Jabari Smith Jr Matches Kevin Durant With 30 on Opening Night

Kevin Durant spent Wednesday night climbing past Michael Jordan on the all-time opening night scoring list. The guy next to him in the frontcourt spent it matching him bucket for bucket. Jabari Smith Jr. poured in 30 points on 11 of 17 shooting in the Houston Rockets' 128-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks, tying Durant for the team lead on a night built for Durant headlines.

The two took very different roads to 30. Durant needed 16 shots and 11 free throw attempts, while Smith took 17 shots, hit four of his eight threes and attempted just five free throws. Smith also finished plus-18, six points better than Durant, and turned it over once in 36 minutes on a night Houston coughed it up 15 times.

The most impressive part to me was the variety. Smith buried a 25-foot pullup three off a Fred VanVleet feed, hit a turnaround fadeaway, threw down a driving dunk off an Alperen Şengün dish and sank a 12-foot turnaround in the fourth. With this much talent, Houston can't keep guessing on offense, and a Smith who scores at all three levels makes the pecking order a lot easier to sort out.

He also picked his moments near flawlessly. Dallas trimmed the lead to 17 five times in the fourth quarter, and Smith answered two of those runs with threes, once with just under nine minutes left and again with under two to play. While the rest of the Rockets got comfortable, he scored eight points on three of three shooting in the final frame.

It was also a loud bounce back. Six days earlier, he went two of 10 and missed all five of his threes against the Oklahoma City Thunder, a night when Houston's starters went one of 21 from deep as a group. Smith scored 30 total across three exhibition games, then matched it in one night once the games started counting.

This version of him has been building for a while. Smith averaged a career-high 15.8 points last season, up from 12.2 the year before, and he got even better after the All-Star break at 17 points per game on 47.5-percent shooting. Two of his six career 30-point games came last season, and the opener made it three in the last nine months.

That growth matters more than ever with Durant in his 20th season. Ime Udoka wants a deeper rotation that lightens the load on Durant and Amen Thompson, and every bucket Smith adds helps make that possible. Wednesday felt like the most complete version of Smith we've seen, and it came with Durant making history right beside him.

He'll get a quick chance to prove it wasn't a one-night thing. Houston opens a road back-to-back Friday against the San Antonio Spurs, and his line will be the first one we check on RocketsRoundtable. If this Smith shows up again, Houston's second-option debate is officially open.

Enjoyed this story? Follow Laci Watson on RocketsRoundtable for more Houston Rockets coverage and analysis.

Here's What You Missed as Rockets Bury Mavericks on Opening Night

The Houston Rockets Defeat the Dallas Mavericks in Opening Game

Will Bruce Thornton See Any Minutes Early On?