“We made it a focal point to try to take him out of this series,” Warriors star Draymond Green said of defending Houston’s Jalen Green. “We know what they are capable of when he is scoring.”
HOUSTON — As Rockets guard Jalen Green waited in the home locker room at Toyota Center for teammate Tari Eason to finish his press conference, he paced back and forth. He shook his head in disgust, as if he was replaying his time on the court in six out of the seven playoff games versusthe Golden State Warriors.
Green, 23, has been through peaks and valleys with the Rockets since being the No. 2 overall selection in the first round of the 2021 NBA draft.
Along with center Alperen Sengun, Green was drafted to help rebuild a franchise that had lost a future first-ballot Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame player, James Harden.
Green’s first three seasons ended without a playoff appearance, and this one finished after Sunday’s Game 7 loss in the first round. Still, this one had a special feel after Houston won 52 regular-season games to capture the Southwest Division title and secure the No. 2 overall seed in the Western Conference.
After leading his team in scoring at 21 points per game, Green looked as if he was ready to show the rest of the basketball world that he had arrived. But the Warriors put a stop to that by devising a defensive scheme designed to get the ball out of his hands while challenging others to beat them.
“We made it a focal point to try to take him out of this series,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “We know what they are capable of when he is scoring. So, we really wanted to take him out of the series.”
The Warriors sent multiple defenders and consistently had help in the lane when Green wanted to use his quick and powerful first step to beat defenders off the dribble.
All the attention frustrated him, and it showed in his performance. He failed to score in double digits in four games and scored over 12 points only once in the other three games. That included his 38-point outburst in Game 2, where he shot better than 50% from the field.
Green combined to make just 16 shots over the final five games of the series, finishing with a meager 37.2% shooting clip and 29.5% from 3-point range.
“Besides that one game, s—,” said Green about his first playoff performance. “Straight s—. I got to be better. First playoffs isn’t an excuse. Yeah, I’ve got to be better.”
The blame for Houston’s demise against the Warriors does not all fall on Green. There were opportunities to win games that they let slip away by consistently missing shots near the rim and free-throw attempts. Despite being a big man and facing more single coverage, Sengun’s true-shooting percentage (49.1%) in the series was barely better than that of Green (48.2%).
But when you are regarded as one of the faces of the franchise, specific responsibilities come with that. Those can make the spotlight shine just a little brighter, especially in the playoffs. For Green, he will need to use that putrid feeling he had after Game 7 to fuel him throughout the offseason.
“I know what I need to do,” Green said of attacking his 2025 offseason. “Get in the gym and working and preparing for next season.”
