{"id":548503,"date":"2026-01-20T08:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/548503\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T08:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:27:14","slug":"jabari-smith-jr-might-just-be-the-rockets-home-court-x-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/548503\/","title":{"rendered":"Jabari Smith Jr. Might Just Be the Rockets’ Home-Court X-Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Rockets take the floor at Toyota Center, there\u2019s a familiar rhythm that opponents are beginning to dread, and a big reason for it is Jabari Smith Jr.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s 119-110 win over the Pelicans was proof that when Smith gets hot, the game tends to open up. Smith\u2019s 32 points and career-high seven made threes came in a spot where Houston didn\u2019t just need scoring- they needed spacing and the ability to punish defensive attention.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

When Jabari\u2019s shot is clicking- 15 or more points- the Rockets have rarely lost- only once this season at home in a loss to Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

Across his home games this season, Smith has been noticeably more efficient and assertive than on the road- averaging nearly 17 points and seven rebounds<\/a> in front of the Toyota Center crowd. When he\u2019s comfortable, the offense relaxes around him, and that\u2019s a quiet edge Houston hasn\u2019t always had.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s performance didn\u2019t just chase off a potential let-down, though. It showcased Jabari\u2019s true contribution that perhaps wasn\u2019t so obvious before. His production is steadying again, and in Houston, it keeps showing up when it counts.<\/p>\n

At home so far this season, Jabari sits at a +106 plus\/minus<\/a>, so it\u2019s clear that when the Rockets do get a break from the road and they walk out with something to show for it, they can thank their 22-year-old power forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Rockets take the floor at Toyota Center, there\u2019s a familiar rhythm that opponents are beginning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,292,1346,475,211,23651],"class_list":{"0":"post-548503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-jabari-smith","11":"tag-oklahoma-city","12":"tag-rockets","13":"tag-toyota-center"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115926482661070803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}