Jeff Green impresses Harden, D’Antoni in debut for Rockets

Jeff Green had a great debut for the Rockets in Thursday’s win at Golden State, scoring 17 points (4-of-5 on 3-pointers) in 24 minutes.

Officially, veteran big man Jeff Green is only on a 10-day contract with the Houston Rockets. But in his debut with the team on Thursday, he played like a man who could be around for a while longer.

In Houston’s 30-point blowout victory (box score) at Golden State, Green scored 17 points in 24 minutes off the bench, and he also grabbed four rebounds. The Rockets were +19 with Green on the floor.

The 6-foot-8 Green, who effectively served as the backup center to P.J. Tucker in Houston’s small-ball approach, made 6-of-7 shots (85.7%) from the field — including 4-of-5 (80.0%) from 3-point range.

“Yeah, he looked pretty good,” head coach Mike D’Antoni said postgame with a big smile. “That was good. He’s going to really help us.”

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In postgame comments to reporters at Chase Center, here’s what superstar guard and former MVP James Harden said of Green:

True professional. Always ready. His name was called and he was ready to go. Obviously, he made some big shots, but defensively he just fit with what we were doing.

Among Green’s own postgame comments:

I didn’t expect anything. I just came ready to play. I mean, I’m in shape, so I just tried to do whatever I needed to help the team win.

It’s team basketball. We know who our go-to guys are, we share the ball, and we love when everybody is aggressive and we take the shot that’s there. And when we’re going, it’s a beautiful thing.

With bigs like Green helping to space the floor, the Rockets made 15 3-pointers as a team in Thursday’s first half alone, and 25 for the game. It was the sixth time in team history that Houston has hit at least 25 3-pointers, while all other NBA franchises have two such games, combined.

Green also seemed to enjoy being reunited with Harden and Russell Westbrook, who he played with in Oklahoma City near the start of his NBA career approximately 10 years ago.

It felt good being out on the floor again with those guys James, Russ, even Thabo [Sefolosha] brings back old memories. But we’re here to create new memories, and we’re trying to accomplish something special.

Beyond making shots and his defensive contributions (which Harden noted), Green also showed Thursday that even at 33 years old, he still has plenty left in the tank with regards to his athleticism.

In one sequence, Green showed he could provide the threat of vertical spacing by finishing an alleyoop lob from Westbrook. On another play, he showcased an ability to create his own offense off the dribble.

Green will have an opportunity to continue his momentum and potentially enact some personal revenge when the Rockets visit his former team for a crucial game on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.

Houston (35-20) currently trails Utah (36-18) by 1.5 games in the Western Conference standings in the race for home-court advantage in at least the first round of the 2020 NBA playoffs, and Saturday’s game will also decide any potential tiebreaker between the two teams.

Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. Central time. Houston enters having won six of its last eight games overall, though one of the two losses was to Utah courtesy of Bojan Bogdanovic’s stunning buzzer-beater on Feb. 9.

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