Daryl Morey congratulates Ben McLemore on strong playoff debut

In the first playoff game of his seven-year NBA career, McLemore made four of seven 3-pointers, and the Rockets were +27 in his minutes.

6-foot-3 guard Ben McLemore is in the seventh season of his NBA career, and yet Tuesday was his first-ever appearance in the playoffs.

For the 27-year-old, it appears to have been worth the wait.

McLemore scored 14 points in 24 minutes played during Game 1, and he made 4-of-7 shots from 3-point range (57.1%). His +27 plus/minus figure was second-best on the roster, trailing only Jeff Green (+28).

Led by McLemore and Green, Houston’s bench outscored their counterparts in Oklahoma City, 42-27. Appropriately, those 15 points were the final margin in a commanding 123-108 victory by the Rockets.

After the game, the first tweet by Houston GM Daryl Morey was one of congratulations to McLemore for a memorable playoff debut.

When Morey signed McLemore before the 2019-20 season at a minimum salary, the expectations were low. After his selection as the No. 7 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, McLemore bounced around for six seasons in Sacramento and Memphis without finding a consistent role.

But those were bad teams. The 2019-20 Rockets are McLemore’s first opportunity with a contender, and he’s made the most of it as the best shooter on the NBA’s most aggressive team from 3-point range. For the season, McLemore hit 40.0% of his 3-pointers on high volume (6.4 attempts in 22.6 minutes per game), and he took that to an even higher level in the opener of the first-round series against Oklahoma City.

“Ben’s been playing well, only since the first of the year,” head coach Mike D’Antoni said after Game 1, In other words, D’Antoni believes no one should be surprised by McLemore’s strong performance, since he’s been a key player for the Rockets throughout the entire season.

Best of all, the minimum contract that Morey landed McLemore for includes a non-guaranteed second year at the team’s discretion. That option is virtually certain to be picked up, given his clear value to the team, so McLemore should be sticking around for the 2020-21 season.

Game 2 between the Rockets and Thunder will tip off at 2:30 p.m. Central time on Thursday afternoon. It will be televised nationally on ESPN and regionally on AT&T SportsNet Southwest.

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