Print
Monday July 14, 2008 11:52 PM

Rockets Stun Suns in Summer League Opener


Donté Greene scores 40 in professional debut

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff WriterLas Vegas - Debuts don’t come much better than this.

Rockets rookies Donté Greene and Maarty Leunen put on quite a show in their professional premier, leading Houston to a 100-97 come from behind victory over the Phoenix Suns in the Rockets’ Summer League opener Monday night.

Greene was especially spectacular, exploding for a game-high 40 points and assisting on the game-winning basket by Leunen; a reverse lay-up in the final seconds which gave Houston a 98-97 lead - it’s first of the contest. Greene’s scoring outburst left him just two points shy of the NBA Summer League’s single-game record (shared by Marcus Banks and Von Wafer).

“I didn’t know that it was a record – I was just here to get a W,” said Greene after the game. “Once I got to 36, Phoenix started keying in on me a lot more, so I started to look for my teammates to get them going.”

Greene’s teammates didn’t offer him much help early. The rookie from Syracuse single-handedly kept the Rockets in the game during a fast-paced first half which saw him score 19 of Houston’s 24 first quarter points, while finishing with 23 at halftime. Despite Greene’s scoring spree, the Rockets still trailed 64-51 heading into the break; primarily because Houston was unable to cool down a Suns squad which shot 53.8% from the field during the game’s opening 20 minutes.

But the Rockets turned up the defensive pressure in the second half – limiting Phoenix to a pedestrian 33 points – which allowed Greene and company to slowly chip away at their deficit until Leunen’s lay-up put the team on top to stay.

“I mean, we started out kind of rough,” said Leunen. “It’s the first time playing with all these guys, but we sure backed it up in the second half, made some good plays, got some big stops and were able to pick up the victory."  

Said head coach T.R. Dunn: “It was a good first game for us, and obviously we want to be a little bit sharper on the defensive end… We have our work cut out for us.  Great effort by our team, though. They hung in there and made some plays down the stretch to allow us to win the ballgame."  

Notes: Second-year Rocket Mike Harris was solid throughout. He scored 21 workmanlike points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Meanwhile, the results were not as good for Harris’s fellow sophomore, Aaron Brooks. The Rockets’ point guard scored 13 points, but also finished with 9 personal fouls and 6 turnovers. Houston gets a day off Tuesday before returning to action Wednesday night at 9:30 PM to face the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Thomas & Mack Center.