January 14, 2026 • 33 mins
After three dreadful shooting games — all road losses for the Rockets — from Jabari Smith Jr., Houston’s fourth-year forward finally broke out in Tuesday’s 119-113 win over the Chicago Bulls. The Rockets (23-14) are now 12-2 in home games this season, with 12 wins in their last 13 games at Toyota Center.
Featuring Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, our “ClutchFans Live” postgame show breaks down all the key takeaways from Houston’s latest victory, including big nights from the high-profile trio of Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson (who all scored more than 20 points). With the win, the Rockets climbed to within a game in the loss column of the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed.
Discussion topics include the implications of Smith (18 points, 7 rebounds) returning to form; the promotion of JD Davison to rotation minutes amid Reed Sheppard’s recent slump; more inconsistency on the defensive end; and crucial games upcoming versus the Oklahoma City Thunder (34-7) and Minnesota Timberwolves (27-14).
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cfb9qyA12Y
Featuring Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, our “ClutchFans Live” postgame show breaks down all the key takeaways from Houston’s latest victory, including big nights from the high-profile trio of Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson (who all scored more than 20 points). With the win, the Rockets climbed to within a game in the loss column of the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed.
Discussion topics include the implications of Smith (18 points, 7 rebounds) returning to form; the promotion of JD Davison to rotation minutes amid Reed Sheppard’s recent slump; more inconsistency on the defensive end; and crucial games upcoming versus the Oklahoma City Thunder (34-7) and Minnesota Timberwolves (27-14).
This episode can also be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cfb9qyA12Y
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome in everybody. Rockets finally get a w one nineteen
to one thirteen at home over the Chicago Bulls. It
was not pretty, it was scary, there was There's lots
to talk about from this game, but basically this was
a big win that they needed to have with two
basically strong West contenders on deck. OKC in Minnesota. But
(00:27):
Rockets get a big win. I'm gonna throw it to you, Ben,
because there's plenty to talk about, for sure, you know,
as far as individual performances, but thank goodness, they finally
get the dub.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah. I mean, even with this win, you're ten and
ten in your last twenty games. But it's better than
having a losing record. So this was one they desperately
needed to stabilize themselves. And it would be foolish for
me to say, oh, they figured it out based on well,
certainly the box score. You beat an underhanded Bulls team
(00:57):
by six points at home. It's not a win that
at the the year you'll look back on and say, wow,
this was really impressive. This was the peak Houston Rockets. No,
on the balance, they underwhelmed tonight as well, and it's
been an underwhelming stretch for six weeks. But I will
say the way they won that game, they sort of
looked and basically stared adversity in the face. I mean,
(01:18):
they were losing with three four minutes left in this game,
and if they had lost this one with OKC and
Minnesota coming in later this week on a back to
back with the zero to three road trip, I mean,
any team would be close to a breaking point if
you put them in that spot. I don't care who
their leadership is, I don't care who their coach is.
So this was a game the Rockets almost had to win,
(01:42):
and so for them to sort of stare all of
that in the face. Have a bad shooting night, you know,
day by Texas. You midway through the fourth quarter, they
were four of twenty from three. That's just unacceptable from
a make percentage and just a volume standpoint in today's NBA.
They had everything going wrong, and yet in the last
few minutes they've rescued it, most notably with the guy
(02:04):
who's been at the forefront of those shooting struggles the
last few games, Jabari Smith Junior, scoring eight points late
in the game, including two huge threes. I think at
one point Dave what he was zero for his last
twenty was that right?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah? He had missed twenty straight, dating back to see
the first Portland game, he had missed his final two,
miss ten in a row, miss three, missed his first five.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Tonight, Yeah, and to see him make two late in
the game when everything was on the line. This wasn't
just one of eighty two. This was one when you
consider the zero to three road trip, when you consider
who's coming in later this week that the Rockets had
to have. There was a lot of pressure in this game,
and after starting so slowly, after missing all those shots early,
(02:43):
and for the guy who's missed a lot of those
shots the last few games to be the one who
sort of snaps you out of it late, that can
be potentially, in my opinion, a galvanizing effect. This can
be something that they build off of. I'm not gonna
say for sure, because you know ten and ten in
the last twenty games. There have been moments before this
that I said, Okay, this is the November Rockets, this
(03:04):
is them figuring it out. And then it's lasted a
game or two and it hasn't been anything sustainable. But
if you want to draw up a feel good win
for this particular team, considering how they've lost lately, having
Jabaris with Junior rescue them late in the game is
the way to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, and we're going to talk about I mean, we
have to talk about Jabari because he's been a big
story for a long while. Katie and Shanghun we're doing
a lot of a heavy lifting on the offense. Both
hit over fifty percent from the field. Both took a
combined forty one shots twenty three for KD eighteen for Shangun.
They were really good. We'll talk about those guys. You
just have to talk about Jabari first because he's kind
of the story. If you know, when we were talking,
you know, back and forth during the game, I was saying,
(03:42):
I don't know if Jabari needs a shrink or what like,
he just is off and he's not off consistently, and
this has happened before, and I'm just like, this is
a mental thing. I feel. I actually feel for him
because I just like Jabari as a person as well.
I just think this guy has a strong work ethic,
he wants to be good. He's just I don't know,
he's just a good all around person. I want to
(04:02):
see him succeed and just it wasn't dropping for him,
and for that to happen, it just kind of alleviates
some of the concerns about him just beating himself up
internally because he did kind of win this game. Now granted,
they might not have been in that position if he
hadn't you know, made a few shots earlier or something
of that to that effect. But he hit that three
the damn broke hits that you know, seventeen footer or
(04:24):
dribble into a pull up nails it, which was a
big shot, and then another three, and you're like, okay,
welcome back, Jabari. Because I hope people realize and we
said this in the previous shows, JABORI was really good
up till six games ago and then just literally the
bottom fell out, and I don't know what, you know
happened if he got inside his head. The ohover ten
(04:44):
certainly shook him. And I think that Portland game, the
second one especially, you can put entirely on him. I
think that's fair. But you know, tonight, for him to
hit those big shots, it's just a good sign moving
forward when you got these opponents on deck.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
The quote from Jabari in the walk off that you
put on your Twitter feed. Dave. Teammates believed in me.
They kept passing it to me. Everybody told me to
keep my head up. I think that also extends to
the coaching staff. I think it spoke volumes that Emo
Udoka trusted him. Now in part with Tarry Easton and
Dorian Finney Smith out tonight, I think the Rockets are
clearly loading up for that Oklahoma City game on Thursday.
(05:19):
I'll be very intrigued to see how they play on Thursday,
because as bad as it's looked of late, I think
a lot of these recent games have been them playing
down to the competition, which has been a theme for
a lot of this season. I think Thursday against OKC,
with the one they let get away back in the
regular season opener, it would not surprise me if this
is a really good game for the Rockets. Not guaranteeing
(05:40):
a win or anything crazy, but I think we'll see
a pretty good effort on Thursday. I think that's part
of why they held Tarry Easton and DFS out tonight,
even though on Sunday I May said they got good
news on the Tarri Mri have his ankle and that
he was game to game. So to circle back to Jabbori,
without Tari, without DFS, you know, the options are fairly limited.
I was telling that the first reserve off the bench
(06:02):
for ima Udoka was JD. Davison, who played pretty well
and actually closed out this game in key moments of
the fourth quarter. You know one criticism I had, you know,
when I talked the last couple of games about the
potential of benching Jabari, I said, who do you bench
him for? Because so many of the options on that bench.
When you look at the Joshua Kobe, Aaron Holliday, Clint Capella,
(06:23):
Jay Sean Tate types, they're one dimensional. Well, JD. Davison
is one guy that's not one dimensional. I think that's
why Imayrudoka gave him a look tonight. He's got a
little bit more creativity to him, and I think that
benefited the Rockets at times in this game. But with
Tari and DFS out, JD was your fifth starter basically
where he filled that fifth starter role in high leverage
(06:44):
minutes in this game, So Jabari was basically, you know,
your fourth guy, and going into the year, we know
imy Udoka pointed to Jabari as the fourth and trench
starter alongside KD. Shingoon and a men. So even if
he's struggling, if things are so bad that you have
to pull your fourth best player, even when you don't
(07:06):
have Tarry Easen or Dorian Finney Smith, think about the
message that sends. As frustrating as it was to watch
Jabari these last few games, I do think that's part
of why ima Udoka had a longer leash than people thought.
Who are the options that he can turn to, especially
trying to fill out Jabari's height defensively, because we know
that's a big part of the formula for the Rockets
(07:28):
on that side of the ball, and after an underwhelming
first half, I did think they defended pretty well in
the second half of that game, So it would have been,
you know, the easy thing to do would just be
to say, oh, Jabari, he shook, he doesn't have it,
let's yankin. But I think ima Udoka just looked at
this and said, if I pull him, what message does
that send and who can I reasonably turn to that's
(07:49):
going to give me a clearly superior chance to win
this game. The best chance to win the game was
just to trust the guy that going into the season
you clearly identified as the fourth best player on this team,
and just give him enough playing time that eventually he's
going to figure it out. The sample is going to normalize,
and I think, I think that's ultimately what happened. And
so Jabari credits his teammates, but I think, you know,
(08:11):
the coaches deserve some credit as well. They stuck with
him and finally they got rewarded.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, you know with email Udoka, it is you nailed it, Ben.
It's trust. It's like he trusts Jabari. Now, granted, I
understand JABORI did not return that trust in these last
several games with his shot. I thought some of the
defensive stuff people were talking about was a little overblown.
I really did. I thought he had a couple of
bad defensive moments. I just thought some of that was exaggerated.
But the shot is not exaggerated. It completely abandoned him.
(08:39):
But he trusts him. He as in he knows where
to be, Yeah, you know, how to rotate, how to switch,
how to defend. He trusts him. And I want to
give a good example, and I'm not trying to throw
this in anybody's face, but if you remember last year,
you know, he had a trust level with Jalen Green,
and Jalen Green had some bad clunker games. We can
talk about that for sure. Everybody wanted to throw in
(09:01):
Cam Whitmore and they I saw a lot not everybody,
but I mean a lot of people on Twitter just
why is he May not playing Cam Whitmore for Jaalen Green?
This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous, and we're kind of
seeing Cam Whitmore now on a team where he should
be getting just a ton of run. Has had plenty
of issues himself. I mean, e may I just trust
emy with his rotations. I've seen some you know, I
know Kevin O'Connors was talking about whether you know, whether
(09:24):
he may's even the right coach for the Hoaston Rockets.
I totally disagree. If there's you know, in somebody saying
that he's the wrong coach, I understand the offensive concerns,
but anyway to the actual point, it's just he has
a trust level with Jabari on how to play, and
you just have to hope he you know, breaks this
slump and I'm hoping this this three game, this three hit,
(09:45):
three shot hit at the end where the eight ohero
run turned a one point deficit into a seven point
advantage is a sign that he's freaking out of it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
And you go back to one of their biggest wins
last year, that NBA Cup victory over Golden State, when
Jalen struggled to cre offense against the Warriors. But in
terms of knowing where to be, who was it that
dove on the floor and got that loose ball and
secured the winning free throws? It was Jalen Green. I
don't think Kim Whitmore is making that play. And I
think that's a little bit of the same dynamic that
(10:14):
we're seeing with Sabari Smith Junior. Now there's value in
that even when he's not making shots, there's still a
relatively high floor in terms of what he means for
the collective. That's why he's gotten a leash. Now, it's
not an unlimited leash. If he shoots, you know, oh
of eight in a quarter the way he did in Portland,
and especially if the Rockets have a fully healthy roster,
you know, maybe it's a different story. If the Rockets
(10:36):
had had Tari and DFS tonight, maybe it would have
been a different story In Portland if they had Tari
and Shongoon. But if you're already shorthanded and the guys
on your bench outside of maybe JD. Davison are as
one dimensional as this team's, you know, And I don't
know if this is really an indictment of her fell
Stone because the guys are talking about one dimensional like
they're at spots like i'd say ten through fourteen on
(10:58):
the depth chart going into the season, Like how many
teams don't have one dimensional players in those spots on
their depth chart. It sort of comes with the territory.
So a lot of it comes down to injuries, and
I think that's, you know, another factor for why Jabari
has gotten the leash that he has. But yeah, at
some point, even if you know logically you can point
(11:18):
to all these factors and say, yeah, we don't know
if there's anybody clearly superior. Yeah, with a larger sample,
this should turn around. He was really good through calendar
year twenty five. At some point the balls actually got
to go through the bucket or emotion is going to
take over. And this it felt like tonight was just
a critical point, Like if they lost this game at home,
where say what you will date. It was ugly. But
they're now twelve and two at Toyota Center. They're eleven
(11:40):
and twelve on the road. They are twelve and two
at home, twenty three and fourteen overall. So they've got
a ton more home games coming up, including four more
on this Homestand if they had lost this game tonight,
with Jabari having another clunker, but this time in Toyota Center,
that would have been a point of no return, and
so well, no return might be a little bit dramatic,
(12:02):
but it would be close to that. Yeah, And so
again they sort of stared I don't know if they
stared death in the face, but they stared a tipping
point in the face and they came out on the
other side of it. And that's why we're spending so
much time talking about Japari. You know, you look at
the box score. KD had twenty eight and ten and
he shot about fifty percent overall. Well, he's been brilliant
(12:22):
this season. We've talked about that all for in Shinangoon,
his second game back from the ankle spring twenty three,
eleven assists, seven rebounds, above fifty percent shooting defense. Eh,
but somewhat to be expected after after that long layoff.
Tray Jones cooked him on switches, but Trey Jones was
cooking a lot of guys. Tray Jones be fair saying
today what that wor what did he finish with?
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Eleven of twelve thirty four points, seven assists, eleven of
twelve a small guard Tray Jones five of six from
three Yeah, it's and then rockets.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And then a men Thompson twenty three points, ten of
ten from the free throw line, which's unblue it For
all the talk about a men's jumper not coming along,
the fact that he has made clear progress on free
throws is real, hope and years old. He had agreed
big three at a key spot in the game too,
when he was right after that four of twenty staff
(13:14):
that that I texted you so fourth Yeah, but even
with the men, we talked about this the other night.
Since December first, he's been twenty eight and five on
like sixty two percent true shooting as far as his
average stats per game. So as weird as it is
for a team that's been underwhelming for a while, the
big guns have been performing, at least statistically. It's it's
(13:38):
the variables. It's the guys like Jabari and Reed Shepherd
that especially the last five to ten games have really
tailed off, and so that's why we're talking about Jabari.
It's not saying he was the best player in the
Florida Night or anything close. No, but those other guys
have been very good for a while. Souvari is the
guy that you know, has gotten all the criticism the
last few games. So I think it only fitting that
(14:00):
we spend you know, a lot of tonight's show, you know,
singing his praises because he was a difference. I mean,
you get this version of Jabari on the road trip
and you probably go two and one at worst.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, yeah, give Shangun his flowers as well. Ten of
eighteen from the floor, twenty three points, eleven assists, seven boards.
Would have like to see him a little bit better
on the boards. There were a couple of moments, but
I mean, overall, really good game. He missed his first
three shots too, so he hit ten of his excuse me,
ten of his final fifteen and was plus nineteen. Like
it was. There was a gap when he was on
the floor. They succeeded, So you know, shing Gun was
(14:33):
certainly offensively really good tonight, and I think, yeah, like
I said, eleven assists, he was the hub for the
most part, passing the ball around, moving it, So yeah,
I got to give him a lot of credit. And
Katie Katie had a couple of moments where you know,
he just said screw this, you know, from beyond the
three point line, just took us straight to the basket
for jams. And the fourth happened twice. So give him
(14:55):
a lot of credit as well. You highlighted those guys
in the men as well. And also to credit to Shangun,
Rockets only took twenty four to three, so they didn't
lean on I mean maybe that's a team thing because
like they're really struggling. But at twenty nine point two percent,
I believe this is the most efficient game they've had
in their last six. They've been all in the low
twenties in the last five.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So and go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say,
I looked up Amn's free throw percentage. He's now above
eighty percent for the year, eighty point six, so just
remarkable progress. Sorry to interject, I was I was checking
stat News and it.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Was last year, what sixty nine something was something like that. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah,
so that is a huge jump for a free throw shooter.
I'd like to see this start to translate to being
at least a thirty percent three point shooter. We're still
a ways away from that, but yeah, positive sign for
a men. But yeah, tonight, I think the defense was
a problem in the first half that you know, they
gave up I believe sixty. It just there were some
(15:50):
issues for sure in that in that first half. If
they cleaned it up a little bit better in the
second half. That there's and the other thing they were
out shot tonight. The ninety four shots for the Bulls
eighty eight for the Rockets. This is similar to the
Sacramento game, so that superpower was gone, and so it's
so close. It's it's you know, you don't have just
this insane overwhelming talent that just kills people. You've got
(16:14):
to win the turnover battle. You've got to win the
rebounding battle. And tonight they did win the rebounding sixty
one forty seven, but not offensively. They had fourteen offensive
boards Houston's twelve. And that's you know, with the limited
turn rowers that the Rockets forced is the reason Chicago
got up more shots than Houston. So that's why this
is close, and it's scary because we've you'd expect this
(16:36):
Rockets team, you know, the way they played early in
the year, to just blow out the Bulls and is
close with Okay, see in Minnesota on deck, I'm you know,
I'm just hoping.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
And and to circle back to the comment that you
put on screen a few minutes ago, someone asked me
if I thought the Rockets would make a move. I
chucked in after Sunday because it felt like that was
the low point, and the response I got from someone
inside the building was basically, we hope not. And what
I think they mean by that is they would rather
(17:05):
not make a move because on paper, this team is
set up well, not just for now but into the future.
We've talked about it, certainly last off season, after the
kd trade and after things look so great thirteen and
four through October and November of this year. You know,
you have this team that's very good right now, but
you have these young players who are still getting better,
(17:25):
and whatever options you theoretically have as salary filler, it's
not really the right time to look at moving a
Fred been Fleet or a Jory Anthony Smith because they're
not healthy. In Fred's case, they're not playing at all,
so you'd be selling low on them, to say the least,
even if you try to use them as matching salary.
You don't want to panic on any of your young guys. So,
(17:45):
in terms of trades that move the needle from an
asset perspective or more notably, a financial perspective, who are
you going to trade at this point to get someone significant?
Like if it's if hypothetically it's someone like A I mean,
that's a different conversation because obviously you're going to have
to give up a ton of assets no matter what.
That's just how it works. But if it's for one
(18:07):
of these, you know, more moderate upgrades that a lot
of fans want in a perfect role. Now isn't the
time in a perfect role? You have enough and maybe
you get Fred back in a limited capacity by the
playoffs and you give this team a run and you
learn more in the playoffs, high leverage games down the
stretch of this season, you get more data points, and
you reevaluate this thing in the summer when also some
(18:28):
of your veterans are going to be a little more
movable from an asset perspective, like I think ideally the
Rockets would wait until the summer. But as you've pointed
out many times, Dave, they have a thirty seven year
old Kevin Durant still close to the peak of his powers,
and you can't waste a season like what you're seeing
now from KDI. So if they stabilize in the next month,
(18:51):
and honestly they should, they have a ton of home
games coming up, then I do think you largely write
it out. I'm not going to say you do nothing.
You know, maybe you move Clint Capella for some backcourt help.
Maybe you just take advantage of your spot near the
front of the line and the buyout market and add
some backcourt depth there. Maybe you get Fred back. But
I think if you can stabilize, that's the likely course.
(19:14):
But if the bottom falls out, you know, they don't
want to panic. They don't want to make a panic
move in which they deal one of their young guys
too early and then he breaks out elsewhere. They don't
want to use one of your veterans like Fred or
DFS as salary filler when they think at least a
year from now they'll be clearly more than just salary
filler in terms of the quality of their play, Like
(19:37):
they don't want to do that, but if the season's
going off the rails and yet you still have Kevin
Durant in All Star probably All NBA mode, Like, at
some point something has to give, and I think tonight,
I'm not going to say one game fixes it, but
it offers hope that maybe, just maybe it's not to
say that it's championship or bust this year, but you
(19:57):
at least want to get to the playoffs feeling like
you have a a realistic chance to make some noise.
I think the goal inside the building win fifty plus games,
and even if you're you know, a mid tier seed, Okay,
be a mid tier seed like the Warriors. Last year.
We saw what they did to the Rockets and what
they I think would have done to the Timberwolves. It's
not for Steph Curry's hamstring going out in Game one
(20:17):
of that second round series. I think that's sort of
the model for the Rockets at this point. Just get
into the playoffs. They're not that far off of a
two to three seed, so they're not saying it's impossible,
but I think the goal is just try and get
to the playoffs healthy. The games are more spread out.
Dial up the usage for Kevin Durant and see what
you learn. Maybe Fred's back by that point. But if
for some reason it goes off the rails the next
few weeks, I don't think that's what the Rockets are expecting.
(20:41):
I don't think it's what they want to see. But
in a scenario where it does go off the rails,
you can't rule out the possibility that they do something
more aggressive. I think they're just hoping they won't have to.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, and the question was asked, all the Rockets interested
in John Morant. I believe No, No, I definitively know,
and the same Tray Young know. They one are trying
to room read Shepherd, right, and they really believe in
Read Shepherd. I know some people complaining about the minutes,
and I get it, but they're they're still developing him,
grooming him for that that spot. And you still got
(21:12):
a man who they also believe is a point guard.
I know others you know, don't believe that, but he's
not there right now. But they're, you know, wanting him
to be an on ball presence. Let's put it that way,
rather than point guard or or try to be more
of a primary leader creation. So I don't necessarily see
that happening. But you know, when Fred comes back, whenever
that is, you're going to have a question then too, Right,
(21:35):
If Reed develops like you want and he want him
playing significant minutes and a men, I mean he's gonna fit,
don't get me wrong, but I'm saying you're going to
have that question too. I think they're looking more for
a low turnover, solid stable presence. If they're going to
add anybody like that, they want a Fred basically back.
So that's that's how I see it. I personal don't
think they're going to do anything there. And to your
(21:56):
point about we certainly hope not. I think it's like, like, well,
you know, unless this team just completely craters, which we're
hoping is not the case, that they're going to stay
the course. And we'll see in the summer.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And I see a lot of comments in the chat
about Reed Shepherd. In his last twelve games, he's now
shooting forty percent overall and thirty two percent from three.
I've said this before. His model at this point in
his career is just not going to work if he's
shooting that low from three point range. It's just that simple,
and quite frankly, some of these games he might have
(22:29):
had sat lines comparable to Jabari. It's just the leash
from Emay is a lot shorter for Reid because he's
not providing any defensive value, so he's not out there
to have an oh of eight quarter the way Jabari
did in Portland. But in many ways, that's that's really
the difference here. They've both been slumping. It's just it
doesn't feel like reid slump is quite as pronounced, because
(22:49):
if it's a bad game for Reid, he may will
pull him. He's not gonna give him the leash they
does with Jabari because at least Jabori provides some value
defensively as a connector with his size, those types of things.
But the bottom line with Reid, and it's a delicate balance,
like you do want to develop him. He still has
every bit of upside that we thought he did coming
(23:10):
out of Thanksgiving when he had that amazing game at
Golden State. None of that has changed, and so it's
important to play him. You can't yank him from the rotation.
And I think in every game he's gotten at least
fifteen minutes, and in most I would say closer to
twenty to twenty five. He was I want to say,
even though he didn't close that he was at twenty two.
I think even with Jade Davison getting twenty five, I
(23:32):
think Reid had twenty two minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So yeah, twenty two minutes.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, so e may Is. It's a delicate balance, you
know that. I think that's why Jad Davison hasn't gotten
a look earlier. I'm sure some people are going to ask,
if they like JD. Davison as much, why hasn't he
played in weeks from a rotation standpoint, And I think
it's because they fear if they go with Reid and
Jady Davison, are they too small? And at this point,
(23:55):
you know, beggars can't be choosers. I think tonight they
just said, hey, we got to figure it out, and
they made it work. But the reason they haven't done
it earlier there they're still playing Reed even though some
people would like him to play more. And I get why.
I'm from a developmental perspective. This is nothing like last
year where he fell out of the rotation. No he's
playing you know, twenty plus minutes at a minimum. He
just needs to make more shots. I think he will.
(24:16):
It just it hasn't happened yet, and it's just I
just want to hit that home. Not to pick on Reed,
but I just think in some ways his slump has
gotten overlooked because he doesn't have the terrible games from
a shooting perspective, just because if they're going two off
the rails, he may just doesn't play him, and so
it just doesn't stand out to the extent that it
does with Jabari when he's like you know, six of
(24:36):
twenty one and eight in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, I think he just needs to get more and
more comfortable. He's he's made, you know, grown by leaps
and bounds since the start of the year. A start
of the year was like, oh boy, there's there's still
some issues here. He's grown quite a bit. It's kind
of like an actor's got to get every you know,
in a play or something. He's got to get all
his lines down, know exactly where to be in his moments.
You know, I don't I don't want to, you know,
(24:59):
base put in question drafting him because I'm not I'm
not there at all. But I just I did find
it interesting with Trey Young when he went on the
block that a lot of like you know, talking heads
from the NBA. We're talking about how the league is
shifting away on small guards. Did you see that?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And I thought, well, we basically invested quite a bit
in Read Shepherd. I think you've got to hope for
a Curry, you know, a poor man's Curry type model,
where he's a really efficient shooter and he can off
a one screen quickly get his shot. He's going to
get more run. It's about the best way I could
say it. But those defensive concerns are very real. The
size concerns are very real. We're going to see those
(25:36):
in the playoffs. But he's had those games, as you
mentioned Ben against Golden State. I think there was another
one against Denver where you're just like, wow, you know,
this guy could light it up in a hurry. I
will say Denver probably wasn't scouting something I hadn't scouted
Read enough or something in that particular game because they
weren't covering him enough.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
But I do well that ladder game in Denver as well,
though to his credit.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
I can't remember the order of them, but I think
it was the.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Most recent one that Saturday. But yeah, you're right, that
first game Rockets Nuggets, I don't think they had really
scouted him. But the second two he's still played pretty well,
and they actually closed out the one that the Rockets
had basically stolen from them by that terrible officiating. If
you recall, Reid was in the closing lineup when they
stormed back and nearly won it if not for the
amen foul on Tim Hardaway junior foul and air quotes here. Yeah,
(26:25):
but so there's lots to like about Reid. He's had
his moments. He's just in a downstretch right now, and
it's just for ima Udoka. It's just a delicate balancing act,
like they need to get him enough minutes to where
he still has a chance to develop and shoot his
way out of it. Again, so much of it's going
to come down to whether he makes enough shots given
his current limitation. But they're not going to guarantee him.
(26:48):
This is no longer a team where just for developmental
purposes you say this guy's got to play twenty five
thirty plus minutes no matter what. No, when you have
a thirty seven year old Kevin Durant playing the way
he is. It it's when now and that's that's the balance,
And it's not easy, Like I get the criticisms, but
to circle back to what we were saying earlier, right,
Emo Joka, this is why I think you and I
give him the benefit of the doubt, is that the
(27:10):
last two years he's done a pretty phenomenal job in
my opinion, well, certainly the overall performances of those teams,
but also you know, blending development versus maximizing short term wins.
I think by and large he's he's succeeded on both fronts.
Maybe not perfectly, but relative to when he took the job,
all of these young players that you have been in
(27:31):
the program for now two and a half years have
clearly taken leaps forward. So not saying that guarantees that
he's going to succeed this year, but the fact that
he's outperformed expectations the first two years and the fact
that look this year, it is hard like when you
have all these veterans and you have all these expectations
and then you're young guys like Jabari and Reid go
through a rough patch. How do you balance, you know,
(27:54):
trying to maximize every minute versus playing the long game
and trusting that not only are are they going to
shoot themselves out of slumps, but in the long run
that you're going to be better because they shoot their
way out of it and they gain confidence. It's it's tough,
and that's why I give em a little bit of grace.
It's not giving him indefinite grace. But when we're talking
(28:15):
about maybe, you know, half of one season that they've
been a little bit underwhelming, that's why I tend to
give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for
right now.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, and I'll just I know we're basically running out
of time here, but defense is my concern right now.
I mean, the three point shot is probably number one,
but I do think that's just going to come back
to form. It. It just can't stay this way forever.
Certainly Jabbar is not well knock on wood, you know,
miss that many in a row again or anything like that.
Hopefully this shot starts to drop for all of these
(28:43):
guys because a lot of them are missing shots. You're
gonna get Tarri back. He should be close. I don't
know if you'll be back for the OKAC game. But
he's close and DFS. I'm not sure the exact situation
he was out today. Defensively is where I has to
have this team in a position that of trust for defense.
The offense will come. You know, he'll run Shannghu and
(29:04):
he'll run Katie and he's hoping those guys and you know,
being special or whatever on the offensive side can lead
them there. But the defense has to be there, and
it's just been hit or miss. Yeah, it had gotten
a little bit better, but I don't know what it
ended up being today, but.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
It's just and I do think some of the issues
in recent games have been made worse by the terrible
shot making. I think defensively, especially late in the Sacramento
game and early tonight, there were guys that were trying
to do way too much because they felt there was
zero margin for error. When you're not making shots on
the other end, when you're four of twenty from three
(29:39):
and forty two minutes, it's easy to think that you've
got to shut down anything from the other team, and
in reality, you can't close out on everything. There were
so many possessions early in this game, particularly the first
half when I thought the Rockets were playing way too
aggressive and they ended up getting blown by or put
in a compromise position because someone had to help, and
(30:00):
before you know what, the entire defense collapses. And I
think a lot of that comes down to a lack
of trust. You're not making shots, and with the guys injured,
you're having to play the likes of Joshua Kogie and
Jad Davison more. That hurts your floors facing you're not
able to put up threes at volume, and so I
think the defense fell apart well number one, when the
body language isn't great and when you're struggling with confidence,
(30:20):
a lot of defense comes down to effort. And there
were definitely some slumped shoulders early in this game and
the last two in Portland and Sacramento. But also I
just think it's only natural when things aren't going your way,
you start to see especial younger players trying to do
too much. And you know there's some guys in the bulls.
If if Usevich wants to take a contested eighteen footer,
let him. You don't have to close out or switch
(30:44):
hard on everything to where you put Trey Jones in
a spot where he can just blow by your big
man for an easy bucket, like you don't have to
defend as aggressively as the Rockets did tonight. And I
think a lot of that was just due to desperation
in what's been going on the last few games. But
to close out a positive note, Dave, I've pulled up
(31:04):
the standings, so there's been a lot made of Oh,
the Rockets fell behind the Sun's spoiler, they're not anymore.
They're in the seventh spot, which would be play and range.
The Western Conference is really tight, even with the recent losses.
So Rocket's now twenty three and fourteen. They are now
in the five spot. They're tied with the Lakers, or
they have the tie breaker because of Christmas, and they yes, yes,
(31:28):
And so the Rockets are tied with the Lakers as
of our recording, and they are a couple of games
back of the Timberwolves, but they have the same amount
of losses and the two seed the San Antonios first,
I guess the first and Nuggets are tied for the
two seed has thirteen losses, So the Rockets are one
game back in the lost column. And when you win
more games than you lose, it's the lost column that's
(31:49):
more meaningful. And the Rockets are one game back in
the lost column of the two seed, so they have underwhelmed,
and going into tonight they were in the seven seed.
I get it's it's not pretty. They are nowhere near
where they should be, and internally they fall in short
of expectations. But they're also not that far off either,
and I think that's important to keep in mind. Unfortunately,
(32:10):
you have the number one seed, the thirty four and
seven Oklamba City Thunder coming in on Thursday, so we'll
see what happens. And on paper, even as bad as
it's been, they're still.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Like and that is a great and half uh you know,
glass half full look, and I agree with it because
I think that they're they're close. The only concern I'll
add to that before we close is what's coming up. Okay,
see Minnesota, you got New Orleans. It's a revenge game,
and then I believe you've got San Antonio. Then you
go to the road Philly and Detroit. You're gonna come
back here for Memphis and San Antonio. So it's you know,
(32:42):
they kind of they blew some opportunities against some really
weak teams and now they've got some games that they
need to play. You know, they're basically tough for opponents,
so let's see how they do. I'm hoping that they
can get things going and a win against okay See
on Thursday would be a great start. Absolutely appreciate you, Ben,
Thank you. Appreciate everybody tuning in and watching the show
with us and all the support. Please feel free to
(33:03):
leave comments on YouTube if you have questions or anything
you want to talk about as far as this game,
Big Game, Rockets Thunder coming up Thursday, we will see
you guys then. Thanks everybody,
Welcome in everybody. Rockets finally get a w one nineteen
to one thirteen at home over the Chicago Bulls. It
was not pretty, it was scary, there was There's lots
to talk about from this game, but basically this was
a big win that they needed to have with two
basically strong West contenders on deck. OKC in Minnesota. But
(00:27):
Rockets get a big win. I'm gonna throw it to you, Ben,
because there's plenty to talk about, for sure, you know,
as far as individual performances, but thank goodness, they finally
get the dub.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah. I mean, even with this win, you're ten and
ten in your last twenty games. But it's better than
having a losing record. So this was one they desperately
needed to stabilize themselves. And it would be foolish for
me to say, oh, they figured it out based on well,
certainly the box score. You beat an underhanded Bulls team
(00:57):
by six points at home. It's not a win that
at the the year you'll look back on and say, wow,
this was really impressive. This was the peak Houston Rockets. No,
on the balance, they underwhelmed tonight as well, and it's
been an underwhelming stretch for six weeks. But I will
say the way they won that game, they sort of
looked and basically stared adversity in the face. I mean,
(01:18):
they were losing with three four minutes left in this game,
and if they had lost this one with OKC and
Minnesota coming in later this week on a back to
back with the zero to three road trip, I mean,
any team would be close to a breaking point if
you put them in that spot. I don't care who
their leadership is, I don't care who their coach is.
So this was a game the Rockets almost had to win,
(01:42):
and so for them to sort of stare all of
that in the face. Have a bad shooting night, you know,
day by Texas. You midway through the fourth quarter, they
were four of twenty from three. That's just unacceptable from
a make percentage and just a volume standpoint in today's NBA.
They had everything going wrong, and yet in the last
few minutes they've rescued it, most notably with the guy
(02:04):
who's been at the forefront of those shooting struggles the
last few games, Jabari Smith Junior, scoring eight points late
in the game, including two huge threes. I think at
one point Dave what he was zero for his last
twenty was that right?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah? He had missed twenty straight, dating back to see
the first Portland game, he had missed his final two,
miss ten in a row, miss three, missed his first five.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Tonight, Yeah, and to see him make two late in
the game when everything was on the line. This wasn't
just one of eighty two. This was one when you
consider the zero to three road trip, when you consider
who's coming in later this week that the Rockets had
to have. There was a lot of pressure in this game,
and after starting so slowly, after missing all those shots early,
(02:43):
and for the guy who's missed a lot of those
shots the last few games to be the one who
sort of snaps you out of it late, that can
be potentially, in my opinion, a galvanizing effect. This can
be something that they build off of. I'm not gonna
say for sure, because you know ten and ten in
the last twenty games. There have been moments before this
that I said, Okay, this is the November Rockets, this
(03:04):
is them figuring it out. And then it's lasted a
game or two and it hasn't been anything sustainable. But
if you want to draw up a feel good win
for this particular team, considering how they've lost lately, having
Jabaris with Junior rescue them late in the game is
the way to do it.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, and we're going to talk about I mean, we
have to talk about Jabari because he's been a big
story for a long while. Katie and Shanghun we're doing
a lot of a heavy lifting on the offense. Both
hit over fifty percent from the field. Both took a
combined forty one shots twenty three for KD eighteen for Shangun.
They were really good. We'll talk about those guys. You
just have to talk about Jabari first because he's kind
of the story. If you know, when we were talking,
you know, back and forth during the game, I was saying,
(03:42):
I don't know if Jabari needs a shrink or what like,
he just is off and he's not off consistently, and
this has happened before, and I'm just like, this is
a mental thing. I feel. I actually feel for him
because I just like Jabari as a person as well.
I just think this guy has a strong work ethic,
he wants to be good. He's just I don't know,
he's just a good all around person. I want to
(04:02):
see him succeed and just it wasn't dropping for him,
and for that to happen, it just kind of alleviates
some of the concerns about him just beating himself up
internally because he did kind of win this game. Now granted,
they might not have been in that position if he
hadn't you know, made a few shots earlier or something
of that to that effect. But he hit that three
the damn broke hits that you know, seventeen footer or
(04:24):
dribble into a pull up nails it, which was a
big shot, and then another three, and you're like, okay,
welcome back, Jabari. Because I hope people realize and we
said this in the previous shows, JABORI was really good
up till six games ago and then just literally the
bottom fell out, and I don't know what, you know
happened if he got inside his head. The ohover ten
(04:44):
certainly shook him. And I think that Portland game, the
second one especially, you can put entirely on him. I
think that's fair. But you know, tonight, for him to
hit those big shots, it's just a good sign moving
forward when you got these opponents on deck.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
The quote from Jabari in the walk off that you
put on your Twitter feed. Dave. Teammates believed in me.
They kept passing it to me. Everybody told me to
keep my head up. I think that also extends to
the coaching staff. I think it spoke volumes that Emo
Udoka trusted him. Now in part with Tarry Easton and
Dorian Finney Smith out tonight, I think the Rockets are
clearly loading up for that Oklahoma City game on Thursday.
(05:19):
I'll be very intrigued to see how they play on Thursday,
because as bad as it's looked of late, I think
a lot of these recent games have been them playing
down to the competition, which has been a theme for
a lot of this season. I think Thursday against OKC,
with the one they let get away back in the
regular season opener, it would not surprise me if this
is a really good game for the Rockets. Not guaranteeing
(05:40):
a win or anything crazy, but I think we'll see
a pretty good effort on Thursday. I think that's part
of why they held Tarry Easton and DFS out tonight,
even though on Sunday I May said they got good
news on the Tarri Mri have his ankle and that
he was game to game. So to circle back to Jabbori,
without Tari, without DFS, you know, the options are fairly limited.
I was telling that the first reserve off the bench
(06:02):
for ima Udoka was JD. Davison, who played pretty well
and actually closed out this game in key moments of
the fourth quarter. You know one criticism I had, you know,
when I talked the last couple of games about the
potential of benching Jabari, I said, who do you bench
him for? Because so many of the options on that bench.
When you look at the Joshua Kobe, Aaron Holliday, Clint Capella,
(06:23):
Jay Sean Tate types, they're one dimensional. Well, JD. Davison
is one guy that's not one dimensional. I think that's
why Imayrudoka gave him a look tonight. He's got a
little bit more creativity to him, and I think that
benefited the Rockets at times in this game. But with
Tari and DFS out, JD was your fifth starter basically
where he filled that fifth starter role in high leverage
(06:44):
minutes in this game, So Jabari was basically, you know,
your fourth guy, and going into the year, we know
imy Udoka pointed to Jabari as the fourth and trench
starter alongside KD. Shingoon and a men. So even if
he's struggling, if things are so bad that you have
to pull your fourth best player, even when you don't
(07:06):
have Tarry Easen or Dorian Finney Smith, think about the
message that sends. As frustrating as it was to watch
Jabari these last few games, I do think that's part
of why ima Udoka had a longer leash than people thought.
Who are the options that he can turn to, especially
trying to fill out Jabari's height defensively, because we know
that's a big part of the formula for the Rockets
(07:28):
on that side of the ball, and after an underwhelming
first half, I did think they defended pretty well in
the second half of that game, So it would have been,
you know, the easy thing to do would just be
to say, oh, Jabari, he shook, he doesn't have it,
let's yankin. But I think ima Udoka just looked at
this and said, if I pull him, what message does
that send and who can I reasonably turn to that's
(07:49):
going to give me a clearly superior chance to win
this game. The best chance to win the game was
just to trust the guy that going into the season
you clearly identified as the fourth best player on this team,
and just give him enough playing time that eventually he's
going to figure it out. The sample is going to normalize,
and I think, I think that's ultimately what happened. And
so Jabari credits his teammates, but I think, you know,
(08:11):
the coaches deserve some credit as well. They stuck with
him and finally they got rewarded.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, you know with email Udoka, it is you nailed it, Ben.
It's trust. It's like he trusts Jabari. Now, granted, I
understand JABORI did not return that trust in these last
several games with his shot. I thought some of the
defensive stuff people were talking about was a little overblown.
I really did. I thought he had a couple of
bad defensive moments. I just thought some of that was exaggerated.
But the shot is not exaggerated. It completely abandoned him.
(08:39):
But he trusts him. He as in he knows where
to be, Yeah, you know, how to rotate, how to switch,
how to defend. He trusts him. And I want to
give a good example, and I'm not trying to throw
this in anybody's face, but if you remember last year,
you know, he had a trust level with Jalen Green,
and Jalen Green had some bad clunker games. We can
talk about that for sure. Everybody wanted to throw in
(09:01):
Cam Whitmore and they I saw a lot not everybody,
but I mean a lot of people on Twitter just
why is he May not playing Cam Whitmore for Jaalen Green?
This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous, and we're kind of
seeing Cam Whitmore now on a team where he should
be getting just a ton of run. Has had plenty
of issues himself. I mean, e may I just trust
emy with his rotations. I've seen some you know, I
know Kevin O'Connors was talking about whether you know, whether
(09:24):
he may's even the right coach for the Hoaston Rockets.
I totally disagree. If there's you know, in somebody saying
that he's the wrong coach, I understand the offensive concerns,
but anyway to the actual point, it's just he has
a trust level with Jabari on how to play, and
you just have to hope he you know, breaks this
slump and I'm hoping this this three game, this three hit,
(09:45):
three shot hit at the end where the eight ohero
run turned a one point deficit into a seven point
advantage is a sign that he's freaking out of it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
And you go back to one of their biggest wins
last year, that NBA Cup victory over Golden State, when
Jalen struggled to cre offense against the Warriors. But in
terms of knowing where to be, who was it that
dove on the floor and got that loose ball and
secured the winning free throws? It was Jalen Green. I
don't think Kim Whitmore is making that play. And I
think that's a little bit of the same dynamic that
(10:14):
we're seeing with Sabari Smith Junior. Now there's value in
that even when he's not making shots, there's still a
relatively high floor in terms of what he means for
the collective. That's why he's gotten a leash. Now, it's
not an unlimited leash. If he shoots, you know, oh
of eight in a quarter the way he did in Portland,
and especially if the Rockets have a fully healthy roster,
you know, maybe it's a different story. If the Rockets
(10:36):
had had Tari and DFS tonight, maybe it would have
been a different story In Portland if they had Tari
and Shongoon. But if you're already shorthanded and the guys
on your bench outside of maybe JD. Davison are as
one dimensional as this team's, you know, And I don't
know if this is really an indictment of her fell
Stone because the guys are talking about one dimensional like
they're at spots like i'd say ten through fourteen on
(10:58):
the depth chart going into the season, Like how many
teams don't have one dimensional players in those spots on
their depth chart. It sort of comes with the territory.
So a lot of it comes down to injuries, and
I think that's, you know, another factor for why Jabari
has gotten the leash that he has. But yeah, at
some point, even if you know logically you can point
(11:18):
to all these factors and say, yeah, we don't know
if there's anybody clearly superior. Yeah, with a larger sample,
this should turn around. He was really good through calendar
year twenty five. At some point the balls actually got
to go through the bucket or emotion is going to
take over. And this it felt like tonight was just
a critical point, Like if they lost this game at home,
where say what you will date. It was ugly. But
they're now twelve and two at Toyota Center. They're eleven
(11:40):
and twelve on the road. They are twelve and two
at home, twenty three and fourteen overall. So they've got
a ton more home games coming up, including four more
on this Homestand if they had lost this game tonight,
with Jabari having another clunker, but this time in Toyota Center,
that would have been a point of no return, and
so well, no return might be a little bit dramatic,
(12:02):
but it would be close to that. Yeah, And so
again they sort of stared I don't know if they
stared death in the face, but they stared a tipping
point in the face and they came out on the
other side of it. And that's why we're spending so
much time talking about Japari. You know, you look at
the box score. KD had twenty eight and ten and
he shot about fifty percent overall. Well, he's been brilliant
(12:22):
this season. We've talked about that all for in Shinangoon,
his second game back from the ankle spring twenty three,
eleven assists, seven rebounds, above fifty percent shooting defense. Eh,
but somewhat to be expected after after that long layoff.
Tray Jones cooked him on switches, but Trey Jones was
cooking a lot of guys. Tray Jones be fair saying
today what that wor what did he finish with?
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Eleven of twelve thirty four points, seven assists, eleven of
twelve a small guard Tray Jones five of six from
three Yeah, it's and then rockets.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And then a men Thompson twenty three points, ten of
ten from the free throw line, which's unblue it For
all the talk about a men's jumper not coming along,
the fact that he has made clear progress on free
throws is real, hope and years old. He had agreed
big three at a key spot in the game too,
when he was right after that four of twenty staff
(13:14):
that that I texted you so fourth Yeah, but even
with the men, we talked about this the other night.
Since December first, he's been twenty eight and five on
like sixty two percent true shooting as far as his
average stats per game. So as weird as it is
for a team that's been underwhelming for a while, the
big guns have been performing, at least statistically. It's it's
(13:38):
the variables. It's the guys like Jabari and Reed Shepherd
that especially the last five to ten games have really
tailed off, and so that's why we're talking about Jabari.
It's not saying he was the best player in the
Florida Night or anything close. No, but those other guys
have been very good for a while. Souvari is the
guy that you know, has gotten all the criticism the
last few games. So I think it only fitting that
(14:00):
we spend you know, a lot of tonight's show, you know,
singing his praises because he was a difference. I mean,
you get this version of Jabari on the road trip
and you probably go two and one at worst.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, yeah, give Shangun his flowers as well. Ten of
eighteen from the floor, twenty three points, eleven assists, seven boards.
Would have like to see him a little bit better
on the boards. There were a couple of moments, but
I mean, overall, really good game. He missed his first
three shots too, so he hit ten of his excuse me,
ten of his final fifteen and was plus nineteen. Like
it was. There was a gap when he was on
the floor. They succeeded, So you know, shing Gun was
(14:33):
certainly offensively really good tonight, and I think, yeah, like
I said, eleven assists, he was the hub for the
most part, passing the ball around, moving it, So yeah,
I got to give him a lot of credit. And
Katie Katie had a couple of moments where you know,
he just said screw this, you know, from beyond the
three point line, just took us straight to the basket
for jams. And the fourth happened twice. So give him
(14:55):
a lot of credit as well. You highlighted those guys
in the men as well. And also to credit to Shangun,
Rockets only took twenty four to three, so they didn't
lean on I mean maybe that's a team thing because
like they're really struggling. But at twenty nine point two percent,
I believe this is the most efficient game they've had
in their last six. They've been all in the low
twenties in the last five.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So and go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say,
I looked up Amn's free throw percentage. He's now above
eighty percent for the year, eighty point six, so just
remarkable progress. Sorry to interject, I was I was checking
stat News and it.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Was last year, what sixty nine something was something like that. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah,
so that is a huge jump for a free throw shooter.
I'd like to see this start to translate to being
at least a thirty percent three point shooter. We're still
a ways away from that, but yeah, positive sign for
a men. But yeah, tonight, I think the defense was
a problem in the first half that you know, they
gave up I believe sixty. It just there were some
(15:50):
issues for sure in that in that first half. If
they cleaned it up a little bit better in the
second half. That there's and the other thing they were
out shot tonight. The ninety four shots for the Bulls
eighty eight for the Rockets. This is similar to the
Sacramento game, so that superpower was gone, and so it's
so close. It's it's you know, you don't have just
this insane overwhelming talent that just kills people. You've got
(16:14):
to win the turnover battle. You've got to win the
rebounding battle. And tonight they did win the rebounding sixty
one forty seven, but not offensively. They had fourteen offensive
boards Houston's twelve. And that's you know, with the limited
turn rowers that the Rockets forced is the reason Chicago
got up more shots than Houston. So that's why this
is close, and it's scary because we've you'd expect this
(16:36):
Rockets team, you know, the way they played early in
the year, to just blow out the Bulls and is
close with Okay, see in Minnesota on deck, I'm you know,
I'm just hoping.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
And and to circle back to the comment that you
put on screen a few minutes ago, someone asked me
if I thought the Rockets would make a move. I
chucked in after Sunday because it felt like that was
the low point, and the response I got from someone
inside the building was basically, we hope not. And what
I think they mean by that is they would rather
(17:05):
not make a move because on paper, this team is
set up well, not just for now but into the future.
We've talked about it, certainly last off season, after the
kd trade and after things look so great thirteen and
four through October and November of this year. You know,
you have this team that's very good right now, but
you have these young players who are still getting better,
(17:25):
and whatever options you theoretically have as salary filler, it's
not really the right time to look at moving a
Fred been Fleet or a Jory Anthony Smith because they're
not healthy. In Fred's case, they're not playing at all,
so you'd be selling low on them, to say the least,
even if you try to use them as matching salary.
You don't want to panic on any of your young guys. So,
(17:45):
in terms of trades that move the needle from an
asset perspective or more notably, a financial perspective, who are
you going to trade at this point to get someone significant?
Like if it's if hypothetically it's someone like A I mean,
that's a different conversation because obviously you're going to have
to give up a ton of assets no matter what.
That's just how it works. But if it's for one
(18:07):
of these, you know, more moderate upgrades that a lot
of fans want in a perfect role. Now isn't the
time in a perfect role? You have enough and maybe
you get Fred back in a limited capacity by the
playoffs and you give this team a run and you
learn more in the playoffs, high leverage games down the
stretch of this season, you get more data points, and
you reevaluate this thing in the summer when also some
(18:28):
of your veterans are going to be a little more
movable from an asset perspective, like I think ideally the
Rockets would wait until the summer. But as you've pointed
out many times, Dave, they have a thirty seven year
old Kevin Durant still close to the peak of his powers,
and you can't waste a season like what you're seeing
now from KDI. So if they stabilize in the next month,
(18:51):
and honestly they should, they have a ton of home
games coming up, then I do think you largely write
it out. I'm not going to say you do nothing.
You know, maybe you move Clint Capella for some backcourt help.
Maybe you just take advantage of your spot near the
front of the line and the buyout market and add
some backcourt depth there. Maybe you get Fred back. But
I think if you can stabilize, that's the likely course.
(19:14):
But if the bottom falls out, you know, they don't
want to panic. They don't want to make a panic
move in which they deal one of their young guys
too early and then he breaks out elsewhere. They don't
want to use one of your veterans like Fred or
DFS as salary filler when they think at least a
year from now they'll be clearly more than just salary
filler in terms of the quality of their play, Like
(19:37):
they don't want to do that, but if the season's
going off the rails and yet you still have Kevin
Durant in All Star probably All NBA mode, Like, at
some point something has to give, and I think tonight,
I'm not going to say one game fixes it, but
it offers hope that maybe, just maybe it's not to
say that it's championship or bust this year, but you
(19:57):
at least want to get to the playoffs feeling like
you have a a realistic chance to make some noise.
I think the goal inside the building win fifty plus games,
and even if you're you know, a mid tier seed, Okay,
be a mid tier seed like the Warriors. Last year.
We saw what they did to the Rockets and what
they I think would have done to the Timberwolves. It's
not for Steph Curry's hamstring going out in Game one
(20:17):
of that second round series. I think that's sort of
the model for the Rockets at this point. Just get
into the playoffs. They're not that far off of a
two to three seed, so they're not saying it's impossible,
but I think the goal is just try and get
to the playoffs healthy. The games are more spread out.
Dial up the usage for Kevin Durant and see what
you learn. Maybe Fred's back by that point. But if
for some reason it goes off the rails the next
few weeks, I don't think that's what the Rockets are expecting.
(20:41):
I don't think it's what they want to see. But
in a scenario where it does go off the rails,
you can't rule out the possibility that they do something
more aggressive. I think they're just hoping they won't have to.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah, and the question was asked, all the Rockets interested
in John Morant. I believe No, No, I definitively know,
and the same Tray Young know. They one are trying
to room read Shepherd, right, and they really believe in
Read Shepherd. I know some people complaining about the minutes,
and I get it, but they're they're still developing him,
grooming him for that that spot. And you still got
(21:12):
a man who they also believe is a point guard.
I know others you know, don't believe that, but he's
not there right now. But they're, you know, wanting him
to be an on ball presence. Let's put it that way,
rather than point guard or or try to be more
of a primary leader creation. So I don't necessarily see
that happening. But you know, when Fred comes back, whenever
that is, you're going to have a question then too, Right,
(21:35):
If Reed develops like you want and he want him
playing significant minutes and a men, I mean he's gonna fit,
don't get me wrong, but I'm saying you're going to
have that question too. I think they're looking more for
a low turnover, solid stable presence. If they're going to
add anybody like that, they want a Fred basically back.
So that's that's how I see it. I personal don't
think they're going to do anything there. And to your
(21:56):
point about we certainly hope not. I think it's like, like, well,
you know, unless this team just completely craters, which we're
hoping is not the case, that they're going to stay
the course. And we'll see in the summer.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
And I see a lot of comments in the chat
about Reed Shepherd. In his last twelve games, he's now
shooting forty percent overall and thirty two percent from three.
I've said this before. His model at this point in
his career is just not going to work if he's
shooting that low from three point range. It's just that simple,
and quite frankly, some of these games he might have
(22:29):
had sat lines comparable to Jabari. It's just the leash
from Emay is a lot shorter for Reid because he's
not providing any defensive value, so he's not out there
to have an oh of eight quarter the way Jabari
did in Portland. But in many ways, that's that's really
the difference here. They've both been slumping. It's just it
doesn't feel like reid slump is quite as pronounced, because
(22:49):
if it's a bad game for Reid, he may will
pull him. He's not gonna give him the leash they
does with Jabari because at least Jabori provides some value
defensively as a connector with his size, those types of things.
But the bottom line with Reid, and it's a delicate balance,
like you do want to develop him. He still has
every bit of upside that we thought he did coming
(23:10):
out of Thanksgiving when he had that amazing game at
Golden State. None of that has changed, and so it's
important to play him. You can't yank him from the rotation.
And I think in every game he's gotten at least
fifteen minutes, and in most I would say closer to
twenty to twenty five. He was I want to say,
even though he didn't close that he was at twenty two.
I think even with Jade Davison getting twenty five, I
(23:32):
think Reid had twenty two minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So yeah, twenty two minutes.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, so e may Is. It's a delicate balance, you
know that. I think that's why Jad Davison hasn't gotten
a look earlier. I'm sure some people are going to ask,
if they like JD. Davison as much, why hasn't he
played in weeks from a rotation standpoint, And I think
it's because they fear if they go with Reid and
Jady Davison, are they too small? And at this point,
(23:55):
you know, beggars can't be choosers. I think tonight they
just said, hey, we got to figure it out, and
they made it work. But the reason they haven't done
it earlier there they're still playing Reed even though some
people would like him to play more. And I get why.
I'm from a developmental perspective. This is nothing like last
year where he fell out of the rotation. No he's
playing you know, twenty plus minutes at a minimum. He
just needs to make more shots. I think he will.
(24:16):
It just it hasn't happened yet, and it's just I
just want to hit that home. Not to pick on Reed,
but I just think in some ways his slump has
gotten overlooked because he doesn't have the terrible games from
a shooting perspective, just because if they're going two off
the rails, he may just doesn't play him, and so
it just doesn't stand out to the extent that it
does with Jabari when he's like you know, six of
(24:36):
twenty one and eight in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, I think he just needs to get more and
more comfortable. He's he's made, you know, grown by leaps
and bounds since the start of the year. A start
of the year was like, oh boy, there's there's still
some issues here. He's grown quite a bit. It's kind
of like an actor's got to get every you know,
in a play or something. He's got to get all
his lines down, know exactly where to be in his moments.
You know, I don't I don't want to, you know,
(24:59):
base put in question drafting him because I'm not I'm
not there at all. But I just I did find
it interesting with Trey Young when he went on the
block that a lot of like you know, talking heads
from the NBA. We're talking about how the league is
shifting away on small guards. Did you see that?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And I thought, well, we basically invested quite a bit
in Read Shepherd. I think you've got to hope for
a Curry, you know, a poor man's Curry type model,
where he's a really efficient shooter and he can off
a one screen quickly get his shot. He's going to
get more run. It's about the best way I could
say it. But those defensive concerns are very real. The
size concerns are very real. We're going to see those
(25:36):
in the playoffs. But he's had those games, as you
mentioned Ben against Golden State. I think there was another
one against Denver where you're just like, wow, you know,
this guy could light it up in a hurry. I
will say Denver probably wasn't scouting something I hadn't scouted
Read enough or something in that particular game because they
weren't covering him enough.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
But I do well that ladder game in Denver as well,
though to his credit.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
I can't remember the order of them, but I think
it was the.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Most recent one that Saturday. But yeah, you're right, that
first game Rockets Nuggets, I don't think they had really
scouted him. But the second two he's still played pretty well,
and they actually closed out the one that the Rockets
had basically stolen from them by that terrible officiating. If
you recall, Reid was in the closing lineup when they
stormed back and nearly won it if not for the
amen foul on Tim Hardaway junior foul and air quotes here. Yeah,
(26:25):
but so there's lots to like about Reid. He's had
his moments. He's just in a downstretch right now, and
it's just for ima Udoka. It's just a delicate balancing act,
like they need to get him enough minutes to where
he still has a chance to develop and shoot his
way out of it. Again, so much of it's going
to come down to whether he makes enough shots given
his current limitation. But they're not going to guarantee him.
(26:48):
This is no longer a team where just for developmental
purposes you say this guy's got to play twenty five
thirty plus minutes no matter what. No, when you have
a thirty seven year old Kevin Durant playing the way
he is. It it's when now and that's that's the balance,
And it's not easy, Like I get the criticisms, but
to circle back to what we were saying earlier, right,
Emo Joka, this is why I think you and I
give him the benefit of the doubt, is that the
(27:10):
last two years he's done a pretty phenomenal job in
my opinion, well, certainly the overall performances of those teams,
but also you know, blending development versus maximizing short term wins.
I think by and large he's he's succeeded on both fronts.
Maybe not perfectly, but relative to when he took the job,
all of these young players that you have been in
(27:31):
the program for now two and a half years have
clearly taken leaps forward. So not saying that guarantees that
he's going to succeed this year, but the fact that
he's outperformed expectations the first two years and the fact
that look this year, it is hard like when you
have all these veterans and you have all these expectations
and then you're young guys like Jabari and Reid go
through a rough patch. How do you balance, you know,
(27:54):
trying to maximize every minute versus playing the long game
and trusting that not only are are they going to
shoot themselves out of slumps, but in the long run
that you're going to be better because they shoot their
way out of it and they gain confidence. It's it's tough,
and that's why I give em a little bit of grace.
It's not giving him indefinite grace. But when we're talking
(28:15):
about maybe, you know, half of one season that they've
been a little bit underwhelming, that's why I tend to
give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for
right now.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah, and I'll just I know we're basically running out
of time here, but defense is my concern right now.
I mean, the three point shot is probably number one,
but I do think that's just going to come back
to form. It. It just can't stay this way forever.
Certainly Jabbar is not well knock on wood, you know,
miss that many in a row again or anything like that.
Hopefully this shot starts to drop for all of these
(28:43):
guys because a lot of them are missing shots. You're
gonna get Tarri back. He should be close. I don't
know if you'll be back for the OKAC game. But
he's close and DFS. I'm not sure the exact situation
he was out today. Defensively is where I has to
have this team in a position that of trust for defense.
The offense will come. You know, he'll run Shannghu and
(29:04):
he'll run Katie and he's hoping those guys and you know,
being special or whatever on the offensive side can lead
them there. But the defense has to be there, and
it's just been hit or miss. Yeah, it had gotten
a little bit better, but I don't know what it
ended up being today, but.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
It's just and I do think some of the issues
in recent games have been made worse by the terrible
shot making. I think defensively, especially late in the Sacramento
game and early tonight, there were guys that were trying
to do way too much because they felt there was
zero margin for error. When you're not making shots on
the other end, when you're four of twenty from three
(29:39):
and forty two minutes, it's easy to think that you've
got to shut down anything from the other team, and
in reality, you can't close out on everything. There were
so many possessions early in this game, particularly the first
half when I thought the Rockets were playing way too
aggressive and they ended up getting blown by or put
in a compromise position because someone had to help, and
(30:00):
before you know what, the entire defense collapses. And I
think a lot of that comes down to a lack
of trust. You're not making shots, and with the guys injured,
you're having to play the likes of Joshua Kogie and
Jad Davison more. That hurts your floors facing you're not
able to put up threes at volume, and so I
think the defense fell apart well number one, when the
body language isn't great and when you're struggling with confidence,
(30:20):
a lot of defense comes down to effort. And there
were definitely some slumped shoulders early in this game and
the last two in Portland and Sacramento. But also I
just think it's only natural when things aren't going your way,
you start to see especial younger players trying to do
too much. And you know there's some guys in the bulls.
If if Usevich wants to take a contested eighteen footer,
let him. You don't have to close out or switch
(30:44):
hard on everything to where you put Trey Jones in
a spot where he can just blow by your big
man for an easy bucket, like you don't have to
defend as aggressively as the Rockets did tonight. And I
think a lot of that was just due to desperation
in what's been going on the last few games. But
to close out a positive note, Dave, I've pulled up
(31:04):
the standings, so there's been a lot made of Oh,
the Rockets fell behind the Sun's spoiler, they're not anymore.
They're in the seventh spot, which would be play and range.
The Western Conference is really tight, even with the recent losses.
So Rocket's now twenty three and fourteen. They are now
in the five spot. They're tied with the Lakers, or
they have the tie breaker because of Christmas, and they yes, yes,
(31:28):
And so the Rockets are tied with the Lakers as
of our recording, and they are a couple of games
back of the Timberwolves, but they have the same amount
of losses and the two seed the San Antonios first,
I guess the first and Nuggets are tied for the
two seed has thirteen losses, So the Rockets are one
game back in the lost column. And when you win
more games than you lose, it's the lost column that's
(31:49):
more meaningful. And the Rockets are one game back in
the lost column of the two seed, so they have underwhelmed,
and going into tonight they were in the seven seed.
I get it's it's not pretty. They are nowhere near
where they should be, and internally they fall in short
of expectations. But they're also not that far off either,
and I think that's important to keep in mind. Unfortunately,
(32:10):
you have the number one seed, the thirty four and
seven Oklamba City Thunder coming in on Thursday, so we'll
see what happens. And on paper, even as bad as
it's been, they're still.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Like and that is a great and half uh you know,
glass half full look, and I agree with it because
I think that they're they're close. The only concern I'll
add to that before we close is what's coming up. Okay,
see Minnesota, you got New Orleans. It's a revenge game,
and then I believe you've got San Antonio. Then you
go to the road Philly and Detroit. You're gonna come
back here for Memphis and San Antonio. So it's you know,
(32:42):
they kind of they blew some opportunities against some really
weak teams and now they've got some games that they
need to play. You know, they're basically tough for opponents,
so let's see how they do. I'm hoping that they
can get things going and a win against okay See
on Thursday would be a great start. Absolutely appreciate you, Ben,
Thank you. Appreciate everybody tuning in and watching the show
with us and all the support. Please feel free to
(33:03):
leave comments on YouTube if you have questions or anything
you want to talk about as far as this game,
Big Game, Rockets Thunder coming up Thursday, we will see
you guys then. Thanks everybody,
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