Chase This: Budinger Garners Double-Double in First Career Start

The play of Chase Budinger alone should prove that the Houston Rockets have the best damn general manager in all of sports in Daryl Morey.

Budinger rocked the Toyota Center on Tuesday night as the Rockets hosted the Detroit Pistons and Tracy McGrady made his infamous return to the hardwood.

But Tuesday night wasn’t meant to be the McGrady Show; it was meant to be a true Lone Star State introduction to Houston’s second round pick in Budinger.

“He’s terrific,” Rockets head coach Rick Adelman said in the post game press conference. “He made shots; he ran the floor.”

Draining 3’s and taking alley-oops for dunks, Budinger put on quite a show in his Houston start debut, drilling 16 points along with pulling down 12 rebounds for a huge double-double as the Rockets defeated the Pistons 107-96.

“The thing he really did is rebound the ball,” Adelman said. “He came back and got a lot of rebounds. We needed our perimeter people and he was terrific. He did a nice job; he’s a very good player and I think he doesn’t play like your typical rookie.”

For Budinger, Tuesday night was truly a night to remember; but this is just the beginning for a very tough road ahead for the Houston Rockets.

“Overall, it was a good effort to start the week,” Adelman said. “Starting today, we have four games in five nights.”

If Budinger continues to impress, Houston can maintain the momentum and continue to pick up some much needed wins as the NBA is quickly closing in on 2010...

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at [e-mail]