[autotag]Jabari Smith Jr.[/autotag] didn’t have the rookie season many were expecting but his second season is off to a great start. He made a wild buzzer-beating 3-point shot to lead the Houston Rockets to a 100-99 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night in Las Vegas.
Smith took over for the Rockets in the final 30 seconds of the game.
He made six straight free throws to cut the Trail Blazers lead to 98-97 with 9 seconds to go. He then blocked an attempted alley-oop by Ibou Badji with 0.6 seconds left to keep the Rockets alive.
The former Tiger then caught the inbounds at the top of the key and heaved in the game-winner.
JABARI SMITH JR. WITH THE WILD TRIPLE FOR THE ROCKETS WIN!
WHAT A WAY TO OPEN #NBA2KSummerLeague! pic.twitter.com/qYhOWcLbvN
— NBA (@NBA) July 8, 2023
Smith scored the final nine points of the game for the Rockets to finish with a game-high 33 points. He had an efficient night from the field, making 44.4% of his shots from the floor, 37.5% from 3-point range, and going 14-of-17 from the free-throw line.
He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team last season after averaging 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Rockets.
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