The Rockets enter Friday’s slate of games with a 9-3 record. One factor in their early season success has been the return of their point guard Fred VanVleetwho missed all of last season with a torn ACL.
After Houston’s win over Golden State on Wednesday, he spoke with the NBA on ESPN crew and discussed his experience coming back from such a serious injury.
“The game has been taken away from me for a whole year, I think 500 days or something between games, so I appreciate every minute,” said VanVleet (YouTube video link). “… You just don’t realize how much you take for granted. No stakes, no consequences if you don’t play. You don’t feel the pain of losing the same way, giving that energy out, being able to get away from being on the court all night, so you miss all of that.”
He added that he feels like he hasn’t missed a step since returning, as evidenced by his stats, which are very similar to his pre-injury season. He is averaging 13.7 points and 5.6 assists to just 1.1 turnovers on 38.7% shooting from three.
We have more from the Rockets:
- Amin Thompson did not have the opportunity to check himself in defense Stephen Curry As the team expected, Curry left the game early with abdominal injurybut he still put together one of the most complete games of the season, – writes Shankar. Thompson has had less ball in his hands this year than last season and has struggled to find his role in the offense at times, but head coach Made by Udok wants to make sure he still gets his opportunities, and Thompson wants to make sure he’s ready to attack the right way when he does. “You can’t just decide that you’re going to fumble the whole game. They throw so many different matches at me. I got the big one on me, sometimes I got the little guy” said Thompson.So I feel like I’m better at being intentional, depending on what the lineup is, doing what I need to do.”
- While VanVleet’s stabilizing influence has been huge for Houston, they’ve also had great results in the two-man game between the stars Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengunas shown in their 110-100 win over the Nuggets on Monday, Varun Shankar writes for the Houston Chronicle. According to Senggun, Durant told him to start pushing his screens into open space as Durant flashed off the screen, allowing the talented big man to pick apart the rest of the Nuggets’ defenders in a four-on-three situation. “He is a smart player. He sees everything“Durant Said About Shengoon.”When he catches the ball, he sees both angles. He sees a forehead. He sees his shot. So now he has to make the right decision every time. And honestly, I feel like since I’ve been playing with him, about 95-96% of the time he makes a solid decision.”
- The biggest impact of VanVleet’s return is that it allowed the players to settle into a more natural offensive rhythm than last season, when the game plan on offense tended to revolve around passing the ball to Durant and getting out of the way. Matt Young writes for The Houston Chronicle. This year, they’ve been able to move the ball and share the load in a way that makes the team very difficult to defend, as shown in the Warriors game when six Rockets scored at least 13 points. “You don’t know whose day it is as a defense” Durant said.When you are hit by such waves, you do not know. You may have to double someone else tonight. You might have to show different lighting or a different scheme because one guy got hot. If you’ve got five or six guys in double figures, the next team that’s scouting us can’t just be one, they’ve got to be able to switch it up throughout the game.”
