Crazy to say but he played exactly the right way despite shooting 27.3% from the field. Just didn't force shots or passes and let his teammates carry the torch. Very good defense. 3 assists to 1 TO. Took the Amen approach: if there's not a good shot it's not on you, just pass it to someone else. It's not the big game I was hoping for, but it's the game the team needed. That's why he led the team in +/- tonight.
If he can embrace a 6th man or role player type spot up 3 role it’s fine. no more ball handling g though
Honestly, our team has been better off when he isn't taking shots for most of the series. That's why I would trade him for a SG who is an offensive threat.
I actually thought he played decent in the second half despite the ass shooting. Did really well on defense and made some good passes. He really needs to learn how to drive and kick
How crazy would it be if Jalen goes off game 7 and is the sole reason we beat the GSW?!?! I mean he is overdue for a big game…
One of the better defensive games I’ve seen Jalen play, alongside game 2. I’m glad he’s contributing in other ways besides scoring, because he absolutely has not been who he needs to be there—but on the other hand he did well enough that Ime only rested him like 3 minutes in the second half, not including garbage time. Is this growth? Not sure—it’s hard to say how much someone can grow in the span of a few games. But it seems to me like Jalen IS learning, and taking accountability, and it also seems like Ime trusts him on the floor when he’s playing focused, regardless of his efficiency.
Whether he does or not, i would like to see how he performs against a different team in the playoffs. The last 2 years, hes been BAD vs the warriors. Game 2 was his best game in 2 years vs them.
No matter who you bring in at SG our biggest team building issue is we have 2 non-shooters on the floor so the drives to the paint are shut down. You can bring a shooter in his place but: 1) If you've watched basketball as long as I have you know that there's no winning a title without a guard/wing who drives frequently to the basket. Amen can't drive frequently to the basket with his man sagging and Sengun being in the paint with his defender. So you're at a dead end there. That's not me dissing Amen - he is TOTALLY capable of doing it if he has 4 shooters around him. Both Amen and Green are capable of doubling their drives with average spacing around them. 2) Jalen is constantly improving. He's at 35.6% on 8+ 3PA this season. If he improves to 37% for next season, you have exactly the SG you're looking for (just a good high volume 3PT shooter, plays defense, low TO's, transition). 3) If Amen or Sengun develop a 3PT shot this summer, all these problems disappear at no cost for the Rockets.
He was a key contributor to our zone defense that's why he was on the floor. Tari sucks at it. Jabari too. Dillon makes too many dumb fouls.
No one cheats off our corner shooters, the drive and kick has not been available to anyone on the roster. Typically teams cheat off corner shooters when someone drives and the paint is vulnerable. That's never a thing for us. The paint is always crowded so there's no reason to leave a corner shooter open. He can certainly get better at it, I'll agree with you there.
How can the paint be crowded if the defenders don't cheat off the corners? That's exactly what spacing is. And drive and kick is not just to the corners. You can also kick it back out to the top. Amen does that very well. Jalen is just not very good at drive and kick. That's why the paint is crowded for him. He needs to be better at that to open up the floor. He's actually a decent interior passer in the paint.
He’s playing exactly how he needs too within the offense - he could be a bit more aggressive driving, but I’m okay with all the 3s he took (no step backs) and his 1 TO was a great play by Steph Reporter asked Kerr, with FVV going now, would they switch the attention off stopping JG to stopping FVV … if folks stop listening to the fake clickbait media on X and the football guys faking as basketball on some local stations … you will realize he’s only been bad Game 1 and 4 Now I’m hoping Kerr panics and changes his defense a bit and Amen and JG go off
Jalen was certainly one of the reasons the game remained close for too long, but he eventually stopped shooting, played within the offense and his defense was on point. Particularly in the 2nd half, the Rockets defense did not suffer with him on the floor. He may have a decent chance of being effective on offense Sunday. We'll see.
Spot on analysis. He wasn’t numero uno but he play excellent as a role player to contribute to the win
Such an important point, you asked the perfect question. The paint being crowded and not cheating off the corners is only possible because we have 2 non-shooters on the floor for 48 minutes. You cheat off Amen so if Amen is above the break the corner shooters remain covered and if Amen is in the corner looking to cut then the guy cheating off him is not risking anything but a corner 3 from Amen. When you cheat off Amen you get to crowd Sengun's post game and Green's drives simultaneously. You're hitting two birds with one stone, which is why both Jalen and Sengun had a low TS% this season (almost equal TS%). You can see this effect clearly because FVV hits corner shooters way less frequently than he's ever done in his career. No one on the roster has been successful at this (no Amen has not been good at hitting corner shooters), but that's not necessarily a bad thing as long as we're punishing this type of defense. That's what we're doing.
I liked his overall game tonight. His offense was disappointing, but I thought he made up for it in other ways. He needs to be better, but I thought tonight was an acceptable off night all things considered.
I know he's having a bad series but without him the offense , he draws so much attention still when is he on the floor, that helps with a lot of draw out, doubles, blitz, .. he has to play better but his contributing to hockey assists tho,
