Jalen Green Says Houston Rockets ‘Grew Up A Lot’ When Taking on the Los Angeles Lakers

Although the Houston Rockets are 1-6 to start the season, there’s a sense of optimism around how good this young Rockets team can be.

Tuesday’s performance against the Los Angeles Lakers (5-3) gave us a glimpse of that. Despite the absence of Eric Gordon and Daniel Theis, the young Rockets core stepped up and had multiple chances to steal a game against the Lakers. Despite their effort, the Lakers outlasted Houston for a 119-117 win.

Still, Rockets guard Jalen Green, who had his hands all over the game with 24 points on 60 percent shooting and five assists, had a positive analysis of his team’s performance against the Lakers:

“This game today was actually super fun,” Green said per the Rockets Wire. “Even though we lost and we wanted that win bad, that was my first time a part of something like that. … It’s all experience at the end of the day.”

“We for sure grew up a lot. I think today showed that we started playing like a team and trusting each other. I don’t think we were doing that before.”

Green, who was selected as the number two pick in the 2021 NBA draft, is currently averaging 14.6 points and 3.3 assists in seven games so far this season. The Rocket’s next opponent is the Suns (3-3) on Thursday.