After missing nearly two weeks with a left groin strain, second-year shooting guard Jalen Green rejoins the lineup for the Rockets when Houston hosts Denver on Tuesday night at Toyota Center.
Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, he’s joining a Houston group that owns the NBA’s worst record (13-47) and is on a nine-game losing streak. But as the 2022-23 regular season winds down, Green isn’t in anything close to offseason mode.
In comments from Tuesday’s gameday shootaround transcribed by Michael Shapiro of Chron.com, Green said:
I called Coach (Stephen Silas) the other day and was just telling him like, ‘These last games, I’m with you. I’m ready to lock in.’ Whatever we gotta do, we gotta string together some wins.
We got a whole bunch of energy today. I think everybody on this team wants to answer back and come back tonight and play hard.
Jalen Green appears energetic and excited to return to the floor tonight.
On the final 22 games of the season:
“I actually called coach the other day and was just telling him, like, ‘these last games I’m with you, I’m ready to lock in.”
More ➡️ https://t.co/T9IfrcLflf pic.twitter.com/1pgOQ7nwKq
— Michael Shapiro (@mshap2) February 28, 2023
Green, the No. 2 pick from the first round of the 2021 NBA draft, described it as super painful to watch Portland’s Damian Lillard score a career-high 71 points in Sunday’s victory over the Rockets. Green, of course, was unable to participate due to injury.
Starting with Tuesday night’s game, Houston’s leading scorer wants to chart a new course as the season nears its April 9 finish.
Tipoff between the Rockets and Nuggets is at 7:00 p.m. Central.
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