Houston, we have a problem, and that problem is Jalen Green

On Monday night (April 28), the Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets 109-106 in the Chase Center to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round Western Conference best-of-seven series.

The game came to the wire. Jimmy Butler, who scored 27 points in his return from a pelvic injury, sunk three free throws with 59 seconds to go, which gave Golden State a three-point lead. Alperen Şengün, who has been Houston’s leader all series, responded with a turnaround bank hook shot to bring the Rockets within one. The Rockets then fouled Butler again, he made two more three-throws and put the game away.

Şengün finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds. Fred VanVleet scored 25 points and drained eight three-pointers. Amen Thompson finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, but Jalen Green finished with only eight, and that’s the problem.

Last year, Green, 23, signed a three-year $106 million contract extension. He needs to play like it. There are a ton of reasons why the Rockets lost Game 3. They shot terribly from the free-throw line, going 19-31 and they committed 13 turnovers, but if your young star Jalen Green scores only 15 points, they win this game.

Out of the four games, Green has only scored double-figures once, and in that one time, he was excellent. He became the youngest player in league history to score 38 points enroute to a Rockets win. Other than that, he has been a complete no-show.

In last night’s loss, all four of the five Rockets’ starters eclipsed 30 minutes, with Şengün and VanVleet playing 40-plus minutes. The one starter who played under 30 was Green. When he’s not scoring, he becomes unplayable in the fourth quarter. You have to have better output from Green if the Rockets want to come back and win this seemingly impossible series.

Game 5 will be a Rockets home game in the Toyota Center. Tip-off is at 6:30 PM, we’ll see if Green can come alive and extended this series.