The play looked simple, was significant all the same. Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. ran a side pick-and-roll, Porter made a quick move to his left. His lob pass found Wood alone at the rim where he spiked home a one-handed catch and slam.
That was not going to change the game, headed toward the Rockets’ 18th consecutive loss. It was not the only time they would connect. But in the first game Wood and Porter played together, it did seem to be the start of a pick-and-roll partnership to develop.
“It felt good,” Porter said. “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to play with him. He’s been tremendous this year. He should have been an All-Star if it wasn’t for the injury. I’ve been waiting just to build that chemistry. We already have that chemistry off the court, so it’ll be easy to build it on the court.
“He’s a crazy lob threat. As games come and we play more and more together, they’re going to come more easily. I kind of forced some but we had a lot of good looks and I’m just excited to play with him.”
The 26 minutes they shared the court were not just their first game together. They have still never been on the same side in a practice.
“For a point guard and big to find chemistry on pick-and-rolls and know what each other is going to do, takes a little time,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “They’ll get it. You could see the possibility is there.
“There’s some connections they could have made, some plays that will be made as we go forward, as they learn each other and we get our full group back and our spacing and everything will be better.”
Overall, the Rockets' offense struggled throughout Wednesday’s loss. That included the stretches Wood and Porter played together, averaging just 96.8 points per 100 possessions in those 26 minutes though Wood and Porter both scored well, combining for 46 points.
“He knows he has a lob threat out there with him,” Silas said. “We talked about it. We talked about our spacing around it. There were a couple times, he tried to force it to him. The comfort level between the two is something that will improve as we go along and we have a bunch of games to play. Add John (Wall) and Vic (Oladipo) to the mix, it’s going to be pretty good.”
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March 19, 2021 at 05:41AM
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Rockets' Kevin Porter Jr., Christian Wood begin work on chemistry - Houston Chronicle
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