Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
On a night when not a lot went right, the Houston Rockets bench was a bright spot.
Only three players came off the bench — Jabari Smith Jr., Steven Adams and Tari Eason — but Smith and Adams played particularly well despite the Rockets’ 95-85 loss in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night at Toyota Center.
Only Alperen Şengün scored more points for the Rockets than Jabari Smith, who made all three of his shots from the field, including his lone 3-point attempt, to score 11 points to go along with his six rebounds.
Article continues below this ad
Adams is the only Rockets player to finish with a positive plus-minus (plus-4), managing to grab 12 rebounds, including five offensively, and score six points in 19 minutes of action.
Eason scored six points in 21 minutes of action.
Smith entered for the first time late in the first quarter when his team had jumped out to a 19-12 lead. He immediately grabbed a rebound on one end and hit a fadeaway jumper on the other.
“I always try to come in and bring some energy, crashing (the glass),” Smith said. “I was trying to build off what the starters started really.”
Adams was even more of a revelation. The 11-year vet was a big reason the Rockets outrebounded the Warriors 52-36, even if a lot of the offensive rebounds ended up netting nothing because Houston shot just 39.1% (34-for-87) from the floor, including 6-for-29 (20.7%) from the 3-point line.
Article continues below this ad
“He was big,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said of Adams. “We dominated the glass. We dominated in some areas, but we had a poor offensive showing in general. He did what he does. Got us the extra possession. We had some wide open naked 3s that we missed off those kickouts and opportunities on layups off the second-chance points.”
In the regular season, Udoka used Adams judiciously. He limited his minutes in back-to-backs and played him more than 20 minutes just 11 times. Against the Warriors, the 6-foot-11 New Zealander was in the game for 19:30 and with two days off before Wednesday’s Game 2 and another couple days of rest before Saturday’s Game 3 in San Francisco, those minutes could increase.
“Yeah, I mean, you want to use him,” Udoka said. “You got these days in between, he only played 20 (minutes) you know so we plan on using him in the 20 to 25 range, so yes (we plan to continue using him).”
Smith’s 25 minutes in Game 1 were down from his season average of 30, but Udoka wasn’t ready to say he would be ready to make big changes to his allocation of minutes based off one night’s result.
“You’re not going to overreact to one game,” said Udoka, while acknowledging the struggles of basically his entire starting unit besides Şengün. “But if guys do play better, you have a chance there.”
Article continues below this ad
The 6-11 Smith and Adams were on the court together quite a bit, along with Şengün, utilizing the Rockets’ much-talked about “double big lineup,” which turns into something of a jumbo package with the three big men on the court at the same time. In a bit of a surprise, Udoka even used the lineup when Stephen Curry, who made some impossible 3-pointers on his way to 31 points, was on the court, something he hadn’t done in the teams’ most recent meetings.
“Being in there with Steven and Alpi, it just opens up so much as far as offensive rebounding and the attention they draw when they get the ball inside,” Smith said. “It’s just a different look for us and obviously, on defense we can play zone and give teams a different look. I love it and I’m sure it’s something we’ll keep going to.”
