November 17, 2025 • 32 mins
In a “gutsy” overtime victory over Orlando, Houston’s All-Star duo of Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun combined for 65 points and several massive buckets in crunch time. Featuring Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, Sunday’s ClutchFans Live postgame show breaks down all the key takeaways for the surging Rockets (9-3), who have now won nine of their last 10 games, overall.
The episode can be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l1OggvjMXw
The episode can be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l1OggvjMXw
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in everybody. It is another celebratory time to be
a Rockets fan. Basically, this was a game Rockets win
in over time, one seventeen to one thirteen over the
Orlando Magic, A game that I think, I don't know
if you feel the same way, Bend, that the Rockets
probably had lost. We thought it was over a couple
of different times. Orlando, despite not having Palo Bancaro and
(00:25):
not having Jalen Suggs, pretty much took it to the
Rockets from most of the game, and Kevin Durant just
came on strong. Alprin Shangoun made big plays, Jabari had
a big play, lots of heroes come through, and the
Rockets their number one offensive rating might take a beating,
but they pull off the win and are now nine
(00:45):
to three.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well as you can tell if you're watching the video
stream by the gear I've got on. I was there
as a fan tonight, and I'll be honest, that was
one of the craziest sports fan experiences I've ever had.
Like clearly, not the magnitude in terms of the importance
of the win, but the last time I remember those
types of emotional swings at a game that I was
at was the twenty twenty two Alds game one yard
(01:09):
on walkoff against the Mariners, Like I have not seen
since then that many back and forth swings in a
game where both teams were making big plays. I guess
you know, that Sixers game last year was sort of
crazy that they won an overtime around Saint Patrick's Day,
But that was a terrible Sixers team, like a lot
of that, which is the Rockets, you know, playing with
their food and then rescuing it late. I guess you
(01:30):
could argue that tonight with the Magic missing Palo Bencaro,
But honestly, I give the Magic a lot of credit,
like Fronz Wagner, Desmond Baine, there are some good players
on that team, and I thought, you know, they defended
the Rockets in a very unique way. They basically dared
Kevin Durant and Alprin Shangoun to beat them one on one,
and it was so different. You know, after Friday's game
(01:51):
against Portland, we talked about the Rockets finally figuring out
the three point math discrepancy. They put up forty five
compared to thirty six for the Blazers. Tonight, it went
to the other extreme it was so tough for the
Rockets to get off threes because the Magic didn't have
to double. Well, maybe there were times they should have doubled,
but they were okay giving up those middies to all
per Eension Goon, to Kevin Durant. If the Rockets weren't
(02:12):
going to be able to get off threes, if they
could squeeze the Rockets on the perimeter, and for a
lot of the game it worked. I think what the
Rockets needed to get over the hump in this game
was to, you know, not entirely rely on the middies,
go all the way to the bucket, finish through contact,
get some free throws. And it's tough to do that
(02:32):
over forty eight minutes. But I think in the final
eight nine minutes of the fourth quarter and in overtime,
we saw that a bit more from Kevin Durant, especially
all Perension Goon, and I think that's what got them
over the finish line. So in terms of the big picture,
there's things they've got to work out, because you know,
you can't be at the three point disadvantage they were
(02:54):
tonight and win a ton of games, at least against
good competition now. I think there's also an argument to
be made that the Magic, because they do have a
lot of size, there's a lot of big physical wings
that they are more capable of holding their own one
on one against players like Shangoon and KD the most
teams around the league, and you know, I think back
under the whole Imai Ujoka regime of the Rockets, they've
(03:15):
had some trouble with the Magic in the past. I
think this is a matchup because of the physicality they
play with, and obviously the Rockets, missing not just Jorian
Finny Smith but now Charrie Easton as well, don't have
the length across the board that they typically do. So
there's a few factors going on here. But I think
at a very high level, what happened throughout the game
was the Magic dared Shingoon and KD to beat them
(03:36):
one on one, and for the first forty minutes or so,
it was enough to keep the Rockets close but not
put them over the top. When it really mattered, Shinoon
and Katy found that extra gear and it was enough
to get them one of the the wildest wins I've
ever seen.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, that that was exact takeaway that I had they
single covered Shngun, they could do so. With Franz Wagner.
This is again coming on the heels of Avdiya kind
of guarding Shangun for stretches against Portland, and then of
course Wendell Carter did it as well. I mean, there's
times when they're gonna to bring some help, but that
was a key factor because obviously, so much of what
(04:13):
the Rockets do is when Shangun gets doubled, somebody's open.
He's so good at finding. A matter of fact, in regulation,
when they were coming back, Jabari hit a really big
basket out of the corner. It was because Shngun read
that double so fat. He read the help coming off
of Jabbari in the corner. He knew Jabari was open,
and it was one of the few times that Shngun
got that double and he kicked out. I don't as
(04:36):
far as I don't want to put any negative spin
on it, I'm a little concerned that people will pick
up on this because this is something we've talked about before.
But there's a lot of you know, not many teams
can have players that can single cover Shangun, so it'll
be interesting to see how that plays out. But Kevin
Durant and I you know, as far as the positives
thirteen of twenty four from the field thirty five points
(04:57):
is just continuing his heater that he is on right now,
and he is clearly the closer. He's the guy they
want to get the ball to to make the big shot,
and it's something that they've been lacking in the past.
I mean, you go back and look at that Warrior series.
Really they didn't have that last year. And so that's
the big bonus right now or the best thing going
(05:19):
on with the Rockets right now is Katie is truly
that closer for this team.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I don't want this to come across as a shot
at Jalen Green, but on some of those big shots
down the stretch, I couldn't help but think what if
it was Jalen Green instead of Kevin Durant, I e.
Last year's model, and the Rockets wouldn't even have been
close in my opinion, to winning this game. And again
that's not meant to be a criticism of Jalen and
he is a good player, but Kevin is a great
player and we saw that tonight even at thirty seven
(05:46):
years old and his propensity to deliver when it matters most.
I mean, for me, that's one of the most rewarding
parts of the past week. I think what was really
frustrating the way the Rockets started this season. Yes, and
the macro was understandable that you lost two close games
to the Thunder and the Pistons, who I think still
have the two best records in the league. So it's
not like those were bad losses by any means. But
(06:06):
the Rockets are a team going into the year you
would like to think, hey, if the game is close,
Houston should disproportunately benefit from executing down the stretch when
it becomes a half court game because of the types
of half court creators and playmakers that they have. It
didn't start that way, but boy is it trending in
that direction over the last couple of weeks, really starting
with that Dallas game where the MAVs played them super
(06:28):
close for about three quarters. In the Rockets, starting with
kd and it ended with Shingouon had to sort of
tap into that extra gear to get it to the
finish line.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
They're not a finished product.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
The Rockets will be the first to admit that, but
I think going into this season this was on paper
what should have been and I think is one of
their biggest strengths.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
If it's close.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They had the types of individual talents that can get
them to the finish line in a way that most
of their opponents don't. And even the magic like Desmond
Bin Franz Wagner, those are very good players. I don't
think or in the tier of Kevin Durant or all
per in Shangoon. I think there's a little bit of
a gap there, and I think ultimately that was the
difference when it mattered most tonight and again for a
(07:09):
Rocket team that struggled a little bit early in the season,
the close out games, it's really rewarding in the past
couple of weeks to see that it's flipping in a
big way.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, you know, it's interesting to we talked about
this team being the number one offensive rating. They have
been so incredibly good offensively. You do lose Tari as
you mentioned, he's out for four to six weeks. For
anyone who hasn't already picked up on that news, he
didn't play tonight. Obviously, starting this stretch where he's out,
you know Jabari wasn't exactly hot. Shan Gun started the
(07:39):
game hitting two like eighteen foot bombs turnarounds like tough shots,
and you're like, man, this guy has really taken a
leap with his shooting, and then really offensively struggled. I
think he went during one stretch had missed like nine
of ten shots. He was eleven of thirty one, so
scored thirty on thirty one shots tonight, but came up
(08:00):
with some big hero plays. We'll go through that for sure,
but I have to talk about the end of regulation, Ben,
I'm gonna play the clips. There's too many highlights tonight
to get all of this stuff in there. But the
end of regulation was just crazy. I mean, I don't
really know where to start here. This is where Katie
just hits a huge basket to tie it and Rockets
(08:23):
had been just taking the lead, maybe three minutes left
in the game, their first I don't know if it
was the first lead in a long while. Then Shnngoon
stays in the game. I was shocked by this defensively
because it was a key defensive position and he has
a huge block. And then right here, I'm gonna pause
it for a second ben because I gotta set this up.
Rockets have the ball with five point three seconds left,
(08:44):
it's tie game. They can win the game here, it's
a huge inbounds play. I don't know what happened here.
Kevin Durant seemed to fall, Shangun still threw it in.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
There's a little bit of a poll but not a ton.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, I mean when I saw that, and then Shoon
fouls him with one point seven seconds left, Black Anthony
Black misses the free throw and then boy, I mean,
they make a huge mistake on the switch here with Shengoon.
He's got super deep positioning with one point three, one
point seven whatever it was left, uh and he ties
(09:18):
the game to force overtime. Just an incredible series of
plays all around. Like, I just was stunned how that happened.
The Rockets seemed to one seemed to win the game,
that had a chance to win it, then blew it
and then they force overtime.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Remind me who was the inbounder on the Uh Shongoon
tying bucket? A men An. I want to talk about
him then, and we'll get to him in a few minutes.
Because it wasn't all positive, but I thought that was
a really heady play because I think where some of
the confusion came into play for the Magic. Everybody in
the building was expecting the Rockets and most likely Kevin Durant,
(09:53):
to attempt to walk off three like the Rockets had.
You know, their tanks were on empty, and I think
we saw that in old time, when you know Shingoon
had to do so much of the heavy lifting lad
in the game. You know, there were a couple of
little hooks that he left short in overtime. I think
it's because he just didn't have the juice, and it's understandable.
I mean, we're not even a month into the season, Dave,
like it feels like, you know, the Rockets have been
(10:15):
you know, pedal to the medal for some time.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
But they're nine and three.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
They're just twelve games in out of eighty two and
perhaps you know, they only played eight guys tonight because
the injuries are piling up. So fortunately in overtime kd
was able to get them to the finish line because
it looked like Shinogoon's tank was running on empty. But
in regulation, I think there's so much of a tendency
down to in that spot, and especially if you have
Kevin Durant and Jabari as you mentioned, it hit a
(10:39):
big three as well. I think so many people in
the building, including the Magic, were expecting the Rockets to
go for a three, to just end it one way
or another right there, that even though Shingoon had positioned,
they botched the switch. I don't think anyone was really
expecting the Rockets to go for two right there. I
think to some extent, the Rocket's willingness to do that
(10:59):
caught the Magic by surprise. And I give a lot
of credit to him men, because I would bet a
lot of money that the play that was drawn up,
you know, they had a couple of shooters coming around
Curls and that would have been you know, Option A
or Option B. I would guess that Shingoon inside, I
don't know if it was Option SEE, but I would
bet it's not Option A. It's just happened to be
like that was the best read and a men adjusted
on the fly. So you know, I thought, like for
(11:20):
the game as a whole, like we texted during the game,
I honestly thought the biggest disappointment from a half court
offense perspective was a men Thompson, not in the one
that not in the way that a lot of people think.
You know, there's been so much made, you know, this
constant referendum of is a men Thompson a point guard?
I mean, he had no turnovers the other night. He
had one turnover tonight. It wasn't like he was making
(11:40):
you know, terrible decisions or getting picked. No, it was
he didn't finish well enough for the season. You know,
going into tonight he was at fifty four and a
half percent true shooting. That's down from over sixty percent
last year. Tonight, I'm gonna guess he's in the His
season long number is now about fifty three points something.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
That's my guess. The stats haven't updated yet.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
So you know it's a small sample. It's just twelve
out of eighty two. But he needs to be better.
Like the Rockets went into the season and not just them,
like all of us. We talked about them having a
big three, and to this point, you know, there's been
a few games where it's been a big three, but
for the balance of the season, it's been more like
a clear top two. The two all stars from last year,
Kevin Durant and allpri in Drangoon and then a men.
(12:21):
Thompson certainly a very good player, still very valuable, and
there have been some individual games where he's looked like
that third star level talent, but he hasn't done it consistently.
And so when you see the Magic, when you see
a team defend the Rockets the way the Magic did tonight,
if they're not going to send doubles to where the
Rockets are easily getting off threes, then you need to
(12:43):
have a men's ability to get right to the rim
to sort of unlock more levels to your offense. And
for whatever reason, he just wasn't able to do that tonight.
Now to his credit, and this is what makes me
besides the obvious caveats, it's your three. He's twenty two
years old the first month of the season, like all
of these are obvious caveats, but beyond that, even though
(13:04):
a men is relatively struggling, Look, he still had ten
rebounds tonight. He made that great pass at the end
of the game that we were just talking about, So
the effort is still there. And oh, we also closed
out the game in overtime by making the two free
throws with two seconds left to put the game away,
So it's not.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Like the focus isn't there. He's very much still trying.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It's just for one reason or another, he's not converting
at an efficient enough rate for him to be the
third star that we want him to be, at least
not yet. So you know, high level takeaway, that's sort
of the area of concern for me. But you know,
the silver lining, it's not affecting his effort. And even
though on the balance of the game A Men wasn't great,
he did make some big plays down the stretch with rebounds,
(13:46):
the pass, the assists that is to set up the
game tying shoingoon bucket, and then the two free throws
in overtime to put it away.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, that you know, I'm definitely keeping my eyes on
a Men Thompson because I know tonight start zero for
five wasn't super active. You obviously you're including him in
this Big three sort of speak, and we need to
see a little bit more just just to you've already
kind of covered that nicely, but you just he has
so much potential. You see it in some of the
(14:13):
big time plays that he makes, the rim pressure and
attacking the basket. So yeah, we just need to see
a little bit more out of him, And it wasn't
a good offensive night for anybody really other than Kevin
Durant and maybe Read Shepherd. As far as efficiency wise,
don't get me wrong, obviously Shangoon you know, ended up
with certainly thirty points to I big numbers, But as
far as efficiency, it was really those two guys, unless
(14:34):
I missed someone. Aaron Holliday came in and hit a
couple of shots.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And to close the loop on the turnover at the
end of regulation. I really think what we're seeing more
of late in these close games. Shangoon and KD know
that right now they are the clear top two, they
are the engines, and so I think, you know, it
was a combination of KD fell Maybe there was a
little bit of a grab. Shangoon would have liked to
(14:59):
have pulled back, but he was already about to you know,
inbound the ball when Katie started to go down, so
it was too late to pull back, and it happened
too quickly for he made to call time out from
the bench.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So sort of a perfect storm of circumstances.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
But the bottom line, I think the reason the rockets
aired in that direction is they wanted that game to
be decided by Kevin Durant or All per Inenchion Goon,
And since Shin Gooon was the inbounds guy, then obviously
he's going to try to get the ball to KD.
So it sucks how it turned out, but I can
understand the thought process because you know the stuff about
do the Rockets have a point guard? And I thought,
(15:32):
especially in the first half there there were some encouraging
things from Reed Shepherd that he can build on. But
down the stretch of a game, it's going to be
Kevin Durant and All Prench and Goon. So this whole
question of who's the point guard? How good are they?
I've said it before, that's a first forty three minutes problem.
The last five minutes in a game like this, it's
going to be Kevin Durant and All Perenchion Goon initiating
the offense themselves. It almost went horribly wrong for a
(15:54):
brief moment it did tonight, but on the balance, you
can't argue with the result.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, it was watching that game. It was in slow
motion to me, excuse me that that final play or
close to the final player regulation It just it kind
of just the whole thing. It looked like a like
a dramatic movie, you know, KB falling it kind of
slipping out of his hands, almost bouncing right into the
hands of a running Orlando player. I just and then
the foul by Shangun, You're like, what in the world
(16:21):
they really escaped with this one? And it's nice to
know that the team, when the offense isn't clicking as
it has been all season, can still you know, win
these games in the MUDs. As Kevin Durant said, So
one thing I.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Want real quick, I do give Shinoon credit for hustling back. Now,
they got lucky that Black missed the free throw. But
if Shangoon doesn't hustle back, if he lets Black just
go to the rim, Black can basically take his time
and effectively hit a walk off like he can lay
it up. And you know, we saw with the shot
that Shangoun hit there was point two left.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
It easily could have been point four point five.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
But fortunately the ball sort of you know, hit the
NAT couple of times before it went all the way through.
So even though the foul was frustrating, I drew respection Goon.
I mean number one you should always hustle. But secondly,
the hustle did have a reward because it gave the
Rockets that one point seven or one point four or
whatever it was, so that they could actually get off
a shot at Tiger the game, and one that they
ultimately made.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Boy Anthony Black missing that free throw, he's going to
be thinking that was Nick Anderson Estro Orlando of all
teams too, right, So you know, Reed Shepherd had a
really good game. I thought overall. He did have a
little bit of an issue where Desmond Bain defended a
shot by Reed Shepherd. Bain came down hard on the block,
(17:39):
got him across the forehead, and then Bain kind of
barked at him as Reid had fell on the floor
and Reed definitely stuck out his leg to trip Bain.
Going back, they reviewed it called it a flagrant. I
don't know if they'll do anything further than that, though, Yeah, yeah, Died,
I'm with you. I doubt it as well. But Reid
tonight seven boards had sixteen points, was efficient, hit two
(18:01):
or four from long range, six to eleven from the field.
Good game for Reid, and he came in and hit
clutch free throws at the end of overtime, Like, you know,
he's only shutting. I think he'd only shut like seven
free throws in this season, and he comes in and
hits those.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, I thought it was really telling by the way
that Kevin Durant had the ball when the Rockets were
up one. You know, they went with Imey Ujoka's trusted
strategy of fouling up three, and it worked out. They
didn't always do that last year. They did today to
their credit. And kd got the ball when they were
up one with eight seconds and he could have easily
held it and just waited for the foul, but he
gave it to read, which a was beneficial because they
(18:35):
were able to dribble off about half the clock.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But secondly, like.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That took a lot of trust even though Reid's a
really good shooter, which they know. Look it's a young
guy who's just twenty one years old in the second season.
To send him to the line in that situation, it's
not easy, as you said, just ask Nick Anderson, Like,
those free throws get a lot more difficult when there's
those types of stakes, and so for Reid to be
able to step up, and I don't think either of
them even hit the rim, like total trusts from imy
(19:01):
Udoka to put him out there, Kevin Durant to give
him the ball. And you look at the plus minus,
Reid was plus nineteen. That is ridiculous. Twenty nine minutes played,
sixteen points, seven rebounds, a couple of assists plus nineteen.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
And Aaron Holliday, who was the eighth man and an
increasingly tight rockets rotation with all the injuries. I thought
he had a couple of big threes tonight and in
those minutes with Reed Shepperd and Aaron Holliday. Yeah, you
have to play a little.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Bit of z own.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You have to do some creative things defensively at times.
But with Steven Adams and all for inchan do and
you have size, you have flexibility. I thought those bench units,
given what the rockets are missing at the moment, were
about as good as you could hope for, even in
a night that you know Steven Adams struggled tonight. He
had thirteen boards, they were just one of eight like
the bars they had, and overtime was only when he
(19:52):
made the entire game. So I think Steven will be
the first to tell you that he should have been
a lot better. But aside from that, like the bench
units were some of their best And so I give
a ton of credit to Read Shepard because obviously Steven
didn't play well, so you know, he gives you a
high floor. We've talked about that, but it wasn't Steven's
best game, and so for the bench units to sort
of get you back in the game. It felt like
(20:13):
every time the Magic would get some separation, bump it
back to eight, nine, ten points, the Rockets would get
it back down to three or four, a little bit
like that Milwaukee game. And you know the finish was
not as pretty as the Milwaukee game, and that the
Magic made you grind it out a little bit more
in the half court, but sort of the same theme,
and that you know, for a lot of the game
bouncing back between you know, maybe a thretey four point
game and a nine ten eleven point game, but you know,
(20:36):
the bench led by Reed Shepherd kept you close and
then at the very end, just like the Milwaukee game,
Durant and Shogoon had enough to get you to the
finish line.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, you know it's and read to your point about Reid,
you know, I always try to be a little bit
more cautious. I don't want to overstate things or anything
like that. But he had a couple of plays, and
I at least one that I could think of rough
the top of my head, where he drove basically right,
stepped back off the three line and just drained a triple.
It did look Steph Curry like, to be totally honest,
(21:05):
he showed the Jets a couple of times. We had
that chase down block by Kevin Durant, and Reid took
the rebound and just bolted on the length of the
floor and got to lay up in over traffic. I mean,
like I said, I'd rather be late than over state.
But I do think there's a lot of promising things
to look at with Reed Shepherd, and if he ends
(21:26):
up having that point guard projection hit, I mean you're
you're in business because this guy can shoot. Flot out,
he can shoot.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And by the way, one more note on that end
of regulation sequence.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I thought it was classic ball.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Don't lie for Kevin Durant to hit that three over
Wendell Carter Junior, because I still do not know how
Wendell Carter did not foul out on what was his
sixth foul, would have said a men, Thompson to the
line to put the rockets in front with a couple
of minutes left, got overturned. Next thing you know, the
Magic are up three again.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I don't know. I mean insert Scott Foster comment here.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
There's a lot of them in the chat, but I
know he initially got ball, but my god, he got
a ton of arm and hand, Like even if you
get ball, you can't then just crush the guy, like,
We'll see what the last two minute report says. I'm
very curious. I'm also you know, we were talking offline
before we started recording. I'm also sort of curious to
(22:21):
see what happens with the with the steal that Anthony
Black hat or I don't think Black had the steal,
but the go ahead layup with a couple of seconds left,
because there was a little bit of a hand on
Kadie's jersey and it was very reminiscent of the for
anyone in the chat that saw the Milwaukee Dallas game
last week, Milwaukee got a steal and transition bucket in
the last minute on I play, very similar to that
(22:42):
where they got a fist full of Cooper Flag's jersey
and they didn't call it. But the next day on
the last two minute report, they said it should have
been called because of the hand on the jersey.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
So so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
But unlike previous Scott Foster games in that same building,
fortunately these Rockets with Kevin Durant, I guess the biggest takeaway, Dave,
the Rockets did not have enough to overcome Scott Foster
and Kevin Durant. But if Kevin Durant is on their side,
they can overcome Scott Foster.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Good point. Good point. Yeah. I swear every time I
see Scott Foster say something on you know, when he's
gonna announce what they concluded on replay, I just you
can feel the anger. You know, there's so much history there.
Let's talk about the end of overtime. Jabari had a very,
very big block of Franz Wagner that was key to
set up Kevin Durant to basically ice the game. It
(23:30):
wasn't one hundred percent over Like I said, Reid had
to hit those free throws, Rockets had to foul, and
you know, watch Orlando shoot some free throws from there too.
But Kevin Durant hitting this shot again. This is another
just closer moment. He had several big shots like this
in this game, just just really really nice. And there
(23:51):
were some highlights in there of Shangun. I didn't have
all the highlights for use in here. Shangun had a
like a there was a play where he must have
missed like four sh but he got the offensive rebound
every single time and then went kind of behind the back,
bounced past to Adams to that basket that you made.
It was a beautiful play, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I think those two have a really good feel for
one another already, Like certainly the x's it knows and
understanding who has the better matchup on a given possession,
like you know, it speaks volumes. I heard Tim McMahon
say this and one of ESPN's recent pods. But just
the fact that Durant is willing to be deferential to
all per in Shangoon says so much about where Alprin
is as a player, and no one should be pointing out,
(24:30):
oh he shot thirty one times tonight, Well he sort
of had to, Dave. Look at how the Magic chose
to defend the rockets. I mean, if he didn't take
some of those shots, especially in a night where Aman
Thompson is struggling where the point's going to come from.
A lot of those were shots were late in the clock.
He had to put something up. So no, I don't
blame Shinggoon for the efficiency. You'd like to see a
few more go in, but I don't blame him for
the volume. I should say, but I think a lot
(24:51):
of what happened in overtime. I mentioned this earlier, but
the Rockets had to lean on Shingoon so much down
the stretch of regulation and early and overtime because it
I felt like he had a lot of the more advantage
matchups relative to KD that I thought his tank was
running on empty. And that's where you know. With about
I want to say, a minute twenty left Shangoon and
a couple of really good looks hook shots within five
feet that he front rimmed, And to me, that's a
(25:13):
sign that he's that he's a little bit tired. And
and so I think KD and Shangoon beyond just being
able to read the floor and see who has the
better matchup on a possession, I also think there's a
little bit of back and forth between hey, who has
a little more juice at a given moment. And I
think late in overtime, Shangoon didn't necessarily have it offensively
after what he had already done, So the Rockets needed
(25:34):
Kad to then pick up the slack and he did.
And it goes both ways, like there were certainly moments
late in regulation where you know, KD hit some big
shots and then the Rockets for one reason or another,
needed to go to Shangoon, And so they sort of
have a good yin and yang to them in terms
of they they understand what the other needs. And I
think for a partnership that's just twelve games in the making,
(25:56):
it's really promising.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, absolutely, you know, I gotta tell it say. I
was impressed with Wendell Carter Junior in this game, although
he did make a few a few low IQ plays trying.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
To attempting to out even if they didn't call it right.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Well, are you're talking about the one where he attempted
to block him in but just even attempting with second
left of the shot clock in a men's doing a
full speed fade away. I was like, what are you?
What are you thinking there? But for them, mentioning on
the broadcast, I hadn't even done my research. Carter's shooting
over forty four percent from three. I don't know what
the deal is with Biggs. Suddenly there are several of
(26:28):
them that are that have you know, Shangoon being one
of them. Sure have suddenly just become snipers. And Carter
hit two of four from three tonight. Like I said,
you know, I don't know if that continues for him,
but I thought he was pretty good. Tristan da Silva's
I believe, a rookie and is doing quite well for that.
I thought he was fairly solid as well tonight. You know,
they're missing sugs, They're missing Palelo Rockets, missing obviously, Dorian
(26:49):
Finney Smith, missing Tarry Eason. Of course they're gonna miss
Fred all year, so I'm not gonna feel sorry for them.
But still, that was an impressive showing for them to
come into Houston, and I think take them that far.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Absolutely game yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And there's not going to be a dull moment the
next four games here. I mean, we've got the weve
got Cleveland, I believe on Wednesday, and that's a team
that shnggun usually does pretty well at least has for
the last couple of games. I would say some bigs
that just don't have a whole lot of sand in
their pants to defend Shangoon as far as post to work,
and that's Mobley and Allen. Then you're gonna have the
(27:27):
Nuggets in Cup Action. Yeah, absolutely. Then I don't know
if it's the biggest game, but the Suns keep there.
They've been a little surprising, and we're gonna see Dylan
Brooks without question, he'll be on Katie. That's gonna be
I think the twenty fourth Monday. And then you've got Rockets,
Warriors and Cup Actions. So the two Cup games that
(27:49):
are remaining both extremely tough. You got the Nuggets here
in Houston, and then you're going to go on the
road to play the Warriors. Gonna be great to see,
you know, the Warriors. Now, there are so many narratives,
so many storylines. I can't wait for that game in particular.
But this was I didn't expect that. I thought the
Rockets would roll tonight. A very very good game, a
(28:09):
lot of very entertaining to watch.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, I worried a little bit more about it than
you probably did, simply because going in they had won
eight of nine, now nine of ten. But when you
put together a run like this, there can be a
letdown game, especially with a difficult schedule coming up. The
Magic without Polo or one. We're at home wrapping up
a homestand it's come so easily of late, It's not
(28:34):
easy to reel off a nine of ten stretch against anybody.
So I just sort of had a feeling this would
be a little more competitive, and then you know, as
the game played out, we saw the Magic had some
matchup advantages with the size they have on that front
line and the physicality the Rockets not being able to
you know, bludgeon them the way they can most teams.
And that's why, you know, we'll talk more in future episodes.
(28:56):
I'm sure about the impact of you know, Notari Eesen.
He's going to be out four to six weeks with
what turned out to be in a blique strain. It
could be that that that's a huge deal, But I
don't want to overreact based on one game, because I
do think, you know, even counting overtime, the Rockets had
only twenty threes tonight, Like I think the way that
(29:17):
the Magic we're able to single cover Shanoon and Katie
for a lot of that game and their willingness to
stick with it, and also Steven missing a lot of
bunnies near the rim that might have made them think
twice a little bit about some of those coverages. I
don't think that's going to happen every night. The teams
you have coming up, they're more explosive offensively, but I
don't think they had the same personnel defensively. So I
think once the rockets have more size and the physicality
(29:38):
can take a little bit more of a toll, then
it'll certainly miss Tarry. I mean, he's very long. We
know how well he was shooting threes this year. But
I do think that this game, while not encouraging if
you look at it just just at face value, I
do think there's some insinuating circumstances tonight. I sort of
understand it being a letdown game, and you know, I'm
sort of I guess the way I would frame it,
(29:59):
I have a watch fully on the Tari situation and
however long it is until Dorian Infonty Smith comes back,
like it's certainly not nothing, but is it as crippling
as it might have looked when you know, you look
up midway through tonight's game and you're down ten to
an or Lando team that you feel like you should beat.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I think there's I think there's a lot of things
going on. So the impact of losing Tari we'll see,
but we need a bigger sample to really to really
flush that out. And what other comment from the chat
I want to address. Yeah, the crowd at touto So
tonight was electric. That's one of the best crowds I've
seen in a long time in Houston. And you know,
we know this is a crowd that's you know, at
times in recent seasons. Now, some of that I think
(30:35):
is circumstantial based on the team's not being so good,
and even when the team picks it up as they
did last year, sometimes it takes, you know, an extra
year or two for the fan base to get back
in the habits of you know, buying all the tickets,
showing up being loud the way you are when you
have a contender. It doesn't always happen from a fan
environment standpoint, It's not like flipping the switch. But this
(30:56):
season it's been a lot better. I think the Kevin
Duran effect second year being you know, a top shelf
team in the Western Conference.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
That helps.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
But also you know, we talked to Gretchen Scher a
few weeks ago on our YouTube channel at Clutch Fans,
and I know the Rockets behind the scenes have really
been making some efforts to make sure more of those
lower bowl seats are filled.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
They're getting creative.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
It was Kevin Durant Bobblehead night tonight, by the way,
which you know, Jackson Gatlin over at Lockdown Rockets said
that people were lined up as early as one pm
for six pm tip off, So just you know, it's
not one reason, but the bottom line is the fan
environment was so much better tonight. I thought it absolutely
made a difference down the stretch and in overtime. And
you know, kudos to the fans and kudos to the
(31:38):
Rockets as an organization for doing what it takes to
build a little bit more of home of a home
court advantage, because I think the Rockets clearly enjoyed that tonight.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, and if you haven't been for a while, highly
re and not you obviously Ben, you go right, But
I'm saying to the audience, I mean, if you haven't
been go to the toilet center, go watch a game.
I mean, it's fun to watch them online or on TV.
I get that, but it's such a great extent experience.
And like I said, I said this to Gretchen as well,
you don't have to be this diehard fan. Of course,
if you're watching the show, you are, but you don't
(32:07):
have to be to truly enjoy it. It's such a
great experience. And with this se this season and this team,
it's it's a must have ticket. So yeah, to your point,
we'll close now, but just a Kogi twenty two minutes
no shots, so that's it's basically indicates that they really
were not able to find a lot of open shooters
tonights and like only twenty threes. That was notable throughout three,
(32:30):
only three in the first quarter. So Ben appreciate you
doing this. Thank you everybody all the support. It's a
huge audience tonight. I appreciate all of you guys and everybody.
You feel free to subscribe if you haven't already, to
get notifications when we go live, and we will see
all Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Have a great night, Clutch Day
Welcome in everybody. It is another celebratory time to be
a Rockets fan. Basically, this was a game Rockets win
in over time, one seventeen to one thirteen over the
Orlando Magic, A game that I think, I don't know
if you feel the same way, Bend, that the Rockets
probably had lost. We thought it was over a couple
of different times. Orlando, despite not having Palo Bancaro and
(00:25):
not having Jalen Suggs, pretty much took it to the
Rockets from most of the game, and Kevin Durant just
came on strong. Alprin Shangoun made big plays, Jabari had
a big play, lots of heroes come through, and the
Rockets their number one offensive rating might take a beating,
but they pull off the win and are now nine
(00:45):
to three.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well as you can tell if you're watching the video
stream by the gear I've got on. I was there
as a fan tonight, and I'll be honest, that was
one of the craziest sports fan experiences I've ever had.
Like clearly, not the magnitude in terms of the importance
of the win, but the last time I remember those
types of emotional swings at a game that I was
at was the twenty twenty two Alds game one yard
(01:09):
on walkoff against the Mariners, Like I have not seen
since then that many back and forth swings in a
game where both teams were making big plays. I guess
you know, that Sixers game last year was sort of
crazy that they won an overtime around Saint Patrick's Day,
But that was a terrible Sixers team, like a lot
of that, which is the Rockets, you know, playing with
their food and then rescuing it late. I guess you
(01:30):
could argue that tonight with the Magic missing Palo Bencaro,
But honestly, I give the Magic a lot of credit,
like Fronz Wagner, Desmond Baine, there are some good players
on that team, and I thought, you know, they defended
the Rockets in a very unique way. They basically dared
Kevin Durant and Alprin Shangoun to beat them one on one,
and it was so different. You know, after Friday's game
(01:51):
against Portland, we talked about the Rockets finally figuring out
the three point math discrepancy. They put up forty five
compared to thirty six for the Blazers. Tonight, it went
to the other extreme it was so tough for the
Rockets to get off threes because the Magic didn't have
to double. Well, maybe there were times they should have doubled,
but they were okay giving up those middies to all
per Eension Goon, to Kevin Durant. If the Rockets weren't
(02:12):
going to be able to get off threes, if they
could squeeze the Rockets on the perimeter, and for a
lot of the game it worked. I think what the
Rockets needed to get over the hump in this game
was to, you know, not entirely rely on the middies,
go all the way to the bucket, finish through contact,
get some free throws. And it's tough to do that
(02:32):
over forty eight minutes. But I think in the final
eight nine minutes of the fourth quarter and in overtime,
we saw that a bit more from Kevin Durant, especially
all Perension Goon, and I think that's what got them
over the finish line. So in terms of the big picture,
there's things they've got to work out, because you know,
you can't be at the three point disadvantage they were
(02:54):
tonight and win a ton of games, at least against
good competition now. I think there's also an argument to
be made that the Magic, because they do have a
lot of size, there's a lot of big physical wings
that they are more capable of holding their own one
on one against players like Shangoon and KD the most
teams around the league, and you know, I think back
under the whole Imai Ujoka regime of the Rockets, they've
(03:15):
had some trouble with the Magic in the past. I
think this is a matchup because of the physicality they
play with, and obviously the Rockets, missing not just Jorian
Finny Smith but now Charrie Easton as well, don't have
the length across the board that they typically do. So
there's a few factors going on here. But I think
at a very high level, what happened throughout the game
was the Magic dared Shingoon and KD to beat them
(03:36):
one on one, and for the first forty minutes or so,
it was enough to keep the Rockets close but not
put them over the top. When it really mattered, Shinoon
and Katy found that extra gear and it was enough
to get them one of the the wildest wins I've
ever seen.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, that that was exact takeaway that I had they
single covered Shngun, they could do so. With Franz Wagner.
This is again coming on the heels of Avdiya kind
of guarding Shangun for stretches against Portland, and then of
course Wendell Carter did it as well. I mean, there's
times when they're gonna to bring some help, but that
was a key factor because obviously, so much of what
(04:13):
the Rockets do is when Shangun gets doubled, somebody's open.
He's so good at finding. A matter of fact, in regulation,
when they were coming back, Jabari hit a really big
basket out of the corner. It was because Shngun read
that double so fat. He read the help coming off
of Jabbari in the corner. He knew Jabari was open,
and it was one of the few times that Shngun
got that double and he kicked out. I don't as
(04:36):
far as I don't want to put any negative spin
on it, I'm a little concerned that people will pick
up on this because this is something we've talked about before.
But there's a lot of you know, not many teams
can have players that can single cover Shangun, so it'll
be interesting to see how that plays out. But Kevin
Durant and I you know, as far as the positives
thirteen of twenty four from the field thirty five points
(04:57):
is just continuing his heater that he is on right now,
and he is clearly the closer. He's the guy they
want to get the ball to to make the big shot,
and it's something that they've been lacking in the past.
I mean, you go back and look at that Warrior series.
Really they didn't have that last year. And so that's
the big bonus right now or the best thing going
(05:19):
on with the Rockets right now is Katie is truly
that closer for this team.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I don't want this to come across as a shot
at Jalen Green, but on some of those big shots
down the stretch, I couldn't help but think what if
it was Jalen Green instead of Kevin Durant, I e.
Last year's model, and the Rockets wouldn't even have been
close in my opinion, to winning this game. And again
that's not meant to be a criticism of Jalen and
he is a good player, but Kevin is a great
player and we saw that tonight even at thirty seven
(05:46):
years old and his propensity to deliver when it matters most.
I mean, for me, that's one of the most rewarding
parts of the past week. I think what was really
frustrating the way the Rockets started this season. Yes, and
the macro was understandable that you lost two close games
to the Thunder and the Pistons, who I think still
have the two best records in the league. So it's
not like those were bad losses by any means. But
(06:06):
the Rockets are a team going into the year you
would like to think, hey, if the game is close,
Houston should disproportunately benefit from executing down the stretch when
it becomes a half court game because of the types
of half court creators and playmakers that they have. It
didn't start that way, but boy is it trending in
that direction over the last couple of weeks, really starting
with that Dallas game where the MAVs played them super
(06:28):
close for about three quarters. In the Rockets, starting with
kd and it ended with Shingouon had to sort of
tap into that extra gear to get it to the
finish line.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
They're not a finished product.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
The Rockets will be the first to admit that, but
I think going into this season this was on paper
what should have been and I think is one of
their biggest strengths.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
If it's close.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
They had the types of individual talents that can get
them to the finish line in a way that most
of their opponents don't. And even the magic like Desmond
Bin Franz Wagner, those are very good players. I don't
think or in the tier of Kevin Durant or all
per in Shangoon. I think there's a little bit of
a gap there, and I think ultimately that was the
difference when it mattered most tonight and again for a
(07:09):
Rocket team that struggled a little bit early in the season,
the close out games, it's really rewarding in the past
couple of weeks to see that it's flipping in a
big way.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah. Absolutely, you know, it's interesting to we talked about
this team being the number one offensive rating. They have
been so incredibly good offensively. You do lose Tari as
you mentioned, he's out for four to six weeks. For
anyone who hasn't already picked up on that news, he
didn't play tonight. Obviously, starting this stretch where he's out,
you know Jabari wasn't exactly hot. Shan Gun started the
(07:39):
game hitting two like eighteen foot bombs turnarounds like tough shots,
and you're like, man, this guy has really taken a
leap with his shooting, and then really offensively struggled. I
think he went during one stretch had missed like nine
of ten shots. He was eleven of thirty one, so
scored thirty on thirty one shots tonight, but came up
(08:00):
with some big hero plays. We'll go through that for sure,
but I have to talk about the end of regulation, Ben,
I'm gonna play the clips. There's too many highlights tonight
to get all of this stuff in there. But the
end of regulation was just crazy. I mean, I don't
really know where to start here. This is where Katie
just hits a huge basket to tie it and Rockets
(08:23):
had been just taking the lead, maybe three minutes left
in the game, their first I don't know if it
was the first lead in a long while. Then Shnngoon
stays in the game. I was shocked by this defensively
because it was a key defensive position and he has
a huge block. And then right here, I'm gonna pause
it for a second ben because I gotta set this up.
Rockets have the ball with five point three seconds left,
(08:44):
it's tie game. They can win the game here, it's
a huge inbounds play. I don't know what happened here.
Kevin Durant seemed to fall, Shangun still threw it in.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
There's a little bit of a poll but not a ton.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, I mean when I saw that, and then Shoon
fouls him with one point seven seconds left, Black Anthony
Black misses the free throw and then boy, I mean,
they make a huge mistake on the switch here with Shengoon.
He's got super deep positioning with one point three, one
point seven whatever it was left, uh and he ties
(09:18):
the game to force overtime. Just an incredible series of
plays all around. Like, I just was stunned how that happened.
The Rockets seemed to one seemed to win the game,
that had a chance to win it, then blew it
and then they force overtime.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Remind me who was the inbounder on the Uh Shongoon
tying bucket? A men An. I want to talk about
him then, and we'll get to him in a few minutes.
Because it wasn't all positive, but I thought that was
a really heady play because I think where some of
the confusion came into play for the Magic. Everybody in
the building was expecting the Rockets and most likely Kevin Durant,
(09:53):
to attempt to walk off three like the Rockets had.
You know, their tanks were on empty, and I think
we saw that in old time, when you know Shingoon
had to do so much of the heavy lifting lad
in the game. You know, there were a couple of
little hooks that he left short in overtime. I think
it's because he just didn't have the juice, and it's understandable.
I mean, we're not even a month into the season, Dave,
like it feels like, you know, the Rockets have been
(10:15):
you know, pedal to the medal for some time.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
But they're nine and three.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
They're just twelve games in out of eighty two and
perhaps you know, they only played eight guys tonight because
the injuries are piling up. So fortunately in overtime kd
was able to get them to the finish line because
it looked like Shinogoon's tank was running on empty. But
in regulation, I think there's so much of a tendency
down to in that spot, and especially if you have
Kevin Durant and Jabari as you mentioned, it hit a
(10:39):
big three as well. I think so many people in
the building, including the Magic, were expecting the Rockets to
go for a three, to just end it one way
or another right there, that even though Shingoon had positioned,
they botched the switch. I don't think anyone was really
expecting the Rockets to go for two right there. I
think to some extent, the Rocket's willingness to do that
(10:59):
caught the Magic by surprise. And I give a lot
of credit to him men, because I would bet a
lot of money that the play that was drawn up,
you know, they had a couple of shooters coming around
Curls and that would have been you know, Option A
or Option B. I would guess that Shingoon inside, I
don't know if it was Option SEE, but I would
bet it's not Option A. It's just happened to be
like that was the best read and a men adjusted
on the fly. So you know, I thought, like for
(11:20):
the game as a whole, like we texted during the game,
I honestly thought the biggest disappointment from a half court
offense perspective was a men Thompson, not in the one
that not in the way that a lot of people think.
You know, there's been so much made, you know, this
constant referendum of is a men Thompson a point guard?
I mean, he had no turnovers the other night. He
had one turnover tonight. It wasn't like he was making
(11:40):
you know, terrible decisions or getting picked. No, it was
he didn't finish well enough for the season. You know,
going into tonight he was at fifty four and a
half percent true shooting. That's down from over sixty percent
last year. Tonight, I'm gonna guess he's in the His
season long number is now about fifty three points something.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
That's my guess. The stats haven't updated yet.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
So you know it's a small sample. It's just twelve
out of eighty two. But he needs to be better.
Like the Rockets went into the season and not just them,
like all of us. We talked about them having a
big three, and to this point, you know, there's been
a few games where it's been a big three, but
for the balance of the season, it's been more like
a clear top two. The two all stars from last year,
Kevin Durant and allpri in Drangoon and then a men.
(12:21):
Thompson certainly a very good player, still very valuable, and
there have been some individual games where he's looked like
that third star level talent, but he hasn't done it consistently.
And so when you see the Magic, when you see
a team defend the Rockets the way the Magic did tonight,
if they're not going to send doubles to where the
Rockets are easily getting off threes, then you need to
(12:43):
have a men's ability to get right to the rim
to sort of unlock more levels to your offense. And
for whatever reason, he just wasn't able to do that tonight.
Now to his credit, and this is what makes me
besides the obvious caveats, it's your three. He's twenty two
years old the first month of the season, like all
of these are obvious caveats, but beyond that, even though
(13:04):
a men is relatively struggling, Look, he still had ten
rebounds tonight. He made that great pass at the end
of the game that we were just talking about, So
the effort is still there. And oh, we also closed
out the game in overtime by making the two free
throws with two seconds left to put the game away,
So it's not.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Like the focus isn't there. He's very much still trying.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
It's just for one reason or another, he's not converting
at an efficient enough rate for him to be the
third star that we want him to be, at least
not yet. So you know, high level takeaway, that's sort
of the area of concern for me. But you know,
the silver lining, it's not affecting his effort. And even
though on the balance of the game A Men wasn't great,
he did make some big plays down the stretch with rebounds,
(13:46):
the pass, the assists that is to set up the
game tying shoingoon bucket, and then the two free throws
in overtime to put it away.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, that you know, I'm definitely keeping my eyes on
a Men Thompson because I know tonight start zero for
five wasn't super active. You obviously you're including him in
this Big three sort of speak, and we need to
see a little bit more just just to you've already
kind of covered that nicely, but you just he has
so much potential. You see it in some of the
(14:13):
big time plays that he makes, the rim pressure and
attacking the basket. So yeah, we just need to see
a little bit more out of him, And it wasn't
a good offensive night for anybody really other than Kevin
Durant and maybe Read Shepherd. As far as efficiency wise,
don't get me wrong, obviously Shangoon you know, ended up
with certainly thirty points to I big numbers, But as
far as efficiency, it was really those two guys, unless
(14:34):
I missed someone. Aaron Holliday came in and hit a
couple of shots.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And to close the loop on the turnover at the
end of regulation. I really think what we're seeing more
of late in these close games. Shangoon and KD know
that right now they are the clear top two, they
are the engines, and so I think, you know, it
was a combination of KD fell Maybe there was a
little bit of a grab. Shangoon would have liked to
(14:59):
have pulled back, but he was already about to you know,
inbound the ball when Katie started to go down, so
it was too late to pull back, and it happened
too quickly for he made to call time out from
the bench.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
So sort of a perfect storm of circumstances.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
But the bottom line, I think the reason the rockets
aired in that direction is they wanted that game to
be decided by Kevin Durant or All per Inenchion Goon,
And since Shin Gooon was the inbounds guy, then obviously
he's going to try to get the ball to KD.
So it sucks how it turned out, but I can
understand the thought process because you know the stuff about
do the Rockets have a point guard? And I thought,
(15:32):
especially in the first half there there were some encouraging
things from Reed Shepherd that he can build on. But
down the stretch of a game, it's going to be
Kevin Durant and All Prench and Goon. So this whole
question of who's the point guard? How good are they?
I've said it before, that's a first forty three minutes problem.
The last five minutes in a game like this, it's
going to be Kevin Durant and All Perenchion Goon initiating
the offense themselves. It almost went horribly wrong for a
(15:54):
brief moment it did tonight, but on the balance, you
can't argue with the result.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, it was watching that game. It was in slow
motion to me, excuse me that that final play or
close to the final player regulation It just it kind
of just the whole thing. It looked like a like
a dramatic movie, you know, KB falling it kind of
slipping out of his hands, almost bouncing right into the
hands of a running Orlando player. I just and then
the foul by Shangun, You're like, what in the world
(16:21):
they really escaped with this one? And it's nice to
know that the team, when the offense isn't clicking as
it has been all season, can still you know, win
these games in the MUDs. As Kevin Durant said, So
one thing I.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Want real quick, I do give Shinoon credit for hustling back. Now,
they got lucky that Black missed the free throw. But
if Shangoon doesn't hustle back, if he lets Black just
go to the rim, Black can basically take his time
and effectively hit a walk off like he can lay
it up. And you know, we saw with the shot
that Shangoun hit there was point two left.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
It easily could have been point four point five.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
But fortunately the ball sort of you know, hit the
NAT couple of times before it went all the way through.
So even though the foul was frustrating, I drew respection Goon.
I mean number one you should always hustle. But secondly,
the hustle did have a reward because it gave the
Rockets that one point seven or one point four or
whatever it was, so that they could actually get off
a shot at Tiger the game, and one that they
ultimately made.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Boy Anthony Black missing that free throw, he's going to
be thinking that was Nick Anderson Estro Orlando of all
teams too, right, So you know, Reed Shepherd had a
really good game. I thought overall. He did have a
little bit of an issue where Desmond Bain defended a
shot by Reed Shepherd. Bain came down hard on the block,
(17:39):
got him across the forehead, and then Bain kind of
barked at him as Reid had fell on the floor
and Reed definitely stuck out his leg to trip Bain.
Going back, they reviewed it called it a flagrant. I
don't know if they'll do anything further than that, though, Yeah, yeah, Died,
I'm with you. I doubt it as well. But Reid
tonight seven boards had sixteen points, was efficient, hit two
(18:01):
or four from long range, six to eleven from the field.
Good game for Reid, and he came in and hit
clutch free throws at the end of overtime, Like, you know,
he's only shutting. I think he'd only shut like seven
free throws in this season, and he comes in and
hits those.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, I thought it was really telling by the way
that Kevin Durant had the ball when the Rockets were
up one. You know, they went with Imey Ujoka's trusted
strategy of fouling up three, and it worked out. They
didn't always do that last year. They did today to
their credit. And kd got the ball when they were
up one with eight seconds and he could have easily
held it and just waited for the foul, but he
gave it to read, which a was beneficial because they
(18:35):
were able to dribble off about half the clock.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
But secondly, like.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
That took a lot of trust even though Reid's a
really good shooter, which they know. Look it's a young
guy who's just twenty one years old in the second season.
To send him to the line in that situation, it's
not easy, as you said, just ask Nick Anderson, Like,
those free throws get a lot more difficult when there's
those types of stakes, and so for Reid to be
able to step up, and I don't think either of
them even hit the rim, like total trusts from imy
(19:01):
Udoka to put him out there, Kevin Durant to give
him the ball. And you look at the plus minus,
Reid was plus nineteen. That is ridiculous. Twenty nine minutes played,
sixteen points, seven rebounds, a couple of assists plus nineteen.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
And Aaron Holliday, who was the eighth man and an
increasingly tight rockets rotation with all the injuries. I thought
he had a couple of big threes tonight and in
those minutes with Reed Shepperd and Aaron Holliday. Yeah, you
have to play a little.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Bit of z own.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
You have to do some creative things defensively at times.
But with Steven Adams and all for inchan do and
you have size, you have flexibility. I thought those bench units,
given what the rockets are missing at the moment, were
about as good as you could hope for, even in
a night that you know Steven Adams struggled tonight. He
had thirteen boards, they were just one of eight like
the bars they had, and overtime was only when he
(19:52):
made the entire game. So I think Steven will be
the first to tell you that he should have been
a lot better. But aside from that, like the bench
units were some of their best And so I give
a ton of credit to Read Shepard because obviously Steven
didn't play well, so you know, he gives you a
high floor. We've talked about that, but it wasn't Steven's
best game, and so for the bench units to sort
of get you back in the game. It felt like
(20:13):
every time the Magic would get some separation, bump it
back to eight, nine, ten points, the Rockets would get
it back down to three or four, a little bit
like that Milwaukee game. And you know the finish was
not as pretty as the Milwaukee game, and that the
Magic made you grind it out a little bit more
in the half court, but sort of the same theme,
and that you know, for a lot of the game
bouncing back between you know, maybe a thretey four point
game and a nine ten eleven point game, but you know,
(20:36):
the bench led by Reed Shepherd kept you close and
then at the very end, just like the Milwaukee game,
Durant and Shogoon had enough to get you to the
finish line.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, you know it's and read to your point about Reid,
you know, I always try to be a little bit
more cautious. I don't want to overstate things or anything
like that. But he had a couple of plays, and
I at least one that I could think of rough
the top of my head, where he drove basically right,
stepped back off the three line and just drained a triple.
It did look Steph Curry like, to be totally honest,
(21:05):
he showed the Jets a couple of times. We had
that chase down block by Kevin Durant, and Reid took
the rebound and just bolted on the length of the
floor and got to lay up in over traffic. I mean,
like I said, I'd rather be late than over state.
But I do think there's a lot of promising things
to look at with Reed Shepherd, and if he ends
(21:26):
up having that point guard projection hit, I mean you're
you're in business because this guy can shoot. Flot out,
he can shoot.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And by the way, one more note on that end
of regulation sequence.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I thought it was classic ball.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Don't lie for Kevin Durant to hit that three over
Wendell Carter Junior, because I still do not know how
Wendell Carter did not foul out on what was his
sixth foul, would have said a men, Thompson to the
line to put the rockets in front with a couple
of minutes left, got overturned. Next thing you know, the
Magic are up three again.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I don't know. I mean insert Scott Foster comment here.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
There's a lot of them in the chat, but I
know he initially got ball, but my god, he got
a ton of arm and hand, Like even if you
get ball, you can't then just crush the guy, like,
We'll see what the last two minute report says. I'm
very curious. I'm also you know, we were talking offline
before we started recording. I'm also sort of curious to
(22:21):
see what happens with the with the steal that Anthony
Black hat or I don't think Black had the steal,
but the go ahead layup with a couple of seconds left,
because there was a little bit of a hand on
Kadie's jersey and it was very reminiscent of the for
anyone in the chat that saw the Milwaukee Dallas game
last week, Milwaukee got a steal and transition bucket in
the last minute on I play, very similar to that
(22:42):
where they got a fist full of Cooper Flag's jersey
and they didn't call it. But the next day on
the last two minute report, they said it should have
been called because of the hand on the jersey.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
So so we'll see.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
But unlike previous Scott Foster games in that same building,
fortunately these Rockets with Kevin Durant, I guess the biggest takeaway, Dave,
the Rockets did not have enough to overcome Scott Foster
and Kevin Durant. But if Kevin Durant is on their side,
they can overcome Scott Foster.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Good point. Good point. Yeah. I swear every time I
see Scott Foster say something on you know, when he's
gonna announce what they concluded on replay, I just you
can feel the anger. You know, there's so much history there.
Let's talk about the end of overtime. Jabari had a very,
very big block of Franz Wagner that was key to
set up Kevin Durant to basically ice the game. It
(23:30):
wasn't one hundred percent over Like I said, Reid had
to hit those free throws, Rockets had to foul, and
you know, watch Orlando shoot some free throws from there too.
But Kevin Durant hitting this shot again. This is another
just closer moment. He had several big shots like this
in this game, just just really really nice. And there
(23:51):
were some highlights in there of Shangun. I didn't have
all the highlights for use in here. Shangun had a
like a there was a play where he must have
missed like four sh but he got the offensive rebound
every single time and then went kind of behind the back,
bounced past to Adams to that basket that you made.
It was a beautiful play, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I think those two have a really good feel for
one another already, Like certainly the x's it knows and
understanding who has the better matchup on a given possession,
like you know, it speaks volumes. I heard Tim McMahon
say this and one of ESPN's recent pods. But just
the fact that Durant is willing to be deferential to
all per in Shangoon says so much about where Alprin
is as a player, and no one should be pointing out,
(24:30):
oh he shot thirty one times tonight, Well he sort
of had to, Dave. Look at how the Magic chose
to defend the rockets. I mean, if he didn't take
some of those shots, especially in a night where Aman
Thompson is struggling where the point's going to come from.
A lot of those were shots were late in the clock.
He had to put something up. So no, I don't
blame Shinggoon for the efficiency. You'd like to see a
few more go in, but I don't blame him for
the volume. I should say, but I think a lot
(24:51):
of what happened in overtime. I mentioned this earlier, but
the Rockets had to lean on Shingoon so much down
the stretch of regulation and early and overtime because it
I felt like he had a lot of the more advantage
matchups relative to KD that I thought his tank was
running on empty. And that's where you know. With about
I want to say, a minute twenty left Shangoon and
a couple of really good looks hook shots within five
feet that he front rimmed, And to me, that's a
(25:13):
sign that he's that he's a little bit tired. And
and so I think KD and Shangoon beyond just being
able to read the floor and see who has the
better matchup on a possession, I also think there's a
little bit of back and forth between hey, who has
a little more juice at a given moment. And I
think late in overtime, Shangoon didn't necessarily have it offensively
after what he had already done, So the Rockets needed
(25:34):
Kad to then pick up the slack and he did.
And it goes both ways, like there were certainly moments
late in regulation where you know, KD hit some big
shots and then the Rockets for one reason or another,
needed to go to Shangoon, And so they sort of
have a good yin and yang to them in terms
of they they understand what the other needs. And I
think for a partnership that's just twelve games in the making,
(25:56):
it's really promising.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, absolutely, you know, I gotta tell it say. I
was impressed with Wendell Carter Junior in this game, although
he did make a few a few low IQ plays trying.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
To attempting to out even if they didn't call it right.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Well, are you're talking about the one where he attempted
to block him in but just even attempting with second
left of the shot clock in a men's doing a
full speed fade away. I was like, what are you?
What are you thinking there? But for them, mentioning on
the broadcast, I hadn't even done my research. Carter's shooting
over forty four percent from three. I don't know what
the deal is with Biggs. Suddenly there are several of
(26:28):
them that are that have you know, Shangoon being one
of them. Sure have suddenly just become snipers. And Carter
hit two of four from three tonight. Like I said,
you know, I don't know if that continues for him,
but I thought he was pretty good. Tristan da Silva's
I believe, a rookie and is doing quite well for that.
I thought he was fairly solid as well tonight. You know,
they're missing sugs, They're missing Palelo Rockets, missing obviously, Dorian
(26:49):
Finney Smith, missing Tarry Eason. Of course they're gonna miss
Fred all year, so I'm not gonna feel sorry for them.
But still, that was an impressive showing for them to
come into Houston, and I think take them that far.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Absolutely game yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
And there's not going to be a dull moment the
next four games here. I mean, we've got the weve
got Cleveland, I believe on Wednesday, and that's a team
that shnggun usually does pretty well at least has for
the last couple of games. I would say some bigs
that just don't have a whole lot of sand in
their pants to defend Shangoon as far as post to work,
and that's Mobley and Allen. Then you're gonna have the
(27:27):
Nuggets in Cup Action. Yeah, absolutely. Then I don't know
if it's the biggest game, but the Suns keep there.
They've been a little surprising, and we're gonna see Dylan
Brooks without question, he'll be on Katie. That's gonna be
I think the twenty fourth Monday. And then you've got Rockets,
Warriors and Cup Actions. So the two Cup games that
(27:49):
are remaining both extremely tough. You got the Nuggets here
in Houston, and then you're going to go on the
road to play the Warriors. Gonna be great to see,
you know, the Warriors. Now, there are so many narratives,
so many storylines. I can't wait for that game in particular.
But this was I didn't expect that. I thought the
Rockets would roll tonight. A very very good game, a
(28:09):
lot of very entertaining to watch.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, I worried a little bit more about it than
you probably did, simply because going in they had won
eight of nine, now nine of ten. But when you
put together a run like this, there can be a
letdown game, especially with a difficult schedule coming up. The
Magic without Polo or one. We're at home wrapping up
a homestand it's come so easily of late, It's not
(28:34):
easy to reel off a nine of ten stretch against anybody.
So I just sort of had a feeling this would
be a little more competitive, and then you know, as
the game played out, we saw the Magic had some
matchup advantages with the size they have on that front
line and the physicality the Rockets not being able to
you know, bludgeon them the way they can most teams.
And that's why, you know, we'll talk more in future episodes.
(28:56):
I'm sure about the impact of you know, Notari Eesen.
He's going to be out four to six weeks with
what turned out to be in a blique strain. It
could be that that that's a huge deal, But I
don't want to overreact based on one game, because I
do think, you know, even counting overtime, the Rockets had
only twenty threes tonight, Like I think the way that
(29:17):
the Magic we're able to single cover Shanoon and Katie
for a lot of that game and their willingness to
stick with it, and also Steven missing a lot of
bunnies near the rim that might have made them think
twice a little bit about some of those coverages. I
don't think that's going to happen every night. The teams
you have coming up, they're more explosive offensively, but I
don't think they had the same personnel defensively. So I
think once the rockets have more size and the physicality
(29:38):
can take a little bit more of a toll, then
it'll certainly miss Tarry. I mean, he's very long. We
know how well he was shooting threes this year. But
I do think that this game, while not encouraging if
you look at it just just at face value, I
do think there's some insinuating circumstances tonight. I sort of
understand it being a letdown game, and you know, I'm
sort of I guess the way I would frame it,
(29:59):
I have a watch fully on the Tari situation and
however long it is until Dorian Infonty Smith comes back,
like it's certainly not nothing, but is it as crippling
as it might have looked when you know, you look
up midway through tonight's game and you're down ten to
an or Lando team that you feel like you should beat.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I think there's I think there's a lot of things
going on. So the impact of losing Tari we'll see,
but we need a bigger sample to really to really
flush that out. And what other comment from the chat
I want to address. Yeah, the crowd at touto So
tonight was electric. That's one of the best crowds I've
seen in a long time in Houston. And you know,
we know this is a crowd that's you know, at
times in recent seasons. Now, some of that I think
(30:35):
is circumstantial based on the team's not being so good,
and even when the team picks it up as they
did last year, sometimes it takes, you know, an extra
year or two for the fan base to get back
in the habits of you know, buying all the tickets,
showing up being loud the way you are when you
have a contender. It doesn't always happen from a fan
environment standpoint, It's not like flipping the switch. But this
(30:56):
season it's been a lot better. I think the Kevin
Duran effect second year being you know, a top shelf
team in the Western Conference.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
That helps.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
But also you know, we talked to Gretchen Scher a
few weeks ago on our YouTube channel at Clutch Fans,
and I know the Rockets behind the scenes have really
been making some efforts to make sure more of those
lower bowl seats are filled.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
They're getting creative.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
It was Kevin Durant Bobblehead night tonight, by the way,
which you know, Jackson Gatlin over at Lockdown Rockets said
that people were lined up as early as one pm
for six pm tip off, So just you know, it's
not one reason, but the bottom line is the fan
environment was so much better tonight. I thought it absolutely
made a difference down the stretch and in overtime. And
you know, kudos to the fans and kudos to the
(31:38):
Rockets as an organization for doing what it takes to
build a little bit more of home of a home
court advantage, because I think the Rockets clearly enjoyed that tonight.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, and if you haven't been for a while, highly
re and not you obviously Ben, you go right, But
I'm saying to the audience, I mean, if you haven't
been go to the toilet center, go watch a game.
I mean, it's fun to watch them online or on TV.
I get that, but it's such a great extent experience.
And like I said, I said this to Gretchen as well,
you don't have to be this diehard fan. Of course,
if you're watching the show, you are, but you don't
(32:07):
have to be to truly enjoy it. It's such a
great experience. And with this se this season and this team,
it's it's a must have ticket. So yeah, to your point,
we'll close now, but just a Kogi twenty two minutes
no shots, so that's it's basically indicates that they really
were not able to find a lot of open shooters
tonights and like only twenty threes. That was notable throughout three,
(32:30):
only three in the first quarter. So Ben appreciate you
doing this. Thank you everybody all the support. It's a
huge audience tonight. I appreciate all of you guys and everybody.
You feel free to subscribe if you haven't already, to
get notifications when we go live, and we will see
all Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Have a great night, Clutch Day
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