Three of Auburn’s five players in the NBA played on Monday, October 24. Jabari Smith and the Houston Rockets took on Walker Kessler and the Utah Jazz. Chuma Okeke and the Orlando Magic took on the New York Knicks.
This was each of these guys’ fourth game in the NBA. Smith had an outstanding game putting together his best performance so far in the NBA, while Kessler and Okeke struggled.
Let’s see how these former Tigers played in their fourth NBA game of the season.
Smith lit up the scoreboard and was efficient in doing so. The issue with Smith’s first few games was that he was not shooting at a very high percentage from the floor. That all changed on Monday night. Smith was 6-10 from the field, scoring 21 points. He also collected nine rebounds, had two assists, and three blocks. Smith looked comfortable shooting in this game and even put the ball on the ground and took it to the basket a few times. This could be the right game he needed to kickstart a successful rookie campaign.
Kessler had a rough night that really had a lot to do with foul trouble. Kessler got into foul trouble early and was only able to play eight minutes. In these eight minutes, Kessler didn’t score but did collect a rebound, steal, and block. Kessler has had a great start to his NBA career; sometimes, big men just get into foul trouble. Kessler will be okay and will look to have another terrific game his next time out.
Okeke’s rough start to the season continued against the Knicks, where he didn’t score a single point. Okeke took five shots, all from beyond the arc, and didn’t connect once. He did have two rebounds and two assists, but this was a bad game for Okeke. His playing time has gone down every game. If Okeke doesn’t turn things around soon, it’s going to be hard for him to get good minutes.
At the end of the day, this picture of Kessler and Smith after competing on the court is just a real testament to the Auburn basketball program. It is impossible to look at this photo and not smile and reminisce on all the great memories these two provided Auburn fans a season ago.
