'I love Silas': Mavs Christian Wood Shares Adoration For Rockets Coach Stephen Silas
HOUSTON — When Christian Wood takes the floor of the American Airlines Center Wednesday night, the game will mark his third career match against the Houston Rockets.
Dec. 14, 2019, marked the last time Wood faced the Rockets as an opponent. He was an unknown prospect trying to find his way. Wood took advantage of his opportunity to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 115-107 victory over Houston, where he recorded 12 rebounds and 11 points.
Now a member of the Dallas Mavericks, Wood has established himself as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate 12 games into the 2022-23 campaign, and he owes a significant amount of gratitude to Rockets coach Stephen Silas.
"I love Silas," Wood said during Mavericks' media day in September. "He was always good to me. He was an honest man and coach — especially on the court. I loved playing for him."
Since working with Silas after joining the Rockets in 2020, Wood has established himself as one of the finest big men in the league following a turbulent start to his NBA career.
Wood was arguably the Rockets' best player during the early stages of a rebuild after averaging 19.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks across 109 games. But despite Wood's near all-star production, Houston registered 37 wins over the previous two seasons.
The Rockets made their first noteworthy move of the summer by sending Wood to the Mavericks in June. Wood is in the best situation of his career, finding a fine blend of on-court production and winning.
"This will be a huge opportunity for me," Wood said. "After you lose a certain number of times, you start to get motivated to win. Even when I was with Houston, my main goal was to try and win as many games as possible. I am more motivated than I've been before because I want to win."
While appearing in 10 of the first dozen games, Wood has averaged 15.9 points on 57.4/41.9/69.0 shooting splits and 7.5 rebounds. The Rockets will play their first of four meetings against the Mavericks in a road match on Wednesday. Tipp-off is slated for 7:30 PM CT.
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