Latvian basketball player Rodions Kurucs made his debut for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) team at the Houston Rockets on Saturday, scoring two points and losing with the new unit.
The Rockets conceded to the San Antonio Spurs team with a score of 91: 103 (30:21, 23:29, 19:25, 19:28).
Kurucs joined Brooks’ Brooks team from Brooklyn on Wednesday in the new season’s most impressive deal to date, involving NBA superstar James Harden. He could not take part in the previous match yet, but on Saturday he went to the court, where he spent 21 minutes and 18 seconds, realizing his only two-point throw and throwing all four long throws to the basket.
He also defeated four rebounds, once passed, intercepted two balls, made two mistakes and violated the rules three times. Kurucs was the only Rockets basketball player with a positive +/- score (+13) and was by far the best on the team.
Christian Woods stood out in the Rockets with 24 points and 18 rebounds, Mason Jones also scored 24 points and Ben McMlemor had 21 points.
Demars Derouzens scored 24 points in the “Spurs” line, but Dežuntem Mareja had 18 points and ten rebounds, while Jākobs Pēltls scored 13 + 11 in these two statistics.
The Houston team could only use eight players in this match, but nine basketball players went to the opponents.
If “Nets” team Kurucs had to go to the field this season when the result of the match was decided, then on Saturday he had the opportunity to get involved in the game from the fourth minute. Although some attacks could not be successfully completed due to lack of play, the “Rockets” gained the reins with Kurucs in the field and won the first quarter with 30:21. Kurucs scored his first points in the “Rockets” shirt in the seventh minute, when after Wood’s ingenious pass with a shot from the bottom of the basket he reached 17:10.
During the rest of the match, the Latvian failed to take four long shots, but the Rockets were mostly in the lead until the end of the third quarter. In turn, “Spurs” was ahead of the whole fourth quarter, which celebrated the victory with the result 103: 91.
The Rockets, with four wins in 11 games at the Western Conference, are ranked 14th, while the Spurs are seventh with seven successes in 13 battles.
It is planned to play 72 games in the NBA Main Event, which is ten less than usual.
The league has started the season without spectators present in the arenas, as the restrictions of the coronavirus prohibit larger public gatherings in the premises.
