NEW YORK — Students on college campuses around the nation and world are getting ready to take their final exams, which come at the end of every semester. Those tests are designed to gauge just how much the student has learned throughout their time in the classroom.
The young Houston Rockets (20-59), whose current starting lineup consists of three players (Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, and Kevin Porter Jr.) whose average age is below the legal threshold to drink, had a very tough test Tuesday that was difficult to prepare for. After all, the Brooklyn Nets are led by superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Brooklyn (40-38) is fighting to secure a home game in the play-in round of the 2022 NBA playoffs. They currently sit at No. 10 in the Eastern Conference since they are tied with Charlotte, which owns the tiebreaker.
Rockets head coach Stephen Silas was asked about the challenging task his team faces in playing a team like the Nets, who have two dynamic scorers in Durant (30.1 points per game average) and Irving (27.1):
It’s a great test for our group, and it is the seriousness that you need to bring to this situation. Obviously, going to New York with three games to go in the season, guys can go either way.
But the seriousness you need to bring to this situation, playing against two of the best players who have ever laced them up, is important for our group to feel at this point of the season… and to continue to build on what we are building.
Although most of Houston’s players know they are going up against two of the best players in the league, they also see it as another game for them to get better and get more experience heading into the offseason.
“They are young, and they always attack,” Silas said. “There is never a time that they are back on their heels. It is great to have a group that is fearless, but at times you have to be measured and fearless at the same time, but I will take fearless and then we will work on the measured stuff.”
Houston has one road game left in Toronto on Friday before they finish out the 2021-22 season at home versus Atlanta on Sunday.
“They are young and they always attack,” said Rockets head coach Stephen Silas about his young team facing the Brooklyn Nets. #Rockets #LightTheFuse #Sarge pic.twitter.com/JObC61V9bw
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) April 5, 2022
