Rockets extend winning streak with impressive late season run

As the 2026 playoffs approach, the Rockets are on a season-best winning streak of six games and counting, and they could be peaking at the right time. Houston (49-29) enters Tuesday at No. 5 in the Western Conference standings and within a game of the injury ravaged Los Angeles Lakers (50-28), and their struggles might lead the Rockets to a friendlier postseason matchup and possibly even home-court advantage (a top-four seed) in the first round. Houston is 28-10 at home this season.

With that in mind, Tuesday’s full show — featuring both Ben DuBose and Paulo Alves — breaks down all the latest developments surrounding the team. Topics include the importance of improved late-game offense in recent wins; continued growth from Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr., who both made critical contributions in a thrilling victory at Golden State; key adjustments by Ime Udoka and the coaching staff; and a preview of the playoff race entering the final four games of the regular season.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Rockets Fans, Welcome to the Rockets Launch Pod, an exclusive
podcast from the home of the Rockets, Sports Talk seven
ninety Red Nation. Get Ready, Ready, Get Ready. The Rockets
Launch Pod starts now.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome aboard, Welcome in to another new episode of the

(00:50):
Rockets Launch Pod, presented by Clutch Fans with support from
Sports Talk seven ninety, official flagship radio station of your
Houston Rockets. I'm Ben to Bow's Palo Alves. It's Tuesday,
the seventh of April, and this should be a fun
episode because as of our recording time, the Rockets have
won six straight games, the longest of the season. They

(01:11):
are now forty nine and twenty nine, twenty games over
five hundred for the first time this season. They are
within a game of both the number four and number
three seeds in the Western Conference standings, closing in on
both the Lakers and the Nuggets. Rockets are twenty eight
to ten at home this season. That's still in play,

(01:31):
perhaps a matchup with the Lakers, who are likely to
be missing or having very limited versions of Luka Doncic
and Austin Reeves, each of whom suffered a grade to
soft tissue injury. All of that is very much on
the table because the Rockets have finally started stacking wins
for the first time this year. So we have a

(01:55):
lot of fun topics to get into today, but I
want to lead with the game we last saw a
late Sunday night in San Francisco, because this is a
place where the Rockets have had so many low lights
over the years, most notably at the hands of Steph Curry,
and so to take the onslaught from Steph Curry in
the fourth quarter. I know he was somewhat limited coming

(02:16):
off the knee injury, but my god, twenty nine points
in twenty six minutes elite efficiency and to be able
to absorb those punches bounce back win the game with
great execution down the stretch. Offensively, I thought the two
man game with Kevin Durant and Alperinch and Goon was
on point. And then Jabari Smith Junior great switch defense
against Stephan Curry on the final possession. That's a feel

(02:39):
good win. And let's not act like the current six
games streak is murderers row. The Rockets have beaten up
on some tanking teams in there, but they've also had
some encouraging wins since we last recorded, they beat the
Knicks by almost twenty. They went on the road and
beat the Warriors with Steph. I don't care what Golden
State's record is. When they have Stephan Drayma and they're

(03:00):
playing in that building, they're going to be a tough
team to beat, especially on national TV. So we had
talked last POT, I think the Rockets had won two
in a row at that point about whether they were
starting to turn a quarter. Now you're at six games
in a row for the first time all season. You're
a week from the regular season being done, so you
seem to be peaking at the right time. I'm not

(03:23):
all of a sudden saying that the Rockets are at
the level of the Thunder or the Spurs where you
can realistically make a championship push. The injuries to Fredin
Fleet and Steven Adams at some point are likely to
be the deathnell for this season's team. But for the
first time in a while, I think I had some
real excitement for the playoffs, which we'll begin in about
ten days. So Hollo, I'm just curious your thoughts relative

(03:46):
to the last POD, now that two games has become six,
now that you've seen some quality wins against the Knicks
against the Warriors on the road, where I mentioned that
twenty eight and ten home record, They're only what twenty two,
twenty one and nineteen away from Houston, so that's been
a short spot. Finally got a win that that feels
like something with statement, even if the Warriors record doesn't

(04:08):
reflect it, just relatives when we last talked a week ago.
How much better are you feeling about this team? Seeing
what they did against the next and the Warriors and
also taking care of business against the Jazz.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Definitely a lot better than I was last week or
even or even the pub before. That obviously doesn't change,
you know, everything that we've talked about throughout the season.
But if there's anything that the NBA starts is that
all you need is to get out at the right
time to I guess outperform your expectations are, or kind

(04:45):
of over achieve, which which is what I think this team.
The best the team can hope to do is overachieve
and you know, perhaps have a second competitive second round
series with one of the Spurs or the Thunder and
then you'll you we'll see what happens. Right, But the
biggest takeaway by far just watching the games is looking
at out I front opron chingun is playing. We talked

(05:07):
about in the last part. You asked me if he
carries this on until the end of the season, what
that means for this team, And we are not going
to go back into that, but I will back on
a point that I made that I made before, which
it seems like it has continued and it seems like
I don't know if you know I thought I talked
about Changwen being a weird player in the sense that

(05:30):
his game just fluctuates a lot of the types of
shots that he takes, in the types of mistakes that
he's making, and in the effort that is putting on,
and it's really hard to measure how he's playing. What
I'm trying to say is if you if you have
to pick a single stat no matter how he's playing,
you're gonna struggle because he's gonna have games where he's

(05:51):
been efficient because he's those are human part between but
he's going to be efficient because he's made some reason
he's even shooting below fifty percent on twos right that
I've played. He's gonna have games which he's gonna have
fifteen assists, but then he's gonna have six turnovers, so
the but then he's gonna have games where he has
three assists. But he's been awesome scoring, right, There's a

(06:12):
lot of ways that they can to contribute to the game,
and so it's hard to pick a single stat that
measures well how A single box car style of course
that measures well how he's played. But I didn't men
the last part that to me, the critical one was turnovers, right,
and over the last six games, if there's one thing

(06:34):
that's been drastically better is that thing was averaging less
than a turnover and a half a game, right, And
if he can keep that up, that's just massive for
the team. For a him that obviously struggles with ball handling,
obviously struggles with with punt guard. Do he's not actually
Englund plus that, but a team that you know can't
be the defensive team that it was last season, and

(06:56):
you know, oh, you throw the ball over, it's okay,
or he miss a shot, it's okay, because you're more
than capable of streaming such another defensive event, not turning
the ball over, and you know, and breaking apart of the
rhythm offensively, and you know, demralizing defensively as well is huge,
and Shang Gun is perhaps the most important player on

(07:17):
the team. You kind of you know what you're gonna
get from you know, you're gonna what you're gonna get
from Man Thompson, you know what you're gonna get from
kay D and the rest of the starters, well they're
not you know, don't necessarily know what you're gonna get
from them, but the impact is also much lesser than
what Guns is, so they obviously don't have that importance.
So just Shangun being able to cut down on those

(07:38):
store and overs and if it's if it's an injury thing, right,
if those two games that he took that he took
off Filmstein, he's had one sixth over game and then
you know a couple of three to an over games,
which is a lot lower. And then some note on
over games, some two, some ones like that's a massive improvement.
And then that's the way they can kind of rescue

(08:01):
the possession battle kind of in comparison to what they
did before, which was just being anything of a revolving
team with even Adams. That's another way that you can
kind of offset a little bit of those issues, and
so that's just a massively positive trend that I think
if if it can keep going to the playoffs and
it remains an efficient scorer around the basket as it

(08:23):
has been throughout the stretch, that just completely changes the
dynamic of this team offensively works, and it removes kind
of the hard ceiling that that you kind of have
with the team, and it it's something that is so
paradigm changing that it allows you to, you know, believe

(08:45):
that the sky is the limit going forward. Now, you
did say, and you were right, that they played some
not so great teams, but let's not forget that they're
not so great teams that you know, plenty of times
the season being when where the Rockets struggle, So even
beating like there's a reason they haven't strung together six

(09:08):
wins in a row and they've beaten good teams, but
they've when they've beaten good the good teams on these stretches,
they've lost to the bad teams instead. And so beating
the good team beating the bad teams is also an
improvement from what we've seen for a long part of
the season. And then you look at the good teams
that they did beat you. You you mentioned the next
obviously the next are a great offensive team. You know,

(09:30):
everybody on that on that on that starting lineup is
you know someone who can go get their own buckets,
good shooters. They held them to one hundred point view
and you've got to be proud of that. And then
the Warriors, yes they're not the old Warriors, but when
it comes to the Rockets, you can go look at
like when they play the Rockets, you can go go
look at their record and you can stack to any

(09:52):
more wins on the win column. And that's the true
strength because for some reason we just you know, well,
I guess it will ever shake that as long as
as Steph Curry is playing basketball. Yes, all in all,
you know, there's obviously a few games remaining. They're not
particularly high difficult, high difficulty games, but as I've said,

(10:15):
that doesn't seem to matter a lot of the time.
If you beat the Spurs, which I believe is the
next game is which you beat the don't the Spurts
the sense? Sorry? Yeah, if you beat the Suns. You know,
the rest of the games should be games that you
not that you take for granted, but that you're expected
to win. So going far and no to end the season,

(10:35):
going ten and oh going into the postseason is a
very is a great boost that might get you home
court advantage going into the playoffs, which, as you said,
is really important for this team. So yes, the outlook
to the not so distant future of the playoffs is
a lot brighter than it was last last week because well, now,

(10:57):
first of all, we've seen them do something they haven't
done four with is the six game win streak. And
not only that, there's there's a very believable outlook for
the next four games that they might go down and
know going into the into into the playoffs. Knock on Wood,
the one who jinks it use some sports. I know,
you know you don't have to tell to tell me
about it, but yeah, this is probably the most spot

(11:19):
is positive I've been about the team since you know,
that really hot start to the season. And you know,
a lot of it has to do you know, criticize
them when it's four, but you've got to give props
when they're due, and a lot of it has to
do with the massive improvement in in Chingham's play.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, and just big picture, there's some round numbers that
are coming back into play that I thought might be
gone for this team, But they're now forty nine and
twenty nine if they're able to win tonight in Phoenix
extremely late start ten pm Houston time, so hopefully those
of you listening were able to do so before that
game starts, and some of this might get outdated, but

(12:04):
if the Rockets win that game, that would be their
fiftieth of the year. Bottom line, they're winning fifty games
unless they finish the season zero to four, and considering
the finales at home against a Memphis Grizzlies team that's
trying to lose, something would have to go catastrophically wrong
for the Rockets not to win fifty, and it's entirely possible,
as you said, they could win out. If they went out,

(12:24):
they'll actually exceed last season's win total and get to
fifty three. If they win three or four, which I
think is a reasonable bar, they'll meet last season's win total,
which as recently as a week ago, I didn't think
was in play. Now it is so just symbolically in
terms of whenever we inevitably look back on this season,
we hope that eventually the Rockets advanced at least around

(12:45):
in the playoffs, and then at that point there's something
tangible you can point to with the Kevin Durant led
version of this team that's clearly better than a year ago.
But all of a sudden, it's not that the regular
season is going to be the clear step back that
I think we all feared and guts when they last lost,
which was that catastrophic game the Wednesday Night one in

(13:05):
Minnesota when they became the first team in modern NBA
history to blow a thirteen point lead in overtime, and
then they had the team meeting before the next game
in Memphis, which apparently ironed out some things. So all
of a sudden, just big picture, I know the season
will still be defined by the playoffs, but the regular
season may not fall short of some of those goals
that I think we were mostly resigned to accepting a

(13:28):
week or so ago. You mentioned Shinggoon. One other guy
that I want to single out off the top is
Jabari Smith Junior. Since the All Star Break, he's shooting
better than thirty eight percent on threes, better than sixty
percent true shooting. He's broken twenty points eight different times
after doing so only eighteen times all of last season

(13:49):
and eight times before the All Star break, which was
a larger sample, so he's still developing. He's playing his
best ball and fun fact, as far as the playoffs,
Chavari's weakest splits are on the second night of back
to backs, which obviously there won't be any of in
the playoffs. He's shooting just thirty percent from three and

(14:11):
fifty four percent true shooting on night two of back
to back, So he seems to be a guy that
for whatever reason, the legs aren't there. We actually saw
that in the Milwaukee game, the one sort of underwhelming
performance in this streak. But when you talk to people
inside the building, you know, I expected more negativity than

(14:32):
I got what I heard in the aftermath of that
Milwaukee game. And certainly, you know, night two of back
to back, opponent that was extremely short handed, might have
sort of cruised a bit early in the game, but
in terms of the fourth quarter, they actually weren't that
displeased with their shot quality. They thought they got a
lot of really good looks. They liked what they did

(14:52):
using a men Thompson Moore as the screener for Kevin Durant.
They just missshots Chavari had a couple of wide open
corner looks that he just that night i' the airball
to four footer. It happened sometimes, especially night too of
a back to back, right after a game they put
so much into just twenty four hours before. That was
the Knicks game, and then it translated into Sunday, and

(15:13):
we saw down the stretch of that game. You can
point to the final play that Kevin Durant fed all
for Echin Goon for the winning layup, But really down
the stretch of that game, after Steph Curry hit him
with that haymaker, they were getting really good looks pollow
like KD had a walk in three a little more
than two minutes left, and then I think Jabari had

(15:34):
an open three that he simply missed. But the game overall,
he was very good twenty three points, nine rebounds, I
think nine to twelve, shooting five of seven from three,
plus fifteen best plus minus of any player on the floor.
Got a good look down the stretch, just didn't make it.
And then before the final shingoon bucket with about a
minute left, he had a three point play that put
the Rockets up four before Steph made his final three

(15:58):
that really got the crowd into a frenzy.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
And yet, well, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but technically,
according to Warriors Twitter, that end one actually shouldn't have
happened because there should have been a three second violation
on shain Gun. So technically we can't count that because
the Warriors were screwed and we should have lost that game.
So I think it's just really disrespectful for you to

(16:21):
be mentioning that while they're mourning that loss. So I
just wanted to put it out there because we might
have some Warriors fandels listening. Some guys will feel really
sorry for you. You've never been had them. You've always
had the short end of the stick when it comes
to refereeing. You've never, you know, never been benefited by
poor refereeing, especially against the Rockets. So you know, I

(16:45):
feel your pain. Went's not rub it in too much.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Okay, Well, whenever they give that twenty eighteen dit er
to the Rocket, I'll let them have this one until
they do, then yeah, I'm going to celebrate it, even
if they allegedly got the shorten the stick on the
three second violation, which, by the way, those rarely get
called in high leverage situations. But the point is the
Rockets generated really good offense on multiple possessions late in

(17:11):
that game. And the previous game that was closed was
that Milwaukee game at home, and nobody wanted to really
talk about it because the Bucks have only seven or
eight healthy players. There's no Yannis, so you don't want
to say in the aftermath of a game that you
only win by six, eight points whatever it was at
home against whatever's left of the Bucks, that oh, this
is something that you can hang your hat on. But

(17:33):
internally they felt like that, at least in terms of
late game offense, which has been the bugaboo for this
team for most of this season, that they got better
looks and it did extend into Sunday, even with the
Warriors and Steph Curry hitting them with so many haymakers.
They didn't get ridled. They went out, they handled their business,
and ultimately they got the win. Now, Kudoshi Jabari for

(17:55):
also getting the stop against Steph Curry, I thought his
defense on that switch was fantas But I thought in
terms of the offensive end of the equation, which has
been so troublesome for the Rockets this year, there's a
really good article from Will Gillery of The Athletic that
he wrote after that Golden State game, and I'm going
to read a passage. As recently as their losses to

(18:17):
the Lakers on the sixteenth of March and the Timberwolves
on the twenty fifth, the Rockets were still floundering, laden games,
incapable of finding the right counters when teams trapped around.
After the coaching staff made a few tweaks to the
offense and put a greater emphasis on off ball movement
in spacing, Houston is suddenly carving teams up. The increased
confidence on offense couldn't have come at a better time,

(18:39):
with the start of the playoffs less than two weeks away.
We kind of changed the offense a little bit, Shindoun said.
We move the ball more, playing with the flash actions
and all that. It helps everybody. The ball touches everybody's hands.
And that's why I think we're winning lately playing good basketball.
We're already a good defensive team. When we solved the
problems with the offense, I think we're really a great team.

(19:00):
Was also fitting. The final play on Sunday involved Durant
and Shangoon playing off each other in a crucial moment.
They're unselfish play as feel the offensive resurgence, and they're
well aware that for this team to make noise in
the playoffs, they have to be the driving force. And
that brings me to Read Shepherd because when we talk
about initiating offense through players other than Durant and Shing

(19:22):
Gooon and earlier in the article, Guillory makes the case
and I think he's right that the Rockets offense had
gotten very predictable, leaning too much on Kevin Durant and
all per in Shinggoon laden games. No Fred and Fleet
is the point guard. I believe one of the media availabilities.
Ima Udoka was asked about it and he sort of
suggested they didn't want to put too much on the
plates of the men Thompson and Read Shepherd early in

(19:44):
the year because they're still young, they're still developing. Now
they're increasingly doing more. There were a couple of turnovers
they didn't like laid in that game against the Warriors,
but by and large, they executed offensively and it was,
you know, the sixth Street game for the Rockets. But
at least thirty assist as a team longest streak in
more than forty years, second longest in team history. Some

(20:05):
of that just comes down to, as Kevin Durant said,
more guys are making shots most of the Bleacha Bari
Smith Junior and Reed Shepherd. But it also comes down
to you have a much more diverse offensive attack, you
have more ball handlers, and that leads me to this conundrum.
You know, we've framed it in the past of a
debate about the starting lineup, and it's still to be
determined whether they start with with Reed Shepherd, Tari Eason,

(20:28):
who's been continually hot or cold depending on the game,
or just go completely off the wall and pick someone
like Aaron Holliday, Josha Kogi, Jay Shuntate. It is worth
noting that Holiday and Tate each got some high leverage
minutes in the fourth quarter in San Francisco. But to me,
we should be framing it more about the closing lineup,
because that's been the issue for this team all season long. Really,

(20:48):
it doesn't matter who's stopping up those minutes early in
the first and third quarters, it's who's on the court
in winning time, and so there's a very delicate balance
there in that when the Rockets have multi ball handlers
on the floor. It's not that reads the full blown
point guard. But when you have two guys not just
a man, a men and Reed that can handle the ball,
that can initiate, that can make plays out of the

(21:11):
four and three scenarios if Kati or Shingoon get trapped
or doubled, that makes the overall offense far more diverse.
It makes them much more able to sort of cure
the ills that have haunted them all season long in
those scenarios on offense. But there's the defensive trade off,
and we've talked about that in the past, and that's

(21:33):
why I think you know, down the stretch of the
fourth quarter in Golden State, there were high leverage minutes
with Aaron Holliday. There were a few with Jay Shun
Tate as the fifth guy among the top four of
KD and then Shoinoon and Jubari, and then they put
Red on the court for the final possession, which works
really well where you're slightly slow to rotate because of

(21:57):
Reed as a shooter, and even if they had rotated
a little bit more, Reid was actually open in the corner,
and so that would have been a fantastic look for
the Rockets for that final shot if they had needed that.
And then it's funny the Warriors didn't call time out
because Steve curR and step Curry both admitted it after
the game. They didn't want to let the Rockets make

(22:18):
defensive subs, meaning take Reed and Shangoon off the floor,
so they tried to initiate an action, but Pods was
sort of lost. Ideally, you would have brought Pods out
to set a second screen after Draymond, and that could
have brought Shangoon into the action. As it was, the
Warriors seemed a little discombobulated and the only two defenders

(22:39):
near Steph were men in Javari and the Rockets love that,
and Javari contested without fouling, and the rest is history.
But as far as you know what it means moving forward,
playing Reid down the stretch brings clear advantages offensively. That's
a big part of how they're having all these assists.
It makes them less predictable down the stretch of close games,
which you're not going to advanced in the playoffs without

(23:01):
winning some close games. Yet there is the trade off
defensively to consider, so I'm just curious hoowllow your thoughts
on read. You know, I'm gonna we talked about this
last week, so I'm not gonna frame it so much
around the question of should Read start, should he come
off the bench. But if you're Emai Udoka, how would
you play those closing lineups trying to balance you know,
the advantage offensively when you have multiple ball handlers versus

(23:24):
the potential trade off to your identity on defense.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Well, I think you can read. So let's go about
a few things we've complained about all season, Right, we've
complained about the volume of three is that we've been
taking right, and how you're losing the math. We've complained
about the defensive course, and obviously you know, once you're
laid into games that shot math kind of like that's

(23:52):
really relevant over a really like over a high volume, right,
you start losing the shot math. But when you're in
Latin game right, when your possession by possession, it becomes
more granular and it matters less because the volume is less,
so the sample is not gonna even out right, So
you could theoretically try to get the best of both worlds.

(24:15):
So you run read right, if you believe read and
I think that's pretty well, that's pretty widespread if you
believe read this a liability defensively, right, you could try
to kind of sprinkle Read in a more systematic role
throughout the game, and when you get to the final
five minutes or the final three minutes, you so read

(24:36):
out and you use them as email use them, you know,
against the warriors strictly in offensive possessions. When the game
is slow and you have the chance to make those
slobs more often, you could use read as a weapon
in that sense, and that that would be literally the
definition of his stypufusical. It would be as a weapon.
So you try to maximize the best of both worlds

(24:57):
when the game slows down, and then the top math
doesn't matter as much, and getting stops is getting single
stops is most important. You saw the men when you
can and when when it's optimal, and then but then
throughout the game you still give them plenty of minutes
starting are coming off the bench doesn't really matter, so
you even out over a longer, longer salle of a game.

(25:21):
And then obviously you can compare it with that you
can make a decision based off of how the game
is going for right, I, if he's having a cold game,
then perhaps you want to limited minutes a little bit more.
This thinking more playoff style. Right, you can and you
play Aaron Holiday who's a little bit less of a
reliability on defense. But in any way that you do

(25:41):
use them, if you do use this type of maltment strategy, right,
that is still something that you just didn't have last season.
That's in the that I think makes it a lot
more interesting to see how we're going to do in
the playoffs this season, even though completely different team, but
the fact that you do have someone who you can
kind of make significant adjustments with and change a little

(26:02):
bit of you know, what you're throwing at the other team,
because last season, obviously we're kind of trying to do
the same thing, kind of running, rumming into a wall,
trying to break it down, and eventually it didn't break down.
We ended up puding to the Warriors. But I do
think that ideally that's how you use them. You know,
you use them at volume throughout the game, and then
when you get to frunch time, you you know, consciously

(26:26):
use them in possessions that you can, and you do
leave yourself open to what to what Steph Curry. And
if we're talking about trying to you know, teams will
when they study phil and when when when you start
doing this, they will adjust and they will perhaps came
less time out or or have a place set for
these cases where okay, we if we're trying to take

(26:47):
advantage of this really being on the floor, we automatically
go into one, two, three or four plays. But until
they do it, I think you can get an edge
by doing so. And so if it were me, that's
how I try the minit If that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, and we should point out that in terms of
you know, defense and offensive subs one weapon for the Rockets.
I've wrote a story for Rockets Wired last week. Someone
at Forbes I'm blanking Matt Isa I believe it is
his name, compile the data. But the Rockets under Emydoka
have by far the best efficiency on ATO plays this

(27:34):
year after timeouts. So they do a good job when
they can strategize in that puddle of getting a good
initial action. So if the Rockets are diligent in saving
their timeouts, which I think some people at times get
on emy Udoka for not calling timeouts, as aggressively as
they would like. But I think this is part of
the thinking is that it gives them more options late

(27:55):
in games. Sometimes they they overdo it, as we saw
late in the Miami game when they should have called
the timeout before the Tarrey Easton turnover. But I think
they want those timeouts in their back pockets so they
can use them lad in games. That makes it easier
to get read back out there. So the Rockets seem
to have an advantage from an ATO perspective. They seem
to draw plays very well, and it's not just this year.

(28:17):
E May was second in the league and ATO efficiency
in his first year in Houston. The Forbes writer pointed out,
So I do think there's something there that out of timeouts,
the Rockets do a really good job of drawing up
plays and putting their guys in the right positions to
succeed having the right lineups and so you could plug
and play read there. And also I do think that

(28:38):
as long as it's not the Denver Nuggets, you could
benefit from making the other team a bit more reluctant
to call timeouts on on their because if they don't
want to call timeouts out of fear that it'll let
the Rockets get their ideal defensive personnel out there, and
then of course the Rockets can call timeout on offense

(28:58):
to get read back out. Then a team that isn't
set with what it wants to do late in games,
and the Lakers without Luca and Reeves or a severely
limited version certainly fit the bill. But I would also
say the Timberwolves with the injuries late in the year
to Aunt and McDaniels. And there's also the option if
you draw the Timberwolves. Rudy Gobert shoot's just fifty two

(29:20):
percent on free throw, so if he's out there, you
could just hack him, and I'm pretty confident then unless
he's really in a groove, you could get to a
pretty respectable points per possession level in terms of what
the Rockets are giving up defensively at a point in
which you're comfortable leaving read out there. So unless it's
the Nuggets, the Nuggets are the one team that, for

(29:41):
a lot of reasons, I don't want to draw, because
I think without timeouts it doesn't matter Nikola jokicch and
Jamal Murray. They can roll out of bed in the
morning and know exactly what they want to do. As
long as it's not that, then, I think the fact
that other teams will be a little more reluctant to
call timeout to let the Rockets sub the general instability

(30:02):
with the Lakers and the gimber Wolves. That's two of
the three teams you could play along with the Nuggets
and that three through sixth range. That could make it
a little easier to sort of plug and play. Read
Shepherd and either find creative ways to survive with him
defensively or you know, take him out for the high
leverage defensive possessions and put him in on offense and

(30:25):
one other thing before we turn our attention exclusively to
the playoff seeding. That'll be our final segment. But hollo,
I've got to get a rant. I texted you about
this today. But it's becoming so exhausting to read social
media and to see the feelings about feelings regarding ema
Udoka and whether he's showing sufficient respect or what have you.

(30:49):
To read Shepherd or all per In and Goon because
a lot of their fans on social media think they're
owed something based on their status in the league. Initial
response to that would be you won the game, celebrated
all Prince Shankun just hit a buzzer beater, will almost
a buzzer beater, hit a game winning shot on the
road against a really good team, and other Warriors record

(31:11):
doesn't show it, but in that environment, that's a that's
a really good win. So I don't know why we're
even talking about this, you know clip that went viral
where he may pulled him after it all advised three
with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter set
him down for a minute, and one of the reasons
the Rockets are increasingly confident that they can get good
looks out of their late game offense. So yeah, if
there's a bad three taken and it's not laid in

(31:33):
the shot clock, then yeah, Ema is going to be
a little miffed, and I understand why, but I'm just
getting so tired of the constant referendums based on you know,
a five second out of context clip that goes viral,
or something that's said or isn't said in a postgame
press conference. First off, nobody's owed anything. Every minute has

(31:55):
to be earned on this team other than you know,
maybe there are some exceptions for Kevin to rant as
a sixteen time All Star All NBA level player. But
other than Kevin, with the young guys, they all have
to earn their keyp That's part of the culture that
you're trying to build. That's why it's different than smiling
Steven Silas back in the day. It's different with emy Udoka.

(32:16):
This was what the Rockets signed up for. And secondly,
I don't know why we as outsiders are even trying
to ascribe how all Perin Shinggoon or Reed Shepherd or
any other young guy should feel. Does em Udoka believe
in them enough? Is he showing them enough respect? Here's
an idea, ask them that same Will Gilory story that

(32:38):
I referenced cited an anecdote from the locker room, in
which I'll read it rather than paraphrase. Trust has been
key to Houston's recent success. Durant in particular needs to
keep showing trust in Shangoon and his teammates. Suddenly, all
the chatter about vibes and body language during some of
this team's lowest moments has gone quiet. It's been all

(33:00):
smiles lately. Udoka, who usually moves with the stoke demeanor,
couldn't help the crack a smile himself. Once Shinoon informed
him in the locker room post game that the thirty
assists streak was not over, then he thought again, should
have had thirty one Udoka cracked before leaving the room.
The backstory there is the Rockets initially were told they

(33:20):
were a twenty nine assist. The box score was later
adjusted to show thirty, so the streak is still alive.
But when they were at twenty nine they were a
little myth because it would have been thirty had a
men not fumbled a clear layup midway through the fourth quarter,
which could have been quite harmful had they lost that game.
Fortunately they didn't. But the nugget in there, so it's
so laid back the vibe between the e May and

(33:43):
Alp that Alpi's the one informing em in the locker
room post game that, hey, the thirty assist streak it's
still a lot. Yet if you read social media, you
would think that Alp should be curled up in a
ball crying over unfair treatment. Here's the thing, b deferent
to the people involved. It's not our jobs, nor should
it be to decide how they should feel. It's the

(34:06):
same logic as the alleged Kevin Durant Berner comments, Yeah,
we can all think what we might do if we're
in that situation, But the reality you have to have
the awareness to understand. We have about five percent of
the context these clips that go viral, these postgame press conferences, which,
by the way, a lot of what you see and
here are these press conferences is a strategic pr spin.

(34:27):
It's not necessarily what the people involve think. But even
if you take it all as gospel, it's maybe five percent.
It's a surface level attempt at transparency to tell fans
what the thought process is from the key players and
coaches involved. It's about five percent of what's actually happening

(34:47):
on a day to day basis inside the building. So
why would someone like all Parentshion Goon or Reed Shepherd
or any other player or a coach that's inside the
building and has ninety nine percent of the story here
about this five percent or less snippet that's told to
the public often for strategic pr purposes. It is a

(35:09):
non story. Now, I'm not going to say they can't
be upset if Alparin Shan Goon truly believes that he's
being handled unfairly or reed Shepherd does, then sure, like
if they're upset by how they're handled by Emai or
the Katie alleged burger comments, or any issue, then yeah,
we should be deferential and understanding to them. We haven't

(35:30):
walked a mile on their shoes. But it's not our
job to tell them how they should feel when we
have five percent of the data at most. When I
say data, I mean what the interactions are like on
a day to day basis, what's normal, what's in play,
what's out of bounds, so to speak. We have such

(35:51):
a small portion of the overall picture. It's just absolutely silly.
To me. I think it's a classic stand culture thing
that this is blowing up on social media. To me,
it's just unless read or shingoon or jabari if you
want to tie in the Katie Burner comments, If one
of those guys wants to say that their feelings are

(36:13):
hurt and they don't think something is fair, then yeah,
at that point it's a story. But to me, I'm
just watching these guys how they interact. As Will Gilory
writes in a story, it all smiles lately, and so
I just I can't even begin to care about that, Polo.
I'm curious your thoughts because I did see you quote
sweet the the em Udoka Shingoon frustration moment where he

(36:38):
pulled him for a minute and said something under his
breath about the three that Shingoon took early in the
shot clock. I'm just curious your thoughts on the firestorm
that's created on some corners of social media.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Yeah to me, To me, it was just so expected, right.
I saw the clip. I didn't notice this. I saw
the clip. I was like, Yeah, of course this is
gonna just run wild because everybody's looking for anything through
a DGA, because he's been made the escapecoat for anotherwhelming
season because he's not an offensive coca and team doesn't
necessarily play stifling defense at this moment. So I understand

(37:14):
some of the concerns, right, And I do think that
there's some credence to the fact that these defensive minded
coaches that aren't necessarily tactical or known for being tactical geniuses.
They're more, you know, enforcer type to kind of get
the team to play hard. Right, those typically across sports
eventually where they where like their voices within the locker

(37:38):
room where thin because that type of drill Sergeant meant
an approach only lasts for so long before you start
losing that vice in the locker room.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Right.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
I think that's valid. Whether that's happening or not, I
don't know because I'm not there. It's what you're saying. Eventually,
the way you make the way you build an opinion
or a decision like that, is you have a long enough
sample that you decide, Okay, this is likely what's happening now,
I would back this decision, right. I don't think that
that point has come yet. I think the team has

(38:09):
gotten dramatically better season overseas and every time has been
here except for this season with chat extenuating circumstances because
of Thread, because of seven Aden, because of you know,
just bad mashing on the court from some players, but
specifically towards all be that doesn't kind of jive with

(38:30):
what we've heard from all people before. Because when Emay
came in, one of the first things I'll be said
in an interview was like, I'm someone who likes to
get coaked, like hard, Like I'm someone who sometimes needs
to be you know, put in check, and sometimes I'm
someone who needs to be motivated and the way he's
motivated is by you know, having a drill target and that,
and he said that that's the type of coaching that

(38:52):
he likes. So when you get that, I struggle to
understand how you were praising change wound back then for
one thing, and now he's getting that, and he's been
getting that for a long time, and now you're really
mind about it because of some preconceived notion of respect,
Like Cheng UN's a twenty three year old, fifty year player.

(39:12):
He is a two time All Star. Listen, if you've
been around the NBA long enough time, you know that's
nothing like the people that the man that type of
respect are ten year vetes, are guys that have won championships.
You don't see that type of talk about players more

(39:34):
accomplished than Shingles. Right, if Chris Finch calls drill sarkeet
mode on Anthony Edwards, there's gonna there's not gonna be
talk of disrespect because even though An's a great player
and has achieved more than Changlon has, he's not Ad.
He's not Steph, he's not Lebron, He's not you know

(39:54):
one of these guys that is like widely regarded like, no,
these guys are still young, right, so that level of
respect even though it's kind of bullshit even for the
for the older guys, because you know it should be
helped the same standard. Then if you're not playing up
to that standard, they should yell at. That's part of sports.
Like anybody who's ever played sports knows people are competitive.

(40:18):
Then can't get high. The job as the coach is
to if he feels that you're making a bad decision
that you've done over and over, that it should be
yelled that far. And sometimes sometimes the yelling is unfair,
but that's sports. You're not thinking with all of your
brain the entire time. There's a motion to it. There's

(40:39):
there's competitive illness to it. You know, not everybody is
able to control everything at every single moment, even if
it were a mistake, which I don't believe it was.
And like we can talk about the incident in specific
or the episode in specific was because Sun shut a
wide open three when he was dominating in the plaint
If you want to close your eyes and say, oh,

(41:00):
next time he pump flake is gonna be because of
the mad Doka, I can counter you very easily with
chegun taking a wide open three. It's not a one
step decision. It's not, Oh, if he's white, opening's gotta
take it every single time. No, if he's cooking inside
and and and and he can reliably get to the paint,
that is still a better shout and than a wide
open three. Right if you want him to be competitive

(41:21):
right now, unless you're reading the case that you don't
and wanting to take the rip for educational I guess,
or for for educational or or for development purposes. Sure,
but then you if you've gotta you've gotta change your
tune about some other questions as well, or some other
matters as well. So it's just this is who we made,

(41:42):
Doka is, this is who, this is why he made
what EMO doc was hired to do, and this is
what Chingun wants as and has public publicly said that
he has wanted. The respect thing doesn't matter for Changun
or for even less so for for rich effort that
and I won't even talk on that's not a thing.

(42:03):
Then you've got to add on to it. This is sports, right,
and it's not just America type of thing. Sports are
the same way in Europe, sometimes even worse. So it
was just so predictable that that's what was going to
happen the moment that clips started circulating. And it has
nothing to do with people analyzing the actual situation. It

(42:26):
has everything to do with people having already a lot
of people having already made their mind up that they
support Chengun and that they don't support the Medodog. So
anything that comes and puts those to the same situation together,
it's going to be vastly well upsided or to one
side because people have already made their mind up, right,
And I guess those people have another thing coming because

(42:49):
I don't believe a West Rockets get even if the
Rockets get swept in round one, I'm not sure he
Madeog is getting fired because Madoga came to set a culture.
He's setting that culture, and a lot went from this
season that doesn't even come close to you raising what
has already achieved with this team when picking it up

(43:11):
from a twenty win team and turning it into what
it was last season, and even this season, it looks
like it's going to be a fifty win team. Maybe
that's not as good as you expected. That's still in
achievement even though it's not. Obviously the goal is a championship.
But you're not going to get fired over a stagnant season,
which is what this is compared to last season, when

(43:31):
you've done what you've done and when you continue to
hold up your end of the park in as far
as culture setting goes. So it's just I'll go back
to I've already made the rational points about it. I'm
going to close with stop tranging about it. It's not
going to happen. To get used to it.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Yeah, Emay's not going anywhere, and your points on Sergeant
coaches are well taken. But what I would say to that,
there is no reason if you are a fan of
this team to rush to that outcome. They've won fifty
plus games. Well they haven't yet, but I feel confident
they are going to win fifty plus games in consecutive

(44:16):
seasons in a tough Western conference. There are clearly a
lot of things going right. And unless you're seeing red
flags that just from a chemistry standpoint, morale standpoint, from
a player and personal development standpoint, that something is wrong,
I don't know why if you are a fan of
this team that you would rush to the conclusion that

(44:39):
you need it to hit the restart button and begin
a new next year or a year from now, whatever
it may be. It's different if your primary motivation is
to see a player get positive headlines. And that's why
I bring up stand culture. These clips that go viral can,
at least on social media, be currency for slander. And

(45:03):
so if your primary motivation is good pr for a
certain young player, then I can understand how that might
rub you the wrong way. But if your primary motivation
is success for the Houston Rockets, unless you were seeing
signs that it's to the detriment of the team, I
don't know why you would jump to that conclusion, especially
when the evidence points to the complete opposite conclusion. Pretty

(45:26):
much every young player on this team other than Tari
Easan and Tari's in his own bucket style of play,
injury risk, but most notably on his unique contractual situation
heading into this season and this summer when he'll be
a restricted free agent. And even Tari down the home stretch,
it's been hot and cold, hasn't been all bad. Just

(45:48):
look back to the next game when he started for
matchup reasons and was a clear difference maker. Even Tari.
It hasn't been all bad, but generally speaking, it's been
a little bit of a downward trend since about the
All Star break. But the other four young guys, which
in the grand scheme, what's more important than even Kevin
Durant is your young core continuing to improve down the

(46:08):
home stretchers this year. They are playing great basketball. I
mentioned Javari's numbers since the All Star Break. He's been great,
continues to be mister reliable. Shingoon, you talked about him earlier. Reed,
Shephard is playing so well that some folks are having
aneurysms at the thought of him not starting, are not closing.
So all three of those guys have played better. And

(46:30):
then there's a stat I wanted to cite from Tim
Legler's All NBA podcast. Amen Thompson's drives have been super
effective lately. The Rockets are getting one point two to
three points per direct drive from Amen since the All
Star Break, the fourth best mark in the entire league
among the fifty players with the most total drives. That's

(46:50):
up from one point oh five on direct drives prior
to the All Star Break one point oh five to
one point two three that's a pretty good bump. And
whatever you think of men Thompson the point guard, by
the way, freduin Fleet is not too far off from returning.
Even if it's not this year, he'll certainly be back
when the Rockets are to him play in training camp
in September. So there are too many games left without

(47:12):
fred ben Fleet even if he does not return by
the playoffs, and that still hasn't been entirely ruled out.
Whatever you think of a Men Thompson the point guard,
he does have on ball skills. He can generate advantages,
he can take advantage of when defenses are shading too
many resources to Duran and Shingoon and on ball, And mean,
regardless of what you think of point guard, a man

(47:33):
on Ballaman is at least a component of that has
been getting better. It has improved. And so when you
combine that with the clear growth that we've talked about
with Stingoon and Jabbari, that is evident with Reeds simply
because even talking about him coming off the bench or
not closing a game, since so many in this fan

(47:53):
base into shock. I mean, that's four of your five
most important young players who are clearly in a better
spot to end this season than they were at the start, Like,
isn't that the point? I guess you know, as you said, Paulo,
you did enter this season with at least, you know,
hopes of contending for a championship. So I don't know

(48:16):
if there's any evidence to suggest that the Rockets can
realistically challenge the Thunder or the Spurs at this point.
But besides winning a championship, in terms of you know,
the big picture, which is about not just the KD years,
with the development of the young core, they are improving
and ema Udoka at a macro level deserves a lot
of credit for that. And so if the young players

(48:38):
are getting better and they're not complaining and they seem happy,
then why should I leap to this worst case conclusion
about you know, the leadership, the culture, whatever emy Udoka
is is building. It just it doesn't jive with the evidence,
and it also doesn't jive with what's in the best
interest of the Rockets, because if you believe that, I
think the organization would probably have take a little bit

(49:00):
step back at least in terms of you know, development,
you'd have to restart with a new coach and new system,
all those things. So the only logical reason I can
think of to believe some of the narratives that are
out there is if your primary motivation isn't the Rockets
winning games, but it's good pr for a player or
two of your choosing, and that's the distinction to each

(49:20):
their own. But if you are a fan of the Rockets,
which I hope most people listening to this pod are,
there's a lot more to like than dislike with Imo Ujoka,
at least the last few weeks. And finally, the last
point I wanted to get to on emy. You know,
people love to throw out this buzzword of accountability and
the idea that he doesn't take any that he throws
his players under the bus I mentioned on either our

(49:44):
last pot or the one right before it. I can
tell you one example of accountability that he one hundred
percent took, and it wasn't said at the postgame podium,
but it was said to the team the end of
that Miami game, before the amend buzzer beater, he should
have called time out. Email acknowledged at the time out
should have been called before the bad turnover by Tare
that nearly cost them the game, and he didn't do it.

(50:05):
Maybe he was trying to save the timeouts in case
they needed them later to get you know, read back
in the discussion we were having earlier. I don't know,
But regardless, he may took accountability to the team whatever
he did in that incredibly small sample of a five
minute postgame press conference. If you're inside the building and
you are part of those conversations that are happening every
day in the locker room, within the practice court, why
would you care about this five percent subset. Yes, it's

(50:29):
a big deal to us because five percent is better
than zero percent. But if you are one of the
people actually involved and you have close to one hundred
percent of the information as far as what's actually being
said and not being said behind the scenes, why would
you care when you have way more information. Now, I'm
not saying that because I have this one anecdote that
this proves that e May all the time is holding

(50:51):
himself accountable. Maybe he's not. I don't know. I'm not
behind the scenes to that level. I can't tell you
what's being said, and you know, meetings behind closed doors.
But what I will say is you can at least
wait for indications to emerge that Emay isn't doing that,
and I have not heard or seen any media report.
Someone listening can correctly if I'm wrong, But I have

(51:13):
not seen any indication that Emay is viewed within the
organization by his players, by his fellow coaches, as as selfish,
as not holding themself accountable. If there are stories to
that point, then sure, like let's have a conversation about
that when it comes out. But right now, all indications
are Imai Udoka is liked by his fellow coaches, he's

(51:33):
liked by his players, he's liked by people in the organization.
So why am I going to leap to a worst
case conclusion based on cherry picking data points from what
amounts to maybe five percent of the information at most.
It just doesn't make sense. I get the frustrations, it's
been a long year, but if you actually care about
the success of this basketball team, I think it behooves

(51:56):
you to keep an open mind. Anyway, final segment of
the show, and I buried this because potential playoff opponents,
I think relative to last week, it's a lot simpler.
You want the LA Lakers even more than home court
advantage without Luca, without Austin Reeves. And even if I

(52:18):
know they're going to Europe for some experimental treatment, but
even if they do come back, I think it'd be
something analogous to whatever year it was that Hardened with
the Brooklyn Nets came back from a Grade two hamstring
in you know, ten days or so and was a
shell of himself. It's better than if the team doesn't
have that player at all in all likelihood, but it's
not nearly the same as if the player is at
full strength and not injured. So at this point, I

(52:41):
don't think there's even a debate to be had of
you know, do you want the Lakers? Do you want
the Nuggets? Do you want the Timberwolves? You prioritize home court? No,
the first priority is drawing the Lakers. That's I think
something that's on the table for every team in the
three through six range at this point. So that question
is boring. I guess what I want to spend this

(53:02):
short segment. We don't have to go deep because we're
almost an hour in. But in terms of what's actually
likely to happen, maybe I'm wearing rose colored glasses, but
I think the Rockets are actually gonna get the Lakers
because the way the incentives line up, So the Thunder,
assuming they take care of business the next couple of
games and they play against the Lakers on Tuesday night,

(53:25):
the Thunder are going to have the one seed clenched
by the final weekend, and the Spurs, thoughts, are going
to be locked into the two seed. The Nuggets. The
reason some of the models say that the Lakers are
still likely to hold onto the three number one, they're
not factoring in the recent injuries to Luca and Reeves,
their two leading scorers, and secondly, denvers schedule on paper

(53:49):
looks really difficult, but when you strip away the incentive
for OKC and San Antonio, who are otherwise likely to
rest guys right for the playoffs, and Denver, even though
they'd like to draw the Lakers, they might be the
one team that's good enough. We saw how great they
looked in that win over the Spurs the other day.
I think Denver would prefer to be on the Spurs

(54:11):
side of the bracket, which they would be if they're
the three, then the OKC side of the bracket, which
they would be if they're on that four or five line.
So I think of all the teams in the three
through six range, and the Timberwolves I think might be
mathematically eliminated from the three because they have dropped a
couple of games lately. Denver's the one team they're good
enough already that might prefer the three to get on

(54:32):
the side of the bracket. As the Spurs, who they
just beat the high leverage game, we know last year
they lost to the Thunder in the playoffs. The Nuggets
are the closest team to having an incentive to get
to three and what would be their biggest obstacle on paper,
which is that they had the most difficult schedule. It's
really not that difficult if the Thunder and the Spurs
had nothing to play for, so on paper, it lines

(54:54):
up for the Nuggets to have a soft close to
the Europe. If the Thunder take care of business in
this scenario, it inherently means they give a loss to
the Lakers, they're gonna be big favorites even in LA.
And then the Lakers have two more i think fairly
losable games at Golden State. We just saw how good
the Warriors are at home, and then home against Phoenix

(55:15):
Night Tuba back to back on Friday, the Lakers do
have a finale against the tanking Jazz on Sunday to twelfth,
that could give them something of the backstop. But just
generally speaking, I think if you play out the schedule
based on incentives and who's actually available to play are
likely to be available, it seems like the Nuggets are

(55:37):
gonna pass the Lakers. And if they do, I mean
maybe the Rockets can pass the Lakers and get all
the way to four themselves. It's not gonna be easy
because the Rockets schedule at Phoenix tonight and then Philadelphia
and Minnesota on a back to back Thursday and Friday,
both are at home with those are two good teams.
Those aren't gonna be gimbees. So I think in a
perfect role, the Rockets get to four Lakers or the five,

(55:58):
you have the benefit of both the the Lakers and
home court advantage. But even if you're the five, and
maybe you know there's a world where maybe it's maybe
it's your advantage. If you do believe in this European
treatment and maybe you think after two and a half
three weeks Luca and Reeves can come back, well, then
in that scenario it might actually be better to get

(56:19):
the two games in LA out of the way to
start the series when those guys aren't available are very limited.
Get the games in LA out of the way, and
then at the three week mark when they're likely to
be closer to full strength than three of the next
four games, Games three, four, and six are in Houston,
so that gives you home court advantage in that portion
of the series. So maybe it's even to your advantage

(56:41):
to be the five in this world. But I just think,
you know, rather than playing out, you know, the discussion
of what should the Rockets want, I think that's boring.
I think it's pretty clear now you want the injury
ravaged LA Lakers who just lost to a tanking Dallas
Mavericks team that has no defense whatsoever on Sunday night.
To me, the question now is are the Rockets likely

(57:04):
to get it? And honestly, Polo, I think they are.
They've gotten enough separation. There's now three games of separation
relative to the timber Wolves, so I don't think it's realistic.
Even if Minnesota somehow wins that game in Houston on
Friday and gets the tiebreaker, I don't think that Minnesota
can realistically catch Houston at this point the Lakers and Nuggets,
I don't know if the Rockets can pass either one,

(57:26):
even though they're within a game. The Rockets don't have
the tiebreaker against either, so whether the Rockets climb higher
than the fifth spot they're currently in remains to be seen.
But I do think objectively when you consider incentives, when
you consider the status of rosters. At this moment, the
Nuggets have a friendlier close than the Lakers, and so

(57:47):
be it four five or five four, I think the
Rockets are likely to get the Lakers, and at this point,
that's all you could ask for. And I guess one
final point in this rant before I hand things off
to you, Polo for your closing comments. I had someone
and my Blue Sky mentions asks me, well, wouldn't you
prefer a team that's not the Lakers so that you
could learn more about your young guys? And my answer

(58:08):
to that is, honestly, you'll learn regardless if you win,
you'll then advance to play the Thunder. I guess that's
a slight drawback that you'd be on the side of
the bracket is the Thunder not Spurs, Since now looks
like the Thunder are going to be the one. But
I don't know personally, I could live with losing to
the Thunder more than I could wouldn't be in the Spurs.
That's a different discussion, But I just think that you know,
if you somehow lose to the injury ravaged Lakers, then

(58:30):
that tells you what you need to know. And then
if you beat the Lakers, then okay, you advance to
play the Thunder and you see how your guys perform
under the bright lights against the best of the best.
So even if you get an easier first round, you're
still going to get plenty of data points regardless to
evaluate your young players. So I just don't see any
advantage to playing the Nuggets to the Timberwolves. So bottom line,

(58:51):
I think it's likely to happen. It's not a given,
but I feel pretty good that the Rockets Lakers there's
a better chance than the odds which show you if
that's going to be the first round matchup. POWLO, what's
or what are your deductions as far as what's likely
to happen over these final three games.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
That's a really good point on on the on the
development part of it, I think it's gonna come down
to how fame those teams are willing to be to
try to get their preferred matchup. We've seen like the Nuggets,
like Yogi seems to get up to play Wemby and
that might be a sign of respect, so they might
prefer to play Okay, see unsure about that. The last

(59:29):
two games of the season for them, Yets are the
Thunder and the Spurs. Why believe it might be resting
at that point their seats are you know, by that
point they will know if they're like if both win
their first the next two games, by then the seeding
will be lost. So the last two games for them
will likely be against teams that are resting. Now they
could rest themselves as well, but I guess they have

(59:51):
total control over over if they if they want to
win or or if they want to win. They have
total control over getting the win. Losing might be the
I do think that, as you said, obviously agree on
all fronts. You know, I said last week that I
prefer the Lakers as the matchup. Obviously even more so
now there's an argument I do change. I had the Nuggets,

(01:00:12):
I believe second, and then the Wolves being the last
thing that I wanted to play that flips with them
being hurt and not knowing how he's going to come back,
although I do think that he's hurt part or he's
being rested part or partially because he has no chance
of getting to the sixty five game mark for award anymore.
But there's also the other side of the coin, which
is which one of these teams wants to play the Rockets?

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Do the Nuggets prefer The Nuggets likely prefer playing the
Lakers overplaying the Rockets, I would think, but they basically,
unless they lose all four games, they don't kind of
get a choice in the matter. And for them where
it's especially as they just to have home court for
the first series because well it's Denver, the altitude and

(01:00:57):
everything like that. So then I guess it's about how
the Nuggets handled that decision. And then for the Lakers,
I think the Lakers clearly want to play the Rockets
overplaying the Wolves or the or the Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Yeah, so just beat the Lakers last year or to
your point.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
Well, yes, and then if you if you want to
go down down that path. The Wolves just beat the
Nuggets a couple of years back when they went to
the Conference Finals with the mass So there might the
Nuggets might not want to face the Wolves because of that,
and so they might thank to not get the third
seed because that's like we're going to be versus the Wolves.

(01:01:38):
Who knows so Wolves, we'll know more as as the
week goes along, but like the Lakers might just not
win a single game from here on out the Wolves.
I don't know who has the Tiewreker between them and
the Wolves, but that won't drop them past the five seed.
That would guarantee them to play the four seed, which

(01:01:59):
is likely going to be the Rockets, unless they also
saying in which case we could get to third and
play the Wolves. On the spur side of the brack
Wiles a lot of fermentations, they're still and it's just
pointless to It's it's just pointless to to kind of
elaborate on it without knowing, you know, being inside these team,

(01:02:19):
they knowing who they'd rather play. But what we do
know is the Nuggets. Maybe I'm confusing them with the Jazz, actually,
but I remember either of the or the Jazz being
absolutely shameless in thanking to not face a team with
a few years back. I can't remember. I think it
was a jazz, and I think it was about the Rockets.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
What I'm unsure you're right it was a jazz. Yeah,
I think it was a jazz.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
Anyway, all we can do is control our own side
of it, and what we know is that we'd rather
have home carta Vedas because we're a lot better at
home than we are on the road. So whether it
is against the Wolves, the Nuggets, or the war or
the Lakers, I think we'll try to win our games
and then let chips fall where they may, unless unless

(01:03:04):
we are in full control of our destiny going into
the last game. So let's say in a scenario where
you go into the last game right, then if you win,
you get uncordiated, but if you lose, you can play
two teams, either the Lakers or the Nuggets for example.
I think they'll try to win that game and make
sure they get home court defensive, over risking the outcome
of those two games to decide what their opponent is.

(01:03:26):
So yeah, it's you know, knowing our luck. Luca might
come back and just be straight back net well instantly,
because that's what it does against us. But it's just
very clearly the Lakers are the better. First, they don't
have the pedigree of these other teams throughout the season. Right,
I still don't believe the defense, and I don't really

(01:03:47):
think it needs arguing on that point. But I do
think that the change from last week is that I
had the Wolves as the worst team we could face.
Now I have them as the best. And I will
say to close it out that we cannot so the
Lakers can't drop to six, So we can't have a
three six matchup Rockets Lakers. With the Rockets having home

(01:04:10):
got the Venis as the three seed, the Lakers can
drop that far. But there is still a chance that
the Rockets could get the three seed and face the Suns,
who can still technically jump over the Wolves to get
the sixth seed and avoid the playing guest. The Sums
would have to run the table, which would mean that

(01:04:31):
there are the raft they would have to beat the Rockets,
and if they beat the Rockets, can the Rockets still
get the three seed? Technically?

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
How likely? Is it not that likely? But we can
still be optimistic that that I.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Have And I'll say in closing full disclosure, we're recording
this late Monday with the Nuggets Trailblazers game still in progress,
so the Trailblazers are a playing team, it's not unfathomable
that they could beat Denver. I think Portlan an eight
point underdog. But even if Portland somehow wins this game

(01:05:04):
tonight and they're on the road and an underdog, I
still think that unless there are tanking considerations at play.
To your point, the Nuggets are likely regardless whether they're
tied with the Lakers and the lost column entering tonight,
they're both at twenty eight losses. But even if Denver
is won back Denver's final three games at home against
the tanking Grizzlies and then the thunder and Spurs with

(01:05:27):
nothing to play for and so likely to rest all
of their big guns, I think unless there's some extracurricular
decisions being made in terms of tanking, the Nuggets are
likely to go three to oh to close the season,
regardless of their result against the Trailblazers, which they're favored in,
and the Lakers are likely to lose at least two

(01:05:48):
more games in my opinion, given their injuries. Given the
schedule ahead, they're a virtual lock to lose one since
they'll be playing the Thunder, with the Thunder still having
incentive having not clenched the one seed yet. So I
just think the overwhelming likely scenario is that, regardless, the
Nuggets are likely to pass the Lakers, and we'll see

(01:06:09):
if the Rockets can pass the Lakers as well. That'll
take a sustained run of good form. But regardless, I
think unless some crazy stuff starts to happen in terms
of tanking or injury, something of that in nature, I
think if it plays out the way it should on
the basketball merits, I think I'll wrap up my comments
that way. If it plays out on the basketball mirits,
what we know of these teams and who is available,

(01:06:32):
I think there's a pretty good shot that it's Rockets
Lakers four or five in round one, it would suck,
and that you're likely on the side of the bracket
if the Thunder instead of the Spurs in round two,
because I do think the Thunder are a better team.
Yet I can also stomach losing to the defending champion
Oklahoma City Thunder a lot more than I could losing
to a victor Wimbanyama and ahead of schedule Spurs team.

(01:06:52):
So hate thinking like that, but just being real here
regardless at this point, I think it's just one game
at a time series at the time, and undoubtedly you
have a better opportunity to win games and advance to
the second round if you face the Lakers, and you
can worry about everything else at that point. Anyway, that'll
do it for today's show. I told Powell going in,

(01:07:13):
I wanted to cap it at about forty five minutes.
Should not be surprised at all that I couldn't contain myself,
And now we're over an hour again. But folks, I mean,
that's what we love to do, you know it from
the two of us. And now that it's almost the playoffs,
I mean, how can we stop talking Houston Rockets basketball?
Especially when the playoffs are less than two weeks away
and the team is now twenty games over five hundred

(01:07:33):
for the first time and on its longest winning streak
of the season at six consecutive games. So yeah, we're
a little worried today right on, a little long that's
because we're in a good mood. There's a lot of
fun stuff to talk about, and there will be or
should be. Don't want to get ahead of myself, but
should be in the days and weeks ahead as well. Regardless,
though we will have episodes. Stick with us. We'll be
back I imagine around this same time next week reviewing

(01:07:56):
the first round of the playoffs, Because with the Rockets
locked into the three through sixth range, who they play
will not be contingent on the play in tournament. Last year,
the Rockets had to wait until Golden State secured the
seventh seed to know who they were going to play.
That won't be the case this year, so as soon
as the results go final on Sunday night, and as
far as any tanking, it's worth noting the NBA now

(01:08:16):
has a system similar to European football where all the
final day games I think Major League Baseball now does
this as well. They all start at the same time,
so it's impossible to know going in what's going to
happen in the other games. So that potentially eases some
of the tanking fears, and that teams are probably a
bit less likely to tank if they're uncertain that even

(01:08:39):
if it works out, that it would lead to the
desired outcome. That's the idea to add to the uncertainty,
so you may as well just play. And so regardless
when those games go final on Sunday night around ten pm.
The Rockets will one hundred percent know their opponent, and
so I imagine around this same time next week, Monday
or Tuesday, we'll start breaking down how the Rockets match
up against the Lakes, the Nuggets, the Timberwolves, or to

(01:09:02):
your point, Polo, a very very small chance of the
Phoenix Sun. So take a crazy amount of stuff happening,
but I guess you can't entirely rule it out at
this stage anyway. For now, this is where we'll break
and if you don't more content from us before the
next show, best place to get it is on social media.
My handle is at Bendubo's on Twitter and Blue Sky
Powlo is on x at Palo ALVE's NBA and this

(01:09:23):
show the Rockets Launch Pod. Go to Launch Pods seven
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(01:09:44):
what happens live on the fly as soon as games
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channel for immediate reaction after each of these games goes final.
All right, with those plugs complete, I'll finally journ for
tonight for power Alves. I'm benju Bo's. As always, we
appreciate you so much for listening, and please go back
soon for more new episodes of the Rockets Launch Pod

(01:10:06):
Go Rockets