Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas is an astute individual who has been around the NBA long enough to know that winning games has a lot to do with being lucky and having highly skilled athletes.
On Wednesday, the second-year head coach watched his young team pull off a huge 139-130 overtime win over the veteran-laden Los Angeles Lakers. While Silas recognizes that rookie Jalen Green wowed the crowd with big numbers and an array of elite moves down the stretch, it’s possible the game was won through adjustments before it even started.
With usual starting center Christian Wood unavailable for a second straight game due to an illness, Silas was forced to insert rookie center Alperen Sengun into the starting lineup against the Lakers.
That move looked like a win-win situation for Los Angeles, which played LeBron James at center when these two teams last met in late December. James finished that game with a triple-double, and it led to a nine-point Los Angeles victory. It marked the first time that the future Hall of Famer had started at that position in his entire basketball career.
However, what Lakers head coach Frank Vogel and the rest of his staff may not have factored in before Wednesday’s game was how much more advanced Sengun has become since their last meeting.
In that December loss, Sengun came off the bench and only played a total of 15 minutes, scoring 10 points. He was much more effective in his seventh start of the season with career-highs in points (21), rebounds (14), and minutes played (40) — all while matched up individually with one of the greatest players in the sport’s history.
“First of all, it’s a big honor for me,” Sengun said about playing against James. “It’s a big memory, a big moment. I was excited before the game because I knew I was going to play against him, I knew I was going to match up with him. All these years, I watched him since I was a kid.”
Rookie Alperen Sengun on playing against Lakers superstar LeBron James:
“I was excited before the game because I knew I was going to play against him.”#Rockets #LightTheFuse #Sarge #Sengun pic.twitter.com/nXVmNjfwla— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) March 10, 2022
Sengun, 19, used an array of low-post moves that he learned during private workouts with Hall of Fame center and Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon, which helped keep Los Angeles defenders off-balance. The ability to retain that type of knowledge and put it into action has made Silas notice how far his rookie center has grown this season.
“On the offensive end, when teams are smaller, he can take advantage,” Silas said. “He has the shoulders, and he has the hips, and he has the feet and the soft touch to score in the paint. And the rebounding was huge.”
The former Turkish League MVP also recognizes his improvement. Although the Rockets’ season will be over in less than a month, he knows that every minute he is on the court is an opportunity to get better.
“Since the beginning of the season I have been working a lot,” Sengun said postgame. “I feel that I am improving. I have improved a lot, and I have worked on my offense and defense throughout the season.”
On defense, Sengun managed to largely stay out of foul trouble — an issue that plagued him earlier this season — despite playing 40 minutes.
Houston (17-49) returns to action Friday at Toyota Center for a matchup versus in-state rival Dallas (40-26). Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. CST.
