no centers I’m I’m talking Dylan Brooks at Center you know

You were playing two ways with with tiny guys so that’s what stood out to me is Houston without shenon is going really small spreading teams out and to a degree that every team plays small this was some of the smallest basketball I’ve watched and I think that’s why it was

Such a high-scoring game I agree with that it it that’s what it looked like at one point you looked like you know you just had like 10 wings on the court um and that’s how they decided matters I want to focus on jayen green right now

Because I look I don’t know to what extent maybe people now nationally are starting to pay a little more attention to the rockets and Jaylen green you know he’s always going to have probably had his group of fans that loved him coming out or whatever it took some time and I

Thought early in year you and I had a conversation about Jaylen green and we kind of were on the same page I didn’t know if Jaylen green was just G to be another one of those guys that was like super athletic and blazing fast but like

Never really played in a way that made you think that he totally understood what he was trying to get done he was never going to be efficient you know probably a 41% type shooter like year after year like right around 30 from the three like that kind of player because

He’s not really a point guard he’s not a point guard he’s a he’s an attacking lead guard and guess what there’s a lot of those guys in the league and you can win with those guys me some teams like that’s the primary source of their offense you can make plays for other

People but the main thing you’re gonna do is score right and just be that aggressive score that’s what he is and if you’re not doing that efficiently Adam it’s kind of ugly to watch it’s not fun to watch a guy that plays that way that’s not efficient even if he gets to

20 25 it’s just like okay well that was kind of ugly to watch that wasn’t really team basketball whatever when you look at what this guy is doing right now this he’s I’m sorry but he’s electrifying Adam I’m watching him last night I’m saying to myself is

There a guy in the league that’s quicker to the rim from like when a ball screen set beyond the three-point line and and like the big jumps out and he turns the corner on that guy I don’t think there’s anybody in the league that gets to the

Rim quicker from 28 feet to the rim I thought tyres Maxi was like the quickest guy at that Darren foxes can be lightning quick at that I don’t know man man I think Jaylen green might be the one and when you watched him last night I saw a combination of players and

People lose their minds when you do this because they think you’re comparing them to these guys careers I’m not doing that you’re telling me right now you don’t see some John Mor in this guy yeah you don’t you don’t see some Russell Westbrook in this guy because I see both

Of those things I even see a little bit of Iverson in this guy in his in his um right quickness fearlessness too fearlessness to take hits and that’s kind of like as well then like the way that they jump and then figure it out in

The air that’s kind of like Jah and they end up shooting a reverse layup and you can’t even believe they got the ball to the other side of the rim like where they jumped from like stuff like that um that’s what he reminded me of when I was

Watching him last night and and by the way he’s shooting 43% from the three in the month of March he’s shooting 50 from the field so forget all that lack of efficiency talk he’s doing it and he’s doing it in a big ways during this 10

Game winning he has eight games with 27 points or more eight yeah and he’s clearly the driving force of their offense he can he can do whatever he wants offensively the ball is a magnet to get back to him when he gives it up because he’s so impossible to keep

Really from being out of the lane and then when he’s making threes the way that he was last night and the way that he was during the stretch you now have a guy that’s really difficult to deal with and you can see it last night so I was

Super impressed with him last night super impressed with him during this streak and I think I’m changing my my opinion ultimately about what his ceiling is going to be wow the guy you mentioned a couple big names and I definitely see it this is all a same

Mold of of skill it’s that first step is just so quick long stride super bouncy and then Fearless Zack lavine’s another guy I would probably compare him to and that Zack LaVine could just go zero to 60 with long one long stride and then bounce and the bounce almost like he

Gets speed and then it propels him into these crazy acrobatic uh attacks at The Rim so that’s the guy that I was kind of physically would comp him to but he over the streak 30 points per game 51 46 79 splits that’s phenomenal that Superstar efficiency I think there’s two things

Working in their favor right now without shenon and this is the interesting question last year under coach Silas Jaylen green I thought had more control of the offense shenon taking a little bit of a back seat this year shanon’s taking more control of the offense and Jaylen Green’s having you know a down

Year relative to his previous years I even Rockets fans we talked earlier about is he part of the long-term plan well shenon goes down and now he’s back to having an open paint and attacking so it’s making me wonder one about the compatibility of those two players but

I’m gonna phrase it a different way do you think the open paint is more to credit for Jaylen Green’s uh rise here over this last 10-15 games or do you think it’s more just the confidence you get from being able to not have to worry

About where you fit in now I fit in where I want to fit in I could take the shots which one do you think has been more impactful on this r of his the second the latter thing that you said there’s no doubt he’s feeling it now and

He’s he’s he’s feels like the game now is can be instinctive to him and go ble be what I want to be and not overthink this and I think that’s when you add shenon to the mix and a little bit slightly more crowded paint yeah but I

Think if Jaylen green was operating at this level from a confidence standpoint he’d still be able to do that with shenon on the court because shenon still spends decent amount of enough time in the perimeter there’s going to be opportunities and angles for him to

Attack and get there no this is a guy that right now is is every night he’s kind of going out there and it feels like you know he’s on some team that he played on when he was younger where like you know it was completely his team and

He was the man and that’s he’s carrying himself like that now and he’s delivering on it so yeah man for me I’m telling you like I I was with you I think and I think you’re still I could tell by what I said a second your reaction you’re you’re kind of still

Like that look I’m not saying yeah I’m ready to go ahead and that’s that’s let add him into the mix of young superstars on the rise I’m not there yet what I’m saying though is he’s changed my mind at least to reconsider what I thought ultimately this guy was gonna be because

I was picturing a guy like his whole career being between 18 and 21 points shooting 40% from the field and maybe not on good teams I don’t know that I feel that way anymore I feel like there’s more there so I’m gonna certainly he deserves I think to have

That conversation Revisited when you go on a stretch like this and you’re winning games it’s not like they’re losing games they’re not three and seven in 10 game stretch they’re winning every night and by the way the plays he’s making like at the end of this game like

Some of the finishes he had some of the threes that he made they had to have those and he delivered on it so I’m like I said man I’m revisiting at least being open-minded about ultimately what this means for Jaylen green and you know maybe look at maybe it’s this year maybe

It’s uh not because I don’t know if they’re going to catch Golden State last night was a great opportunity and Steph Curry just did not let that happen by by what he did late in that game with Orlando you know maybe it’s not this year maybe they don’t make the plan

Maybe they make the plan they lose the first game I don’t know at some point you see Jaylen green you know take that stage with another Elite level guard in like one of these matchups we’re dying to see and see how he carries himself in a best of seven series that’s down the

Road man that’s coming and I think that ultimately maybe will change a lot of people’s minds if he can get there and certainly play anything like this well I don’t like the on any players especially young players so I you know Jaylen green here’s what I’ll say that mold of player the scoring

Guard especially one that relies on talent and skill to me that’s the slowest developing player I think you’re always it’s so dangerous to draft a player like that because often years one and two are rough and if they hit it’s year three and four and a team has to

Make such an investment before it starts to get there you even think about Kobe Bryant’s early career his first couple years turns out to be one of the greatest players ever but it took several years years coming in at 18 to be able to become you know a positive

Impact player I think Jaylen green if you’re an optimist you’re looking at that and saying we’ve always seen the talent there the underlying talent but can you put it together oftentimes it’s year three or year four where that player puts it together and that might be uh what we’re seeing from him right

Now so real quick do you agree with that that the toughest mold of player to develop the longest runway is either for point guards like true traditional point guards or for score or undersized scoring guards meaning thin scoring Arts no doubt there no question about it and

Usually most of those guys and by the way he’s listed at 64 does he not look significantly bigger than that like he’s so skinny he and his arms are so long like there there are times like if you didn’t know what number he wore there were times like you like is that Jaylen

Green like that he just looks like a small forward like but they say 6’4 I’ll go with it 186 pounds like that’s what his that’s what his page is listed at man okay look I’m not not you know I’m not a bodybuilder but you know whatever

I got a little bit of Mass on me I was like 64 210 yeah as a shooter in the league I was primarily a shooter this dude 6486 like you’re right rail thin um he just I’ll I’ll say this man he is he is be he is one of those

Guys like it or not that you got to watch right now because he’s exciting and to your point I agree with you it is hard and usually Adam those guys that are like the undersized scorer scoring guard which is really what you’re talking about what do those guys oftentimes become you know

What they become they become Jordan Clarkson they become Jamal Crawford like they become right that Bobby Jackson back in the day they become that like man you know they they wanted to be like a point guard but they like shooting too much so we can’t do that so now you got

To play a different style but can you really carry a team playing that way probably not so you know what we’re going to do we’re going to bring you off the bench limit your minutes and then do what you want in those 25 minutes though

Like be you but we can’t have that for like 38 40 minutes and I don’t know right now he is doing that in those 38 40 minutes and he’s playing that way and it’s leading to wins so let’s just keep riding this man and keep watching this

Team and see where this goes and still man got next Thursday circled Houston Golden State like that if this stays like this better off actually if they’re tied going into that game because if if Houston is one back even if they win next Thursday Golden State’s got the

Tiebreaker right so they still control it so you really want to have drama have those two teams be tied going into next Thursday night which you know the way Houston’s playing could could happen what else so outside of Jaylen green who obviously has been fantastic I think we

Gave him a lot of love here who else from Houston has stood out to you in this game well I thought well clearly last night uh Dylan Brooks was you know was Sensational in this game with some of the plays he made and like I’m not necessarily the biggest Dylan Brooks fan

But you can’t uh deny how well he played and then amen Thompson was incredible last night you know and he’s you know he he’s exciting to me he’s exciting because he also and he’s longer and he likes to defend and he’s he’s a guy that had his imprints all over that game last

Night um just look man they got a young team remember we did the debate while back Orlando’s core Houston’s core and we had a great debate about that man and when you watch a game like last night you see way some of these young guys played you’re like wow that’s really

That’s you know is it is it tilted more and they even have shenon is it tilted more toward Houston but amen Thompson was great too I love amen Thompson 15 rebounds by the way and he does it a lot he’s a rebounder he’s an incredible

Rebounder as a wing and then so I love his game and then by the way you didn’t even mention tar een who’s another guy I really love who’s not you know obviously playing right now so they have two guys that you add to this mix if you can

Jabari Smith I thought would be a guy maybe you brought up here didn’t four of 10 two of five from three but he hit a big one late in the game and he’s another guy that I just see I would not be surprised if his curve is steep

Because I love one the the size and the shot those things alone are going to make you an incredibly Valuable Player but I just like his feel for the game his sense of the game I do too it’s and he is a guy that’s going to get probably

Overshadowed here as this core grows together because of the electrifying nature with which Jaylen green plays like your just eyes are drawn more to him and Jabari is more like he’s going to do things a little bit more fundamentally sound but a very very good player and I think helps helps

Complement those guys tremendously because he’s got a great IQ and a great feel for the game and you need some of that you know to balance out just this this raw energy yeah it’s almost like you have Jabari Smith I’m in Thompson I know I’m in Thompson a little raw with his shot

And and different skills but fun guys that I think see the game and and and play f one V spee spee pause rewind First Blood oh lit you have been defeated enemy double kill enemy triple kill Ace triple kill stepping Through Time to Kill enemy Onslaught an ally has been defe e e

E e e e e e e e e e e e e e for

ESPN SC | Jalen Green is finally turning into a STAR! – Tim Legler on Rockets beat Thunder in OT for 10th straight victory