On a night when their backcourt struggled mightily, the Rockets received solid contributions from their reserve bigs. Adams led the way with 12 rebounds, while Jabari Smith Jr. didn’t miss a shot and finished with 11 points, six rebounds, one steal, one block and one three-pointer in 25 minutes. Houston also took the approach of pairing Adams and Alperen Sengun when Stephen Curry was not on the court, but this had minimal impact on the action due to Houston’s guards struggling to hit shots. Game 2 is on Wednesday.

The Rockets are without Dillon Brooks, who picked up his 16th technical foul of the season in Wednesday’s win over the Jazz. Adams will fill his spot in the starting lineup as the Rockets match up with Oklahoma City’s tandem of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. Even with Adams receiving the starting nod, Tari Eason should play plenty off the bench.

Adams logged 12 minutes on Sunday and will be available to play in both legs of a back-to-back since early February. However, with Alperen Sengun healthy, Adams likely won’t see enough minutes to provide standard league value. Still, it’s a good step in his progression, since he has been dealing with ankle injuries all season.