Reed Sheppard is starting to heat up for the Houston Rockets, one of the best teams in the Western Conference. The Rockets traveled to the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, for a battle with the Golden State Warriors Wednesday night. Houston didn’t have superstar forward Kevin Durant active.
With Durant missing the game, a void was created in the offense, and Sheppard filled that nicely. He scored a team-high 31 points. On top of that, he ripped down nine rebounds and dished out five assists. It was a complete effort as the Rockets won by four, 104-100. Sheppard ended plus seven in his minutes.
Sheppard neared 50% from the field on his 12-for-25 shooting, but he didn’t shoot well from deep, connecting on just four of 12 attempts. Considering he’s shooting 45.5% from the field on the season, that inefficiency is more an anomaly than anything.
He’s averaging a career-best 14.3 points per game, and he got some recognition from the Kentucky Wildcats’ official X (formerly known as Twitter) account, too.
Sheppard wasn’t a top recruit coming out of London, Kentucky. He was a four-star commit for the Cats, but he quickly made his presence felt, scoring 12.5 points per game and shooting 52.1% from deep during his lone season in Lexington. He was named the SEC Rookie of the Year.
The potential was clear, and that’s why he was selected as the first collegiate player taken in the 2024 NBA Draft, taken third overall by the Rockets. He’s starting to show that potential this season as well.
Expect his scorching-hot streak to continue.