Houston Rockets' Jalen Green Stays Upbeat Following 0-2 Start

After two straight losses to start the season, Jalen Green spoke about last year's culture and adjustments the Houston Rockets need to make.

The Houston Rockets were a bad team last season. They were tied for the second-worst record in the league, ahead of only the lowly Detroit Pistons.

Much of that had to do with a young and inexperienced roster. Jalen Green, arguably the Rockets’ best player, was excited about the new culture Ime Udoka planned on bringing to the team.

The faith in Udoka goes all the way to the top. General Manager Rafael Stone has given Udoka limitless control on roster construction, assistant coach hires and how practice is run. Former coach Stephen Silas was never given this control.

Of course, Udoka is a proven NBA coach who made a Finals appearance in his lone full season and has been praised by virtually all of his former players. That being said, the new-look Rockets are following in last year’s footsteps, losing in a blowout to the Orlando Magic and in overtime to the San Antonio Spurs to start the season 0-2.

Rockets guard Jalen Green drives to the basket past San Antonio Spurs forwards Victor Wembanyama (1) and Jeremy Sochan during the second half at Frost Bank Center / Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY

Green isn’t letting losses bother him too much. “I think we executed really well. We probably had a couple of turnovers we shouldn’t have had, but everything was good,” Green said after the game. 

“We just didn’t close the game out, which was a very last-year thing of us. Like I said, it’s only game two and we got 80 more of them. So, we’ll figure it out.”

It was a very last-year thing? That’s true! Last year’s Rockets only won four games by a single possession and lost three games just as close. However, they did lose both of their overtime games by at least nine points, so closing out games late was a problem.

The Rockets failed to close out against the Spurs and never had a chance to do so against the Magic. However, it’s only been two games, so Green and Udoka have a full season to implement a new strategy and culture.