November 8, 2025 • 30 mins
The five-game winning streak for the Rockets (5-3) is now history after Friday’s 121-110 loss to the Spurs (6-2). The in-state rivalry game served as the opener of Emirates NBA Cup 2025 play for both teams.
Featuring Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, Friday’s ClutchFans Live postgame show breaks down all the key takeaways, including how San Antonio crushed Houston off of turnovers (33 points off 23 giveaways) and subpar defensive rebounding (15 offensive boards for the home team).
The show also highlights a relatively encouraging night for Reed Sheppard (16 points, 6 assists, 60% FG), albeit with some defensive miscues late in the game.
Featuring Ben DuBose and Dave Hardisty, Friday’s ClutchFans Live postgame show breaks down all the key takeaways, including how San Antonio crushed Houston off of turnovers (33 points off 23 giveaways) and subpar defensive rebounding (15 offensive boards for the home team).
The show also highlights a relatively encouraging night for Reed Sheppard (16 points, 6 assists, 60% FG), albeit with some defensive miscues late in the game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in everybody. I wish it was under better circumstances.
Rockets fall tonight one twenty one to one ten in
San Antonio in the opener of the NBA Cup, the
first game of the bracket, which is a very, very
tough bracket for the Rockets. It says they were talking
about in post game the bracket of death. Rockets fall
(00:21):
to the Spurs in what is probably their biggest test
since the Pistons game or maybe even OKC and Ben,
the esteemed Bendubos is here with me.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Ben.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
This was a tough one.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
We wanted this one. We've been talking about it for
probably four games back, five games back. How they would
look against Wenby, how they would you know, match what
you know, the hot start that San Antonio has and
the rebounding was a shock.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, it was, especially on offense with Keldon Johnson having
five offensive boards and keeping several possessions alive. Rockets had
twenty three turnovers, many of them self inflicted. But really
the biggest takeaway I had Dave and it's sort of depressing,
but the Spurs are for real, Like this was a
San Antonio team without Dearn Fox, without Dylan Harper, and
(01:12):
you know, the game got away from the Rockets midway through.
They were outscored thirty six to twelve, from about three
minutes left in the first half to I think midway
through the third quarter, and you know, some of the
point guard issues were on display, but down the stretch
of the game, the Rockets really worked. I thought all
for In Shongoon in particular late in the third early
in the fourth quarter did some big things, like his
(01:34):
motor was on high. He did get into foul trouble,
but when he was out there, he made some things happen.
Kd even with the eight turnovers, there was a stretch
where he caught fire in the second half and the
Rockets got back within one oh three to one hundred
with like seven minutes left, and it felt like, Okay,
this is one of those games. Each team's going to
make their runs. And then you're the Rockets with Kevin Durant.
The Spurs they don't even have a point guard. Now
(01:55):
I know the Rockets don't, but neither did the Spurs tonight,
and so in theory that should offset. You have Kevin Durant,
you have all per Inched and Goon. I know they
have Wimby, but you have at least two top shelf playmakers.
And you know, what I was thinking midway through the
fourth quarter was that the Rockets, with their experience and
their additional playmaking, should be able to figure this out.
(02:16):
But down the stretch of that game, the Spurs got
basically every shot they wanted. Like Harrison Barnes, it was
ridiculous how many open threes he was getting made six
on the night, so many throughout the game were just
wide open looks from the corners. And yeah, the Spurs
made a lot of threes at volume, but they were
good looks. They were in rhythm. Wenby deserves a lot
(02:36):
of credit, obviously for the attention that he draws. He's
improved as a passer throughout his career, But for the
Spurs to do that without Dylan Harper, without Dearn Fox
down the stretch against the Rockets like as tough as
the Western Conferences, and you know, I'm not going to
blow one game out of proportion, Like there's a lot
of things the Rockets can clean up, But we knew
in terms of the ultimate goal of contending for a
(02:56):
title this year, the thunder are going nowhere. The Denver
Nugget should be really good to me. The San Antonio
Spurs made a statement tonight that barring a Wimby injury,
they're gonna be relevant. Like this is not a team
that started five to zero and is going to fade
back to the pack. Now. I was just so impressed,
and you know, the Rockets are going to focus on
all the things that they can control. You know, Imo
(03:18):
U Dokin this postgame press conference talked about you know,
getting out hustled and the Spurs out tough them. But
I also think they got they just got out executed.
Like when it mattered in the half court, the Rockets
defense was just slashed and it looked nothing like the
top five defense we saw a year ago. So you
posted some comments on the screen about the zone and
(03:38):
that didn't help. But at the same time, I feel like,
what is he may going to do until they get
Doriannfinny Smith back, because without DFS, without fred Van Fleet,
like it's tough for them to run a conventional lineup
with five players that are going to be good enough offensively.
You know, they they can run five good defenders, but
they're not going to be good enough offensively, And so
if you go with the types of guys that will
(03:59):
give you a chance to score, then there's gonna be
a tradeoff. And so without Fred, without DFS, it's just
you know, yeah, they went a little bit too much
zone for my liking. Reid got exposed in a couple
of possessions later, although he was great for the game overall.
Steven Adams it was not his best game, But I
just come out of it thinking like what else could
he may realistically have done? They just they didn't have
(04:20):
the horses and the Spurs just exposed them down the stretch.
To me, that's the biggest takeaway. Like, I know, the
middle of the game was frustrating, but the Rockets spot back.
It was anybody's game. It'd go through the fourth quarter
and then the the Spurs just sliced and diced them
down the stretch of that game.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, definitely some things that that stick out to me
about this game. Rebounding was was such a key part.
Keldon Johnson couldn't couldn't keep him off the offensive glass.
Stefan Castle got two big offensive rebounds on the fourth quarter,
and the second chance points they got destroyed their thirty
three to twenty one you know, Emo Udoka talked after
the game, by the way, he looked stone faced, he
(04:55):
looked angry. They asked him point blank, if you know
Shangun got ano foul trouble in the third quarter, picked
up his fourth foul I think midway through the third
sat out for a good stretch as a result, And
they asked him if that you know how much that
took him out of what he wanted to do offensively,
and he just he just looked stone cold and was
like it didn't And that's the silence afterwards, and it's
(05:17):
like he's not happy. I think obviously you hoped to
have that upgrade with Katie and he obviously is offensively
and you have you came into this game with the
number one offense. It has worked extremely well. Defensively, You've
improved over the last you know, the last few games,
you've moved up. But Ime Udoka's calling card is defense.
(05:37):
And for some of those wide open threes, staggering Champagne
or Barnes. You know, there was that one play in
the fourth quarter, and you know, part of this is
also read Shepherd being a little bit inexperienced. Read Shepherd
was terrific tonight. I'm not picking on him. I'm just
saying there was a play I think where both Reid
and Shanngon went after the ball handler and Barns got
(06:01):
the pass was so wide open. He did basically a
James Harden on Wesley Johnson type of thing where he
just was gonna shoot it and he's like, wait, no stop,
I'm going to reposition, I'm gonna set, and he just
took all they drained it and it just really, to
me was kind of a little bit embarrassing to the
point where you're like, if they're giving up these open threes,
teams are going to build knock these down, and if
(06:22):
you match the physicality of the Rockets. Rockets are have
been terrific from three, but they're not shooting high volume
of them. They're going with kdie and mid range. They're
going with Shngun in the post, a man on cuts.
They're trying to beat you with a lot of twos
in lower volume threes. So if a team matches your
rebounding and as far as the Rockets are concerned, and
(06:43):
you know, shoots effectively from three, they're going to beat
the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, and tonight you look at the three point discrepancy.
The Spurs made eighteen to the Rockets thirteen, even though
the Rockets shot, well, look if you give up forty
percent on threes to a team that gets off forty
five with them, And it wasn't like the Rockets made
bad shoot or shoot No. I mean Barnes and Champagnee
had six apiece, Devin Bissell had four. So that's fourteen
(07:08):
between those three guys. Like, those three starters for the
Spurs outshot the entire Rockets team in terms of made threes.
And so I'm right there with you in terms of
watching Emay postgame, I thought like this has to really
sting for him because we know what his identity is
as a coach, and for all that team's flaws last year,
(07:28):
they did reflect his identity. I'm not saying that this
team can't, but it's going to take a while, and
it may take until at least Striyan Phinny Smith comes back,
because right now, what they have to turn to to
be able to execute late in a close game, it
really costs them on the defensive end. And yeah, we
can netpick here, and they're sure there was some sloppy
turnovers and maybe they should have played Clint Cappella Moore.
(07:50):
I thought he looked really good in the first half.
And then you know, Steven Adams was out there when
they got destroyed late in the second half, and I
or late in the second quarter, and then I don't
think Capella played in the second half at all. Like
there's little things you can question like that, but by
and large, look, the Spurs got the shots they wanted.
They destroyed the Rockets from a math perspective. And I
also thought, you know, one of the big questions with
(08:10):
the Spurs, we talked about their overall youth and you
know the obvious story line of ken wenby stay healthy.
They have a relatively unproven coach in Mitt Johnson. I
thought he looked tremendous tonight. Down the stretch of that game,
especially coming out of timeouts, the Spurs looked very composed.
Quite frankly, they looked a lot more composed than the
Rockets did. Like I do agree like the narrative that
(08:31):
stan Ven Gundi was pushing on the Prime broadcast about
the Rockets not having a point guard. I mean, there's
some truth in that. Although Reid did play really well.
Now the question becomes when Reid is in, is he
going to get targeted defensively, which he was down the
stretch of that game a little bit. But I also
thought a lot of the turnovers, it wasn't like the
Rockets couldn't handle the ball and were just getting picked
in the half court or in the back court. Excuse me, No,
(08:53):
it was in the half court that they were just making,
you know, poor reeds, poor decisions. I saw so many
possession especially in the first half, where you know, Amn
Thompson and KD would leave their feet and turn the
ball over because they left their feet without a clear plan.
And I think a lot of games, you know, there'd
be you know, an outlet valve that they could turn to,
(09:16):
but that wasn't there with Wemby, So when the primary
read wasn't available, and then you don't have that big
you can kick it too as a security blanket because
when Wemby's six spot seven five, excuse me, I mean,
it just gets really difficult. And you know, could some
of that be improved if you had Fred bin Fleet
out there, of course, But at the same time, it's like, look, man,
(09:39):
you're going to get the ball to Kevin Durant and
he's going to draw doubles because he's Kevin Durant. He
needs to just be smarter a men. Thompson has drawn praise.
Look at what Steve Nash said about in pregame, one
of the best point guards in the NBA history. Look
at what Jason Kidds said the other night. I thought
he was disappointing tonight, making plays going towards the basket
like a point guard would. But some of this is
(10:01):
just the guys they have need to be better and weren't.
And you know, some of it's on the personnelity. You know,
guys need to play better. I also thought, you know,
the Rockets didn't look as prepared as the Spurs were.
And that's that's another thing, Like it's not me saying
I have anything, you know, negative to say about Mitch Johnson.
He's just so unproven that that the obvious question is, hey,
(10:23):
can the team with a relatively novice coach compete at
the highest level. I don't know. It's one game out
of eighty two. There's no reason to act like this
is representative. But it's just one of many areas that
the Spurs looked very, very legit and the Rockets took
yet another close loss to a good team.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, you know, and I gotta say it really was
I don't want to say it was tail of two
halves because it really started late in the second quarter.
But the Rockets were roughing up. I thought the Spurs
playing them quite well. Rockets built the lead. I think
it might have got to eleven. They were released up
by ten and kind of filled in control. They sure
enough put Josha koge on Wenby to start the game,
(11:00):
and we talked about that and kind of thought that
would be the case, and he was very effective. Wemby
at one point, I think early by early third quarter
was minus eighteen when he was on the court, which
is staggering because he's been, you know, the key to
their defense, like something like a twenty point swing in
defensive net rating for the Spurs when he's on the floor.
(11:20):
But it was the total opposite. But the Rockets had
a double digit lead closed to the quarter. The Spurs
did the second quarter the half twelve zero run, which
was really disappointing, and then it just continued into the
early third quarter. You know, Katie, I'm just going to
name a few different things. Obviously, the eight turnovers. Jabari
(11:41):
was probably the only guy rebounding, but at the same
time did not have a good game. Was minus nineteen
in his twenty six minutes. I don't believe, I know
he didn't play the fourth I don't think we saw him.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I had to go back a couple of shots in
the third quarter he should have made, and it just
felt like it wasn't his night.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
It wasn't two for six from the field. Shengun definitely
stepped up later in the game. I think he might
have had seventeen of his twenty five. Maybe it was nineteen,
but actually I think it was nineteen of his twenty
five in the second half. He did help the Rockets
get to within three before the Spurs pulled away. I'm
(12:14):
just gonna say this about Shnghun. We gave him so
much praise after that Okay, see game because he had
made that leap from three point range. Five of eight
in that game was awesome and I was just like, Wow,
this this changes my view of Shanghun. A game like
this where Wemby's sagging off of him and he's got
that shot he took six tonight, He's won for six overall,
(12:34):
he won at the end of the third quarter. He's
now five of nineteen from three since that game. Gotta
see this be a real thing and not slip back
into what you know, if he wants to be up
there with you know, pass the bonus and up towards Jokic,
he's got to add a free point shot, a good one.
They can't leave him open. He had some good moments,
(12:55):
but overall just not you know, his most efficient night.
And of course I'm meant four for twelve from the field.
Let's talk about one really good silver lining and that
was Reed Shepherd. I apologize I had all the clips together.
I've had some technical difficulties. I don't have them to play.
But boy, in the first half, I mean, I was
(13:16):
my mind was blown. Wemby was you know, like I said,
I think at halftime or something like that, negative seventeen,
Reid was leading the Rockets at plus thirteen when he
was on the floor and making good plays. If you
want to see what the vision is for Reed Shepherd
that watched this game defensively, Sure, there's a few things,
(13:36):
you know that have come up, and they're not going away.
They're going to have to get better. But his offense
tonight was terrific, you know, and so he showed you
a little bit of the vision of what this guy
could be. And that's on the heels of the last
game where he was pretty darn good. So hopefully this
is the start of something on the upswing for Reed Shepherd.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, I was sort of blown away by I'm trying
to call it up right now, but the San Antonio
Express News columnists he posted during the game, Mike Finger
Reach Shepherd lost track of Stephan Castle on two big
possessions in a row, and I'm sure whoever is in
charge of Houston's drafts feels great about that. I mean,
that's true, he did lose him on two possessions, but
(14:19):
I mean, Reach sheperd was the only reason why the
Rockets weren't blown out in this game. I mean, without him,
it's probably not even close. So, you know, steph Castle
has definitely been a better player overall in terms of
a little over a year into their NBA careers to
this point. I mean, that's completely fair to say. But
as we've discussed before, there's also some wildly different circumstances
here as far as Tonight's game. Yeah, I don't think
(14:40):
that should be anywhere near or it shouldn't be a
storyline at all. Really, I mean because Reid, even with
some of the low lights late in the game where
he got picked on on the balance, he was the
only reason why the Rockets were competitive. And this is
why the Rockets, even with you know, we've talked about
how to this point in the season of the nine
rotation players, he had the lowest net rating. Now that's
not going to be the case in tonight's box where
(15:02):
I think he was plus eight in his minutes. But
tonight is why the Rockets have given him a longer leash.
This is not like last year where you know, he
had a slow start and he made Joka turned to
Aaron Holliday trying to grind out games. No, like they
have no choice but to play him even if the
results aren't that great in a given game. He can
(15:24):
do some things that no one else on this roster,
especially without fredin Fleet, can do. So if you want
to get the best version of the Rockets by April
and May, you need the version of Reed Shepherd that
you had tonight, at least offensively and then hopefully defensively
he improves between now and then, But the only way
he's going to get better defensively, and the only way
he's going to stay confident enough to keep shooting the
(15:46):
way he did tonight is if he plays. And so
I think, you know, Tonight's the kind of game that
you file away throughout the year when if it's a
game where Reid's missing his threes and he's getting picked
on a little bit, it becomes easy to say, why
don't they why don't they give Aaron Holliday a look?
This is why, because Reid has a gear. Even if
in some games you know he's costing them at the
(16:09):
same time, you just have to grin and bear it
because the upside is worth it. He can get to
spots on the floor and make shots and handle the
ball like he has a unique combination of traits that
no one else on this current roster has. And so
I think tonight's reminder beyond just the fact they looked
really good on the big stage. You know, you always
want to see in a spotlight game like this, who
steps up, who embraces the moment I thought he did,
(16:32):
And so that's always encouraging. But beyond that, I just
think it justified why Reid has a long leash, why
you have to continue to play him, because to get
the best version of the Rockets, like, you have to
have him, Like it can't be said enough, Like they
get blown out in this game in my opinion, if
they don't have Reed Shepherd, Like he was the band
aid in the middle two quarters of that game that
(16:54):
kept them afloat when the Spurs were otherwise just just
effort out, efforting them and just dominating them cross the board.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, and this is a guy we've talked about this
before that the Rockets think could be special. They've they
believed in him highly in the draft obviously famously, hre
Felstone was saying, you know, if we didn't get Reid,
we were going to trade out or trade down. You know,
I think it's the right course of action as well.
I think you could you could play Holiday, or you
could get something else that could maybe help you. Right now,
(17:22):
I think the Rockets feel like, hey, this is a
good enough team. They're going to make the playoffs. We
need Reed Shepherd to grow up fast. Fred van Vliet
being out all year, it's accelerated the timeline and he's
thrust into a role that I don't think they expected
him to have, but he played key fourth quarter minutes
to that tonight, and yeah, it's a balance, you know,
Like there was no doubt that him being out there,
(17:44):
that the defense had a weak link on some of
the rotations, no question, But he was so good offensively.
You pointed out, it's the only guy in the box
played more than six minutes that was positive in the
plus minus time. He was plus eight in his twenty
six minutes. So overall, big kudos for reach Epperd. I
think you have to live with some of the defensive
(18:06):
stuff for a while, so yeah, I'm quite happy with him.
It's interesting that it came against Stephan Castle. Castle really
wasn't having that great of a game, but did, like
I said, point out or as a point out earlier,
had those two big offensive rebounds late that just kind
of broke the Rockets back the second chance opportunities. But
that's where I was most surprised. I guess I shouldn't be.
(18:27):
The Rockets were number one and rebounding rate coming into
this game, the Spurs right behind them number two, so
for them to match them. I don't remember what the
actual final total was looks like it was forty oh
they were even dead even on rebounding forty nine forty nine.
But the Spurs just, you know, when they shot so
high of a volume from three and they can outshoot
you as a result of matching that rebounding a battle,
(18:49):
even with the Rockets going thirteen of twenty seven from three,
which is a blistering percentage, they just shot so many
more of those threes and the Rockets didn't get didn't
beat them by volume on shots, and that's how they lost.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, and you know, there's a good comment from the chat.
The problem is Read or Steven or such liabilities that
you have to play zone. We need dfs so that
we can switch everything again. Yeah, I mean I think
that's a lot of what we saw in this game
and the offensive read, especially tonight, when so many guys
are struggling to shoot. Like I'm not saying it was
(19:22):
a mistake to play him, absolutely not, but like in
the big picture, like how can the Rockets get back
to the version that we saw last year? And I
really think this is killing Imo Udoka. I mean a
lot of it is personnel, because you know, if you
accept that premise and I think there's a lot of
truth in it that you're giving up a lot defensively
and there's clear areas to target. If it's either Read
(19:42):
or the double Big, and sometimes both, then you basically
amongst the nine consistent rotation players, you only have six
guys you can trust, the five starters and Tarry Eason.
And so you look at the shooting tonight. You mentioned
Jabari was two of six. Shoon and KD were okay,
but both were below fifty percent. A Men was just
(20:03):
four to twelve. Josha Kogi, you know he did go
four to seven, but no one's going to say Josha
Coggi is an offensive creator and if you need him
to be, something's going wrong. Tarry Eathen, he was good
off the bench, made three or four threes, four to
six overall. But the point is you only have six guys.
So until Dorian Phinney Smith comes back. If if you're
in a spot where it's difficult to play Read or
(20:26):
the double Big, then there's only so many guys that
you can turn to unless you want to, you know,
throw in Jayshan Tate or Aaron Holliday off the scrap
heap something like that. So I think a lot of
it's just personnel, Like the Rockets just sort of made
the choice, and it's hard to argue with then, like
when we saw because most of what happened, like when
they saw the eleven point lead go away with that
twelve nothing run at the end of the first half,
(20:48):
and then the start of the third quarter, like basically
like a twenty point swing in about nine game minutes.
Well most of it was without Reed Shepherd. So I
do buy into the premise that defend of warts and all,
you had to ride with Reed tonight. But in general,
in terms of how do you fix the defense, I mean,
at least against very good teams, I don't know that
(21:09):
you can now. If now, when you're playing some one
dimensional teams, which you know the Rockets have in recent games,
then you can sort of, you know, funnel it to
weaker guys and try to mitigate and hide your you know,
your weak spots. But against good teams there's not a
clear answer, at least until you get Dorriy and Phonny
Smith back. It's just your sort of dan if you
(21:29):
do dan if you don't, And it's hard for me
to say that, oh, they would have been better if
they had stuck to you know, the six true what
you would call two way guys. Know, if anything, you
might have been worse based on how bad the offense was.
That stretches tonight.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, and Rockets really don't have much time to rest
here there on the road. They go to Milwaukee, they
play Sunday afternoon. I got to give a mention to
Turry easton again because it's still eye popping to me.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Ben.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I know we talked about this last game, but three
of four from three to and I believe that's his
fifth game Tory East and his fifth game this year
already through what is this? This was the eighth game
I believe I'm going on, Yeah, eighth game where he's
hit three or more triples and insanely efficient. He's got
to be pushing sixty percent after tonight from three so
(22:15):
far there will be a regression to the mean and
just flat out He's not Steph Curry times two. But
I mean, he looks amazing. Could this guy shoot forty
percent from three this year? That would be fantastic given
what his defense is, and you know, obviously bet on himself.
He's looking like a great bet for him, So far. Yeah,
I mean, oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
We do need to mention Withtari. He only had two
rebounds and he was the guy that was victimized by
Keldon Johnson several times on those second chance possessions. And
really I thought, overall, you know, maybe it's early in
the season, but the Rockets, for whatever reason, looked not
as athletic across the board as the Spurs. You know,
you look at you mentioned the rebounding overall was a draw,
(22:57):
which is a little bit disappointing for the Rockets team
that you know was tops in the league going in.
But KD had one rebound, Joshua Kogi had three, Tarry
Easton had two, Reed Shepherd had zero. Now the latter
is completely understandable because read the smallest sky on the floor.
But the other three between Tari, Kogi, and KD combining
for just three rebound six rebounds, that's a problem when
(23:23):
those are the types of you know, in theory you
say those are two way players, like we discussed a
couple of minutes ago, the merits of you know, playing
Reed or the double big versus the trade off when
you go double big with what you give up in
three point volume. Well, if you go the two way route,
then you need to be able to rebound better than that,
(23:44):
or even if you do get the first stop, then
other teams are going to do what Keldon Johnson did tonight,
And so that's another thing. It's a little thing. Hopefully.
You know, Tari has been a good rebounding in the past,
so I'm clined to believe that for whatever reason, just
an off night. But but it was harmful. I'll just
say that.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, I all around frustrating. I gives you a little
bit of concern about the Rockets in the playoffs. Not
saying that they can't succeed. Is a long time to
go before we get there. But you know, they're they're
They've faced three really physical teams that have kind of uh,
I guess you say match the Rockets physicality. I'd say
they're owing three in those games. The one good news
(24:20):
is I believe the Raptors won tonight, which means the
Rockets do have one win this season against an above
five hundred team. You brought it, yes, and you know,
let's see how this goes from here. But there are
going to be some tougher matchups. You've got Orlando on
the schedule coming up, You've got Cleveland coming up, You've
got Milwaukee on Sunday. Anything you're looking for in that
(24:41):
game because you do have Yiannis, uh, you know against Shnghun.
I guess we'll say, you know, And and Yannis is
a guy who you know, was talked about in the
summer as possibly being a rocket target that did didn't
even happen because he didn't even pursue a trade. What
are you looking for in that particular matchup on Sunday?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, I mean Milwaukee is a team that has a
lot of length and athleticism. Obviously Giannis and Miles Turner
on the front line. I'm looking at their stats from tonight.
They beat the Bulls, who were off to a good start,
and they routed the Bulls tonight one twenty six to
one ten. They had fifty three rebounds, and so that's
just a little thing. Look, the Rockets a big part
of why they were the number one offense. We'll see
(25:22):
if they still are they. I suspect they might slip
because the advantage was was getting sliced a little bit
in recent games, and this was not a great one,
especially in the half court. So it might be two
or three after night after tonight. We'll have to see
when the ratings update. But I just thought the rebounding
was not where it needed to be. And people think
of it in terms of second chance possessions when you're
(25:44):
on defense, but also offensively. They didn't get the offensive
boards that were used to seeing from them, and so
it's not a back to back, but it is an
early game on Sunday. I think they you know, they
put a lot into tonight, and so I'm really looking,
you know those guys I mentioned, like KD, Joshua Koge,
Tarry Easton, do they have a little bit more pep
(26:05):
in their step than they did tonight. Did Steven Adams
play better? I thought, you know, he's coming up the
hip flex or strain. Maybe that was a factor tonight.
But I didn't think he was as aggressive on the
boards as he normally is. You know the first thing
that Wemby said postgame, if you listen to his interview,
he talked about, you know, they did a good job
against Steven Adams. I thought, that's notehere they unsolicited. That
(26:26):
was the first guy that he brought up, and so
Steven not as impactful tonight. Maybe that's injury related. Maybe
it's just the matchup, maybe it's a bad night. I
don't know, but I just want to see, like can
the Rockets get back to, you know, foundationally who they
are or at least who Emo Udoka wants them to be,
to go full circle. That's why I think this game
was so troubling is that it's not Emo Udoka ball
(26:48):
at all. Like they were beaten in the specific areas
that he wants his teams to excel in and they
did the complete opposite tonight. And the Bucks are not
an identical team to the Spurs, but with Giannis and Wemby,
there are some similarities. Miles Turner has some length on
that front line as well. So not saying it's an
apples to apples, but it's not like a total apples
or oranges either. So I want to see what the
(27:08):
Rockets do differently, And you know, bottom line, like the
Rockets are going to say in all their quotes, like
they're going to single out effort as the issue because
that's within their control. Like you're never going to hear
or rarely hear postgame, you know, these hat tips from
coaches or players because they're trained to think, what can
we control if we just focus on our effort and
(27:31):
everything that's within our control, what could improve the bottom line?
And there's some truth in that, like that's probably the
right way to look at it from a coaching perspective,
but in terms of like just us looking at it,
you know more practically, you know how much of it
is effort and how much of it is the Rockets
just being sort of structurally compromised and against these types
(27:52):
of opponents not having enough on the defensive end of
the floor, at least until they get Dorian and Phinney
Smith back. I don't know the answer to that, but
a good showing on some day on the road would
have me feeling a little bit better. So hopefully we
see that absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And I just wanted to address this one comment in
the chat, Jay says, why did Jabari play at the end?
I may did say in the press conference he never
singled out Jabari, He never singles out of any specific player,
but just said he was looking for some you know,
a combination that would you know, bring the physicality. Obviously
he wasn't, you know, super thrilled with Jabari. I don't
think at that point in time and I don't. I
(28:25):
didn't necessarily see something in Jabari's play. I did have
a clip that I posted where I thought he played
a really good defense on Sohon driving, But obviously, you
know the box was minus seventeen, minus nineteen, whatever it
was when he was in. I don't want to single
out Jabari as that being the sole reason, but you know,
something that IM did not like, So that's my guess.
(28:48):
I don't know. Obviously, I think Jabari will probably use
that as motivation, knowing knowing him and how he is,
and I think he'll come out against Milwaukee running that
down at the you know, Rockets are going to finish
the road trip there at Milwaukee, They'll they'll come back
home for a three game stam Wizards. Then the next
NBA Cup game will be a week from today, will
be the Blazers, and that's no easy out.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
That is a tough Nuggets last week.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, very tough team. And then you've got the Magic
as well there. Then the Rockets go back on the
road to play the Calves, and then they'll play the
Nuggets at Toyota Center in the in a Cup game
as well. So it's it's gonna be fun we had
a nice little stretch of some cream puffs, and now
we're gonna see the Rockets face some really tough teams
and hopefully they'll you know, better results than tonight. But
(29:35):
we will see what happens on Sunday against Milwaukee, against
Giannis and Miles Turners, you point out, So Ben appreciate
you doing this. We might be a little bit later
after the game, maybe half hour hour after the game.
We'll probably have Palo Alves with us on that game
as well on Sunday, so we hope to see you all. Then,
unfortunate outcome tonight with the Rockets losing, but you know,
(29:56):
snapping a five game win streak, but let's see if
they can get back on track on Sunday. So appreciate
all of you. Have a great rest of your night.
Welcome in everybody. I wish it was under better circumstances.
Rockets fall tonight one twenty one to one ten in
San Antonio in the opener of the NBA Cup, the
first game of the bracket, which is a very, very
tough bracket for the Rockets. It says they were talking
about in post game the bracket of death. Rockets fall
(00:21):
to the Spurs in what is probably their biggest test
since the Pistons game or maybe even OKC and Ben,
the esteemed Bendubos is here with me.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Ben.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
This was a tough one.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
We wanted this one. We've been talking about it for
probably four games back, five games back. How they would
look against Wenby, how they would you know, match what
you know, the hot start that San Antonio has and
the rebounding was a shock.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, it was, especially on offense with Keldon Johnson having
five offensive boards and keeping several possessions alive. Rockets had
twenty three turnovers, many of them self inflicted. But really
the biggest takeaway I had Dave and it's sort of depressing,
but the Spurs are for real, Like this was a
San Antonio team without Dearn Fox, without Dylan Harper, and
(01:12):
you know, the game got away from the Rockets midway through.
They were outscored thirty six to twelve, from about three
minutes left in the first half to I think midway
through the third quarter, and you know, some of the
point guard issues were on display, but down the stretch
of the game, the Rockets really worked. I thought all
for In Shongoon in particular late in the third early
in the fourth quarter did some big things, like his
(01:34):
motor was on high. He did get into foul trouble,
but when he was out there, he made some things happen.
Kd even with the eight turnovers, there was a stretch
where he caught fire in the second half and the
Rockets got back within one oh three to one hundred
with like seven minutes left, and it felt like, Okay,
this is one of those games. Each team's going to
make their runs. And then you're the Rockets with Kevin Durant.
The Spurs they don't even have a point guard. Now
(01:55):
I know the Rockets don't, but neither did the Spurs tonight,
and so in theory that should offset. You have Kevin Durant,
you have all per Inched and Goon. I know they
have Wimby, but you have at least two top shelf playmakers.
And you know, what I was thinking midway through the
fourth quarter was that the Rockets, with their experience and
their additional playmaking, should be able to figure this out.
(02:16):
But down the stretch of that game, the Spurs got
basically every shot they wanted. Like Harrison Barnes, it was
ridiculous how many open threes he was getting made six
on the night, so many throughout the game were just
wide open looks from the corners. And yeah, the Spurs
made a lot of threes at volume, but they were
good looks. They were in rhythm. Wenby deserves a lot
(02:36):
of credit, obviously for the attention that he draws. He's
improved as a passer throughout his career, But for the
Spurs to do that without Dylan Harper, without Dearn Fox
down the stretch against the Rockets like as tough as
the Western Conferences, and you know, I'm not going to
blow one game out of proportion, Like there's a lot
of things the Rockets can clean up, But we knew
in terms of the ultimate goal of contending for a
(02:56):
title this year, the thunder are going nowhere. The Denver
Nugget should be really good to me. The San Antonio
Spurs made a statement tonight that barring a Wimby injury,
they're gonna be relevant. Like this is not a team
that started five to zero and is going to fade
back to the pack. Now. I was just so impressed,
and you know, the Rockets are going to focus on
all the things that they can control. You know, Imo
(03:18):
U Dokin this postgame press conference talked about you know,
getting out hustled and the Spurs out tough them. But
I also think they got they just got out executed.
Like when it mattered in the half court, the Rockets
defense was just slashed and it looked nothing like the
top five defense we saw a year ago. So you
posted some comments on the screen about the zone and
(03:38):
that didn't help. But at the same time, I feel like,
what is he may going to do until they get
Doriannfinny Smith back, because without DFS, without fred Van Fleet,
like it's tough for them to run a conventional lineup
with five players that are going to be good enough offensively.
You know, they they can run five good defenders, but
they're not going to be good enough offensively, And so
if you go with the types of guys that will
(03:59):
give you a chance to score, then there's gonna be
a tradeoff. And so without Fred, without DFS, it's just
you know, yeah, they went a little bit too much
zone for my liking. Reid got exposed in a couple
of possessions later, although he was great for the game overall.
Steven Adams it was not his best game, But I
just come out of it thinking like what else could
he may realistically have done? They just they didn't have
(04:20):
the horses and the Spurs just exposed them down the stretch.
To me, that's the biggest takeaway. Like, I know, the
middle of the game was frustrating, but the Rockets spot back.
It was anybody's game. It'd go through the fourth quarter
and then the the Spurs just sliced and diced them
down the stretch of that game.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, definitely some things that that stick out to me
about this game. Rebounding was was such a key part.
Keldon Johnson couldn't couldn't keep him off the offensive glass.
Stefan Castle got two big offensive rebounds on the fourth quarter,
and the second chance points they got destroyed their thirty
three to twenty one you know, Emo Udoka talked after
the game, by the way, he looked stone faced, he
(04:55):
looked angry. They asked him point blank, if you know
Shangun got ano foul trouble in the third quarter, picked
up his fourth foul I think midway through the third
sat out for a good stretch as a result, And
they asked him if that you know how much that
took him out of what he wanted to do offensively,
and he just he just looked stone cold and was
like it didn't And that's the silence afterwards, and it's
(05:17):
like he's not happy. I think obviously you hoped to
have that upgrade with Katie and he obviously is offensively
and you have you came into this game with the
number one offense. It has worked extremely well. Defensively, You've
improved over the last you know, the last few games,
you've moved up. But Ime Udoka's calling card is defense.
(05:37):
And for some of those wide open threes, staggering Champagne
or Barnes. You know, there was that one play in
the fourth quarter, and you know, part of this is
also read Shepherd being a little bit inexperienced. Read Shepherd
was terrific tonight. I'm not picking on him. I'm just
saying there was a play I think where both Reid
and Shanngon went after the ball handler and Barns got
(06:01):
the pass was so wide open. He did basically a
James Harden on Wesley Johnson type of thing where he
just was gonna shoot it and he's like, wait, no stop,
I'm going to reposition, I'm gonna set, and he just
took all they drained it and it just really, to
me was kind of a little bit embarrassing to the
point where you're like, if they're giving up these open threes,
teams are going to build knock these down, and if
(06:22):
you match the physicality of the Rockets. Rockets are have
been terrific from three, but they're not shooting high volume
of them. They're going with kdie and mid range. They're
going with Shngun in the post, a man on cuts.
They're trying to beat you with a lot of twos
in lower volume threes. So if a team matches your
rebounding and as far as the Rockets are concerned, and
(06:43):
you know, shoots effectively from three, they're going to beat
the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, and tonight you look at the three point discrepancy.
The Spurs made eighteen to the Rockets thirteen, even though
the Rockets shot, well, look if you give up forty
percent on threes to a team that gets off forty
five with them, And it wasn't like the Rockets made
bad shoot or shoot No. I mean Barnes and Champagnee
had six apiece, Devin Bissell had four. So that's fourteen
(07:08):
between those three guys. Like, those three starters for the
Spurs outshot the entire Rockets team in terms of made threes.
And so I'm right there with you in terms of
watching Emay postgame, I thought like this has to really
sting for him because we know what his identity is
as a coach, and for all that team's flaws last year,
(07:28):
they did reflect his identity. I'm not saying that this
team can't, but it's going to take a while, and
it may take until at least Striyan Phinny Smith comes back,
because right now, what they have to turn to to
be able to execute late in a close game, it
really costs them on the defensive end. And yeah, we
can netpick here, and they're sure there was some sloppy
turnovers and maybe they should have played Clint Cappella Moore.
(07:50):
I thought he looked really good in the first half.
And then you know, Steven Adams was out there when
they got destroyed late in the second half, and I
or late in the second quarter, and then I don't
think Capella played in the second half at all. Like
there's little things you can question like that, but by
and large, look, the Spurs got the shots they wanted.
They destroyed the Rockets from a math perspective. And I
also thought, you know, one of the big questions with
(08:10):
the Spurs, we talked about their overall youth and you
know the obvious story line of ken wenby stay healthy.
They have a relatively unproven coach in Mitt Johnson. I
thought he looked tremendous tonight. Down the stretch of that game,
especially coming out of timeouts, the Spurs looked very composed.
Quite frankly, they looked a lot more composed than the
Rockets did. Like I do agree like the narrative that
(08:31):
stan Ven Gundi was pushing on the Prime broadcast about
the Rockets not having a point guard. I mean, there's
some truth in that. Although Reid did play really well.
Now the question becomes when Reid is in, is he
going to get targeted defensively, which he was down the
stretch of that game a little bit. But I also
thought a lot of the turnovers, it wasn't like the
Rockets couldn't handle the ball and were just getting picked
in the half court or in the back court. Excuse me, No,
(08:53):
it was in the half court that they were just making,
you know, poor reeds, poor decisions. I saw so many
possession especially in the first half, where you know, Amn
Thompson and KD would leave their feet and turn the
ball over because they left their feet without a clear plan.
And I think a lot of games, you know, there'd
be you know, an outlet valve that they could turn to,
(09:16):
but that wasn't there with Wemby, So when the primary
read wasn't available, and then you don't have that big
you can kick it too as a security blanket because
when Wemby's six spot seven five, excuse me, I mean,
it just gets really difficult. And you know, could some
of that be improved if you had Fred bin Fleet
out there, of course, But at the same time, it's like, look, man,
(09:39):
you're going to get the ball to Kevin Durant and
he's going to draw doubles because he's Kevin Durant. He
needs to just be smarter a men. Thompson has drawn praise.
Look at what Steve Nash said about in pregame, one
of the best point guards in the NBA history. Look
at what Jason Kidds said the other night. I thought
he was disappointing tonight, making plays going towards the basket
like a point guard would. But some of this is
(10:01):
just the guys they have need to be better and weren't.
And you know, some of it's on the personnelity. You know,
guys need to play better. I also thought, you know,
the Rockets didn't look as prepared as the Spurs were.
And that's that's another thing, Like it's not me saying
I have anything, you know, negative to say about Mitch Johnson.
He's just so unproven that that the obvious question is, hey,
(10:23):
can the team with a relatively novice coach compete at
the highest level. I don't know. It's one game out
of eighty two. There's no reason to act like this
is representative. But it's just one of many areas that
the Spurs looked very, very legit and the Rockets took
yet another close loss to a good team.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, you know, and I gotta say it really was
I don't want to say it was tail of two
halves because it really started late in the second quarter.
But the Rockets were roughing up. I thought the Spurs
playing them quite well. Rockets built the lead. I think
it might have got to eleven. They were released up
by ten and kind of filled in control. They sure
enough put Josha koge on Wenby to start the game,
(11:00):
and we talked about that and kind of thought that
would be the case, and he was very effective. Wemby
at one point, I think early by early third quarter
was minus eighteen when he was on the court, which
is staggering because he's been, you know, the key to
their defense, like something like a twenty point swing in
defensive net rating for the Spurs when he's on the floor.
(11:20):
But it was the total opposite. But the Rockets had
a double digit lead closed to the quarter. The Spurs
did the second quarter the half twelve zero run, which
was really disappointing, and then it just continued into the
early third quarter. You know, Katie, I'm just going to
name a few different things. Obviously, the eight turnovers. Jabari
(11:41):
was probably the only guy rebounding, but at the same
time did not have a good game. Was minus nineteen
in his twenty six minutes. I don't believe, I know
he didn't play the fourth I don't think we saw him.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I had to go back a couple of shots in
the third quarter he should have made, and it just
felt like it wasn't his night.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
It wasn't two for six from the field. Shengun definitely
stepped up later in the game. I think he might
have had seventeen of his twenty five. Maybe it was nineteen,
but actually I think it was nineteen of his twenty
five in the second half. He did help the Rockets
get to within three before the Spurs pulled away. I'm
(12:14):
just gonna say this about Shnghun. We gave him so
much praise after that Okay, see game because he had
made that leap from three point range. Five of eight
in that game was awesome and I was just like, Wow,
this this changes my view of Shanghun. A game like
this where Wemby's sagging off of him and he's got
that shot he took six tonight, He's won for six overall,
(12:34):
he won at the end of the third quarter. He's
now five of nineteen from three since that game. Gotta
see this be a real thing and not slip back
into what you know, if he wants to be up
there with you know, pass the bonus and up towards Jokic,
he's got to add a free point shot, a good one.
They can't leave him open. He had some good moments,
(12:55):
but overall just not you know, his most efficient night.
And of course I'm meant four for twelve from the field.
Let's talk about one really good silver lining and that
was Reed Shepherd. I apologize I had all the clips together.
I've had some technical difficulties. I don't have them to play.
But boy, in the first half, I mean, I was
(13:16):
my mind was blown. Wemby was you know, like I said,
I think at halftime or something like that, negative seventeen,
Reid was leading the Rockets at plus thirteen when he
was on the floor and making good plays. If you
want to see what the vision is for Reed Shepherd
that watched this game defensively, Sure, there's a few things,
(13:36):
you know that have come up, and they're not going away.
They're going to have to get better. But his offense
tonight was terrific, you know, and so he showed you
a little bit of the vision of what this guy
could be. And that's on the heels of the last
game where he was pretty darn good. So hopefully this
is the start of something on the upswing for Reed Shepherd.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, I was sort of blown away by I'm trying
to call it up right now, but the San Antonio
Express News columnists he posted during the game, Mike Finger
Reach Shepherd lost track of Stephan Castle on two big
possessions in a row, and I'm sure whoever is in
charge of Houston's drafts feels great about that. I mean,
that's true, he did lose him on two possessions, but
(14:19):
I mean, Reach sheperd was the only reason why the
Rockets weren't blown out in this game. I mean, without him,
it's probably not even close. So, you know, steph Castle
has definitely been a better player overall in terms of
a little over a year into their NBA careers to
this point. I mean, that's completely fair to say. But
as we've discussed before, there's also some wildly different circumstances
here as far as Tonight's game. Yeah, I don't think
(14:40):
that should be anywhere near or it shouldn't be a
storyline at all. Really, I mean because Reid, even with
some of the low lights late in the game where
he got picked on on the balance, he was the
only reason why the Rockets were competitive. And this is
why the Rockets, even with you know, we've talked about
how to this point in the season of the nine
rotation players, he had the lowest net rating. Now that's
not going to be the case in tonight's box where
(15:02):
I think he was plus eight in his minutes. But
tonight is why the Rockets have given him a longer leash.
This is not like last year where you know, he
had a slow start and he made Joka turned to
Aaron Holliday trying to grind out games. No, like they
have no choice but to play him even if the
results aren't that great in a given game. He can
(15:24):
do some things that no one else on this roster,
especially without fredin Fleet, can do. So if you want
to get the best version of the Rockets by April
and May, you need the version of Reed Shepherd that
you had tonight, at least offensively and then hopefully defensively
he improves between now and then, But the only way
he's going to get better defensively, and the only way
he's going to stay confident enough to keep shooting the
(15:46):
way he did tonight is if he plays. And so
I think, you know, Tonight's the kind of game that
you file away throughout the year when if it's a
game where Reid's missing his threes and he's getting picked
on a little bit, it becomes easy to say, why
don't they why don't they give Aaron Holliday a look?
This is why, because Reid has a gear. Even if
in some games you know he's costing them at the
(16:09):
same time, you just have to grin and bear it
because the upside is worth it. He can get to
spots on the floor and make shots and handle the
ball like he has a unique combination of traits that
no one else on this current roster has. And so
I think tonight's reminder beyond just the fact they looked
really good on the big stage. You know, you always
want to see in a spotlight game like this, who
steps up, who embraces the moment I thought he did,
(16:32):
And so that's always encouraging. But beyond that, I just
think it justified why Reid has a long leash, why
you have to continue to play him, because to get
the best version of the Rockets, like, you have to
have him, Like it can't be said enough, Like they
get blown out in this game in my opinion, if
they don't have Reed Shepherd, Like he was the band
aid in the middle two quarters of that game that
(16:54):
kept them afloat when the Spurs were otherwise just just
effort out, efforting them and just dominating them cross the board.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, and this is a guy we've talked about this
before that the Rockets think could be special. They've they
believed in him highly in the draft obviously famously, hre
Felstone was saying, you know, if we didn't get Reid,
we were going to trade out or trade down. You know,
I think it's the right course of action as well.
I think you could you could play Holiday, or you
could get something else that could maybe help you. Right now,
(17:22):
I think the Rockets feel like, hey, this is a
good enough team. They're going to make the playoffs. We
need Reed Shepherd to grow up fast. Fred van Vliet
being out all year, it's accelerated the timeline and he's
thrust into a role that I don't think they expected
him to have, but he played key fourth quarter minutes
to that tonight, and yeah, it's a balance, you know,
Like there was no doubt that him being out there,
(17:44):
that the defense had a weak link on some of
the rotations, no question, But he was so good offensively.
You pointed out, it's the only guy in the box
played more than six minutes that was positive in the
plus minus time. He was plus eight in his twenty
six minutes. So overall, big kudos for reach Epperd. I
think you have to live with some of the defensive
(18:06):
stuff for a while, so yeah, I'm quite happy with him.
It's interesting that it came against Stephan Castle. Castle really
wasn't having that great of a game, but did, like
I said, point out or as a point out earlier,
had those two big offensive rebounds late that just kind
of broke the Rockets back the second chance opportunities. But
that's where I was most surprised. I guess I shouldn't be.
(18:27):
The Rockets were number one and rebounding rate coming into
this game, the Spurs right behind them number two, so
for them to match them. I don't remember what the
actual final total was looks like it was forty oh
they were even dead even on rebounding forty nine forty nine.
But the Spurs just, you know, when they shot so
high of a volume from three and they can outshoot
you as a result of matching that rebounding a battle,
(18:49):
even with the Rockets going thirteen of twenty seven from three,
which is a blistering percentage, they just shot so many
more of those threes and the Rockets didn't get didn't
beat them by volume on shots, and that's how they lost.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, and you know, there's a good comment from the chat.
The problem is Read or Steven or such liabilities that
you have to play zone. We need dfs so that
we can switch everything again. Yeah, I mean I think
that's a lot of what we saw in this game
and the offensive read, especially tonight, when so many guys
are struggling to shoot. Like I'm not saying it was
(19:22):
a mistake to play him, absolutely not, but like in
the big picture, like how can the Rockets get back
to the version that we saw last year? And I
really think this is killing Imo Udoka. I mean a
lot of it is personnel, because you know, if you
accept that premise and I think there's a lot of
truth in it that you're giving up a lot defensively
and there's clear areas to target. If it's either Read
(19:42):
or the double Big, and sometimes both, then you basically
amongst the nine consistent rotation players, you only have six
guys you can trust, the five starters and Tarry Eason.
And so you look at the shooting tonight. You mentioned
Jabari was two of six. Shoon and KD were okay,
but both were below fifty percent. A Men was just
(20:03):
four to twelve. Josha Kogi, you know he did go
four to seven, but no one's going to say Josha
Coggi is an offensive creator and if you need him
to be, something's going wrong. Tarry Eathen, he was good
off the bench, made three or four threes, four to
six overall. But the point is you only have six guys.
So until Dorian Phinney Smith comes back. If if you're
in a spot where it's difficult to play Read or
(20:26):
the double Big, then there's only so many guys that
you can turn to unless you want to, you know,
throw in Jayshan Tate or Aaron Holliday off the scrap
heap something like that. So I think a lot of
it's just personnel, Like the Rockets just sort of made
the choice, and it's hard to argue with then, like
when we saw because most of what happened, like when
they saw the eleven point lead go away with that
twelve nothing run at the end of the first half,
(20:48):
and then the start of the third quarter, like basically
like a twenty point swing in about nine game minutes.
Well most of it was without Reed Shepherd. So I
do buy into the premise that defend of warts and all,
you had to ride with Reed tonight. But in general,
in terms of how do you fix the defense, I mean,
at least against very good teams, I don't know that
(21:09):
you can now. If now, when you're playing some one
dimensional teams, which you know the Rockets have in recent games,
then you can sort of, you know, funnel it to
weaker guys and try to mitigate and hide your you know,
your weak spots. But against good teams there's not a
clear answer, at least until you get Dorriy and Phonny
Smith back. It's just your sort of dan if you
(21:29):
do dan if you don't, And it's hard for me
to say that, oh, they would have been better if
they had stuck to you know, the six true what
you would call two way guys. Know, if anything, you
might have been worse based on how bad the offense was.
That stretches tonight.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, and Rockets really don't have much time to rest
here there on the road. They go to Milwaukee, they
play Sunday afternoon. I got to give a mention to
Turry easton again because it's still eye popping to me.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Ben.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I know we talked about this last game, but three
of four from three to and I believe that's his
fifth game Tory East and his fifth game this year
already through what is this? This was the eighth game
I believe I'm going on, Yeah, eighth game where he's
hit three or more triples and insanely efficient. He's got
to be pushing sixty percent after tonight from three so
(22:15):
far there will be a regression to the mean and
just flat out He's not Steph Curry times two. But
I mean, he looks amazing. Could this guy shoot forty
percent from three this year? That would be fantastic given
what his defense is, and you know, obviously bet on himself.
He's looking like a great bet for him, So far. Yeah,
I mean, oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
We do need to mention Withtari. He only had two
rebounds and he was the guy that was victimized by
Keldon Johnson several times on those second chance possessions. And
really I thought, overall, you know, maybe it's early in
the season, but the Rockets, for whatever reason, looked not
as athletic across the board as the Spurs. You know,
you look at you mentioned the rebounding overall was a draw,
(22:57):
which is a little bit disappointing for the Rockets team
that you know was tops in the league going in.
But KD had one rebound, Joshua Kogi had three, Tarry
Easton had two, Reed Shepherd had zero. Now the latter
is completely understandable because read the smallest sky on the floor.
But the other three between Tari, Kogi, and KD combining
for just three rebound six rebounds, that's a problem when
(23:23):
those are the types of you know, in theory you
say those are two way players, like we discussed a
couple of minutes ago, the merits of you know, playing
Reed or the double big versus the trade off when
you go double big with what you give up in
three point volume. Well, if you go the two way route,
then you need to be able to rebound better than that,
(23:44):
or even if you do get the first stop, then
other teams are going to do what Keldon Johnson did tonight,
And so that's another thing. It's a little thing. Hopefully.
You know, Tari has been a good rebounding in the past,
so I'm clined to believe that for whatever reason, just
an off night. But but it was harmful. I'll just
say that.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, I all around frustrating. I gives you a little
bit of concern about the Rockets in the playoffs. Not
saying that they can't succeed. Is a long time to
go before we get there. But you know, they're they're
They've faced three really physical teams that have kind of uh,
I guess you say match the Rockets physicality. I'd say
they're owing three in those games. The one good news
(24:20):
is I believe the Raptors won tonight, which means the
Rockets do have one win this season against an above
five hundred team. You brought it, yes, and you know,
let's see how this goes from here. But there are
going to be some tougher matchups. You've got Orlando on
the schedule coming up, You've got Cleveland coming up, You've
got Milwaukee on Sunday. Anything you're looking for in that
(24:41):
game because you do have Yiannis, uh, you know against Shnghun.
I guess we'll say, you know, And and Yannis is
a guy who you know, was talked about in the
summer as possibly being a rocket target that did didn't
even happen because he didn't even pursue a trade. What
are you looking for in that particular matchup on Sunday?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, I mean Milwaukee is a team that has a
lot of length and athleticism. Obviously Giannis and Miles Turner
on the front line. I'm looking at their stats from tonight.
They beat the Bulls, who were off to a good start,
and they routed the Bulls tonight one twenty six to
one ten. They had fifty three rebounds, and so that's
just a little thing. Look, the Rockets a big part
of why they were the number one offense. We'll see
(25:22):
if they still are they. I suspect they might slip
because the advantage was was getting sliced a little bit
in recent games, and this was not a great one,
especially in the half court. So it might be two
or three after night after tonight. We'll have to see
when the ratings update. But I just thought the rebounding
was not where it needed to be. And people think
of it in terms of second chance possessions when you're
(25:44):
on defense, but also offensively. They didn't get the offensive
boards that were used to seeing from them, and so
it's not a back to back, but it is an
early game on Sunday. I think they you know, they
put a lot into tonight, and so I'm really looking,
you know those guys I mentioned, like KD, Joshua Koge,
Tarry Easton, do they have a little bit more pep
(26:05):
in their step than they did tonight. Did Steven Adams
play better? I thought, you know, he's coming up the
hip flex or strain. Maybe that was a factor tonight.
But I didn't think he was as aggressive on the
boards as he normally is. You know the first thing
that Wemby said postgame, if you listen to his interview,
he talked about, you know, they did a good job
against Steven Adams. I thought, that's notehere they unsolicited. That
(26:26):
was the first guy that he brought up, and so
Steven not as impactful tonight. Maybe that's injury related. Maybe
it's just the matchup, maybe it's a bad night. I
don't know, but I just want to see, like can
the Rockets get back to, you know, foundationally who they
are or at least who Emo Udoka wants them to be,
to go full circle. That's why I think this game
was so troubling is that it's not Emo Udoka ball
(26:48):
at all. Like they were beaten in the specific areas
that he wants his teams to excel in and they
did the complete opposite tonight. And the Bucks are not
an identical team to the Spurs, but with Giannis and Wemby,
there are some similarities. Miles Turner has some length on
that front line as well. So not saying it's an
apples to apples, but it's not like a total apples
or oranges either. So I want to see what the
(27:08):
Rockets do differently, And you know, bottom line, like the
Rockets are going to say in all their quotes, like
they're going to single out effort as the issue because
that's within their control. Like you're never going to hear
or rarely hear postgame, you know, these hat tips from
coaches or players because they're trained to think, what can
we control if we just focus on our effort and
(27:31):
everything that's within our control, what could improve the bottom line?
And there's some truth in that, like that's probably the
right way to look at it from a coaching perspective,
but in terms of like just us looking at it,
you know more practically, you know how much of it
is effort and how much of it is the Rockets
just being sort of structurally compromised and against these types
(27:52):
of opponents not having enough on the defensive end of
the floor, at least until they get Dorian and Phinney
Smith back. I don't know the answer to that, but
a good showing on some day on the road would
have me feeling a little bit better. So hopefully we
see that absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And I just wanted to address this one comment in
the chat, Jay says, why did Jabari play at the end?
I may did say in the press conference he never
singled out Jabari, He never singles out of any specific player,
but just said he was looking for some you know,
a combination that would you know, bring the physicality. Obviously
he wasn't, you know, super thrilled with Jabari. I don't
think at that point in time and I don't. I
(28:25):
didn't necessarily see something in Jabari's play. I did have
a clip that I posted where I thought he played
a really good defense on Sohon driving, But obviously, you
know the box was minus seventeen, minus nineteen, whatever it
was when he was in. I don't want to single
out Jabari as that being the sole reason, but you know,
something that IM did not like, So that's my guess.
(28:48):
I don't know. Obviously, I think Jabari will probably use
that as motivation, knowing knowing him and how he is,
and I think he'll come out against Milwaukee running that
down at the you know, Rockets are going to finish
the road trip there at Milwaukee, They'll they'll come back
home for a three game stam Wizards. Then the next
NBA Cup game will be a week from today, will
be the Blazers, and that's no easy out.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
That is a tough Nuggets last week.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, very tough team. And then you've got the Magic
as well there. Then the Rockets go back on the
road to play the Calves, and then they'll play the
Nuggets at Toyota Center in the in a Cup game
as well. So it's it's gonna be fun we had
a nice little stretch of some cream puffs, and now
we're gonna see the Rockets face some really tough teams
and hopefully they'll you know, better results than tonight. But
(29:35):
we will see what happens on Sunday against Milwaukee, against
Giannis and Miles Turners, you point out, So Ben appreciate
you doing this. We might be a little bit later
after the game, maybe half hour hour after the game.
We'll probably have Palo Alves with us on that game
as well on Sunday, so we hope to see you all. Then,
unfortunate outcome tonight with the Rockets losing, but you know,
(29:56):
snapping a five game win streak, but let's see if
they can get back on track on Sunday. So appreciate
all of you. Have a great rest of your night.
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