Jeff Green dazzles as Rockets bench sparks Game 1 victory

Led by Green’s 22 points, the Rockets were +28 in his minutes. Houston reserves outscored the OKC bench by 15, which was the final margin.

At the time, it felt relatively insignificant when reserve big man Jeff Green hit a mid-range shot to begin the second quarter, putting the Rockets up by 10. As it turned out, it was a sign of things to come.

The Oklahoma City Thunder never came within single digits again in the remaining 35 minutes, leading to a dominant 123-108 Houston victory (box score) in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series. Game 2 is set for Thursday afternoon, also at the NBA “bubble” in Florida.

All-Star guard James Harden had 37 points and 11 rebounds, and the Rockets were +10 as a team in his 34 minutes, but that’s almost routine for the 2020 MVP finalist. What made the difference, especially with fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook sidelined by injury, was that Houston also won the bench minutes when Harden didn’t play — even without Westbrook in his usual place to guide that second unit.

Green led the way with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting (66.7%), and the Rockets were a remarkable +28 in his 32 minutes. He also had six rebounds and four assists, and he effectively served with what head coach Mike D’Antoni said postgame was a “point center” role — even bringing the ball up the court, at times.

“Jeff can make plays,” said D’Antoni, who allowed Green to play ahead of starter Robert Covington late in the fourth quarter. “He’s like a point guard out there, a point center, whatever you want to call it. He was good tonight, he caused a lot of problems for them.”

In response to a separate postgame question, D’Antoni credited Green with allowing even Harden to play off the ball at times.

I think it’s terrific. Jeff played really well. He opens up so many other possibilities, getting guys shots or wide-open shots for himself or giving James a little bit of a break to get open. All he has to do is pick and pop back. If they don’t switch, he goes to the rim and dunks. If they do, then James has the ball in a great spoot.

“It was a team effort,” said Green, speaking to the depth of Houston’s team performance. “We’ve got guys in the open court that can make plays. We’ve got to take a lot of pressure off James [Harden]. They’re going to focus on him, so we’ve got to do our job to try and make plays.”

Harden was originally teammates with Green as a rookie in the 2009-10 season — in Oklahoma City, of all places. Even though Green was unsigned before the Rockets picked him up in February, he’s clearly made a significant impact as a big man in Houston’s smaller lineup.

“I’m not impressed,” said Harden, asked if he was surprised or impressed by what Green did in Game 1. “I’ve been knowing Jeff since I was a rookie, so I know what he’s capable of. He’s confident. He’s being a playmaker. He’s doing things that he’s been doing his entire career.”

“He was a big pickup in the middle of the season,” Harden said of Green, now a veteran at 33 years old. “It’s huge for us.”

Green had help on that second unit in the form of sweet-shooting guard Ben McLemore, who scored 14 points in 24 minutes on 4-of-7 from 3-point range (57.1%). It was quite a strong performance in the first playoff game of McLemore’s seven-year NBA career.

“It’s good, plus when Russ [Westbrook] gets back, we’ll have an even deeper bench,” D’Antoni said. “Ben’s been playing well, only since the first of the year. You got Jeff and Austin [Rivers], our bench is good. It’s just trying to get everyone healthy and playing at the same time.”

In all, Houston’s bench outscored Oklahoma City’s bench by a 42-27 margin. Appropriately, those 15 points were the game’s final margin.

The Thunder (0-1) were led in defeat by 29 points from Danilo Gallinari and 20 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists from Chris Paul. But unlike Green and McLemore, no reserve cracked double figures in scoring.

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

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