Rookie Josh Christopher is lighting the fuse for Rockets in preseason

The Houston Rockets’ theme for the season is “Light the Fuse,” and it appears one player has taken that mantra to heart this preseason.

Rookie guard Josh Christopher has been exhilarating in his limited time on the floor thus far. In Tuesday’s win over Washington, he came into the game with just over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter with the Rockets trailing. His consecutive shots from 3-point range helped ignite two double-digit runs, eventually leading to a Houston victory.

The 24th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft was not able to pull off another stellar fourth-quarter rally on Thursday night against the visiting Miami Heat, but he made it very interesting by scoring 12 points. That helped cut a 21-point deficit down to five with 1:11 left in the game.

“Just playing hard,” said Christopher, who was asked after Thursday’s loss about his fourth-quarter play this preseason. “I just want to play hard, and it is fun playing out there with those guys.”

Rockets head coach Stephen Silas has taken notice of the play and leadership displayed by the 19-year-old guard out of Arizona State, who is averaging 11.5 points in 12.6 minutes per game this preseason. Christopher is shooting 60.0% from the floor and 42.9% on 3-pointers.

“Those young guys are taking advantage of an opportunity, and hopefully they make it hard to figure out what the rotation is going to look like,” Silas responded during his postgame press conference.

Thursday was Houston’s final home game of the preseason. They will now travel to Toronto to take on the Raptors on Monday night.

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