February 1, 2026 • 28 mins
On a relative off night for Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, it was two of Houston’s emerging talents — Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. — who made the difference in Saturday’s close win over Dallas.
With the victory, the Rockets (30-17) enter February at No. 4 in the Western Conference standings.
Featuring Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, our “ClutchFans Live” postgame show reacts to all the key storylines from an ABC primetime showdown. Topics include a brilliant showing by rising Mavericks star Cooper Flagg; why improvements from the likes of Thompson, Smith, Tari Eason, and Josh Okogie are part of a broader trend; defensive concerns with Reed Sheppard and Sengun; and Houston’s expectations entering the week of the NBA’s in-season trade deadline.
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n772NV2SPaI
With the victory, the Rockets (30-17) enter February at No. 4 in the Western Conference standings.
Featuring Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, our “ClutchFans Live” postgame show reacts to all the key storylines from an ABC primetime showdown. Topics include a brilliant showing by rising Mavericks star Cooper Flagg; why improvements from the likes of Thompson, Smith, Tari Eason, and Josh Okogie are part of a broader trend; defensive concerns with Reed Sheppard and Sengun; and Houston’s expectations entering the week of the NBA’s in-season trade deadline.
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n772NV2SPaI
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, welcome in everybody. Rockets get a win on ab season.
I won eleven to oneh seven over the Dallas Mavericks,
a team we had hoped they would handle a little
bit better at home, A team that was a little
bit weakened, you know, obviously Anthony Davis being out and
no Kyrie Irving. They don't have their full allotment of guys.
But Cooper Flagg was absolutely a monster in this game.
(00:25):
Rockets had their hands full trying to contain him. But
basically a men. Thompson twenty one points, nine assists, zero turnovers.
This is becoming a common theme now with a men.
He's had a couple of bumps. The San Antonio game
wasn't great, but he had an eight boards, really strong
showing from men as the point guard and Jabari Smith junior. Tonight,
after missing his first two shots, ended up having a
(00:46):
really strong shooting night with nineteen points. I'm here with
great Ben Dubos. You can follow him on Twitter at
Bendubos and on Blue Sky, as well as read his
stuff on Clutch Fans, the Blog and Clutch Fans, as
well as on Rockets WI Are USA two Day. Ben,
I believe you were at the game that was pretty
much an interesting one. They kind of had to hold
(01:07):
their breath at the end while they were holding an
eight to eleven point lead for much of that fourth.
You know, the MAVs came back and tied that game.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
A little disconcerting in that the most efficient scorer on
the floor was nineteen year old Cooper Flag. Now on
other nights it might have been Kevin Durant or all
Pro in Shingoon. They weren't at their best tonight, and
there are reasons for that, and we can get into it,
but I'll lead off by saying I thought Cooper was amazing,
and it sucks as much as we talk about the
Spurs getting Wemby in the first half of the twenty
(01:38):
twenties for the MAVs to get Cooper Flag in twenty
twenty five. A guy who could be generational might be
a bit much, but he looks like he's going to
be really, really good for a long time. Immediately after,
they made one of the worst trades in sports history,
and the Rockets went through their tanking era, so to speak,
and didn't get a prospect, at least on paper, at
(01:59):
the level of when Beer Cooper and those are your
two in state divisional rivals. It stings, and so it's
great to get the win, but it is a little
bit sobering when you think of the long term and
two of your primary rivals, the other two in states,
having guys that look like Cooper did tonight. Now credit
to him in Thompson, I thought his defense on the
decisive possession was really good. But other than that, Cooper
(02:21):
cooked the Rockets down the stretch of that game. And
it was a weird game in that the Rockets sort
of held the MAVs at arm's length for most of
it because Houston's role players were better. But when it
got down to winning time, when it got down to
the final six minutes and the game became less helter
skelter more half court, it was actually the MAVs, with
(02:42):
nineteen year old Cooper Flag that had the most consistent
offensive creator out there, and that's why they were able
to get back in the game and briefly tie it.
So the Rockets were able to patch things up at
the end and improve to thirty and seventeen. So you
certainly not going to complain about it. I do think
the MAVs are a tough match this season. Series ends
at two to two. The two wins the Rockets had
(03:04):
and Houston were both ugly went down to the wire.
The two in Dallas the Rockets lost. So I do
think that it's a little bit of a rough matchup.
Jason Kidd is a good coach, but some of it.
Man Cooper Flagg in nineteen years old is really good already.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Did they have ad in any of the games here
at Toylet Center.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I don't think they did not at Toyota Center. Ok.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
The ones in Dallas, Okay, Okay, that's yeh and those
are the ones the wins losses.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, but it feels like they have so many bigs,
you know, lively basically as a gap year. But you know,
Gafferd's good, the cease, the backup they had tonight. At
times they've had. Who's the other big that I'm forgetting?
Dwight Powell over the years has been serviceable, although he's
passed his prime now, PJ although he left this game early.
(03:47):
The MAVs just have so many bigs that seem to
give the Rockets problems for whatever reason.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, this is going to be interesting with Flag in
Dallas and and Minyama in San Antonio. I will say
I am concerned about Dallas, but we'll talk about the
Rockets here in a second. But just Dallas, I want
them to keep winning a few games here. I don't
want them getting you know, Darren Peterson or or Aj
Debants that those kind of guys in that team because
(04:12):
they don't don't have their picks. I believe the next
four years, including the Rockets owning the twenty nine Dallas
pick I believe, or the right to swap with it.
So yeah, that's this is their last chance to sort
of form a young foundation with Flag Lively Nemhard. We'll
see how that goes for them. But you know, tonight,
let's start, I guess with Kadie. Just an off night
(04:33):
for Durant. I mean, he's been so good, you know,
he was six of seventeen from the floor, finished with
did have eight assists, just one turnover. Really, before we
talk about individual players, I should say the story of
this game, for the most part, five turnovers for the Rockets.
They lost the rebounding battles, Steven Adams not coming back.
They lost the rebounding battle tonight, but did win the shot.
(04:55):
You know, the possessions battle as far as getting up
more shots because of all five turnovers and forced I
believe eleven, they kind of got a little bit lucky
with Dallas going fifteen of twenty six, missing eleven free
throws tonight in a game that was a four point game.
But the turnovers were key, And what I was trying
to say about Katie, he had eight assists to just
one turnover tonight despite the poor shooting six to seventeen
(05:18):
from the field.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, Katie and Shingoon between them had fifteen assists to
just three turnovers. And even on a night that their
shots weren't falling, they did make good decisions, including down
the stretch of the game when Dallas got this really tight.
You had the Shingoon feed to him in and then
the great vision by KD at the end to find Tari.
It worried me when KD got trapped and picked up
(05:41):
the ball near mid court and then he had the
vision to despot a wide open Tari and that was that.
So say what you will. The big guns couldn't finish tonight,
but they did facilitate well. They did. They always carry
a certain amount of gravity, but they made the right
plays off of that, So you have to tip your
hat that they gutted it out and that's something that
(06:04):
you know. This is the end of the month and
relative to the start of the month. Look, this is
a Dallas team that they lost to twice, once in
early December, once in in early January. They beat Atlanta
the other night on night too of a road back
to back. They're now three and zero on night two
of back to backs in January after going zero to
three in December. And this is what you have to
do over eighty two games. There's going to be stretches
(06:26):
of the season when you're not at your best. You
have to be able to grind it out. And so
I do view that as a positive this month. I
think they're playing hard on a much more consistent basis,
Like they're not having the lapses we saw them have
against the Kings, the Pelicans, the Trailblazers, it felt like
pretty much from the start of December until January tenth.
So in some ways it's fitting that the Rockets close
(06:48):
out January with the types of wins they weren't getting
for about a six week stretch. And maybe it's all
the more appropriate that you know, Jabari Smith Junior is
the guy who went through his slump when the Rockets
truly bottomed out, and now he picks it back off,
and what do you know, the Rockets are able to
grind out these wins in a way that a few
weeks ago they were taking losses.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, you know, she gun tonight did hit a big
shot with about thirty something seconds left that broke the tie.
That was that was big, had good was good on
the boards. Six offensive tonight. I don't really the defensive
boards are always nice, but there, you know, it's offensive
that I kind of look at more for the energy
and he did have some of that tonight, but his
shot is so badly off right now. And by shot
(07:28):
I mean layups and bunnies and just you know, that's
that's mostly his shot. Diet Tonight was six of twenty,
but I believe he was three for fourteen in Atlanta
and was seven of twenty against San Antonio. This is
three straight games after he was fifteen of seventeen, you
know against Memphis, I believe. You know, we were talking
(07:49):
about how the ankle was healed and he was finally
you know, he even talked about it as well. I'm
not sure, you know, if it's just the role that
he had at the very end of the Spurs game
but he was struggling before that even or if it's
just continue to bothering him and just Santi al Dama's
defense was what healed that thing against Memphis. But yeah,
that's just something that you have to keep an eye
(08:09):
on because right now he's not able to put ball
in the basket very easily. Six or twenty tonight, let's
talk about We talked about a men that kind of
the top of the show. But twenty one points nine
in eight boards but zero turnovers for men, and I'm
just really impressed with He's been the top assist guy
for this team for the last seven eight games now,
(08:31):
and they look, we don't know if on ball a
men is going to be a thing. I as far
as you know, it's going to pan out gloriously as
him being a point guard or an engine or primary
or whatever you want to call it. We don't know,
but we can tell you. I'm sure Ben can echo
this is that they're going to keep doing this, like
they believe his long term vision is a point guard
(08:51):
or his long term projection is a point guard, and
he's going to continue to have lots of on ball reps,
so you know, people can fight it. That's totally fine,
and it's just that's that's how they view Aman Thompson,
and I think there's a.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Lot of value in that a men because of his
style of play, his personality. He might have the highest
floor of all of your young guys. Like we talk
about ceilings a lot, and there's certainly an argument to
be made that he might have the highest ceiling as
well if he ever develops a jumper. But I think
what we've seen at times this season is all of
your other young guys and it's nothing to panic over.
They're all twenty three years old or younger, but they
(09:27):
go through downstretches. We started January with Jabari and now
we've seen at the last few games with Shangoon. I mean,
some of it is probably the ankle, but I also
think there's a compounding effect. You could see tonight his
body language, especially in the first half, it was terrible.
There were possessions where he was throwing his arms to
the heavens, he wasn't getting back on defense, he wasn't identifying.
(09:48):
There was one play where he just didn't pick up
Gafford at all, and he may look disgusted on the bench,
and Gafford had a just an uncontested dunk in a
half court situation, and Shininggoon was just sort of standing
in the lane and didn't know where he was. And
I think in a lot of ways, it's similar to
what Jabari went through earlier this month in that when
Jabari's shots weren't going in, you could see it written
(10:10):
all over his face. The body language just wasn't right.
And on recent shows we've talked about the metrics declining.
I think to some extent we've seen that with Shangoon
in recent games. The touch hasn't been there, and the
ankle's probably at least a small part of that. But
I also think that the overall dip in his performances,
it's led to a guy who's just frustrated and not
(10:32):
quite himself. And to Shingoon's credit, he did pick it
up in the final five minutes of this game, so
I want to make sure we highlight that when the
Rockets really needed him, he found a way. He hit
the tie breaking bucket with under two minutes left, so.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I think it was thirty something seconds left.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, oh was it? Yeah it was it was late
in the game. Yeah, I knew it was final two minutes. Yeah,
might have been final one minute. But the point is
like he stepped up when it mattered most, and so
there is value there that you can find it on
the fly. But I think all of these young guys
and read to some extent as well, Like you can
just see it written all over their face when they're
(11:07):
going through one of these rough patches and it affects
other elements of their game, and it's not shocking they're
twenty one, twenty two, twenty three years old. A man
is the one guy it feels like he's the most
even keeled. And perhaps some of that's just because he
has this skill with his defense and his ninety ninth
percentile athleticism that's just so rare that he can always
fall back on that. But a man is just so
(11:28):
even keeled you rarely see him get thrown off, and
I think that's something that we should we should celebrate more.
You know, it's not to say that the other young
guys aren't good. They absolutely are, but there are certain
warts that they're trying to iron out with a men.
That's steadiness, and now that he's getting better at limiting
the turnovers as well, there's just so much value when
you combine that with the athleticism and all the other
(11:51):
elements of his game. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Absolutely, Let's let's talk a little bit about Jabbari Smith tonight. Obviously,
Jabari's had a rough month where really it was stacked
pretty heavily at the beginning in the first ten to
fifteen days of the month, and you know, he's had
a few duds, I guess in there. I mean when
he was really bad at the start of the month,
it was abysmal. Couldn't throw it into the ocean. Tonight,
(12:14):
I mentioned this at the top of the show. Missed
his first couple of shots, been hit three straight threes,
seemed to get it going, and I thought he was
good tonight. He had a couple of moments I think,
where was it nausey or no, it might have been
Christy got him with a cross and created space and yeah, exactly,
But overall I thought his defense was quite good tonight.
(12:37):
There were just a few of those type of moments,
but hit shots and that's quit. He's so key with Jabari.
He's got to be able to hit those threes, and
really it's a man or excuse me, Read and Jabari
that we're really hoping we'll start to come around. Red
will talk about here in a second, but it's just
nice to see the ball going in the basket again
for Jabari on some of these shots.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, and I looked it up. In his last ten
games that's dating back to the Oklahoma City game in
the middle of this month, he's averaging fifteen points, seven
rebounds a game and making thirty eight percent of his threes.
So he's right back in line with what he was
doing for basically all of calendar year twenty five, or
well calendar year twenty five this season. So it was
(13:19):
a bad month overall, but as you mentioned, so much
of it was just the first two weeks, which was
disastrous from January fifteenth onward, and it's been a busy
back half of the month with ten games in total,
he's been good. He's been back to what he was before,
which is like fifteen and seven per game, thirty eight
percent on threes. You'll absolutely take that. So if you
(13:39):
look at it, there's always going to be statistical noise
from game to game, but if you look at it
in terms of trends, I mean, it's starting to look
like that. You know, the first two weeks of January
were an outlier, a really bad outlier, a terrible outlier.
But what we've seen from January fifteenth onward is pretty
similar to what we saw in the first two and
a half once of the year, when we all were
pretty pleased with his development.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, exactly. I think before this kind of thing happened,
And don't get me wrong, the whole fan base just
you know, went ballistic on Jabari. Some of the comments
were crazy, but I mean justified. As far as that stretch,
it was really abysmal, and it's it's concerning. We've talked
about it enough as far as the like the mental weakness,
how you know, getting back there. There's slumps. All players
(14:22):
go through slumps, but just want to see him be
able to do a bunch of things even when the
ball's not going through the basket. But just like I said,
he was having a really good season up to that point,
and as you pointed out, it's nice to see that
that's starting to come back around tonight. Tarry Easton doesn't
get a whole lot of like a run from us.
I don't know why that is. We talk about him certainly,
(14:42):
you know, but it's almost like he's just kind of
steady and stable. But tonight it again just continues to
be an incredible three point shooter. And I keep waiting
for the other shoot to drop or something to change here,
but no, he gets an open look from three and
he's going to down. He was three or five tonight,
finished with seventeen point seven boards. It was quite active
(15:06):
plus five when he was on the court. Another good
strong showing from Tari. And if you want to chime
in on Tario, go ahead, but we definitely want to
talk about Reid. A lot of people have been asking
about that in the chat.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Well, I want to lump in Tari with Josha Kogi
because they three three pointers on better than or at
least fifty percent shooting, and that was just so important.
And when you look at the second half of this season,
I mean the Rockets, they're thirty and seventeen, number four
in the West. They're not far back at all from
the two seed in the lost column. But to stabilize
(15:40):
and to get where they are, they've had to lean
on their big guns. Really hard, and it could be
argued that it's that it's taking a toll on them,
you know. And then the second in the NBA in minutes,
he played forty one tonight and to his credit, you know,
he didn't show any weakness. And perhaps it's because he's
just that phenomenal of an athlete. But KD I believe
(16:01):
is third or fourth in the NBA in minutes tonight
he played thirty eight. Yeah, he looked a little worn down,
and this was a three game in four night stretch.
Shin Gun isn't quite that high, but he's up there,
and he's been dealing with the ankle sprain off and
on for a few weeks now. The Rockets have really
had to lean on their big guns in part because
of the injuries up and down the roster, you know,
(16:22):
the serious ones suffered by Fred and Steven and earlier
DFS and now DFS is back, but he's playing only
limited minutes. And then Tari missed, you know, twenty or
so games earlier this year, and Jabari went through his
slump earlier this month. So at some point the Rockets
need to dial down the minutes and the usage for
those big guns. A little bit, if not rust them,
(16:44):
at least take the usage down, the minutes down a
little bit before you get to the playoffs, and the
question will be asked, well, how do you how do
you overcome that? How do you win games and you know,
compete for a high playoff seed in the Western Conference
If you're going to dial down the usage for your
best players, The answer is you get more from your
role players the way they did tonight. You know, Jabari
(17:07):
is certainly capable of doing more than he did the
first two weeks of January. Tari and DFS, I mean
all out of it just comes down to availability. Tari
has been shooting over forty five percent on threes all year.
Reed Shepherd is capable of more. We saw what he
did in October and November. Like that is the ticket
the Rocket's definitely over these final two months they have
(17:28):
to dial down the usage for their stars. So how
can they still win at a high level by doing that?
It's guys like Tarry Easton and Josha Kogi being available
certainly defending, but also shooting at a high level. That's
the secret, Sauce, and I think we're starting to see,
you know, this stretch going into the All Star Break.
It's tough all around the NBA because really coming off
(17:49):
the NBA Cup, the schedule is, you know, really spaced
out in December because of the Cup, and then you've
got about six seven weeks between, you know, about the
twentieth of December coming off the Cup up all the
way to the All Star Break, which is around the
tenth or so of February, in which there's a ton
of games in a tight window. And so these teams
around the league that have to lean on their veterans
(18:11):
their stars the way the Rockets have, it's gonna get
ragged the next week to ten days. So I think
the Rocket's definitely in the short term, but I would
say just the overall last two months of this season,
the more you can get out of your role players
and knock on wood, it starts with Tari's staying on
the floor, the better off they're going to be. Because
the Rockets do need to dial down the minutes in
(18:31):
the usage for those stars.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, before we talk about Reid, just to your point there,
you know, and this is in kind of along the
lines of Shnggun too. If Shangoon's ankles bothering him I'd
like to see him sit this next game, Rockets at Pacers. Look, Pacers,
I believe just beat the Hawks tonight. Hawks are shorthanded.
But you know, I'm not saying it's a gimme. The
Pacers have been pretty weak this year. It is a
(18:53):
road game, which is always tough. I don't want to
take Shangoon out as far as weekend in the Rockets.
But if his ankle is an issue, Look what's after
this Indiana game, Celtics here in Houston back to back.
You got Charlotte after that, which would have been a
gimme we thought at the start of the year. Not anymore.
They've won six in a row and they look really,
really good. Brandon Miller's on fire, konk, nipples on fire,
(19:16):
Lamellow balls fitting in. Then you go to ok See
to play the Thunder. Then you've got Clippers twice here
in Houston back to back. That's the All Star break.
And then you come out of the All Star break
at Charlotte and at New York Knicks. So this is
the last gimme for a while. And so if you know,
(19:36):
I know, you've got the All Star break. But if
Shangun needs that break. I'd give it to him for
this Pacers game.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
But let's talk because I think you're wanting to transition
to reach Shepherd. Yes, yes, I think one of the
issues for Reid in the very short term defensively reading
Shangoon it's a struggle. There are some mousehups where it
works out, but I think, especially these days when Shangoon
is a little bit limited by the ankle, whatever you
want to ascribe it to, those two together, especially in
(20:05):
high leverage spots, it's rough, and I think Read looks
a lot better when he plays with Clint Capella, who offers,
you know, more of a backline presence, or in those
small ball lineups with Jabari at the five where you
can all out switch. I think Read and Shingoon together
it's difficult, and obviously em is gonna if he has
(20:26):
to make a choice, he's gonna choose Shingoon because he's
much steadier, much better overall right now and Reads just
a classic guy with his archetype. You know, he's going
through a little bit of a slump now, but he
needs a larger sample to normalize, to get hot again,
to catch a rhythm. Like he's just the style of player.
If you if you put someone of his archetype into
(20:47):
like a fifteen to twenty minutes per game role, there's
going to be some nights where the stat line's ugly
and he's inefficient. But right now, it's so difficult to
get his role beyond twenty minutes so that he can
get hot again. And so if you give Shangoon a break,
at least in the short term, then maybe it helps
Read as well, because obviously Reid's going to be out
(21:08):
there with Clint or the small ball units more. And
then when Shingoon gets back, maybe he's better defensively, maybe
Read is more confident with his shot. I just think
so much of the problem right now comes down to
it's tough to play Read and Shangoon together. And if
you want Read to break out of his slump, he
needs a longer leash. He needs to shoot his way out.
Yet it's tough for him to shoot his way out
when he's only playing fifteen to twenty minutes per night.
(21:29):
It's just a vicious cycle. And so it starts with
you know, I'm sure Shangoon, if you ask him about this,
he'll be the first one to say I should be
better defensively, and maybe he can just fix it himself,
but maybe he needs a game or two off to
get more healthy and do that. Or maybe you know,
it's a blessing in disguise and you just dial up
the usage of these other bigs and you see how
Read looks in those settings. But I think it's the
(21:50):
combination of those two right now and the issues that
creates defensively. You know, there's a compounding effect in that
it's hurting Read offensively because he just doesn't have the
sample size to shoot his way out.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, I tried to. I choose kindness when I talk
about Shngun's defense. It's been a thing for me. People know,
I've been talking about it forever. I think that you know,
last year he showed some improvement and when he was
on the floor, they were they you know, had good stretches.
This year, if you look at the numbers, it's not
good for Shngun defensively, but it is what it is.
I'll let people figure that out on their own. As
(22:22):
far as Reid, you know, Reid didn't make any threes tonight.
He was zero for four from deep, but he did
have a lot of the CP three sort of snaking, uh,
you know, working around defense using screens and kind of
hit that pull up mid range, which was nice. But
defensively there were definitely I mean, if you want to
see watch the game times where they were looking for
(22:43):
the switch, targeting him and going at him. And I
did think the moments when you had read in Shangun
on the floor, it was really tough. That that pick
and roll defense between those two is going to be
incredibly hard to figure out. And that's a whole nother
discussion we could say for another day as far as
you know, long term build. But you know, because Reid
(23:04):
and Shangun are two significant prospects for this team, but
do they fit? But that's another thing that we'll figure out.
You go ahead.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And I also think Reid is the guy who probably
misses Steven Adams the most because of the screen setting.
I think so many of the looks Reid got it
felt like the Rocket sixth Man was the combination of
Reid and Steven. So I think not having that screen
setting presence offensively combined with the defensive limitations of Reid
when he plays with Shangoon, it's sort of a double
(23:33):
whammy right now.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, so overall read three of eight tonight it was
minus four, so he must have been I believe plus
six in the second half, which is kind of more
his m as well. Rougher first half better second half.
I don't know that for sure, but I remember he
was minus ten at one point. Yeah, I mean, I
still feel like Reid's gonna be fine. The defense is
just it is what it is. And in the playoffs,
we you know, we'll see that's still long ways away,
(23:57):
but it could be an issue that email will have
to now the gate. But that's just the way that is.
But I want to add on a Kogi as well,
the relative the output that you're getting from him relative
to what you signed him for is crazy. For him
to hit those threes tonight and play the I mean,
a Kogi for his whole career has been an elite
(24:17):
defensive player. People loved his defense. He couldn't shoot threes,
or he really couldn't shoot at all. That was kind
of an issue, and he's because he's been a really
good three and D player for e may. I don't
think he makes dfs expendable, but I bet they didn't
expect a Kogi to be this significant of a rotation
player when they signed DFS so and.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Honestly, that's been the difference. You look at, you know,
when the Rocket started this month so slow, it was
a kogi playing about twelve to fifteen minutes per game.
He almost fell out of the rotation altogether. There were
a couple of single digit games for him in which
he just made like a token appearance in the first half.
Now he's back to playing like twenty five plus minutes,
including thirty plus on several occasions. It feels like every
(24:59):
game for the last last you know, five or six,
and all of a sudden, the Rockets are much more
consistent with their effort. So yeah, it feels like, for
whatever reason, I think, you know, the Rockets got Tai
and DFS back at the same time, and so they're
trying to figure out, you know, what the rotation would
look like. And when they were at their worst was
when Joshua Koge got squeezed for minutes. Now he's he's back,
(25:19):
and at least against at least against the mediocre to
bad teams, it's paying off. They still got to figure out,
you know, offensively against the likes of San Antonio and OKC,
like those are valid concerns, but on the balance, Josh
having his role rise, I don't think it's a coincidence
that the Rockets of the team have seen their success
rise over that same period.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, before we close, man, there was a trade tonight
by the way, Calvs trading DeAndre hundred of the Kings
for Dennis Schroeder, former Rocket legend. By the way, Scracio, Yeah,
he's got about bad nice pool and Keon Ellis, which
was the significant player going to in my opinion, Schroeder
is certainly going to help them this year, but Keon
Ellis is a guy that a lot of people were
(25:59):
interested in. And I think it looks like it says
the Bulls are getting Dario Sarich out of the deal
in a couple of second round picks. I don't think
it really impacts the Rockets. The Kings are you know,
nothing this year, but I just thought it was kind
of an interesting trade. I'm not sure the whole reason,
if there was some sort of contracts or whatever behind it,
but we'll see if that pays off for the Calves,
(26:19):
because that's a team that expects to make some playoff noise.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And by the way, just a general point heading into
trade deadline week. You know, someone in the chat pointed
out that Capella was good tonight and he was a
good signing. Obviously, Josh for the minimum was just phenomenal.
The DF best signing from last offseason is you know,
that grade is an incomplete because we've got to see
when and if he gets healthy and what that looks
like for the team. But what rapfel Stone did with
(26:45):
limited resources in Capella and a Kogi was pretty impressive.
So I do think that should give you some hope
that if the Rockets don't make a super mega trade
this week or something that really you know, pops with
the headline and they have to go to the buy
out market, maybe Rafelstone and his team in the front
office is able to find a contributor. Because with Capella
(27:08):
and a Kogi for limited resources I think below ten
million between them, they did pretty nice work this past offseason.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Absolutely, I'm not gonna say it's a great win, but
a win's a win. Rockets need it. That's their thirtieth
of the season and one eleven one oh seven over
the Mavericks doesn't bring a ton of confidence and hope
going towards some of these really tough opponents. At the
same time, shan Gun and Kadi did not shoot well.
Turnovers will go up, but those guys should shoot much
(27:34):
better in future games, so we'll see how this plays out.
Rockets will play the Pacers. I believe it's Monday. Monday, Yeah,
so Monday we'll be back for that one. Anything else
you want to say, Ben before we close.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Up, No, I'll just remindfulus that Monday, I guess, will
be our trade deadline preview show if you will. We've
got Mechel Shankiro from Crime dot COM's Winning Us. So
if you want more trade talk, we'll get to that
on Monday, and at that point will be like sixty
hours in the deadline, so who knows, maybe we'll have
some more rumors at that point too.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
All right, that's Ben to Bos. Appreciate everybody for tuning
in and listening and all the support we've gotten on
Clutch fans for so many years. So appreciate all of you,
and we will see you guys Monday. Have a great
rest of your weekend.
Hey, welcome in everybody. Rockets get a win on ab season.
I won eleven to oneh seven over the Dallas Mavericks,
a team we had hoped they would handle a little
bit better at home, A team that was a little
bit weakened, you know, obviously Anthony Davis being out and
no Kyrie Irving. They don't have their full allotment of guys.
But Cooper Flagg was absolutely a monster in this game.
(00:25):
Rockets had their hands full trying to contain him. But
basically a men. Thompson twenty one points, nine assists, zero turnovers.
This is becoming a common theme now with a men.
He's had a couple of bumps. The San Antonio game
wasn't great, but he had an eight boards, really strong
showing from men as the point guard and Jabari Smith junior. Tonight,
after missing his first two shots, ended up having a
(00:46):
really strong shooting night with nineteen points. I'm here with
great Ben Dubos. You can follow him on Twitter at
Bendubos and on Blue Sky, as well as read his
stuff on Clutch Fans, the Blog and Clutch Fans, as
well as on Rockets WI Are USA two Day. Ben,
I believe you were at the game that was pretty
much an interesting one. They kind of had to hold
(01:07):
their breath at the end while they were holding an
eight to eleven point lead for much of that fourth.
You know, the MAVs came back and tied that game.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
A little disconcerting in that the most efficient scorer on
the floor was nineteen year old Cooper Flag. Now on
other nights it might have been Kevin Durant or all
Pro in Shingoon. They weren't at their best tonight, and
there are reasons for that, and we can get into it,
but I'll lead off by saying I thought Cooper was amazing,
and it sucks as much as we talk about the
Spurs getting Wemby in the first half of the twenty
(01:38):
twenties for the MAVs to get Cooper Flag in twenty
twenty five. A guy who could be generational might be
a bit much, but he looks like he's going to
be really, really good for a long time. Immediately after,
they made one of the worst trades in sports history,
and the Rockets went through their tanking era, so to speak,
and didn't get a prospect, at least on paper, at
(01:59):
the level of when Beer Cooper and those are your
two in state divisional rivals. It stings, and so it's
great to get the win, but it is a little
bit sobering when you think of the long term and
two of your primary rivals, the other two in states,
having guys that look like Cooper did tonight. Now credit
to him in Thompson, I thought his defense on the
decisive possession was really good. But other than that, Cooper
(02:21):
cooked the Rockets down the stretch of that game. And
it was a weird game in that the Rockets sort
of held the MAVs at arm's length for most of
it because Houston's role players were better. But when it
got down to winning time, when it got down to
the final six minutes and the game became less helter
skelter more half court, it was actually the MAVs, with
(02:42):
nineteen year old Cooper Flag that had the most consistent
offensive creator out there, and that's why they were able
to get back in the game and briefly tie it.
So the Rockets were able to patch things up at
the end and improve to thirty and seventeen. So you
certainly not going to complain about it. I do think
the MAVs are a tough match this season. Series ends
at two to two. The two wins the Rockets had
(03:04):
and Houston were both ugly went down to the wire.
The two in Dallas the Rockets lost. So I do
think that it's a little bit of a rough matchup.
Jason Kidd is a good coach, but some of it.
Man Cooper Flagg in nineteen years old is really good already.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Did they have ad in any of the games here
at Toylet Center.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I don't think they did not at Toyota Center. Ok.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
The ones in Dallas, Okay, Okay, that's yeh and those
are the ones the wins losses.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, but it feels like they have so many bigs,
you know, lively basically as a gap year. But you know,
Gafferd's good, the cease, the backup they had tonight. At
times they've had. Who's the other big that I'm forgetting?
Dwight Powell over the years has been serviceable, although he's
passed his prime now, PJ although he left this game early.
(03:47):
The MAVs just have so many bigs that seem to
give the Rockets problems for whatever reason.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, this is going to be interesting with Flag in
Dallas and and Minyama in San Antonio. I will say
I am concerned about Dallas, but we'll talk about the
Rockets here in a second. But just Dallas, I want
them to keep winning a few games here. I don't
want them getting you know, Darren Peterson or or Aj
Debants that those kind of guys in that team because
(04:12):
they don't don't have their picks. I believe the next
four years, including the Rockets owning the twenty nine Dallas
pick I believe, or the right to swap with it.
So yeah, that's this is their last chance to sort
of form a young foundation with Flag Lively Nemhard. We'll
see how that goes for them. But you know, tonight,
let's start, I guess with Kadie. Just an off night
(04:33):
for Durant. I mean, he's been so good, you know,
he was six of seventeen from the floor, finished with
did have eight assists, just one turnover. Really, before we
talk about individual players, I should say the story of
this game, for the most part, five turnovers for the Rockets.
They lost the rebounding battles, Steven Adams not coming back.
They lost the rebounding battle tonight, but did win the shot.
(04:55):
You know, the possessions battle as far as getting up
more shots because of all five turnovers and forced I
believe eleven, they kind of got a little bit lucky
with Dallas going fifteen of twenty six, missing eleven free
throws tonight in a game that was a four point game.
But the turnovers were key, And what I was trying
to say about Katie, he had eight assists to just
one turnover tonight despite the poor shooting six to seventeen
(05:18):
from the field.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, Katie and Shingoon between them had fifteen assists to
just three turnovers. And even on a night that their
shots weren't falling, they did make good decisions, including down
the stretch of the game when Dallas got this really tight.
You had the Shingoon feed to him in and then
the great vision by KD at the end to find Tari.
It worried me when KD got trapped and picked up
(05:41):
the ball near mid court and then he had the
vision to despot a wide open Tari and that was that.
So say what you will. The big guns couldn't finish tonight,
but they did facilitate well. They did. They always carry
a certain amount of gravity, but they made the right
plays off of that, So you have to tip your
hat that they gutted it out and that's something that
(06:04):
you know. This is the end of the month and
relative to the start of the month. Look, this is
a Dallas team that they lost to twice, once in
early December, once in in early January. They beat Atlanta
the other night on night too of a road back
to back. They're now three and zero on night two
of back to backs in January after going zero to
three in December. And this is what you have to
do over eighty two games. There's going to be stretches
(06:26):
of the season when you're not at your best. You
have to be able to grind it out. And so
I do view that as a positive this month. I
think they're playing hard on a much more consistent basis,
Like they're not having the lapses we saw them have
against the Kings, the Pelicans, the Trailblazers, it felt like
pretty much from the start of December until January tenth.
So in some ways it's fitting that the Rockets close
(06:48):
out January with the types of wins they weren't getting
for about a six week stretch. And maybe it's all
the more appropriate that you know, Jabari Smith Junior is
the guy who went through his slump when the Rockets
truly bottomed out, and now he picks it back off,
and what do you know, the Rockets are able to
grind out these wins in a way that a few
weeks ago they were taking losses.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, you know, she gun tonight did hit a big
shot with about thirty something seconds left that broke the tie.
That was that was big, had good was good on
the boards. Six offensive tonight. I don't really the defensive
boards are always nice, but there, you know, it's offensive
that I kind of look at more for the energy
and he did have some of that tonight, but his
shot is so badly off right now. And by shot
(07:28):
I mean layups and bunnies and just you know, that's
that's mostly his shot. Diet Tonight was six of twenty,
but I believe he was three for fourteen in Atlanta
and was seven of twenty against San Antonio. This is
three straight games after he was fifteen of seventeen, you
know against Memphis, I believe. You know, we were talking
(07:49):
about how the ankle was healed and he was finally
you know, he even talked about it as well. I'm
not sure, you know, if it's just the role that
he had at the very end of the Spurs game
but he was struggling before that even or if it's
just continue to bothering him and just Santi al Dama's
defense was what healed that thing against Memphis. But yeah,
that's just something that you have to keep an eye
(08:09):
on because right now he's not able to put ball
in the basket very easily. Six or twenty tonight, let's
talk about We talked about a men that kind of
the top of the show. But twenty one points nine
in eight boards but zero turnovers for men, and I'm
just really impressed with He's been the top assist guy
for this team for the last seven eight games now,
(08:31):
and they look, we don't know if on ball a
men is going to be a thing. I as far
as you know, it's going to pan out gloriously as
him being a point guard or an engine or primary
or whatever you want to call it. We don't know,
but we can tell you. I'm sure Ben can echo
this is that they're going to keep doing this, like
they believe his long term vision is a point guard
(08:51):
or his long term projection is a point guard, and
he's going to continue to have lots of on ball reps,
so you know, people can fight it. That's totally fine,
and it's just that's that's how they view Aman Thompson,
and I think there's a.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Lot of value in that a men because of his
style of play, his personality. He might have the highest
floor of all of your young guys. Like we talk
about ceilings a lot, and there's certainly an argument to
be made that he might have the highest ceiling as
well if he ever develops a jumper. But I think
what we've seen at times this season is all of
your other young guys and it's nothing to panic over.
They're all twenty three years old or younger, but they
(09:27):
go through downstretches. We started January with Jabari and now
we've seen at the last few games with Shangoon. I mean,
some of it is probably the ankle, but I also
think there's a compounding effect. You could see tonight his
body language, especially in the first half, it was terrible.
There were possessions where he was throwing his arms to
the heavens, he wasn't getting back on defense, he wasn't identifying.
(09:48):
There was one play where he just didn't pick up
Gafford at all, and he may look disgusted on the bench,
and Gafford had a just an uncontested dunk in a
half court situation, and Shininggoon was just sort of standing
in the lane and didn't know where he was. And
I think in a lot of ways, it's similar to
what Jabari went through earlier this month in that when
Jabari's shots weren't going in, you could see it written
(10:10):
all over his face. The body language just wasn't right.
And on recent shows we've talked about the metrics declining.
I think to some extent we've seen that with Shangoon
in recent games. The touch hasn't been there, and the
ankle's probably at least a small part of that. But
I also think that the overall dip in his performances,
it's led to a guy who's just frustrated and not
(10:32):
quite himself. And to Shingoon's credit, he did pick it
up in the final five minutes of this game, so
I want to make sure we highlight that when the
Rockets really needed him, he found a way. He hit
the tie breaking bucket with under two minutes left, so.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
I think it was thirty something seconds left.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, oh was it? Yeah it was it was late
in the game. Yeah, I knew it was final two minutes. Yeah,
might have been final one minute. But the point is
like he stepped up when it mattered most, and so
there is value there that you can find it on
the fly. But I think all of these young guys
and read to some extent as well, Like you can
just see it written all over their face when they're
(11:07):
going through one of these rough patches and it affects
other elements of their game, and it's not shocking they're
twenty one, twenty two, twenty three years old. A man
is the one guy it feels like he's the most
even keeled. And perhaps some of that's just because he
has this skill with his defense and his ninety ninth
percentile athleticism that's just so rare that he can always
fall back on that. But a man is just so
(11:28):
even keeled you rarely see him get thrown off, and
I think that's something that we should we should celebrate more.
You know, it's not to say that the other young
guys aren't good. They absolutely are, but there are certain
warts that they're trying to iron out with a men.
That's steadiness, and now that he's getting better at limiting
the turnovers as well, there's just so much value when
you combine that with the athleticism and all the other
(11:51):
elements of his game. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Absolutely, Let's let's talk a little bit about Jabbari Smith tonight. Obviously,
Jabari's had a rough month where really it was stacked
pretty heavily at the beginning in the first ten to
fifteen days of the month, and you know, he's had
a few duds, I guess in there. I mean when
he was really bad at the start of the month,
it was abysmal. Couldn't throw it into the ocean. Tonight,
(12:14):
I mentioned this at the top of the show. Missed
his first couple of shots, been hit three straight threes,
seemed to get it going, and I thought he was
good tonight. He had a couple of moments I think,
where was it nausey or no, it might have been
Christy got him with a cross and created space and yeah, exactly,
But overall I thought his defense was quite good tonight.
(12:37):
There were just a few of those type of moments,
but hit shots and that's quit. He's so key with Jabari.
He's got to be able to hit those threes, and
really it's a man or excuse me, Read and Jabari
that we're really hoping we'll start to come around. Red
will talk about here in a second, but it's just
nice to see the ball going in the basket again
for Jabari on some of these shots.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, and I looked it up. In his last ten
games that's dating back to the Oklahoma City game in
the middle of this month, he's averaging fifteen points, seven
rebounds a game and making thirty eight percent of his threes.
So he's right back in line with what he was
doing for basically all of calendar year twenty five, or
well calendar year twenty five this season. So it was
(13:19):
a bad month overall, but as you mentioned, so much
of it was just the first two weeks, which was
disastrous from January fifteenth onward, and it's been a busy
back half of the month with ten games in total,
he's been good. He's been back to what he was before,
which is like fifteen and seven per game, thirty eight
percent on threes. You'll absolutely take that. So if you
(13:39):
look at it, there's always going to be statistical noise
from game to game, but if you look at it
in terms of trends, I mean, it's starting to look
like that. You know, the first two weeks of January
were an outlier, a really bad outlier, a terrible outlier.
But what we've seen from January fifteenth onward is pretty
similar to what we saw in the first two and
a half once of the year, when we all were
pretty pleased with his development.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, exactly. I think before this kind of thing happened,
And don't get me wrong, the whole fan base just
you know, went ballistic on Jabari. Some of the comments
were crazy, but I mean justified. As far as that stretch,
it was really abysmal, and it's it's concerning. We've talked
about it enough as far as the like the mental weakness,
how you know, getting back there. There's slumps. All players
(14:22):
go through slumps, but just want to see him be
able to do a bunch of things even when the
ball's not going through the basket. But just like I said,
he was having a really good season up to that point,
and as you pointed out, it's nice to see that
that's starting to come back around tonight. Tarry Easton doesn't
get a whole lot of like a run from us.
I don't know why that is. We talk about him certainly,
(14:42):
you know, but it's almost like he's just kind of
steady and stable. But tonight it again just continues to
be an incredible three point shooter. And I keep waiting
for the other shoot to drop or something to change here,
but no, he gets an open look from three and
he's going to down. He was three or five tonight,
finished with seventeen point seven boards. It was quite active
(15:06):
plus five when he was on the court. Another good
strong showing from Tari. And if you want to chime
in on Tario, go ahead, but we definitely want to
talk about Reid. A lot of people have been asking
about that in the chat.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Well, I want to lump in Tari with Josha Kogi
because they three three pointers on better than or at
least fifty percent shooting, and that was just so important.
And when you look at the second half of this season,
I mean the Rockets, they're thirty and seventeen, number four
in the West. They're not far back at all from
the two seed in the lost column. But to stabilize
(15:40):
and to get where they are, they've had to lean
on their big guns. Really hard, and it could be
argued that it's that it's taking a toll on them,
you know. And then the second in the NBA in minutes,
he played forty one tonight and to his credit, you know,
he didn't show any weakness. And perhaps it's because he's
just that phenomenal of an athlete. But KD I believe
(16:01):
is third or fourth in the NBA in minutes tonight
he played thirty eight. Yeah, he looked a little worn down,
and this was a three game in four night stretch.
Shin Gun isn't quite that high, but he's up there,
and he's been dealing with the ankle sprain off and
on for a few weeks now. The Rockets have really
had to lean on their big guns in part because
of the injuries up and down the roster, you know,
(16:22):
the serious ones suffered by Fred and Steven and earlier
DFS and now DFS is back, but he's playing only
limited minutes. And then Tari missed, you know, twenty or
so games earlier this year, and Jabari went through his
slump earlier this month. So at some point the Rockets
need to dial down the minutes and the usage for
those big guns. A little bit, if not rust them,
(16:44):
at least take the usage down, the minutes down a
little bit before you get to the playoffs, and the
question will be asked, well, how do you how do
you overcome that? How do you win games and you know,
compete for a high playoff seed in the Western Conference
If you're going to dial down the usage for your
best players, The answer is you get more from your
role players the way they did tonight. You know, Jabari
(17:07):
is certainly capable of doing more than he did the
first two weeks of January. Tari and DFS, I mean
all out of it just comes down to availability. Tari
has been shooting over forty five percent on threes all year.
Reed Shepherd is capable of more. We saw what he
did in October and November. Like that is the ticket
the Rocket's definitely over these final two months they have
(17:28):
to dial down the usage for their stars. So how
can they still win at a high level by doing that?
It's guys like Tarry Easton and Josha Kogi being available
certainly defending, but also shooting at a high level. That's
the secret, Sauce, and I think we're starting to see,
you know, this stretch going into the All Star Break.
It's tough all around the NBA because really coming off
(17:49):
the NBA Cup, the schedule is, you know, really spaced
out in December because of the Cup, and then you've
got about six seven weeks between, you know, about the
twentieth of December coming off the Cup up all the
way to the All Star Break, which is around the
tenth or so of February, in which there's a ton
of games in a tight window. And so these teams
around the league that have to lean on their veterans
(18:11):
their stars the way the Rockets have, it's gonna get
ragged the next week to ten days. So I think
the Rocket's definitely in the short term, but I would
say just the overall last two months of this season,
the more you can get out of your role players
and knock on wood, it starts with Tari's staying on
the floor, the better off they're going to be. Because
the Rockets do need to dial down the minutes in
(18:31):
the usage for those stars.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, before we talk about Reid, just to your point there,
you know, and this is in kind of along the
lines of Shnggun too. If Shangoon's ankles bothering him I'd
like to see him sit this next game, Rockets at Pacers. Look, Pacers,
I believe just beat the Hawks tonight. Hawks are shorthanded.
But you know, I'm not saying it's a gimme. The
Pacers have been pretty weak this year. It is a
(18:53):
road game, which is always tough. I don't want to
take Shangoon out as far as weekend in the Rockets.
But if his ankle is an issue, Look what's after
this Indiana game, Celtics here in Houston back to back.
You got Charlotte after that, which would have been a
gimme we thought at the start of the year. Not anymore.
They've won six in a row and they look really,
really good. Brandon Miller's on fire, konk, nipples on fire,
(19:16):
Lamellow balls fitting in. Then you go to ok See
to play the Thunder. Then you've got Clippers twice here
in Houston back to back. That's the All Star break.
And then you come out of the All Star break
at Charlotte and at New York Knicks. So this is
the last gimme for a while. And so if you know,
(19:36):
I know, you've got the All Star break. But if
Shangun needs that break. I'd give it to him for
this Pacers game.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
But let's talk because I think you're wanting to transition
to reach Shepherd. Yes, yes, I think one of the
issues for Reid in the very short term defensively reading
Shangoon it's a struggle. There are some mousehups where it
works out, but I think, especially these days when Shangoon
is a little bit limited by the ankle, whatever you
want to ascribe it to, those two together, especially in
(20:05):
high leverage spots, it's rough, and I think Read looks
a lot better when he plays with Clint Capella, who offers,
you know, more of a backline presence, or in those
small ball lineups with Jabari at the five where you
can all out switch. I think Read and Shingoon together
it's difficult, and obviously em is gonna if he has
(20:26):
to make a choice, he's gonna choose Shingoon because he's
much steadier, much better overall right now and Reads just
a classic guy with his archetype. You know, he's going
through a little bit of a slump now, but he
needs a larger sample to normalize, to get hot again,
to catch a rhythm. Like he's just the style of player.
If you if you put someone of his archetype into
(20:47):
like a fifteen to twenty minutes per game role, there's
going to be some nights where the stat line's ugly
and he's inefficient. But right now, it's so difficult to
get his role beyond twenty minutes so that he can
get hot again. And so if you give Shangoon a break,
at least in the short term, then maybe it helps
Read as well, because obviously Reid's going to be out
(21:08):
there with Clint or the small ball units more. And
then when Shingoon gets back, maybe he's better defensively, maybe
Read is more confident with his shot. I just think
so much of the problem right now comes down to
it's tough to play Read and Shangoon together. And if
you want Read to break out of his slump, he
needs a longer leash. He needs to shoot his way out.
Yet it's tough for him to shoot his way out
when he's only playing fifteen to twenty minutes per night.
(21:29):
It's just a vicious cycle. And so it starts with
you know, I'm sure Shangoon, if you ask him about this,
he'll be the first one to say I should be
better defensively, and maybe he can just fix it himself,
but maybe he needs a game or two off to
get more healthy and do that. Or maybe you know,
it's a blessing in disguise and you just dial up
the usage of these other bigs and you see how
Read looks in those settings. But I think it's the
(21:50):
combination of those two right now and the issues that
creates defensively. You know, there's a compounding effect in that
it's hurting Read offensively because he just doesn't have the
sample size to shoot his way out.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, I tried to. I choose kindness when I talk
about Shngun's defense. It's been a thing for me. People know,
I've been talking about it forever. I think that you know,
last year he showed some improvement and when he was
on the floor, they were they you know, had good stretches.
This year, if you look at the numbers, it's not
good for Shngun defensively, but it is what it is.
I'll let people figure that out on their own. As
(22:22):
far as Reid, you know, Reid didn't make any threes tonight.
He was zero for four from deep, but he did
have a lot of the CP three sort of snaking, uh,
you know, working around defense using screens and kind of
hit that pull up mid range, which was nice. But
defensively there were definitely I mean, if you want to
see watch the game times where they were looking for
(22:43):
the switch, targeting him and going at him. And I
did think the moments when you had read in Shangun
on the floor, it was really tough. That that pick
and roll defense between those two is going to be
incredibly hard to figure out. And that's a whole nother
discussion we could say for another day as far as
you know, long term build. But you know, because Reid
(23:04):
and Shangun are two significant prospects for this team, but
do they fit? But that's another thing that we'll figure out.
You go ahead.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And I also think Reid is the guy who probably
misses Steven Adams the most because of the screen setting.
I think so many of the looks Reid got it
felt like the Rocket sixth Man was the combination of
Reid and Steven. So I think not having that screen
setting presence offensively combined with the defensive limitations of Reid
when he plays with Shangoon, it's sort of a double
(23:33):
whammy right now.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, so overall read three of eight tonight it was
minus four, so he must have been I believe plus
six in the second half, which is kind of more
his m as well. Rougher first half better second half.
I don't know that for sure, but I remember he
was minus ten at one point. Yeah, I mean, I
still feel like Reid's gonna be fine. The defense is
just it is what it is. And in the playoffs,
we you know, we'll see that's still long ways away,
(23:57):
but it could be an issue that email will have
to now the gate. But that's just the way that is.
But I want to add on a Kogi as well,
the relative the output that you're getting from him relative
to what you signed him for is crazy. For him
to hit those threes tonight and play the I mean,
a Kogi for his whole career has been an elite
(24:17):
defensive player. People loved his defense. He couldn't shoot threes,
or he really couldn't shoot at all. That was kind
of an issue, and he's because he's been a really
good three and D player for e may. I don't
think he makes dfs expendable, but I bet they didn't
expect a Kogi to be this significant of a rotation
player when they signed DFS so and.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Honestly, that's been the difference. You look at, you know,
when the Rocket started this month so slow, it was
a kogi playing about twelve to fifteen minutes per game.
He almost fell out of the rotation altogether. There were
a couple of single digit games for him in which
he just made like a token appearance in the first half.
Now he's back to playing like twenty five plus minutes,
including thirty plus on several occasions. It feels like every
(24:59):
game for the last last you know, five or six,
and all of a sudden, the Rockets are much more
consistent with their effort. So yeah, it feels like, for
whatever reason, I think, you know, the Rockets got Tai
and DFS back at the same time, and so they're
trying to figure out, you know, what the rotation would
look like. And when they were at their worst was
when Joshua Koge got squeezed for minutes. Now he's he's back,
(25:19):
and at least against at least against the mediocre to
bad teams, it's paying off. They still got to figure out,
you know, offensively against the likes of San Antonio and OKC,
like those are valid concerns, but on the balance, Josh
having his role rise, I don't think it's a coincidence
that the Rockets of the team have seen their success
rise over that same period.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah, before we close, man, there was a trade tonight
by the way, Calvs trading DeAndre hundred of the Kings
for Dennis Schroeder, former Rocket legend. By the way, Scracio, Yeah,
he's got about bad nice pool and Keon Ellis, which
was the significant player going to in my opinion, Schroeder
is certainly going to help them this year, but Keon
Ellis is a guy that a lot of people were
(25:59):
interested in. And I think it looks like it says
the Bulls are getting Dario Sarich out of the deal
in a couple of second round picks. I don't think
it really impacts the Rockets. The Kings are you know,
nothing this year, but I just thought it was kind
of an interesting trade. I'm not sure the whole reason,
if there was some sort of contracts or whatever behind it,
but we'll see if that pays off for the Calves,
(26:19):
because that's a team that expects to make some playoff noise.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
And by the way, just a general point heading into
trade deadline week. You know, someone in the chat pointed
out that Capella was good tonight and he was a
good signing. Obviously, Josh for the minimum was just phenomenal.
The DF best signing from last offseason is you know,
that grade is an incomplete because we've got to see
when and if he gets healthy and what that looks
like for the team. But what rapfel Stone did with
(26:45):
limited resources in Capella and a Kogi was pretty impressive.
So I do think that should give you some hope
that if the Rockets don't make a super mega trade
this week or something that really you know, pops with
the headline and they have to go to the buy
out market, maybe Rafelstone and his team in the front
office is able to find a contributor. Because with Capella
(27:08):
and a Kogi for limited resources I think below ten
million between them, they did pretty nice work this past offseason.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Absolutely, I'm not gonna say it's a great win, but
a win's a win. Rockets need it. That's their thirtieth
of the season and one eleven one oh seven over
the Mavericks doesn't bring a ton of confidence and hope
going towards some of these really tough opponents. At the
same time, shan Gun and Kadi did not shoot well.
Turnovers will go up, but those guys should shoot much
(27:34):
better in future games, so we'll see how this plays out.
Rockets will play the Pacers. I believe it's Monday. Monday, Yeah,
so Monday we'll be back for that one. Anything else
you want to say, Ben before we close.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Up, No, I'll just remindfulus that Monday, I guess, will
be our trade deadline preview show if you will. We've
got Mechel Shankiro from Crime dot COM's Winning Us. So
if you want more trade talk, we'll get to that
on Monday, and at that point will be like sixty
hours in the deadline, so who knows, maybe we'll have
some more rumors at that point too.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
All right, that's Ben to Bos. Appreciate everybody for tuning
in and listening and all the support we've gotten on
Clutch fans for so many years. So appreciate all of you,
and we will see you guys Monday. Have a great
rest of your weekend.
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