On Monday evening, the Houston Rockets got back into the win column with a comfortable home victory over the Utah Jazz. A scary moment occurred in this one when Jazz forward Vince Williams Jr. went down with an injury after colliding with Rockets wing Tari Eason.
It has since been revealed that the injury is feared to be in Williams' ACL, and many fans were skeptical of Eason's intentions on the play.
After the game, Eason took the opportunity to apologize to Williams for the incident.
“I‘ve known Vince for a little bit and he’s just a really good dude, hard working dude,” Eason said, per Sarah Todd of the Desert News. “It was just respect. I’ve got a lot of respect for him, and I know it’s his contract year … I didn’t intend on doing anything. My intentions are always just to play hard. So I went to go holler and just check on him. Obviously nothing helps, but just tell him that I apologize. You know, nobody’s trying to hurt anybody.”
Meanwhile, Jazz coach Will Hardy had a blunt reaction to the play.
“That’s not basketball,” Hardy said.
Overall, it was a strong performance for the Rockets on Monday, which was much needed after their recent collapse against the New York Knicks on Saturday evening in Madison Square Garden. In that game, the Rockets led by as many as 18 points in the second half, but managed to put just 15 points on the board in an ugly fourth quarter, ultimately succumbing to a barrage of Jalen Brunson jumpers down the stretch.
The loss rekindled concerns about the Rockets' crunch time offense and the team's lack of a true point guard, although Fred VanVleet has not yet officially been ruled out for the rest of the season as he deals with his own ACL injury.
The Rockets will next take the court on Wednesday evening vs the Sacramento Kings.
