Rockets news: Cam Whitmore catching fire, Reed Sheppard wins, Grizzlies tie-breaker

The Rockets' young players are continuing to improve and Houston is reaping the benefits in the standings and in tie-breaker matchups with opponents like the Grizzlies.
Houston Rockets Cam Whitmore
Houston Rockets Cam Whitmore / Alex Slitz/GettyImages
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The Houston Rockets have been on a roll lately winning seven of their last 10 games and the last four in a row. Two of those four consecutive wins have come against the Memphis Grizzlies which presents a theme Rockets fans love seeing.

The Rockets also have a rookie making his presence felt wherever he plays and a second-year player who’s beginning to get on track, making the most of his playing time lately. Ime Udoka has this Rockets team look like they are for real and will be a team to be reckoned with all year.

Rookie Reed Sheppard named G League Player of the Week

As the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft, certain expectations have been attached to Reed Sheppard since joining the Rockets. Houston’s rookie guard has shown bright spots when he’s played and despite being just 20 years old, the future seems bright for the former Kentucky Wildcat.

Sheppard has certainly turned some heads and even did so during his brief stint in the G League to open up 2025. The rookie was named the G League’s Player of the Week for the first full week of January 2025. Although he’s back on the main roster now, Sheppard’s time with the Rio Grande Vipers was memorable. During his three-game foray, Sheppard averaged 30.7 points, eight assists and shot 46.3 percent from the field and 40.5 percent from 3-point range. Had this been NBA Jams the ball would have been on fire.

“I definitely enjoyed it,” Sheppard told reporters. “My body feels a lot better. Mentally, I feel a lot better. ... “I think I learned a lot. The biggest thing was just getting my confidence back. To play free, play loose, just play the game of basketball and enjoy it. The NBA is different. There’s a lot of great players, so being able to go down and get some reps and just get the confidence back up and stuff, it was a lot of fun.”

Cam Whitmore continues to impress

Second-year forward Cam Whitmore is making a name for himself in Houston, especially over the past few weeks. After struggling at the start of the 2024-25 campaign, Whitmore spent time between the Rockets' main roster and the G League. Whitmore had a rough shooting stretch to start the year where he made just one out of 21 3-point attempts.

Houston sent Whitmore to the G League for 11 games and since returning to the main roster on Dec. 19, he’s averaged 12.4 ppg while shooting over 42 percent from distance. Whatever was going on with Whitmore seemed to be cleared up during his time with G League affiliate, Rio Grande Vipers. The former first-round pick seems to be back on track and ready to contribute to a Rockets team that looks like they’ve got some staying power.

Rockets might have the Grizzlies number

The Houston Rockets are off to one of their best starts in years. Houston is 14 games over .500 and currently occupies second place in the Western Conference with a two-game lead over the Memphis Grizzlies. In fact, the Rockets are 3-0 versus the Grizzlies already this season. Even with Ja Morant on the court, the Rockets are looking like the Grizzlies’ kryptonite.

In Monday’s matchup, Jalen Green countered Morant’s 29 points with 42 of his own. The Rockets took the home win, 120-118. That’s been a huge difference this year for Houston, being able to pull out those close games and close teams out. It feels like these teams could be on a collision course for the playoffs being in second and third place respectively in the west. If the playoffs started today, they’d face off in the second round, were they to advance. But it’s a long season and it’ll be interesting to see how these young franchises fare as we get deeper into the season.

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