Houston Rockets second-year forward Amen Thompson was selected for the NBA’s Rising Stars Challenge on Tuesday, an unsurprising development for the 21-year-old who has become a league-wide sensation.

The Houston Rockets stunned the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden on Monday night, courtesy of a last-second go-ahead bucket from Amen Thompson. Thompson used a nasty move to shed the pressure of his defender Jaylen Brown before sinking a fading jump shot from inside the key to give Houston a 114–112 lead with less than one second left.

HOUSTON — "That was my first game-winner! I feel like Kobe," said 21-year-old Amen Thompson in a quote circulating among Houston sports fans. During Monday night's game against the Celtics, Thompson scored a career-high 33 points on 13-of-19 shooting. The game itself had a playoff atmosphere for several reasons.

Amen Thompson made a game-winning floater with 1.3 seconds remaining to polish off a career night, lifting the visiting Houston Rockets to a 114-112 victory over the short-handed Boston Celtics on Monday night.

There's a legitimate argument for Thompson to remain as the starter when Smith returns. The Rockets have found the same success with Thompson in the starting lineup, and he's been producing at a higher level. Based on his seamless fit in the first five, head coach Ime Udoka will have a tough decision to make soon.

I t wasn’t hard to come up with a list of reasons for why Amen Thompson could bust in the NBA when he entered the 2023 draft. Amen and his twin brother Ausar took a novel path t