November 15, 2025 • 30 mins
In Friday night’s episode, Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty (ClutchFans) go live with full postgame reaction after Houston’s 140-116 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Kevin Durant (30 points, +37) and Alperen Sengun (25 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, four made 3-pointers) were among the clear standouts.
The Rockets (8-3) have now won eight of their last nine games, overall.
This episode can be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKd1RulbrM0
The Rockets (8-3) have now won eight of their last nine games, overall.
This episode can be viewed in video form here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKd1RulbrM0
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome into the postgame recap, guys. I'm here with Ben,
I'm Dave, and Rockets improved to eight and three with
their first NBA Cup win this season against the Portland
Blazers Trailblazers tonight they win one forty to one. Sixteen
and much improved Blazers team. By the way, a couple
of players on that team, Shaden Sharp Danny Avia, came
(00:23):
in red hot over the last five games, averaging fifty
five plus points. After a little short stretch to start
the game, Rockets just blew them out of the water,
making a substitution where their offense just took off the
rest of the game forty four forty three minutes. I'm
here with Ben Dubos, who was at the game as well. Ben.
What was your reaction as Rockets move on to eight
(00:45):
and three on the season.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, NBA Cup fever is back on because with the
twenty four point margin, they're now at plus thirteen through
two games, which gives them a fighting chance. You know,
the Nuggets, because they had that big win against a
Warriors team that was missing a lot of guys, they
had sort of an artificial advantage when it comes to
a potential tiebreaker. But now all of a sudden, you
(01:08):
know the Rockets are one in one themselves and they
have Denver coming in next week, So all of a sudden,
the NBA Cup is back on the table. You lost
by double digits in San Antonio, but you offset that
in a big way by winning by twenty four against
a Portland team that beat Denver in his first Cup
game a couple of weeks ago. So, as you said,
this was a Blazers team that went in with a
winning record, and the Rockets they're eight and three now
(01:31):
and they've won eight off their last nine. This is
what good teams do. Really, this is what great teams do,
go out at home and take care of business to
where there's nothing to sweat down the stretch of the game.
And my biggest takeaway, I mean, Kevin Durant at thirty
seven years old, is still Kevin Durant, and more than
just this one game. This reflects why Kevin Durant and
(01:52):
the Houston Rockets were such a good pairing because he's
still putting up, by and large, the same numbers that
he always had from a scoring perspective and efficiency perspective.
Tonight he was twelve of nineteen, and the Rockets were
plus thirty seven in his minute. Yet through eleven games,
he still has not shot twenty times in a single
(02:13):
game for the Rockets, and his usage rate. His usage
rate is the lowest right now of his entire career.
So he's still putting up the numbers. But because the
Rockets have the right supporting cast around him, it's not
like they need him to go out and do everything.
He's not having to be Superman now. The production often
is at Superman levels because he's able to really hone
(02:36):
in and do what he does best. From an efficiency perspective,
I know we had a couple of outlier games last week,
but by and large, you know, he's still a fifty
to forty type guy. And to see him go out defensively,
he's way better than I expected. It's not like he's
just going out and putting up numbers on offense. No.
I mean he's holding his own and the defensive end
to the court. I think that's what the plus minus reflects,
(02:56):
especially tonight. But I just think when you see Kevin
and the Rockets put it all together like this, this
is why, and it's not just for this season. Honestly,
it's for the rest of Kevin's career. This is why
Kevin Durant wanted to come to Houston, and this is
why Houston, in my opinion, is such a good fit
for him in what should be the final arc of
his career in the late thirties and maybe even getting
(03:18):
into the forties. Like, this is the blueprint for how
Kevin Durant can last a long time. He's getting good
shots throughing the flow of the offense, and he's not
having to overextend himself. And there's a lot of other
guys that had big games. We'll get to them, but
I think on a night when Katie scores a game
high thirty and he's plus thirty seven, we have to
start with him.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, Katie was terrific in the last game.
He had sixteen in the first quarter. Last game. He
had sixteen in the first quarter tonight, five of eight
in the previous game in that quarter, six of eight tonight.
He has set the tone for this offense, which is
going to continue to lead the league after tonight as well,
dropping one hundred and forty on the Blazers. He just
(03:58):
looks terrific. Yeah, Like you said thirty seven years old,
but he doesn't look like he's you know, missed a beat,
and I just yeah, I mean, this is really setting
the tone. Obviously, shanng Goon was very efficient tonight. Jabari
had a very good scoring game as well. But it's
amazing to me because you know, the Blazers came in
there the fourteenth ranked team this year. Defensively, they're an
(04:21):
improved team. They're better than I think, you know, some
people thought they would be this year. Not an elite defense,
but improved certainly that we were talking about their ball pressure,
that it was going to be a little bit more
of a challenge. I mean, rockets offense, they can just
beat you in so many different ways. At this point,
there really isn't much of a weakness out there on
the floor as far as finding the open guy. So
(04:41):
if you double Katie, you double Shangon, they're gonna find somebody.
Tonight Jabari was hitting shots. Wasn't Tari's night. We're gonna
talk about Tari. He unfortunately suffered an injury in this game.
But you know, just offensively, this team is great and
we didn't even see much of an an Amen Thompson
performance to the point of saying how this team can
(05:02):
win in a variety of ways. They didn't dominate the
glass tonight, they won by one, and they had a
better offensive rebounding showing tonight. They only won the board
battle by one. They killed in turnover battle, which is surprising,
which is where Portland actually thrives. They only had six
turnovers tonight. The Rockets offense, so I mean, I just
(05:22):
tipped my hat to email what he's built because the offense.
Maybe this team is shifting in an identity. Certainly we've
talked about that, but the offense is thriving.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it looks like they made some tactical adjustments. You
mentioned the turnovers only six for the game. Even though
a men didn't finish that well, I thought it was
one of the men's better games overall, at least offensively,
because he didn't turn the ball over. I thought he
had some really nice blowbys where he got the balls
to the spots they needed to get to. The shots
didn't always go in, so the assists total wasn't what
(05:52):
you would like to see, but I thought by and
large it was perhaps the game where he was most
in control this year of the offense. And I just
think overall, you know, keeping the turnovers down, but also
look at the three point discrepancy forty five for the
Rockets to thirty six for the Blazers and the accuracy
largely held. They were just under forty percent in three
point accuracy, so even at higher volume, which we had
(06:15):
talked going into this week about the Rockets being at
a math disadvantage by making threes but not always putting
enough up. Well, now on this homestand against weaker opponents,
although as you said, the Blazers aren't bad, they're more mediocre. Well,
the Rockets are getting the volume up and the accuracy
is still by and large holding, so that's a really
good sign. I think it's something that was a point
(06:36):
of emphasis this week with the Rockets being at home
and able to practice more so kudos to Emi Udoka
for that. And then to close the loop on Kevin,
I thought one thing that was really noteworthy. You know,
in the second half, it felt like they made a
lot of plays in the half court. Reid got going
after a slow start, which was great to see, but
in the first half they actually got going in transition,
and for a thirty seven year old Kevin durant to
(06:58):
get out and run in transition, And like, I was
not expecting Kevin at this age to compete as hard
as he is night in, night out. Like a lot
of guys by the time they get to almost year twenty,
they take plays off, or maybe they don't compete as
hard defensively. He still competes defensively. He gets up and
down the floor. A lot of the easy buckets he
(07:20):
got were because he was willing to get out and run.
And these are these aren't things you see from a
guy of his age that's done what he has done
in the NBA. It's very rare, and I think it
speaks to his professionalism. Obviously he's in phenomenal shape. It
speaks to the quality of his teammates because obviously guys
like Shangoon and the Men can create and get him
the ball. Reid's also had some really nice kick aheads
(07:43):
in this hot stretch of him. Reads now scored in
double figures in five consecutive games. So Kevin, he just
does it in so many different ways, and it's why
he's one of the best scorers in NBA history. But boy,
I mean, this is a night to give him his Flowers,
in my opinion, to go out and really allow you
to play on the front foot. I know the Blazers
(08:04):
came back and made it a game for a little
bit in the second quarter, but when Kevin goes out
and puts up sixteen plus in the first quarter, the
way he's done in each of the last two games,
it puts you in a really good spot at home,
and it allows it allows things to flow so much
more organically when you're not having to chase the game
and you're not having to, you know, worry that this
(08:25):
is one that's going to get away from you. Like
both of these games on this homestand were just very professional,
workmanlike wins. And I think it starts with you, your
thirty seven year old former MVP and two time champion.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah. Absolutely, you know, Ben, it's a great catch. Just
going to be totally transparent. I didn't even think about
the volume of threes tonight because Rockets are you know,
they're the best three point shooting team in the league
and also the worst as far as volume of threes
per game. They take the fewest in the league. I
don't know if I would call it worst, but you
know what, I'm saying they take the fewest and for
them to just kind of shatter that tonight, I probably
(08:59):
ate team attempts their actual average is a great sign.
And as you said, the three point shooting held. I
want to talk about Shangun's three point shooting. I accidentally
started the clips, but I caught him in time, but
do have some from Shangun. Tonight. Shangun was terrific shooting threes.
I mean comfortable, And this is what we've been talking
(09:22):
about before because Shangun had the five of eight gaming ess. Okay, see,
then he went through a funk shooting threes and we
were saying, well, he's got to prove that he's got
this shot. But the biggest most positive sign about Shangun
is he's very comfortable shooting him now and where he
wasn't before. So I really wasn't as worried about whether
they're going to drop, and tonight you could see how
comfortable he was. I'll play these clips here, but he
(09:45):
just looked like he was I've been a three point
shooter his whole life. I mean he walked into a
couple of them, and in fairness, Klingon wasn't going out
there on him, and I think that's why he felt
so comfortable shooting them, especially this one here, this last one,
he just triples it up, you know, sees cling and
kind of fighting under the screen from KD and nobody
(10:06):
comes out on him and he just drains it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And that's from twenty seven feet. Yeah, and all three
of those shots that you just showed are from different
spots on the floor. The first from the left corner
in a half court set. Then you had two that
were a little earlier in the shot clock from the wings,
like this isn't just you know, he's found a spot
like PJ. Chucker back in the day. No, these are
(10:28):
legit shots, and he has to take them from twenty
five twenty six feet because that's the space. Then he's
capable of doing that. And his last two games he's
combined for six makes. So you know, we had urged
caution as recently as a week or so ago that
so much of his three point shooting average in the
overall volume was being propped up by that opener and
OKC where he had five, that's no longer the case.
(10:49):
He's had six the last two games, so that's not
meant to you know, overlook the other parts of his game.
You put up, you know, twenty five points, ten rebounds,
nine assists. I believe it was almost a triple double.
Obviously you're doing a ton of things well. But the
reason we focused on the threes, like that's the final
piece of the puzzle. The defense has come around, he's
getting to the free throw line more, the efficiency's ticking
(11:11):
back up. If he can shoot threes at decent volume,
that's a superstar. That's the final piece to the puzzle.
If he can make threes, and a lot of it
just comes down to making enough to make defenders respect
that space on the floor. Ast I'm sure you remember
last year, defenders were more than willing to sack off
(11:32):
and just by the end of the year, they weren't
even treating him as a threat beyond twenty feet or so.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So I was gonna say it completely changes the offense, right, No, exactly.
I mean last year I didn't feel I'm gonna be
totally honest, very comfortable with Shangun shooting beyond eight feet.
I think even he himself, the way he played, he
was constantly trying to get to the basket. So I mean,
I give him a ton of credit. He has definitely
made a leap forward in this regard, and I agree
(11:58):
this is something that me changes my like outlook how
I would view Shangun that in defense, he certainly made
some improvements defensively, you know the last few years. So
the three point shooting, I'm continuing to look for good
things from him on that. Jabari was really good tonight
as well, hit four of nine from three, nine of sixteen. Overall.
(12:19):
There was a really cool, well, I don't know about cool,
but there was a play where Jabari was following his
man down low. Somebody cut free, so it was two
on one going at Jabari and it was Shade and
Sharp who got the ball and just crammed it on
Jabari and you're like, ooh, you know, and Shade Sharp
let him hear it. And on the very next play,
going down the other way, Jabari gets the ball in
the corner drains of three over Sharp and then in
(12:40):
typical Jabari fashion, you know, looks at Sharp and kind
of goes back at.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Him and the Portland bench too because they were letting
him hear about it, and he hit that three right
in front of the Portland bench.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yes, I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was a
sweet moment, especially the whole three is greater than two.
So really it was Katie, Jabbari and Shangun tonight that
kind of I don't want to say carry the offense,
but the bulk of the offensive fish in offense, ye.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Certain, And I thought there were a lot of little
signs that I like tonight. You know, Jabari immediately getting
his revenge on Shaden Sharp and the Blazer's bench and
you know, having some fun like that's the way you
want to see a competitor respond, like he immediately got back,
and you know the fourth quarter, the way Katie and
(13:26):
all for in Shangoon are leading Reed Shepherd is amazing
to watch, Like they are you know, empowering him. They
are helping him become more confident. And it felt like
at one point that that Reid was maybe.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Here's that player talking about sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, it felt early in the game he was two
of eight. I don't want to say he was regressing,
but that maybe the heater was over. The next thing,
you know, he's you know, he's back in double digits
for the fifth straight game, and he's making plays defensively again,
and you know watch you know, Katie and Shangoon. Aaron
Holliday a trusted bed as well. He's in there for Tari.
By the way, it was unfortunate when Tari went out,
(14:02):
but I like that, you know, Steven immediately went and
you know, helped him to the locker room. There was
a bit made on social media about this sort of
testy exchange between Tari and Steven on the bench against
the Wizards, like.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Which did look a little lot but yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, and then who was the guy that was helping
him to the locker room tonight when you know, Tari
took that that collision from Drue Holliday to his hip
and hopefully it's just a bruise and he's fine in
a few days. He may didn't say much postgame, yep, yep,
But I think all of those are signs of a
team that's you know, that's about the right things. Like
it's not just leaning on Kevin Durant in all for
(14:37):
in Shangoon and saying, you know, go out and rescue us,
you know, all stars and maybe MVP candidates in the
case of Kevin Durant. I know that's a little bit
of stretch right now, but he has been for a
lot of his career, and he certainly looked like an
MVP candidate tonight. But it's not just that that's the
point these role players. It's not you know, one of
the reasons why I think a lot of people were
(14:58):
too low on Kevin Durant entering the year. They would say, well, yeah,
he's got all par inntionon Goon now, but he had
Devin Booker, who's a really good player in Phoenix. No,
it's not just about all per Echion Goon. It's also
about all the way down through the eight nine spots
in the rotation. This is such a better team than
what they had in Phoenix. And so when you see
obviously it helps when the ball goes in the bucket
(15:20):
like that's that always makes things look better. But just
the intangibles. To see Jabbari, you know, immediately bounce back
the way he did, To see Reid figure it out
on the fly, and his teammates empower him and you know,
continue to help him develop. To see Steven immediately come
to the aid of Tari after their little exchange during
the Washington game. All of these are signs to me
(15:42):
of a team that has the right chemistry that the collective.
It's you know, this is a very well coached team,
and the culture is really strong. I think all of
those that's the way to put a bow on it.
The culture seems really strong to me, and all of
those were examples of it, even the unfortunate news of
the Tari injury.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, and you know, we we do give Steven Adams
his flowers. I think, you know, quite a bit, but
I don't know if we give it even then enough.
He came into this game and I want to say,
like everybody who started had a really good game Shangoon Jabari,
but there was not a good start from those guys.
Portland jumped on him. I think they jumped out seventeen
to ten, and you were kind of like, oh boy,
(16:18):
they better, you know, put their big boy pants on
for this game. Portland's here to play. They took Shangoun out,
put in Adams, and Adams just sparked that. They just
took off. Of course, Katie was powering the offense, but
Adams tonight eleven rebounds, five offensive in just over seventeen minutes.
And what was this plus twenty two in that time span.
(16:40):
I mean, the guy is something magical as far as
the way he impacts the game, and he just got
people cannot keep him off the glass, Like I don't
remember Steven Adams being this insane the first five six
years of his career. Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention,
or the league has changed so much that his rebounding
now sticks out. But he is just something else as
(17:03):
far as an elite rebounder. He's just done. He's out
of control, and what he's doing for the Rockets is incredible.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And I loved how in the post game he may
went out of his way to say they didn't play
him enough in the first half because me and you
during the game, I texted wondering if Steven was hurt
because he played five minutes in the first quarter and
he was incredibly impactful. That's when the game turned from
you know, the Blazers had a lead in the first
six minutes of the game, and it immediately flipped where
the Blazers at one point were up by as many
(17:31):
as nine and the Rockets were up by ten before
the first quarter was over. And a lot of that
run was with Steven in the game. And then he
didn't we didn't see him in the second quarter. Other
than when he came on the floor to help Tari
off the floor, he didn't play and I thought it
was so weird, and I think it's just one of
those when things started to sort of eat away the lead.
That is, it was a little late in the second quarter,
(17:52):
and I don't think he may wanted to go to
the double big. But after the game he said, yeah,
five minutes was too low, and he played him more
in the second half and the results speak for themselves.
He just makes life so much easier for all of
his teammates. I mean, this team is it's limited defensively
at least without dority Anthony Smith, but I think his
(18:14):
willingness to do the dirty work is really important. Like
we talk a lot about Steven offensively with obviously how
he crashes the glass on that end and the screen setting,
but also defensively for a team that isn't as good
as a year ago at denying trible penetration, when Steven's
at the game, his ability to protect the paint and
(18:38):
serve as a deterrent to drivers, I think that's really
really important because we know some of these teams that
have a lot of athletes, and especially if the Rockets
have to survive some time without Tari. We don't know
that yet, but I'm just you know, speculating. It wouldn't
shock me if you know the way he limped off,
if he needs a little bit of time, Stevens' presence
near the rim to make sure that the other team
isn't getting that many offensive boards and does have a
(19:00):
clear driving lane to get right to the rim, Like
there were several possessions tonight where you know, the Blazers
would beat someone off the dribble and then backed it,
you know, turned around and backed out because they saw
Stephen in there. And I think that's so important for
this particular Rockets team where the defense, you know, it's
not bad, but it's not as elite as it was
a year ago. And so I think the presence of
Steven Adams the size is especially important given that.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, three second round picks, man, that's what. And one
of them wasn't even really a second round pick. It's
like a fifty eighth or fifty ninth pick that was.
It was so basically two legit second round picks.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And I don't know how that culture in Memphis has
gone downhill since love exactly. We'll talk about losing Dylan,
but losing Stephen was a big blow too.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Absolutely agree. Memphis just shot themselves on the foot with
that trade, got almost nothing for him. Granted he was injured.
Rockets had to be patient, you know, as far as
seeing the value of Steven Adams. But look where they
are now and what a steal by Raphel Stelle. That
was a hell of a move. Let me uh, let's
talk real quick about Tarri Tori. It has been amazing
(20:05):
shooting lights out lately. He was kind of a chaotic
mess in this game. He only played for looking at it,
ten to eleven minutes, but there was some plays you're
just left scratching your head, like what is going on?
Tari missed a few shots but just just I don't know,
weird stuff. But he gets hurt on that play we
played earlier. That has a hip contusion. I haven't looked
(20:28):
at this enough to know what we're looking at as
far as him being out. Rockets do have a few
tougher games coming up. You got Orlando probably without Palo Banco.
On Sunday, you have Cleveland and there You're gonna have
Denver next week in NBA Cup action, What do you
are you concerned?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I think it's too early to know. It's it's one
of those you have to see how how he reports
the next day, Like so much of it is going
to come down to the swallowing how quickly does it subside.
I'd be surprised if you play Sunday no matter what,
because it's a game, we're at home. You should be
favored regardless. And as you mentioned, the schedule coming up
(21:05):
is pretty difficult Cleveland, Denver, You've got Golden State right
before Thanksgiving, which could be for survival in the NBA Cup.
So it's not necessarily a big deal. Like there's a
ton of variance with with hip injuries. Yeah, you see
on the screen right there. I mean, look what happened
to Bradley deal. Yeah, it totally depends on severity. You know,
(21:26):
he was able to put weight on it. He got
some assistance from Steven, but it wasn't like he had
to literally get carried off. So yeah, you know, early indications,
you know, from what little I've seen, would suggest that
it's probably manageable. I saw Tari's mom tweeting during the game,
which you would like to think that that maybe she's
(21:47):
exchanged a text or two with Tari backstage at Toyota Centers.
So you know, it's too early to really know, but
I'm hopeful that maybe it's just a few days, but
it's it's gonna be pretty impossible to know until her
reports back Saturday and you see what the bruising and
the swelling looks like, and if they need to do
any you know, further imaging.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, absolutely, And I thought some prayers out there for Tari.
Obviously we want him back and healthy, and he's been
having a terrific season and this is a very big
year for him with the contract go ahead.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah. Yeah. And there's a couple of comments in the
chat about who will fill in if Tari can't touch
the floor. Aaron Holliday did tonight, and I thought that
was an interesting wrinkle, like there might be some teams
where it's difficult to play erin because obviously, if you
play both Aaron and Reid, which they did tonight, your
backcourt is really small. But if you if you can
(22:38):
get away with it, and it was working tonight, that
would be my preference rather than Jay Shin Tate because
I really think if this Rockets team can get the
three point volume discrepancy in check, and as mentioned earlier
tonight it was in their favor, and they can also
keep the turnovers in check. Just imagine what this offense
can do. They put up one hundred and forty tonight
(22:58):
for a reason, like, yeah, this was a team that
was rated first in the NBA in offense, even while
being near the bottom in turnovers and even while being
at the bottom in three point volume discrepancy. So just
imagine what they can do if they clean those two
things up. So for those reasons, limiting turnovers, Aaron's another
(23:20):
ball handler and being able to put up and make threes,
my preference would be Holiday over Tate. It just depends.
There might be some matchups where it's just a little
bit too small because obviously Ree's development is always going
to come first like that, especially well it's not just
his development. I mean, look how he's progressing over the
last week. So you're not going to pull read for Aaron.
(23:41):
That ship has long sale. But if you can get
away with Holiday rather than Tate, that would be my
preference because I think the bottom line, if you keep
the turnovers and the three point volume discrepancy in check
and you certainly did that tonight, in fact, you won
both of those. Then boyd, this team is going to
be impossible to stop offensively. And yeah, as Astra Rocket
(24:02):
pointed out on this, you've got on the screen now,
it's also more minutes for a kogi. Even though Josh
was starting, there were a lot of games where you know,
he'd start and play the first six or seven minutes
of each half, but didn't play too much more, you know,
maybe one more stint for four or five minutes after that,
you can easily, you know, expand that role to something
closer to thirty minutes per game. And I thought he
looked really good tonight as well, So that's another option.
(24:23):
Even if he's technically, you know, already ahead of Tari
in the sense that he's starting Atario was coming off
the bench, you can play Josh a few more minutes
and that'll help, you know, if it's a matchup where
Aaron's too small, then yeah, Josh is something that in
terms of the athletic physical wing type, is a little
bit closer to who Tari is as a player.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You know, I don't know if I gave enough credit
to Kogi. Kogi played excellent defense, and I of course
it was a team effort, but Danny Avdya it really
didn't take off till the second half, and so I
probably need to go back and watch that first half
to kind of figure out what happened there. But I'm
sure Hoki was doing a good number on him as
well as others. But I mean, Avdia last five games,
(25:05):
averaging over thirty points a game. I don't know if
Washington would have telled him if they saw this coming,
But yeah, I mean, he's been terrific for Portland. I
know we've touched on him a little bit, but it's
now mandatory every video we do, we have to do
at least a couple of minutes strictly on Reed Shepherd.
But Reed just looks at you know, like you said,
(25:25):
he has kind of slipped as far as I mean,
it's not slipped tonight. Wasn't having that shot, the hot
shooting that he's had the last few games. But he
just looks comfortable. He's making plays, he looks more aggressive
on the defensive end. He just he almost just looks
like he's found his niche. Now, I don't know if
that's gonna you know, against a top ten defense or
(25:48):
against you know, teams that were that are going to
attack him. How that'll you know, hold up? But he
just looks much more comfortable like this, the game has
slowed down for him, reading the matrix sort of thing,
and that's what I'm seeing out of read Shepherd. He
just I'm not as concerned as I was before when
(26:08):
he comes into the game like, okay, we might take
a significant step back.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Right, Well, you look back to his rookie season, and
so much of it just depended on whether the first
shot or two went in, and if it didn't, you
would see him get more timid. He wouldn't want to
risk sinking his team, and defensively, you know, he's a
guy who needs to take some risk otherwise his profile's
going to be difficult. Well, I think what we're seeing
(26:33):
now is that regardless of how a game starts for him,
he keeps pushing on both ends of the floor, and
as long as he plays sufficient minutes and clearly e
May is rewarding him and the Rockets are benefiting as
a team, then eventually the sample maybe not every game,
but in most games, it's going to be large enough
for it to normalize and the home run plays are
(26:54):
going to be worth it. We didn't see a ton
of them on offense tonight, although he did a couple
of big threes. Defensively, Yeah, he had some huge plays
in the fourth quarter. Even though you would think that
lineup with Reed and Aaron would get picked on, that's
not what happened at all. In fact, that's when the
Rockets put the game away. So yeah, for me, Reid
(27:14):
talked about confidence being the main thing after the Washington game,
which was his sort of breakout his season high end points,
I believe, and that's what sticks out to me the most.
It just comes down to him looking like a much
more confident player on both ends of the floor and
trusting that, Hey, if I stick with my process, and
like he knows what his formula needs to be for
(27:36):
his model to work at the NBA level, it's just
about he needs to trust it. Even if the first
few minutes don't go that well, even if you start
two of eight the way he did tonight, Okay, just
stick with it. You're a good enough player. You belong
that in time, it's gonna even out. He trusts it
a lot more now than he did as a rookie.
To me, that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I mean, along with the Rockets hunt offense, the
difference in and over tonight twenty to six, and the
points off turnovers being significant. Reid was a part of that.
Four steals a Kogie had four steals. I believe Shangoon
had three steals. That was the difference in the game.
Usually it's rebounding where the Rockets dominates you. Tonight it
was surprisingly right the no point guard Rockets six turnovers
(28:19):
to you know, their twenty I will say Drew Holliday
looked pretty darn good early on. He didn't finish with
an incredible line or anything, but we were joking you
and I about an audition for the Rockets if this
didn't quite work out, you know, with Portland down the line.
I mean, his contract's not exactly super pretty, but yeah,
dreu is a guy who I think would be on
(28:41):
the on the short list of targets despite the the
kind of contract.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
He's a culture guy.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely. And we have his brother right so
and Dorian Finney Smith. Someone was asking in the chat
about if there's an update. I don't have an update.
It's still very open ended. They're kind of hush hush
on this. I don't know if you've heard anything.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Then, but nothing new. I mean, he is a practices,
he is doing drills off on the sides, he's doing
some basketball activities, but he's not clear for contact. So
it's not like he's in hiding. I mean that to
me is a little bit of silver lining. It's not
like they're trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. No,
he's he's right there. He's doing things, he's on the treadmill,
(29:23):
he's running off on the side, he's around the team.
It's not like something serious has happened and they're just
trying to keep you from noticing. No, it's just he
needs more time to strengthen that ankle. Apparently it's been
an issue the last couple of years for him, and
he played through it, and this year they want to
get it, you know, completely right. So it doesn't sound
like it's going to be you know, super long. I
(29:44):
don't see any indications that it's something that you know,
should be super troubling. But at the same time, there's
nothing I've seen that indicates it's going to be you know,
emminent either in terms of his return.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And he may did say after the game he had
no update on Tari either. So hopefully we'll get some
good news tomorrow I would think, at least as far
as some sort of update of what they're doing with
tar Ethan. That is Bendibo's go follow him on Twitter
at Bendibo's Also on the Rockets Wire, you can follow
him on Clutch Fans. He writes for Clutch Fans as well. Ben, awesome,
appreciate you doing this. Everybody, appreciate all the support. Please
(30:17):
subscribe if you haven't already, and we will see you
guys on Sunday after the Rockets take on the Orlando Magic.
Thanks everybody,
Welcome into the postgame recap, guys. I'm here with Ben,
I'm Dave, and Rockets improved to eight and three with
their first NBA Cup win this season against the Portland
Blazers Trailblazers tonight they win one forty to one. Sixteen
and much improved Blazers team. By the way, a couple
of players on that team, Shaden Sharp Danny Avia, came
(00:23):
in red hot over the last five games, averaging fifty
five plus points. After a little short stretch to start
the game, Rockets just blew them out of the water,
making a substitution where their offense just took off the
rest of the game forty four forty three minutes. I'm
here with Ben Dubos, who was at the game as well. Ben.
What was your reaction as Rockets move on to eight
(00:45):
and three on the season.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, NBA Cup fever is back on because with the
twenty four point margin, they're now at plus thirteen through
two games, which gives them a fighting chance. You know,
the Nuggets, because they had that big win against a
Warriors team that was missing a lot of guys, they
had sort of an artificial advantage when it comes to
a potential tiebreaker. But now all of a sudden, you
(01:08):
know the Rockets are one in one themselves and they
have Denver coming in next week, So all of a sudden,
the NBA Cup is back on the table. You lost
by double digits in San Antonio, but you offset that
in a big way by winning by twenty four against
a Portland team that beat Denver in his first Cup
game a couple of weeks ago. So, as you said,
this was a Blazers team that went in with a
winning record, and the Rockets they're eight and three now
(01:31):
and they've won eight off their last nine. This is
what good teams do. Really, this is what great teams do,
go out at home and take care of business to
where there's nothing to sweat down the stretch of the game.
And my biggest takeaway, I mean, Kevin Durant at thirty
seven years old, is still Kevin Durant, and more than
just this one game. This reflects why Kevin Durant and
(01:52):
the Houston Rockets were such a good pairing because he's
still putting up, by and large, the same numbers that
he always had from a scoring perspective and efficiency perspective.
Tonight he was twelve of nineteen, and the Rockets were
plus thirty seven in his minute. Yet through eleven games,
he still has not shot twenty times in a single
(02:13):
game for the Rockets, and his usage rate. His usage
rate is the lowest right now of his entire career.
So he's still putting up the numbers. But because the
Rockets have the right supporting cast around him, it's not
like they need him to go out and do everything.
He's not having to be Superman now. The production often
is at Superman levels because he's able to really hone
(02:36):
in and do what he does best. From an efficiency perspective,
I know we had a couple of outlier games last week,
but by and large, you know, he's still a fifty
to forty type guy. And to see him go out defensively,
he's way better than I expected. It's not like he's
just going out and putting up numbers on offense. No.
I mean he's holding his own and the defensive end
to the court. I think that's what the plus minus reflects,
(02:56):
especially tonight. But I just think when you see Kevin
and the Rockets put it all together like this, this
is why, and it's not just for this season. Honestly,
it's for the rest of Kevin's career. This is why
Kevin Durant wanted to come to Houston, and this is
why Houston, in my opinion, is such a good fit
for him in what should be the final arc of
his career in the late thirties and maybe even getting
(03:18):
into the forties. Like, this is the blueprint for how
Kevin Durant can last a long time. He's getting good
shots throughing the flow of the offense, and he's not
having to overextend himself. And there's a lot of other
guys that had big games. We'll get to them, but
I think on a night when Katie scores a game
high thirty and he's plus thirty seven, we have to
start with him.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, Katie was terrific in the last game.
He had sixteen in the first quarter. Last game. He
had sixteen in the first quarter tonight, five of eight
in the previous game in that quarter, six of eight tonight.
He has set the tone for this offense, which is
going to continue to lead the league after tonight as well,
dropping one hundred and forty on the Blazers. He just
(03:58):
looks terrific. Yeah, Like you said thirty seven years old,
but he doesn't look like he's you know, missed a beat,
and I just yeah, I mean, this is really setting
the tone. Obviously, shanng Goon was very efficient tonight. Jabari
had a very good scoring game as well. But it's
amazing to me because you know, the Blazers came in
there the fourteenth ranked team this year. Defensively, they're an
(04:21):
improved team. They're better than I think, you know, some
people thought they would be this year. Not an elite defense,
but improved certainly that we were talking about their ball pressure,
that it was going to be a little bit more
of a challenge. I mean, rockets offense, they can just
beat you in so many different ways. At this point,
there really isn't much of a weakness out there on
the floor as far as finding the open guy. So
(04:41):
if you double Katie, you double Shangon, they're gonna find somebody.
Tonight Jabari was hitting shots. Wasn't Tari's night. We're gonna
talk about Tari. He unfortunately suffered an injury in this game.
But you know, just offensively, this team is great and
we didn't even see much of an an Amen Thompson
performance to the point of saying how this team can
(05:02):
win in a variety of ways. They didn't dominate the
glass tonight, they won by one, and they had a
better offensive rebounding showing tonight. They only won the board
battle by one. They killed in turnover battle, which is surprising,
which is where Portland actually thrives. They only had six
turnovers tonight. The Rockets offense, so I mean, I just
(05:22):
tipped my hat to email what he's built because the offense.
Maybe this team is shifting in an identity. Certainly we've
talked about that, but the offense is thriving.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it looks like they made some tactical adjustments. You
mentioned the turnovers only six for the game. Even though
a men didn't finish that well, I thought it was
one of the men's better games overall, at least offensively,
because he didn't turn the ball over. I thought he
had some really nice blowbys where he got the balls
to the spots they needed to get to. The shots
didn't always go in, so the assists total wasn't what
(05:52):
you would like to see, but I thought by and
large it was perhaps the game where he was most
in control this year of the offense. And I just
think overall, you know, keeping the turnovers down, but also
look at the three point discrepancy forty five for the
Rockets to thirty six for the Blazers and the accuracy
largely held. They were just under forty percent in three
point accuracy, so even at higher volume, which we had
(06:15):
talked going into this week about the Rockets being at
a math disadvantage by making threes but not always putting
enough up. Well, now on this homestand against weaker opponents,
although as you said, the Blazers aren't bad, they're more mediocre. Well,
the Rockets are getting the volume up and the accuracy
is still by and large holding, so that's a really
good sign. I think it's something that was a point
(06:36):
of emphasis this week with the Rockets being at home
and able to practice more so kudos to Emi Udoka
for that. And then to close the loop on Kevin,
I thought one thing that was really noteworthy. You know,
in the second half, it felt like they made a
lot of plays in the half court. Reid got going
after a slow start, which was great to see, but
in the first half they actually got going in transition,
and for a thirty seven year old Kevin durant to
(06:58):
get out and run in transition, And like, I was
not expecting Kevin at this age to compete as hard
as he is night in, night out. Like a lot
of guys by the time they get to almost year twenty,
they take plays off, or maybe they don't compete as
hard defensively. He still competes defensively. He gets up and
down the floor. A lot of the easy buckets he
(07:20):
got were because he was willing to get out and run.
And these are these aren't things you see from a
guy of his age that's done what he has done
in the NBA. It's very rare, and I think it
speaks to his professionalism. Obviously he's in phenomenal shape. It
speaks to the quality of his teammates because obviously guys
like Shangoon and the Men can create and get him
the ball. Reid's also had some really nice kick aheads
(07:43):
in this hot stretch of him. Reads now scored in
double figures in five consecutive games. So Kevin, he just
does it in so many different ways, and it's why
he's one of the best scorers in NBA history. But boy,
I mean, this is a night to give him his Flowers,
in my opinion, to go out and really allow you
to play on the front foot. I know the Blazers
(08:04):
came back and made it a game for a little
bit in the second quarter, but when Kevin goes out
and puts up sixteen plus in the first quarter, the
way he's done in each of the last two games,
it puts you in a really good spot at home,
and it allows it allows things to flow so much
more organically when you're not having to chase the game
and you're not having to, you know, worry that this
(08:25):
is one that's going to get away from you. Like
both of these games on this homestand were just very professional,
workmanlike wins. And I think it starts with you, your
thirty seven year old former MVP and two time champion.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah. Absolutely, you know, Ben, it's a great catch. Just
going to be totally transparent. I didn't even think about
the volume of threes tonight because Rockets are you know,
they're the best three point shooting team in the league
and also the worst as far as volume of threes
per game. They take the fewest in the league. I
don't know if I would call it worst, but you
know what, I'm saying they take the fewest and for
them to just kind of shatter that tonight, I probably
(08:59):
ate team attempts their actual average is a great sign.
And as you said, the three point shooting held. I
want to talk about Shangun's three point shooting. I accidentally
started the clips, but I caught him in time, but
do have some from Shangun. Tonight. Shangun was terrific shooting threes.
I mean comfortable, And this is what we've been talking
(09:22):
about before because Shangun had the five of eight gaming ess. Okay, see,
then he went through a funk shooting threes and we
were saying, well, he's got to prove that he's got
this shot. But the biggest most positive sign about Shangun
is he's very comfortable shooting him now and where he
wasn't before. So I really wasn't as worried about whether
they're going to drop, and tonight you could see how
comfortable he was. I'll play these clips here, but he
(09:45):
just looked like he was I've been a three point
shooter his whole life. I mean he walked into a
couple of them, and in fairness, Klingon wasn't going out
there on him, and I think that's why he felt
so comfortable shooting them, especially this one here, this last one,
he just triples it up, you know, sees cling and
kind of fighting under the screen from KD and nobody
(10:06):
comes out on him and he just drains it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
And that's from twenty seven feet. Yeah, and all three
of those shots that you just showed are from different
spots on the floor. The first from the left corner
in a half court set. Then you had two that
were a little earlier in the shot clock from the wings,
like this isn't just you know, he's found a spot
like PJ. Chucker back in the day. No, these are
(10:28):
legit shots, and he has to take them from twenty
five twenty six feet because that's the space. Then he's
capable of doing that. And his last two games he's
combined for six makes. So you know, we had urged
caution as recently as a week or so ago that
so much of his three point shooting average in the
overall volume was being propped up by that opener and
OKC where he had five, that's no longer the case.
(10:49):
He's had six the last two games, so that's not
meant to you know, overlook the other parts of his game.
You put up, you know, twenty five points, ten rebounds,
nine assists. I believe it was almost a triple double.
Obviously you're doing a ton of things well. But the
reason we focused on the threes, like that's the final
piece of the puzzle. The defense has come around, he's
getting to the free throw line more, the efficiency's ticking
(11:11):
back up. If he can shoot threes at decent volume,
that's a superstar. That's the final piece to the puzzle.
If he can make threes, and a lot of it
just comes down to making enough to make defenders respect
that space on the floor. Ast I'm sure you remember
last year, defenders were more than willing to sack off
(11:32):
and just by the end of the year, they weren't
even treating him as a threat beyond twenty feet or so.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So I was gonna say it completely changes the offense, right, No, exactly.
I mean last year I didn't feel I'm gonna be
totally honest, very comfortable with Shangun shooting beyond eight feet.
I think even he himself, the way he played, he
was constantly trying to get to the basket. So I mean,
I give him a ton of credit. He has definitely
made a leap forward in this regard, and I agree
(11:58):
this is something that me changes my like outlook how
I would view Shangun that in defense, he certainly made
some improvements defensively, you know the last few years. So
the three point shooting, I'm continuing to look for good
things from him on that. Jabari was really good tonight
as well, hit four of nine from three, nine of sixteen. Overall.
(12:19):
There was a really cool, well, I don't know about cool,
but there was a play where Jabari was following his
man down low. Somebody cut free, so it was two
on one going at Jabari and it was Shade and
Sharp who got the ball and just crammed it on
Jabari and you're like, ooh, you know, and Shade Sharp
let him hear it. And on the very next play,
going down the other way, Jabari gets the ball in
the corner drains of three over Sharp and then in
(12:40):
typical Jabari fashion, you know, looks at Sharp and kind
of goes back at.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Him and the Portland bench too because they were letting
him hear about it, and he hit that three right
in front of the Portland bench.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yes, I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was a
sweet moment, especially the whole three is greater than two.
So really it was Katie, Jabbari and Shangun tonight that
kind of I don't want to say carry the offense,
but the bulk of the offensive fish in offense, ye.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Certain, And I thought there were a lot of little
signs that I like tonight. You know, Jabari immediately getting
his revenge on Shaden Sharp and the Blazer's bench and
you know, having some fun like that's the way you
want to see a competitor respond, like he immediately got back,
and you know the fourth quarter, the way Katie and
(13:26):
all for in Shangoon are leading Reed Shepherd is amazing
to watch, Like they are you know, empowering him. They
are helping him become more confident. And it felt like
at one point that that Reid was maybe.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Here's that player talking about sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, it felt early in the game he was two
of eight. I don't want to say he was regressing,
but that maybe the heater was over. The next thing,
you know, he's you know, he's back in double digits
for the fifth straight game, and he's making plays defensively again,
and you know watch you know, Katie and Shangoon. Aaron
Holliday a trusted bed as well. He's in there for Tari.
By the way, it was unfortunate when Tari went out,
(14:02):
but I like that, you know, Steven immediately went and
you know, helped him to the locker room. There was
a bit made on social media about this sort of
testy exchange between Tari and Steven on the bench against
the Wizards, like.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Which did look a little lot but yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, and then who was the guy that was helping
him to the locker room tonight when you know, Tari
took that that collision from Drue Holliday to his hip
and hopefully it's just a bruise and he's fine in
a few days. He may didn't say much postgame, yep, yep,
But I think all of those are signs of a
team that's you know, that's about the right things. Like
it's not just leaning on Kevin Durant in all for
(14:37):
in Shangoon and saying, you know, go out and rescue us,
you know, all stars and maybe MVP candidates in the
case of Kevin Durant. I know that's a little bit
of stretch right now, but he has been for a
lot of his career, and he certainly looked like an
MVP candidate tonight. But it's not just that that's the
point these role players. It's not you know, one of
the reasons why I think a lot of people were
(14:58):
too low on Kevin Durant entering the year. They would say, well, yeah,
he's got all par inntionon Goon now, but he had
Devin Booker, who's a really good player in Phoenix. No,
it's not just about all per Echion Goon. It's also
about all the way down through the eight nine spots
in the rotation. This is such a better team than
what they had in Phoenix. And so when you see
obviously it helps when the ball goes in the bucket
(15:20):
like that's that always makes things look better. But just
the intangibles. To see Jabbari, you know, immediately bounce back
the way he did, To see Reid figure it out
on the fly, and his teammates empower him and you know,
continue to help him develop. To see Steven immediately come
to the aid of Tari after their little exchange during
the Washington game. All of these are signs to me
(15:42):
of a team that has the right chemistry that the collective.
It's you know, this is a very well coached team,
and the culture is really strong. I think all of
those that's the way to put a bow on it.
The culture seems really strong to me, and all of
those were examples of it, even the unfortunate news of
the Tari injury.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, and you know, we we do give Steven Adams
his flowers. I think, you know, quite a bit, but
I don't know if we give it even then enough.
He came into this game and I want to say,
like everybody who started had a really good game Shangoon Jabari,
but there was not a good start from those guys.
Portland jumped on him. I think they jumped out seventeen
to ten, and you were kind of like, oh boy,
(16:18):
they better, you know, put their big boy pants on
for this game. Portland's here to play. They took Shangoun out,
put in Adams, and Adams just sparked that. They just
took off. Of course, Katie was powering the offense, but
Adams tonight eleven rebounds, five offensive in just over seventeen minutes.
And what was this plus twenty two in that time span.
(16:40):
I mean, the guy is something magical as far as
the way he impacts the game, and he just got
people cannot keep him off the glass, Like I don't
remember Steven Adams being this insane the first five six
years of his career. Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention,
or the league has changed so much that his rebounding
now sticks out. But he is just something else as
(17:03):
far as an elite rebounder. He's just done. He's out
of control, and what he's doing for the Rockets is incredible.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And I loved how in the post game he may
went out of his way to say they didn't play
him enough in the first half because me and you
during the game, I texted wondering if Steven was hurt
because he played five minutes in the first quarter and
he was incredibly impactful. That's when the game turned from
you know, the Blazers had a lead in the first
six minutes of the game, and it immediately flipped where
the Blazers at one point were up by as many
(17:31):
as nine and the Rockets were up by ten before
the first quarter was over. And a lot of that
run was with Steven in the game. And then he
didn't we didn't see him in the second quarter. Other
than when he came on the floor to help Tari
off the floor, he didn't play and I thought it
was so weird, and I think it's just one of
those when things started to sort of eat away the lead.
That is, it was a little late in the second quarter,
(17:52):
and I don't think he may wanted to go to
the double big. But after the game he said, yeah,
five minutes was too low, and he played him more
in the second half and the results speak for themselves.
He just makes life so much easier for all of
his teammates. I mean, this team is it's limited defensively
at least without dority Anthony Smith, but I think his
(18:14):
willingness to do the dirty work is really important. Like
we talk a lot about Steven offensively with obviously how
he crashes the glass on that end and the screen setting,
but also defensively for a team that isn't as good
as a year ago at denying trible penetration, when Steven's
at the game, his ability to protect the paint and
(18:38):
serve as a deterrent to drivers, I think that's really
really important because we know some of these teams that
have a lot of athletes, and especially if the Rockets
have to survive some time without Tari. We don't know
that yet, but I'm just you know, speculating. It wouldn't
shock me if you know the way he limped off,
if he needs a little bit of time, Stevens' presence
near the rim to make sure that the other team
isn't getting that many offensive boards and does have a
(19:00):
clear driving lane to get right to the rim, Like
there were several possessions tonight where you know, the Blazers
would beat someone off the dribble and then backed it,
you know, turned around and backed out because they saw
Stephen in there. And I think that's so important for
this particular Rockets team where the defense, you know, it's
not bad, but it's not as elite as it was
a year ago. And so I think the presence of
Steven Adams the size is especially important given that.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Yeah, three second round picks, man, that's what. And one
of them wasn't even really a second round pick. It's
like a fifty eighth or fifty ninth pick that was.
It was so basically two legit second round picks.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
And I don't know how that culture in Memphis has
gone downhill since love exactly. We'll talk about losing Dylan,
but losing Stephen was a big blow too.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Absolutely agree. Memphis just shot themselves on the foot with
that trade, got almost nothing for him. Granted he was injured.
Rockets had to be patient, you know, as far as
seeing the value of Steven Adams. But look where they
are now and what a steal by Raphel Stelle. That
was a hell of a move. Let me uh, let's
talk real quick about Tarri Tori. It has been amazing
(20:05):
shooting lights out lately. He was kind of a chaotic
mess in this game. He only played for looking at it,
ten to eleven minutes, but there was some plays you're
just left scratching your head, like what is going on?
Tari missed a few shots but just just I don't know,
weird stuff. But he gets hurt on that play we
played earlier. That has a hip contusion. I haven't looked
(20:28):
at this enough to know what we're looking at as
far as him being out. Rockets do have a few
tougher games coming up. You got Orlando probably without Palo Banco.
On Sunday, you have Cleveland and there You're gonna have
Denver next week in NBA Cup action, What do you
are you concerned?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I think it's too early to know. It's it's one
of those you have to see how how he reports
the next day, Like so much of it is going
to come down to the swallowing how quickly does it subside.
I'd be surprised if you play Sunday no matter what,
because it's a game, we're at home. You should be
favored regardless. And as you mentioned, the schedule coming up
(21:05):
is pretty difficult Cleveland, Denver, You've got Golden State right
before Thanksgiving, which could be for survival in the NBA Cup.
So it's not necessarily a big deal. Like there's a
ton of variance with with hip injuries. Yeah, you see
on the screen right there. I mean, look what happened
to Bradley deal. Yeah, it totally depends on severity. You know,
(21:26):
he was able to put weight on it. He got
some assistance from Steven, but it wasn't like he had
to literally get carried off. So yeah, you know, early indications,
you know, from what little I've seen, would suggest that
it's probably manageable. I saw Tari's mom tweeting during the game,
which you would like to think that that maybe she's
(21:47):
exchanged a text or two with Tari backstage at Toyota Centers.
So you know, it's too early to really know, but
I'm hopeful that maybe it's just a few days, but
it's it's gonna be pretty impossible to know until her
reports back Saturday and you see what the bruising and
the swelling looks like, and if they need to do
any you know, further imaging.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Yeah, absolutely, And I thought some prayers out there for Tari.
Obviously we want him back and healthy, and he's been
having a terrific season and this is a very big
year for him with the contract go ahead.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah. Yeah. And there's a couple of comments in the
chat about who will fill in if Tari can't touch
the floor. Aaron Holliday did tonight, and I thought that
was an interesting wrinkle, like there might be some teams
where it's difficult to play erin because obviously, if you
play both Aaron and Reid, which they did tonight, your
backcourt is really small. But if you if you can
(22:38):
get away with it, and it was working tonight, that
would be my preference rather than Jay Shin Tate because
I really think if this Rockets team can get the
three point volume discrepancy in check, and as mentioned earlier
tonight it was in their favor, and they can also
keep the turnovers in check. Just imagine what this offense
can do. They put up one hundred and forty tonight
(22:58):
for a reason, like, yeah, this was a team that
was rated first in the NBA in offense, even while
being near the bottom in turnovers and even while being
at the bottom in three point volume discrepancy. So just
imagine what they can do if they clean those two
things up. So for those reasons, limiting turnovers, Aaron's another
(23:20):
ball handler and being able to put up and make threes,
my preference would be Holiday over Tate. It just depends.
There might be some matchups where it's just a little
bit too small because obviously Ree's development is always going
to come first like that, especially well it's not just
his development. I mean, look how he's progressing over the
last week. So you're not going to pull read for Aaron.
(23:41):
That ship has long sale. But if you can get
away with Holiday rather than Tate, that would be my
preference because I think the bottom line, if you keep
the turnovers and the three point volume discrepancy in check
and you certainly did that tonight, in fact, you won
both of those. Then boyd, this team is going to
be impossible to stop offensively. And yeah, as Astra Rocket
(24:02):
pointed out on this, you've got on the screen now,
it's also more minutes for a kogi. Even though Josh
was starting, there were a lot of games where you know,
he'd start and play the first six or seven minutes
of each half, but didn't play too much more, you know,
maybe one more stint for four or five minutes after that,
you can easily, you know, expand that role to something
closer to thirty minutes per game. And I thought he
looked really good tonight as well, So that's another option.
(24:23):
Even if he's technically, you know, already ahead of Tari
in the sense that he's starting Atario was coming off
the bench, you can play Josh a few more minutes
and that'll help, you know, if it's a matchup where
Aaron's too small, then yeah, Josh is something that in
terms of the athletic physical wing type, is a little
bit closer to who Tari is as a player.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You know, I don't know if I gave enough credit
to Kogi. Kogi played excellent defense, and I of course
it was a team effort, but Danny Avdya it really
didn't take off till the second half, and so I
probably need to go back and watch that first half
to kind of figure out what happened there. But I'm
sure Hoki was doing a good number on him as
well as others. But I mean, Avdia last five games,
(25:05):
averaging over thirty points a game. I don't know if
Washington would have telled him if they saw this coming,
But yeah, I mean, he's been terrific for Portland. I
know we've touched on him a little bit, but it's
now mandatory every video we do, we have to do
at least a couple of minutes strictly on Reed Shepherd.
But Reed just looks at you know, like you said,
(25:25):
he has kind of slipped as far as I mean,
it's not slipped tonight. Wasn't having that shot, the hot
shooting that he's had the last few games. But he
just looks comfortable. He's making plays, he looks more aggressive
on the defensive end. He just he almost just looks
like he's found his niche. Now, I don't know if
that's gonna you know, against a top ten defense or
(25:48):
against you know, teams that were that are going to
attack him. How that'll you know, hold up? But he
just looks much more comfortable like this, the game has
slowed down for him, reading the matrix sort of thing,
and that's what I'm seeing out of read Shepherd. He
just I'm not as concerned as I was before when
(26:08):
he comes into the game like, okay, we might take
a significant step back.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Right, Well, you look back to his rookie season, and
so much of it just depended on whether the first
shot or two went in, and if it didn't, you
would see him get more timid. He wouldn't want to
risk sinking his team, and defensively, you know, he's a
guy who needs to take some risk otherwise his profile's
going to be difficult. Well, I think what we're seeing
(26:33):
now is that regardless of how a game starts for him,
he keeps pushing on both ends of the floor, and
as long as he plays sufficient minutes and clearly e
May is rewarding him and the Rockets are benefiting as
a team, then eventually the sample maybe not every game,
but in most games, it's going to be large enough
for it to normalize and the home run plays are
(26:54):
going to be worth it. We didn't see a ton
of them on offense tonight, although he did a couple
of big threes. Defensively, Yeah, he had some huge plays
in the fourth quarter. Even though you would think that
lineup with Reed and Aaron would get picked on, that's
not what happened at all. In fact, that's when the
Rockets put the game away. So yeah, for me, Reid
(27:14):
talked about confidence being the main thing after the Washington game,
which was his sort of breakout his season high end points,
I believe, and that's what sticks out to me the most.
It just comes down to him looking like a much
more confident player on both ends of the floor and
trusting that, Hey, if I stick with my process, and
like he knows what his formula needs to be for
(27:36):
his model to work at the NBA level, it's just
about he needs to trust it. Even if the first
few minutes don't go that well, even if you start
two of eight the way he did tonight, Okay, just
stick with it. You're a good enough player. You belong
that in time, it's gonna even out. He trusts it
a lot more now than he did as a rookie.
To me, that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I mean, along with the Rockets hunt offense, the
difference in and over tonight twenty to six, and the
points off turnovers being significant. Reid was a part of that.
Four steals a Kogie had four steals. I believe Shangoon
had three steals. That was the difference in the game.
Usually it's rebounding where the Rockets dominates you. Tonight it
was surprisingly right the no point guard Rockets six turnovers
(28:19):
to you know, their twenty I will say Drew Holliday
looked pretty darn good early on. He didn't finish with
an incredible line or anything, but we were joking you
and I about an audition for the Rockets if this
didn't quite work out, you know, with Portland down the line.
I mean, his contract's not exactly super pretty, but yeah,
dreu is a guy who I think would be on
(28:41):
the on the short list of targets despite the the
kind of contract.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
He's a culture guy.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely. And we have his brother right so
and Dorian Finney Smith. Someone was asking in the chat
about if there's an update. I don't have an update.
It's still very open ended. They're kind of hush hush
on this. I don't know if you've heard anything.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Then, but nothing new. I mean, he is a practices,
he is doing drills off on the sides, he's doing
some basketball activities, but he's not clear for contact. So
it's not like he's in hiding. I mean that to
me is a little bit of silver lining. It's not
like they're trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. No,
he's he's right there. He's doing things, he's on the treadmill,
(29:23):
he's running off on the side, he's around the team.
It's not like something serious has happened and they're just
trying to keep you from noticing. No, it's just he
needs more time to strengthen that ankle. Apparently it's been
an issue the last couple of years for him, and
he played through it, and this year they want to
get it, you know, completely right. So it doesn't sound
like it's going to be you know, super long. I
(29:44):
don't see any indications that it's something that you know,
should be super troubling. But at the same time, there's
nothing I've seen that indicates it's going to be you know,
emminent either in terms of his return.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And he may did say after the game he had
no update on Tari either. So hopefully we'll get some
good news tomorrow I would think, at least as far
as some sort of update of what they're doing with
tar Ethan. That is Bendibo's go follow him on Twitter
at Bendibo's Also on the Rockets Wire, you can follow
him on Clutch Fans. He writes for Clutch Fans as well. Ben, awesome,
appreciate you doing this. Everybody, appreciate all the support. Please
(30:17):
subscribe if you haven't already, and we will see you
guys on Sunday after the Rockets take on the Orlando Magic.
Thanks everybody,
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