HOUSTON — With 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks on efficient shooting, fourth-year Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. continued his recent resurgence in Saturday’s 111-107 victory (box score) over Dallas.
Smith made 7-of-13 shots (53.8% FG) against the Mavericks, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range (60.0%).
“Amen (Thompson) and Jabari, having some good scoring nights when other guys were a little bit off, was needed,” head coach Ime Udoka said postgame from Toyota Center, where the Rockets are 17-4 this season.
Thompson finished with a team-high 21 points (46.7%), 9 assists, and 0 turnovers.
The 40 combined points from Smith and Thompson helped Houston (30-17, No. 4 in Western Conference standings) overcome relatively inefficient scoring nights from Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, who combined for 27 points on 12-of-37 shooting (32.4%).
Smith went through a deep slump in early January, but the 22-year-old has rebounded since the middle of the month. In effect, his season can be broken down into three parts:
As a team, the Rockets went 20-10 in the first stretch; 3-5 in the second; and 6-2 in the third. Of those two losses, one came in overtime at Philadelphia, on a night when Smith shot 1-of-10 from 3-point range (10.0%).
With that in mind, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Smith’s performance is a massive swing variable for the 2025-26 Rockets. The good news is that it appears the worst could be behind him, and that woeful stretch for two weeks in early January is a relative outlier for the season as a whole.
“When you’ve got so many people in your ear and it’s all positive, you have no choice but to get out of a shooting slump or a bad stretch,” Smith said after scoring a season-high 32 points in a Jan. 18 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
“Nobody beat me up about it,” Smith continued. “Nobody is telling me to stop shooting or turn something down. Everybody is encouraging me to shoot more, so it’s been great. Everybody has been helping me, from top to bottom.”
“I’m not even focusing on the shots. They’re just telling me that I can impact the game in different ways. So I’m not thinking about it so much, and just letting it fly.”
Now that veteran center Steven Adams is out for the season after undergoing ankle surgery, Smith’s ability to maintain that production while occasionally sliding to center could be critical to Houston’s success.
“The balance was good, in general,” Udoka said after defeating the Mavericks. “Jabari was a big part of that with his versatility, switching and doing some things, and then late in the game being able to put him at the five.”
Houston enters February with wins in seven of its last nine games, and the Rockets will look to build on that momentum when they resume play Monday at Indiana (13-36).
Tipoff of Rockets-Pacers is at 6:00 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised regionally on Space City Home Network and nationally via NBA League Pass.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Jabari Smith Jr. continues resurgence as Rockets (30-17) edge Mavs
Reporting by Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire / Rockets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
