May 2, 2025 • 11 mins
The Houston Chronicle's Danielle Lerner joins The A-Team to discuss the potential of a Game 6 win. Amen Thompson's Game 5 surge, domination offensive production at home and what to expect out in the Bay Area!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's get right into it here in the four o'clock
hour on the A Team. Adam wexl, Adam Clanton, Cole
Thompson here with you on the Friday edition of The
A Team. It's Game six tonight out in San Francisco
Chase Center, where the Rockets will try to get a
first win on the road in this postseason, which would
send them to a Game seven back here in Houston
if they're able to get it. Obviously, they won Game
five to continue their season, won it in a very
(00:24):
strong offensive and defensive ever, put up one hundred and
thirty one points, did bring their starters back into the game,
but nonetheless won rather easily. And there are a bunch
of different things that came out of Game five and
certainly over the five games we need to discuss with
Houston Chronicle Rockets beat writer Danielle Lerner, who is on
site with the teams they get prepared for tonight's game,
And Danielle, we very much appreciate your time, but as
(00:45):
I teased into this interview here, I do have to
get to first things first. Press conference situations over at
Toyota Center usually have myself if I'm able to attend
postgame and yourself seated in a similar right side of
the room position gives us a nice angle on who
might be trying to get in the room because there's
a nice little window in the door. And the picture
(01:06):
you posted of an eager but maybe impatient Fred van
Vliet awaiting his teammates to wrap up was legendary on
social media. I enjoyed it very much.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know, I try to contribute to the memescape as
much as I can.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It is one hundred percent going to land in the
social media stratosphere many many times over in the future.
I will make certain of it. Fred van Vliet, He's
topic number one. Why has he shot the ball like
he shot the ball in the last two games.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I mean, I think the Rockets have done a much
better job with their spacing, right. That was the main
thing that they talked about after the game one losses.
Their spacing on the floor was terrible. Everybody was being
very impatient, you know, rushing their shots, not waiting for
other guys to get set up. And so I think
the improved spacing has naturally led to you know, kicking
(01:57):
the ball out more to Fred for those open three.
But I think it's also partially on him where he
just kind of had to say, Okay, look like we
need somebody to score the ball consistently, especially to add
kind of another dimension to the offense from what Alvirin
Shangoun is doing inside, and they're not getting that consistently
really from anyone else. So he said, I've got to
(02:17):
do it. And you know, I think that they've needed
that from him. You know, if you look at his
highest scoring games this season, a lot of them were
against high caliber opponents like the Thunder, like the like
the Cavs. You know, he's stepped up against the bigger teams,
and I think that that's what the Rockets need him
to continue to do in the series.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
There's so many guys that you've looked to as the
series has progressed, because now we're going into Game six
and you obviously, if you're a Rockets fan, you want
another game played, and the organization wants that. But it's
taken some evolution of you know, Fred's jump shot, Jalen Green,
what version of him are you getting any night? But
I think a men Thompson is the guy with the
(02:58):
the highest trajectory because he just, for whatever reason almost
looked out of his own element in the first couple
of games and then he's kind of slowly but surely
come around. But game five he looked like the demon
we all know and love.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, I mean, that was definitely his best game these playoffs.
And I think for him and a lot of the
other young guys who are experiencing the postseason for the
first time, they've said, like, it is a learning curve,
you know. I know that's not something that fans want
to hear at this point, especially after you win fifty
two games in the regular season. You kind of feel
like you have an idea of who this team is
and how they should play on the big stage. But
(03:32):
it is different. And Jalen said it after the first game,
he was like, oh, it was the core look huge.
You know, my legs were kind of shaky and fourth
that's happening to Ament Thompson as well. But you know,
we saw him, like you said, get back to his
old self. And I think when it starts on the
defensive end, and that's kind of for the team as
a whole. When they start on the defensive end coming
(03:53):
in lights out, that naturally leads to shots falling on
the other end, whether in transition or in the half court.
So you know, we saw and then pick Stef's pocket
a couple times run out for that one big dunk,
and I think that was kind of where the momentum
started turning in the Rockets favor.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
There are several plays that specifically should be pointed out
that a Men made. That was one of them. The
other duck was one of them. But I have to
point out that Dylan Brooks portion of yet another play
when he got his own offensive rebound a Men did
and then dunked it on Gary Payton the second and
then basically said, hey, refs, give me a technical because
I'm going to go right in his face and I'm
gonna scream at him before Dylan Brooks pulled him away.
(04:30):
I was on the radio side that night and was
watching it intently. The refs. I don't know if they
didn't see it or wanted to cut him or brake
because we're in this highly contested series, but it's the
kind of thing they usually would want to have to
call to prevent anything more from happening. I say it
to bring up Dylan Brooks in the role you think
he's played in the development of some of these players,
(04:50):
the attitude this team has, and his own personal involvement
in helping them get to a game six.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah. I mean, I think Dylan Brooks is really the
archetype of and that the attitude that Imodoka has tried
to instill around the Rockets, which is just toughness, don't
back down from anybody. And I think a Man already
was that, right, that's his personality naturally, that's if you
listen to him and his brother and their families, you know,
talk about his childhood. He's been that for a long
time as well. It wasn't something that they had to
(05:18):
transform him into, and so I think he he and
Dylan are very much similar personalities. And even a men
was like, oh my god, I was so in the
heat at that moment that I didn't realize that it
was Dylan who actually stepped in and pulled me away
from Peydon. But he kind of was like, that's kind
of crazy because usually we're doing that for Dylan, right.
So the fact that multiple guys on that team can
(05:41):
you know, kind of play that role both of peacemaker
and of instigator, I think is indicative of the growth
of the team together into kind of one personality and
one identity.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Talking to Daniell Lerner here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
she's in San Francisco for tonight's Game six between the
Rockets and the warl Warriors. You know, it's interesting that
there is so much chatter about the future of this
Rockets team while their season is still underway. And I know,
you know, we're supposed to just think that because it's
three to one, they'll roll over, and but this is
not the same Warriors team. And I you know, I
(06:15):
like to say that the Rockets, and this is complimentary
when I say this, are just dumb enough to win
this series still, But that lends itself to the youth
movement that has gotten us to this place. Are you
surprised that there are, you know, superstar trades being thrown about?
And I know the answer to that, but like, are
you surprised even more so that the way the Rockets
(06:35):
are responding to that. Emai Udoka and even rafel Stone
when you talk about this, they're very coy about it
and you never really know what they're actually thinking, and
it makes me wonder if they would pull the trigger
on certain deals.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think that they would be foolish
to not be involved in those conversations this summer. Like,
I fully expect them to have conversations both internally and
externally about some of these stars who are available, because
why would you not consider it? But I don't think
that they're willing to kind of mortgage the entire young
core that they've built in order to get one of
(07:09):
those guys. I think that that would really undo all
of the progress that they have made in the investment
that they've made in these guys over the last several years.
Could they part with some of them, Yeah, sure, But
I don't think it's gonna be a thing where, you know,
some of these trade scenarios I'm seeing thrown around or
so just by fans online, but some some national media
as well, saying oh yeah, they're just gonna give up
(07:31):
like eight players for your honest Like, that's not happening.
You know, what would you guys, what what would Yiannis
come here for then to play by himself? So I
don't know. I think that the playoffs are definitely going
to inform what Rafelstone in his front office do this summer,
but it's not going to be like the deciding.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Factor as you kind of look in on what game
six persents the Rockets, do you look at how they
responded down one game to none, how they played in
game two, how they responded playing an elimination game two
nights ago here in Houston, and how obviously well they
played then, and thinking about what you expect to see
from this group tonight, I don't.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Just because I think this team has been so unpredictable
and inconsistent all season, and that's been in a good
way and in a bad way. You know, we've seen
some of their worst losses where when they played down
to really bad teams. Some of their best wins were
when they really stepped up against some of the best
teams in the league. So I kind of have given
up trying to predict what this team is going to do.
(08:34):
But I also think, you know, they do play really
well when they have their backs against the wall when
they need to. But the other thing that I don't
really trust is their ability to sustain that offense. I
think they've gotten contributions from a lot of different guys
in this series. Jalen Green obviously had that one big game,
but has been pretty inconsistent. And he was telling us
(08:56):
this morning, like, I know that I've had ups and downs.
I don't feel like i've well at all minus that
game too, and he said there is a playoff mode
when the Vets talk about it, like I felt it
in Game two. I haven't been able to recapture that,
and I'm just gonna have to try my best to
do it. So you know, it's not a thing that
these guys are just deciding what to flip a switch
(09:19):
or not. It's it's really credit to the Warriors for
trying to take them out of some of the things
that they like to do. But you know, even if
the defense is super locked in, I think it comes
down and making shots.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, and they're gonna have to do that somehow, some way.
On the road, I think I said this like this
is going to be of the games they have to win.
I actually almost expected them to blow out the Warriors
in Game five. Maybe not to the degree that they did,
but you know, your season's on the line, you're on
your home floor. With the way the Emay coaches this team,
I just wasn't that surprised, but I feel like, you know,
(09:55):
the pressure will start to go on the Warriors a
little bit tonight since they're on their home floor. But
if the Rockets forced this game, I think this is
the hardest game to win because then it's like Game seven.
Anything can happen. This is of the games they've had
to come back in this series to force it to
get to that seventh game. I think this will be
the most difficult given all the circumstances.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, I agree for all the reasons that you just said,
and also for the fact that at this point these
two teams are so familiar with one another that it
just makes it that much harder to prepare and scout.
You know, at this point, the Warriors know the threats
that the double big lineup is going to bring and
the rocket zone defense is going to bring. They kind
of understand the type of ball pressure that can potentially
(10:37):
disrupt Shaleen Green and disrupt the offense. You know, they
understand the threat that a Men Thompson is as an
on ball defender. So there's really no more surprises. I
think that either team can spring on each other. So
it really is just going to come down to execution.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It's what it.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Usually comes down to. What we get to this point
of the postseason, and we look forward to hearing it here,
seeing it here, and reading about it from you as well, Danielle.
We certainly appreciate the time and enjoy the contest tonight.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Thanks guys,
Let's get right into it here in the four o'clock
hour on the A Team. Adam wexl, Adam Clanton, Cole
Thompson here with you on the Friday edition of The
A Team. It's Game six tonight out in San Francisco
Chase Center, where the Rockets will try to get a
first win on the road in this postseason, which would
send them to a Game seven back here in Houston
if they're able to get it. Obviously, they won Game
five to continue their season, won it in a very
(00:24):
strong offensive and defensive ever, put up one hundred and
thirty one points, did bring their starters back into the game,
but nonetheless won rather easily. And there are a bunch
of different things that came out of Game five and
certainly over the five games we need to discuss with
Houston Chronicle Rockets beat writer Danielle Lerner, who is on
site with the teams they get prepared for tonight's game,
And Danielle, we very much appreciate your time, but as
(00:45):
I teased into this interview here, I do have to
get to first things first. Press conference situations over at
Toyota Center usually have myself if I'm able to attend
postgame and yourself seated in a similar right side of
the room position gives us a nice angle on who
might be trying to get in the room because there's
a nice little window in the door. And the picture
(01:06):
you posted of an eager but maybe impatient Fred van
Vliet awaiting his teammates to wrap up was legendary on
social media. I enjoyed it very much.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know, I try to contribute to the memescape as
much as I can.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It is one hundred percent going to land in the
social media stratosphere many many times over in the future.
I will make certain of it. Fred van Vliet, He's
topic number one. Why has he shot the ball like
he shot the ball in the last two games.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I mean, I think the Rockets have done a much
better job with their spacing, right. That was the main
thing that they talked about after the game one losses.
Their spacing on the floor was terrible. Everybody was being
very impatient, you know, rushing their shots, not waiting for
other guys to get set up. And so I think
the improved spacing has naturally led to you know, kicking
(01:57):
the ball out more to Fred for those open three.
But I think it's also partially on him where he
just kind of had to say, Okay, look like we
need somebody to score the ball consistently, especially to add
kind of another dimension to the offense from what Alvirin
Shangoun is doing inside, and they're not getting that consistently
really from anyone else. So he said, I've got to
(02:17):
do it. And you know, I think that they've needed
that from him. You know, if you look at his
highest scoring games this season, a lot of them were
against high caliber opponents like the Thunder, like the like
the Cavs. You know, he's stepped up against the bigger teams,
and I think that that's what the Rockets need him
to continue to do in the series.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
There's so many guys that you've looked to as the
series has progressed, because now we're going into Game six
and you obviously, if you're a Rockets fan, you want
another game played, and the organization wants that. But it's
taken some evolution of you know, Fred's jump shot, Jalen Green,
what version of him are you getting any night? But
I think a men Thompson is the guy with the
(02:58):
the highest trajectory because he just, for whatever reason almost
looked out of his own element in the first couple
of games and then he's kind of slowly but surely
come around. But game five he looked like the demon
we all know and love.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, I mean, that was definitely his best game these playoffs.
And I think for him and a lot of the
other young guys who are experiencing the postseason for the
first time, they've said, like, it is a learning curve,
you know. I know that's not something that fans want
to hear at this point, especially after you win fifty
two games in the regular season. You kind of feel
like you have an idea of who this team is
and how they should play on the big stage. But
(03:32):
it is different. And Jalen said it after the first game,
he was like, oh, it was the core look huge.
You know, my legs were kind of shaky and fourth
that's happening to Ament Thompson as well. But you know,
we saw him, like you said, get back to his
old self. And I think when it starts on the
defensive end, and that's kind of for the team as
a whole. When they start on the defensive end coming
(03:53):
in lights out, that naturally leads to shots falling on
the other end, whether in transition or in the half court.
So you know, we saw and then pick Stef's pocket
a couple times run out for that one big dunk,
and I think that was kind of where the momentum
started turning in the Rockets favor.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
There are several plays that specifically should be pointed out
that a Men made. That was one of them. The
other duck was one of them. But I have to
point out that Dylan Brooks portion of yet another play
when he got his own offensive rebound a Men did
and then dunked it on Gary Payton the second and
then basically said, hey, refs, give me a technical because
I'm going to go right in his face and I'm
gonna scream at him before Dylan Brooks pulled him away.
(04:30):
I was on the radio side that night and was
watching it intently. The refs. I don't know if they
didn't see it or wanted to cut him or brake
because we're in this highly contested series, but it's the
kind of thing they usually would want to have to
call to prevent anything more from happening. I say it
to bring up Dylan Brooks in the role you think
he's played in the development of some of these players,
(04:50):
the attitude this team has, and his own personal involvement
in helping them get to a game six.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah. I mean, I think Dylan Brooks is really the
archetype of and that the attitude that Imodoka has tried
to instill around the Rockets, which is just toughness, don't
back down from anybody. And I think a Man already
was that, right, that's his personality naturally, that's if you
listen to him and his brother and their families, you know,
talk about his childhood. He's been that for a long
time as well. It wasn't something that they had to
(05:18):
transform him into, and so I think he he and
Dylan are very much similar personalities. And even a men
was like, oh my god, I was so in the
heat at that moment that I didn't realize that it
was Dylan who actually stepped in and pulled me away
from Peydon. But he kind of was like, that's kind
of crazy because usually we're doing that for Dylan, right.
So the fact that multiple guys on that team can
(05:41):
you know, kind of play that role both of peacemaker
and of instigator, I think is indicative of the growth
of the team together into kind of one personality and
one identity.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Talking to Daniell Lerner here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
she's in San Francisco for tonight's Game six between the
Rockets and the warl Warriors. You know, it's interesting that
there is so much chatter about the future of this
Rockets team while their season is still underway. And I know,
you know, we're supposed to just think that because it's
three to one, they'll roll over, and but this is
not the same Warriors team. And I you know, I
(06:15):
like to say that the Rockets, and this is complimentary
when I say this, are just dumb enough to win
this series still, But that lends itself to the youth
movement that has gotten us to this place. Are you
surprised that there are, you know, superstar trades being thrown about?
And I know the answer to that, but like, are
you surprised even more so that the way the Rockets
(06:35):
are responding to that. Emai Udoka and even rafel Stone
when you talk about this, they're very coy about it
and you never really know what they're actually thinking, and
it makes me wonder if they would pull the trigger
on certain deals.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think that they would be foolish
to not be involved in those conversations this summer. Like,
I fully expect them to have conversations both internally and
externally about some of these stars who are available, because
why would you not consider it? But I don't think
that they're willing to kind of mortgage the entire young
core that they've built in order to get one of
(07:09):
those guys. I think that that would really undo all
of the progress that they have made in the investment
that they've made in these guys over the last several years.
Could they part with some of them, Yeah, sure, But
I don't think it's gonna be a thing where, you know,
some of these trade scenarios I'm seeing thrown around or
so just by fans online, but some some national media
as well, saying oh yeah, they're just gonna give up
(07:31):
like eight players for your honest Like, that's not happening.
You know, what would you guys, what what would Yiannis
come here for then to play by himself? So I
don't know. I think that the playoffs are definitely going
to inform what Rafelstone in his front office do this summer,
but it's not going to be like the deciding.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Factor as you kind of look in on what game
six persents the Rockets, do you look at how they
responded down one game to none, how they played in
game two, how they responded playing an elimination game two
nights ago here in Houston, and how obviously well they
played then, and thinking about what you expect to see
from this group tonight, I don't.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Just because I think this team has been so unpredictable
and inconsistent all season, and that's been in a good
way and in a bad way. You know, we've seen
some of their worst losses where when they played down
to really bad teams. Some of their best wins were
when they really stepped up against some of the best
teams in the league. So I kind of have given
up trying to predict what this team is going to do.
(08:34):
But I also think, you know, they do play really
well when they have their backs against the wall when
they need to. But the other thing that I don't
really trust is their ability to sustain that offense. I
think they've gotten contributions from a lot of different guys
in this series. Jalen Green obviously had that one big game,
but has been pretty inconsistent. And he was telling us
(08:56):
this morning, like, I know that I've had ups and downs.
I don't feel like i've well at all minus that
game too, and he said there is a playoff mode
when the Vets talk about it, like I felt it
in Game two. I haven't been able to recapture that,
and I'm just gonna have to try my best to
do it. So you know, it's not a thing that
these guys are just deciding what to flip a switch
(09:19):
or not. It's it's really credit to the Warriors for
trying to take them out of some of the things
that they like to do. But you know, even if
the defense is super locked in, I think it comes
down and making shots.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, and they're gonna have to do that somehow, some way.
On the road, I think I said this like this
is going to be of the games they have to win.
I actually almost expected them to blow out the Warriors
in Game five. Maybe not to the degree that they did,
but you know, your season's on the line, you're on
your home floor. With the way the Emay coaches this team,
I just wasn't that surprised, but I feel like, you know,
(09:55):
the pressure will start to go on the Warriors a
little bit tonight since they're on their home floor. But
if the Rockets forced this game, I think this is
the hardest game to win because then it's like Game seven.
Anything can happen. This is of the games they've had
to come back in this series to force it to
get to that seventh game. I think this will be
the most difficult given all the circumstances.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, I agree for all the reasons that you just said,
and also for the fact that at this point these
two teams are so familiar with one another that it
just makes it that much harder to prepare and scout.
You know, at this point, the Warriors know the threats
that the double big lineup is going to bring and
the rocket zone defense is going to bring. They kind
of understand the type of ball pressure that can potentially
(10:37):
disrupt Shaleen Green and disrupt the offense. You know, they
understand the threat that a Men Thompson is as an
on ball defender. So there's really no more surprises. I
think that either team can spring on each other. So
it really is just going to come down to execution.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It's what it.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Usually comes down to. What we get to this point
of the postseason, and we look forward to hearing it here,
seeing it here, and reading about it from you as well, Danielle.
We certainly appreciate the time and enjoy the contest tonight.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Thanks guys,
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