By the numbers: With 38 points in second career playoff game, Jalen Green in rare air

[ASFN Admin]

Led by a sensational performance from Jalen Green, the Houston Rockets won Wednesday's Game 2 of their first-round playoff series versus the Golden State Warriors, 109-94 (box score).

The best-of-seven series is now tied, with a pivotal Game 3 looming on Saturday night in San Francisco. In an exclusive ABC broadcast, tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. Central.

Courtesy of Rockets' PR, here's a statistical-based recap of Game 2:

• In NBA playoff history, the team that has won Game 3 of a seven-game series that was tied 1-1 went on to win the series 74.2% of the time (198-69).
• The Rockets won by 15 points. That is their second-biggest playoff win versus Golden State (22 points in Game 2 of the 2018 Western Conference finals).
• Houston hit 15 3-pointers on 37.5% shooting. The Rockets shot 6-of-29 from 3-point range (20.7%) in Game 1 and did not shoot better than 33.3% in any of the five regular season games versus Golden State. During the 2024-25 regular season, Houston was 26-6 when shooting 37.0% or better from deep, and the Rockets were 20-5 when making at least 15 shots from 3-point range.
• The Rockets out-rebounded the Warriors by 14 after doing so by 16 in Game 1. Dating back to 1996-97, it is just the third time a team has out-rebounded its opponent by 14+ boards in each of the first two games of the playoffs (Utah versus Dallas in 2022; Chicago versus Indiana in 2011). Houston was 25-5 when out-rebounding its opponent by double digits in 2024-25.
• Houston shot 16-of-20 on free throws (80.0%) after shooting 11-of-20 (55.0%) in Game 1. The Rockets are averaging 4.0 more free-throw attempts than the Warriors this series after Golden State had 39 more free-throw attempts (124-85) across the five regular-season games.
• Jalen Green had 38 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals in Game 2 after having 7 points, 2 assists, and 0 steals in his playoff debut in Game 1. He is the ninth player in NBA playoff history to have scored at least 38 points in a game within the first two playoff games of a career. After going 0-for-4 on 3-pointers in Game 1, Green tied a franchise playoff record with 8 made 3-pointers in Game 2 (joining Chris Paul versus Utah in May 2018 and Matt Maloney at Seattle in May 1997).
• Alperen Sengun had 17 points, 16 rebounds, and 7 assists. The last Rocket to have posted those numbers in a playoff game was Hakeem Olajuwon (23/17/9) at Seattle in May 1993. Olajuwon was sitting courtside on Wednesday. Dating back to 1987-88, the only other NBA player who was younger than 23 to have recorded at least 17 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists in a playoff game was Luka Dončić (43/17/13) versus the Los Angeles Clippers in August 2020.
• Tari Eason led all reserves with 14 points and 6 rebounds while shooting 2-of-2 from 3-point range. He had 6 points and 4 rebounds while shooting 0-of-4 on 3-pointers in Game 1. Eason hit 2+ treys 20 times in 2024-25 after doing so just 15 times in his first two NBA seasons.
• After scoring 31 points in Game 1, Stephen Curry had 20 points, 9 assists, and 6 turnovers in Game 2. The last time he had 6+ turnovers in a playoff game was versus Portland in Game 2 of the 2019 Western Conference finals. The Warriors are 85-31 in the playoffs when Curry scores more than 20 points and 15-18 when he scores 20 or fewer.

From Game 3 onward, every game for the remainder of the Houston-Golden State series will be played on an every other day format. That means Saturday's Game 3 will be the last in which both teams have two days of rest going in.

More: Game 2: Jalen Green (38 points, 6 assists) erupts as Rockets tie series versus Warriors

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: With 38 points in second career playoff game, Jalen Green in rare air

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