cOn 12 points (NBA career best), 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks (tied with his block record) in 22 minutesthe Spanish Usman Garuba played a leading role in the surprising victory of the Houston Rockets (3-12) in front of some Dallas Maverick in which Luca Doncic did not play for rest (92-101).
Garuba, increasingly established in the Rockets’ rotation coming off the bench, signed a perfect 5-of-5 shooting (including a 2-of-2 3-pointer) and it was the player with the best +/- stat of his team together with Kevin Porter Jr. (both +16).
With this 2 of 2 in triple Garuba has an impressive 83% hit rate on three-point shooting this season.
The Rockets, entering this game as the worst team in the NBA, had seven players over 10 points with Kevin Porter Jr. (17 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists) and Jalen Green (17 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists) as top scorers.
Tim Hardaway Jr. (28 points) and Christian Wood (26 points and 8 rebounds) took the reins of a very unsuccessful Mavericks offense (30.4% shooting from the field, 21.8% from 3-point range).
An example of Dallas’ weak night in this Texas derby was members of their starting five adding just 27 points total.
With the absence of Doncic, the Argentine Facundo Campazzo, who had had few chances until now, has played his game with the most minutes for the Mavericks for the time being. and had 3 points (1-of-7 from the field), 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals in 23 minutes.
