April 11, 2025 • 6 mins
As the Houston Rockets prepare for the first round of the playoffs, which team presents the biggest scare for a potential upset? The A-Team discusses which opponent could raise the alarm for a longer series after the play-in round later next week.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's your preference at this point if you're the Rockets
or do you care?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
If you're the Rockets, you don't care. If you're on
a sports talk show, you probably have to give an
opinion here. Lucky for you, Lucky for you, guys. Yes,
I really actually believe what I said. You shouldn't care.
I wouldn't want to play anything into it. And again,
the Rockets actually, even though they're set, they can no
longer impact where they finish. They could attack these games
(00:26):
in a way that impacts where the other team's finish, Right,
you really want me to just pick one?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It really? I mean it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, I mean, if you're rooting for a matchup like
I am, it has nothing to do with the Rockets.
I want the Lakers to stay in the three spot
and I want them to play the Warriors in the
sixth spot. Therefore eliminated one of America's national nightmares just
out of selfish reasons. But as it pertains to the
Rockets matching up with a team I think I men
(00:59):
large people would think they want Memphis, and I don't
think you want that. I don't think the Rockets would
lose that series, but I think it would be a
lot more uncomfortable and a lot closer than people, or
just because I've seen how their games are this year,
Rockets won three out of four, but they were all
hard fought.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
If I told you the Rockets lost every game to
Minnesota and Memphis this year, you'd probably say, yeah, I
remember watching some of those games. That sounds about right.
If I told you they won every game against those
two teams, you could have watched a different portion and said, yeah,
I know they're good, but that sounds right. I think
the Rockets took care of them. Those games went very similarly,
not how the flow of the game went. Memphis not
(01:36):
necessarily a total full strength at any of those games,
and you could definitely now say the same thing about Houston.
And that's what makes this a little bit difficult and
exercise you're kind of fame with the Lakers. Well, the
Lakers didn't have their roster r together, so clearly they
weren't at full strength. But you know you've played Denver twice.
How do you think the Rockets match up with Yokichen
twenty four to twenty five? I don't know. He unplayed
against them.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And Jamal Murray was the reason that they still won
without him in the lineup.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, they need to do a better job against certain players.
But what I was getting to Jamal Murray can get off,
has gotten off against the Rockets, Yeah the last time.
John Morant not so much. Different players and Jalen plays
well against Memphis. But even having said all that, I
think if I had to choose between the two likeliest
in that realm, I'd rather have Minnesota. Yeah, Minnesota Memphis
(02:25):
to me are identical in terms of how I think
the Rockets would fare. Even speaking about Minnesota with Julius Randall,
with de Vincenzlo without They've had a couple of different
instances of seeing what they have, so it's not quite
exactly what you've seen. I just feel like their chances.
I don't like going against the star player so much,
but you're in the playoffs. I don't want to see
(02:47):
Anthony Edwards, Okay, how about John Morant? Okay, how about
Steph Curry? Okay, how about Luca? Who do you think
plays for these teams? There's no avoiding them. That's why
they are who they are. And at present time, line
up the Superstar and the Western Conference Playoffs in order
and allow for more than one player on a single
team to be on your list. How far down the
list do you go before even one Rocket is on
(03:08):
your list? Offensively, maybe as an all round player you
could have see your way to saying from an importance standpoint,
I mean, Thompson might be as important a player as
some other clear offensive star for another team. But you're
going ten deep easy on the eight Western Conference playoff
teams without naming a single Rocket as your best player list.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
They in that vein, they remind me so much of
and this is going to be This might be a
little much, this might be hot taky, but I don't
care because it's the only real playoff team that was
not just competitive. They were a champion where I feel
like the same identity exists, and that's the Detroit Pistons.
(03:50):
And the Detroit Pistons is such a hard comparison to make.
You're making the comparison because they don't have a true superstar,
but you're also comparing the Rockets to an NBA champion,
not just a champion, but the champion that ended the
Lakers dynasty as we know it.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I still I'm not quite bristling, but I'll push back
a little bit. You're talking about five all stars on
the Pistons. You're talking about the best defensive player in
the league.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Ben Wallace does not exist on this Rockets roster, right, and.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So we I don't want people to be so focused
on offense. That's why I kind of separated, because you
got to you gotta include it all. Ben Wallace is
not one of the best players in the league, probably,
but he's the best defensive player in the league. That's
that matters. He's one of the ten best players or
whatever number you're going too. And Chauncey Billips is a
Hall of Famer, right, Like, they're pretty good. They're coach
had as people even though he's really really good, as
(04:40):
long as you know who coaches the team, jack It, Matt.
The talent level of that Pistons team I think gets
undersold because Isaiah Thomas or Reggie Miller or Larry Bird
or some Eastern Conference great player wasn't on their team,
or Jordan or anybody.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, you had Rashid Wallace, you had Ben Wallace, you
had uh.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Their best offensive player. You haven't even named him yet.
Rip Hamilton.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Oh, that's right, because I was I was thinking Chauncey
billis Ham and then all Hamilton and then Tayshawn Prince
was there there three.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh my god, what a chase down block. Greatest play
in history.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Very very amen. Thompson Like, as far as how he's built,
how he plays, look at the five people. Elite leader,
elite scorer, elite defensive player, elite wing, perfect mix, no superstar,
no ego, none of that stuff. The closest you would
come is Rashid Wallace. And if he can get his
head act together, who'd you say? Rashid Watlin Brooks And honestly,
(05:44):
except he was only mouthy. He wasn't an awesome defensive stopper.
He was a good defensive player, but not like wash Rashid.
Rashid was in Portland before that, right or did he
go to Portland after Detroit? I can't remember now at okay,
because I feel like he was a better scorer in
Portland for whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
But I'm greed to do different things out of those
two spots. He spent seven years in Portland and then
six years in Detroit. That's what I thought. He was
exactly like I said, except the opposite. That was That's
what I thought I was going to say anything like
a couple of years. Wex say if you can remember this,
dum no oh it was a year.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, then I'm not going to know
What's your preference at this point if you're the Rockets
or do you care?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
If you're the Rockets, you don't care. If you're on
a sports talk show, you probably have to give an
opinion here. Lucky for you, Lucky for you, guys. Yes,
I really actually believe what I said. You shouldn't care.
I wouldn't want to play anything into it. And again,
the Rockets actually, even though they're set, they can no
longer impact where they finish. They could attack these games
(00:26):
in a way that impacts where the other team's finish, Right,
you really want me to just pick one?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It really? I mean it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Well, I mean, if you're rooting for a matchup like
I am, it has nothing to do with the Rockets.
I want the Lakers to stay in the three spot
and I want them to play the Warriors in the
sixth spot. Therefore eliminated one of America's national nightmares just
out of selfish reasons. But as it pertains to the
Rockets matching up with a team I think I men
(00:59):
large people would think they want Memphis, and I don't
think you want that. I don't think the Rockets would
lose that series, but I think it would be a
lot more uncomfortable and a lot closer than people, or
just because I've seen how their games are this year,
Rockets won three out of four, but they were all
hard fought.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
If I told you the Rockets lost every game to
Minnesota and Memphis this year, you'd probably say, yeah, I
remember watching some of those games. That sounds about right.
If I told you they won every game against those
two teams, you could have watched a different portion and said, yeah,
I know they're good, but that sounds right. I think
the Rockets took care of them. Those games went very similarly,
not how the flow of the game went. Memphis not
(01:36):
necessarily a total full strength at any of those games,
and you could definitely now say the same thing about Houston.
And that's what makes this a little bit difficult and
exercise you're kind of fame with the Lakers. Well, the
Lakers didn't have their roster r together, so clearly they
weren't at full strength. But you know you've played Denver twice.
How do you think the Rockets match up with Yokichen
twenty four to twenty five? I don't know. He unplayed
against them.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And Jamal Murray was the reason that they still won
without him in the lineup.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, they need to do a better job against certain players.
But what I was getting to Jamal Murray can get off,
has gotten off against the Rockets, Yeah the last time.
John Morant not so much. Different players and Jalen plays
well against Memphis. But even having said all that, I
think if I had to choose between the two likeliest
in that realm, I'd rather have Minnesota. Yeah, Minnesota Memphis
(02:25):
to me are identical in terms of how I think
the Rockets would fare. Even speaking about Minnesota with Julius Randall,
with de Vincenzlo without They've had a couple of different
instances of seeing what they have, so it's not quite
exactly what you've seen. I just feel like their chances.
I don't like going against the star player so much,
but you're in the playoffs. I don't want to see
(02:47):
Anthony Edwards, Okay, how about John Morant? Okay, how about
Steph Curry? Okay, how about Luca? Who do you think
plays for these teams? There's no avoiding them. That's why
they are who they are. And at present time, line
up the Superstar and the Western Conference Playoffs in order
and allow for more than one player on a single
team to be on your list. How far down the
list do you go before even one Rocket is on
(03:08):
your list? Offensively, maybe as an all round player you
could have see your way to saying from an importance standpoint,
I mean, Thompson might be as important a player as
some other clear offensive star for another team. But you're
going ten deep easy on the eight Western Conference playoff
teams without naming a single Rocket as your best player list.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
They in that vein, they remind me so much of
and this is going to be This might be a
little much, this might be hot taky, but I don't
care because it's the only real playoff team that was
not just competitive. They were a champion where I feel
like the same identity exists, and that's the Detroit Pistons.
(03:50):
And the Detroit Pistons is such a hard comparison to make.
You're making the comparison because they don't have a true superstar,
but you're also comparing the Rockets to an NBA champion,
not just a champion, but the champion that ended the
Lakers dynasty as we know it.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I still I'm not quite bristling, but I'll push back
a little bit. You're talking about five all stars on
the Pistons. You're talking about the best defensive player in
the league.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Ben Wallace does not exist on this Rockets roster, right, and.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So we I don't want people to be so focused
on offense. That's why I kind of separated, because you
got to you gotta include it all. Ben Wallace is
not one of the best players in the league, probably,
but he's the best defensive player in the league. That's
that matters. He's one of the ten best players or
whatever number you're going too. And Chauncey Billips is a
Hall of Famer, right, Like, they're pretty good. They're coach
had as people even though he's really really good, as
(04:40):
long as you know who coaches the team, jack It, Matt.
The talent level of that Pistons team I think gets
undersold because Isaiah Thomas or Reggie Miller or Larry Bird
or some Eastern Conference great player wasn't on their team,
or Jordan or anybody.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, you had Rashid Wallace, you had Ben Wallace, you
had uh.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Their best offensive player. You haven't even named him yet.
Rip Hamilton.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Oh, that's right, because I was I was thinking Chauncey
billis Ham and then all Hamilton and then Tayshawn Prince
was there there three.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Oh my god, what a chase down block. Greatest play
in history.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Very very amen. Thompson Like, as far as how he's built,
how he plays, look at the five people. Elite leader,
elite scorer, elite defensive player, elite wing, perfect mix, no superstar,
no ego, none of that stuff. The closest you would
come is Rashid Wallace. And if he can get his
head act together, who'd you say? Rashid Watlin Brooks And honestly,
(05:44):
except he was only mouthy. He wasn't an awesome defensive stopper.
He was a good defensive player, but not like wash Rashid.
Rashid was in Portland before that, right or did he
go to Portland after Detroit? I can't remember now at okay,
because I feel like he was a better scorer in
Portland for whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
But I'm greed to do different things out of those
two spots. He spent seven years in Portland and then
six years in Detroit. That's what I thought. He was
exactly like I said, except the opposite. That was That's
what I thought I was going to say anything like
a couple of years. Wex say if you can remember this,
dum no oh it was a year.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, then I'm not going to know
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