After ending his last game in the NBA summer league with a dazzling buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Houston Rockets a 100-99 win over the Portland Trailblazers, Jabari Smith has found himself on the highlight reel yet again.
The Rockets faced the Detroit Pistons on Sunday in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, and in the second quarter, Smith more than made his presence felt.
Rockets guard Tari Eason got into the lane with a behind-the-back dribble move, dishing the ball for Smith to take care of the rest and he delivered, throwing down an emphatic one-handed jam that can be seen below.
Smith has had a strong showing so far during the NBA summer league, scoring 33 points and 7 rebounds in his first game versus the Trailblazers followed by a 38-point 7 rebound game versus Detroit.
He helped lead the Rockets to a 113-101 win on Sunday, making Houston 2-0 thus far during the NBA summer league.
Smith will be looking to improve on his game heading into his second NBA season, as the former No. 3 overall pick out of Auburn averaged 12.8 points and 7.2 rebound per game in his rookie year.
There’s no question his offensive game has looked impressive so far this summer, and it will be interesting to see if he can take a leap in his sophomore season under new head coach Ime Udoka.
Jabari Smith drains game-winning three-pointer in NBA Summer League matchup vs. Portland
Former Auburn star Jabari Smith stole the show on Friday night in his team’s NBA Summer League matchup vs. the Portland Trail Blazers. Tari Eason in-bounded the ball and threw an incredible pass to Smith in the final second, and he heaved up a prayer from deep at the buzzer to win the game for the Rockets. There were only .6 seconds left, but that didn’t matter for Smith and Eason. Both of them found freon coursing through their veins, right when their team needed them the most.
Smith was able to gather himself and quickly got a shot off in time to drain it for the heart-stopping win.
Check out the miraculous play here.
What a pass from Tari Eason and what a shot by Jabari Smith. It was simply a miraculous sequence from the Rockets’ tandem with the game on the line.
Houston ended up winning on Friday night, 100-99.
Smith struggled in the first half, only putting up four points. But he erupted for 29 points in the second half to finish with 33 points in leading his team to the heart-stopping victory. He also stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds.
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