Jabari Smith Jr. Quickly Evolving Into Rockets' Late-Game Assassin

Jabari Smith Jr.'s Summer League heroics was the latest example of the second-year prospect becoming a late-game assassin for the Houston Rockets.

As part of Jabari Smith Jr.'s ongoing evolution, the second-year prospect from Auburn University is quickly developing a clutch gene.

"Coach drew up a play for me to catch it around the halfcourt line — he trusted me," Smith said. "Tari [Eason] could not have made a better pass. I caught it. I turned around and shot it."  

Smith scored 33 points to lead the Houston Rockets to a 100-99 Summer League victory over the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night. He scored 28 points in the second half, which included his most significant highlight with 0.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

With the Rockets down by two, Smith received an inbound pass from Eason and connected on a game-winning 3-point field goal at the buzzer.

Smith's game-winner may have been stunning to casual basketball fans inside the Thomas & Mack Center. But to Smith's fans and teammates, his ability to excel in clutch moments is starting to become the norm.

"The theory of everything, I wanted Tari to take it out and find Jabari," Summer League coach Ben Sullivan said. "I don't know how Tari made that hook pass. But from my angle, I don't think Jabari brought the ball down. He let it go and fortunately, it went in."

Since finding his groove during the second half of his rookie campaign, Smith has scored three go-ahead field goals with five or fewer seconds left in regulation.

His first came in the Rockets' 134-125 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers on March 9. Smith connected on a contested triple to send the game into overtime. But his first career game-winning field goal came 10 days later in a 114-112 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Smith drilled the shot over the top of Pelicans' forward Naji Marshall. He described the moment as if he was in a video game. Smith said his mind went blank for a moment, and all he saw was his defender and the basket inside the Toyota Center.

At 20 years old, Smith did not feel he was in a position to pass on the opportunity to compete in the Summer League tournament as a sophomore. 

His goal is to lead Houston to the Summer League championship to help the franchise re-establish a winning culture. But Smith's top objective is to build upon the foundation of his rookie season.

Against the Trail Blazers, Smith demonstrated how offensively sound he is becoming ahead of his second season. But the final play of Game 1 showcased how Smith is quickly establishing himself as the Rockets' late-game assassin following another game-winning basket.

"My rookie year wasn’t perfect — it wasn’t great," Smith said. "Why not come out here and get reps, play with refs, play with my new teammates, play with my coaches, and get a feel? I feel like any second year guy should be open to play just because of the opportunity."

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