Emerging big man Christian Wood returned from a one-game injury absence with a team-high 22 points, 15 rebounds, and two blocked shots in only 27 minutes, leading the Houston Rockets (3-4) to a commanding 132-90 victory (box score) at home over visiting Orlando (6-3).
Dating back to last season, Wood has now scored at least 20 points in each of his past 11 games. The last player to go undrafted by the NBA or ABA and record at least 11 straight 20-point games was Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins, who did so 51 years ago — in 1970.
The Magic were very shorthanded due to an assortment of injuries, with rotation regulars Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, and Al-Farouq Aminu all out for Friday’s game. Orlando (6-3) had already lost Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac to season-ending injuries in recent weeks.
But for a Houston squad that entered on a two-game losing streak and has had an overwhelming amount of injuries and quarantines early in the 2020-21 regular season, it felt as if they were due.
Dating back to last season, Christian Wood has scored at least 20 points in each of his last 11 games.
The last player to go undrafted by the NBA/ABA and record at least 11 consecutive 20-point games was Connie Hawkins in 1970. pic.twitter.com/xxTN2nBmij
— Justin Kubatko (@jkubatko) January 9, 2021
Wood led the way in the box score, but he was far from alone in a dominant team effort. Ben McLemore and PJ Tucker each made five 3-pointers as Houston connected on a season-best 22 shots from behind the arc, while James Harden scored 15 points and dished out a team-high 13 assists. John Wall (14 points, 3-of-4 on 3-pointers) and Jae’Sean Tate (10 points, 5-of-5 shooting) both scored in double figures, as well.
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Meanwhile, head coach Stephen Silas was extremely pleased with his team’s defense, which limited Orlando to just 33 points in a suffocating first half. The performance was so dominant that no one exceeded 31 minutes played, and rookies Mason Jones and KJ Martin Jr. each got to make their NBA regular-season debuts during late mop-up duty.
Here’s a selection of postgame remarks and analysis.
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