May 1, 2025 • 38 mins
After falling behind, 3-1, in their first-round playoff series, the Rockets survived their first elimination game versus the Warriors with a home blowout in Game 5. Can they do the same in Friday’s Game 6 at Golden State and force a decisive Game 7 back in Houston?
With a pivotal weekend ahead, Thursday’s podcast explores what we’ve learned in recent games while sharing some keys to success in Game 6 and hopefully Game 7. Discussion points include recent improvements from Amen Thompson; the roles of Jalen Green, Fred VanVleet, and Steven Adams as key variables; and the importance of Thompson’s defense versus Steph Curry.
With a pivotal weekend ahead, Thursday’s podcast explores what we’ve learned in recent games while sharing some keys to success in Game 6 and hopefully Game 7. Discussion points include recent improvements from Amen Thompson; the roles of Jalen Green, Fred VanVleet, and Steven Adams as key variables; and the importance of Thompson’s defense versus Steph Curry.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Cheers, Rockets fans, Welcome to The Logger Line, an exclusive
podcast from the home of the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The Logger Line.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It's proudly served to you by car Bocks Clutch City Logger.
It is good Yeah, Red Nation, Get ready, Ready, get Ready.
The lagger Line starts now. Welcome aboard.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Benjubo's here, Paolo Alves there, Welcome into another episode of
the Logger Line, sponsored by Carbock Brewing. It's Thursday night,
May first, the off day between Game five and Game
six of the first round playoff series between your Houston
Rockets and the hated Golden State Warriors. Since we last
recorded a week ago, between Game two and Game three,
the home team has won every game. That's been the
(00:59):
case since. The war unfortunately took the game one back
a week and a half ago in Houston, and so
now the Rockets have one last opportunity to get a
road win in Friday night's Game six. If they do
not get it, the season will end with the six
game loss in the first round of the playoffs. If
they do get it, Game seven is Sunday night in Houston.
The winner of this series is going to play Minnesota
(01:20):
in the second round starting next week. Since the Timberwolves
have already finished off their series against the Lakers in
five games, so since the shelf life isn't as long
as it typically is for this episode and the timeliness
of everything going on in the playoffs, this pod is
going to be a bit shorter than usual and also
may not have the usual editing standards because we know
(01:41):
you guys just want some fresh content, and so we're
going to give you a little bit of quick hitting
insight on what we've seen in recent games and what
we hope to see in Game six and hopefully Game
seven this weekend. We're going to save the bigger picture
post mortem type discussions. Well, hopefully it's not post mortem,
but it certainly could be. Rockets still underdogs in the
(02:01):
series for a reason, we'll save that for next week,
hopefully talking very happily about the Rockets becoming just the
fourteenth team in NBA history to overcome a three to
one deficit. If not, we'll talk about where things went wrong.
And I do think at this point, look by not
going out sad in five games at home, there are
gonna be some positive macro developments that you can take
(02:23):
out of this series no matter what. At this point,
they have not embarrassed themselves. They look like they belong.
They actually have a superior net rating more points. They've
looked like the better team. They just haven't closed out
the corn flip games, and so we'll talk about that
on today's pod. And regardless of the end result, there's
something positive you can take in terms of a young
team on the upswing in its rebuilding cycle. There are
(02:45):
some silver linings, but this is not going to be
a silver linings pod because right now the Rockets are
still in this series, and so looking at it from
a more micro perspective, we're gonna be talking about what
needs to happen for them to hopefully win a couple
of games this weekend and extend their season into the
second round of the Western Conference playoffs. So let's start
with a general wellness check and take the temperature of
(03:08):
where things are at in this series, because for me, Powo,
I'm a little bit torn. I think there's a glass
half empty way to view it, and there's a class
half full, and for me it sort of varies based
on the hour and how I'm feeling and what the
latest insight I've read from some of the people I
respect online, So I'll start with the glass half empty way,
(03:28):
the sense of pessimism that overcomes me at times. It
boils down to how many chances can you reasonably expect
to get in a best of seven series to close
out one of these corn flip games. In the preview pot,
I talked about wanting to see and the Rockets needing
to see a classic Fred then Fleet game on the
(03:51):
road to steal you one. You had that in Game four,
and yet you still couldn't finish the deal. The reality
is Game one, you were down three midway through the
fourth quarter. Game three. In Game four you led midway
through the fourth quarter. You've let these opportunities slip away,
and typically you aren't going to get an unlimited supply
of those. At some point, it feels like the Warriors
(04:13):
are going to have a game where maybe it's just
shooting variants in a way that the Rockets had positive
shooting variants in Game five, but things just go the
Warrior's way. Is that going to happen tomorrow night in
game six when they are going to be heavily incentivized?
Is Steph Curry do for a bounce back performance these
last two games. He's been held below twenty points in
consecutive playoff games, the first time since May of twenty eighteen.
(04:34):
You can also argue that the regulars on the Warriors
because Game five was a blowout. Basically nobody played more
than twenty five minutes. So those veterans that have been
leaned on a lot, Steph Currige t I mean, Butler,
Raymond Green. There's nagging injuries, Butler with the pelvis contusion,
Steph Curry with the thumb. They didn't have to go
all out in Game five, and so those are the
(04:56):
reasons for pessimism. The glass half full perspective, as I
see it, is that there's been nothing in this series
to suggest the Rockets won't have a chance, because the
two wins for the Rockets have been commanding, and really
the only time the Warriors had a sustained stretch of
being the better team was the first two and a
(05:16):
half quarters of Game one and I think we can
largely attribute that to inexperience for the Rockets and probably
a little bit of rust since they didn't play any
meaningful games in the previous two weeks. Everything since the
middle of the third quarter of Game one has either
been the Rockets clearly being the superior team, or a
corn flip type of game that just happened to go
(05:37):
the Warriors way down the home stretch because Stafford Jemmy
were better at landing the plane, and so they deserve
credit for that. But at the same time, I also
think of the old Daryl Morey quote, which is that
good teams don't win close games, they avoid them. And
so you can certainly make the argument that what the
Warriors being unable to get real separation with the Rockets,
(05:59):
or again to the Rockets, are they flirting with disaster
by having every game that they win go down to
the wire. Are they due for one of these corn
flip games to go against them, for some of the
bounces in a close game to go the Rockets way.
You can also argue that now the series is every
other day instead of every three days, maybe these veterans
stars with bagging injuries like Steph Curry and the thumb,
(06:22):
that's a factor because they don't have the time to
rest and recover. And as far as hand, the Rockets
win a road game against elimination in Game six, I'll
raise you that Warriors King series from two years ago
when the Warriors were up three to two going back
to the Bay for Game six, and the Kings not
only won, the Kings won that game six decisively. Now,
(06:42):
the Kings did go on to lose a home Game seven,
but Steph went for fifty in that game. I don't
think that's gonna happen against Avan Thompson. And I don't
think the Rockets are even thinking about game seven at
this point. They are just trying to survive Game six.
Get the game back to Houston. Go ahead, take that back,
take it that back.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
What you think that if we get the tame seven
now he's gonna drop fifty? Like, oh, I need you,
I need you to take that back live, like right now, okay,
Like you can't just say it's okay, thank you. I
was just thinking for the people out there because I've
been getting cooked on Twitter for jinxing things, so I
just I had to put on on to be on
(07:17):
the right side of history on this one, I guess.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Okay. So with that in mind, Powell, I'll turn this
over to you because I could go both ways. Which
direction are you winning.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
As so as well as we winning game six.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Well, no, just the glass half full or the glass
half Oh okay, I O back and forth on these two.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I'm really torn just because it still stinks the way
we lost game five, and so I'm still kind of
depressed about it. Yeah, game four and I'm still kind
of depressed about it, and I you know, I don't know,
it just it felt, it felt felt so hopeless then
that now even though we won last game, I'm like, well, yeah,
(07:55):
but it's it's not really about winning two more games.
It will it's it's been pregameg you know, even though
he already one game one, but then you know, the
entire probabilities thing. But it's rough because the Jill and
Green think was the game two was clearly just a
flashing the ten. I'm just really sad about that because
(08:17):
to me, like game so game three actually, I was
actually on the side of defending jail On because I thought, well,
they were they were clearly not letting you score. That's
the priority. In game four, it they didn't feel the
same way everybody else was scoring. And you know, Jim
and didn't get enough volume to have a big night.
Well he wasn't that inneficient first that he did sake,
(08:38):
but it just feels like a gamest physical defense. He
just he just can't make it work and it becomes
heavily reliable, reliant on him moving off ball and finding
getting open and he's just throwing, you know, not not
enough attention to be double team, but in the attention
to have a guy stay sputting him all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Been real quickly on that. I thought he started Game
five in a very positive way and then he just
wasn't the same guy physically after bumping knees. And so
that's the storyline to watch for Game six for sure.
It's just not an excuse the Rockets can use because
obviously Butler with the pelvis contusion, Steph Curry with the
injured thumb on his shooting hand. I mean the excuse
rings howl or if you're talking about a bump knee
(09:22):
for a twenty three year old in his fourth season,
when you're talking about playing against veterans that are much
older and having injuries of at least similar significance. But
I will say, in Jaalen's defense, I thought he started
off Game five very well and then he just it
was a combination of not being as explosive after he
bumped knees and him not wanting to sort of get
the Rockets out of what was already working with them
(09:43):
up by twenty five thirty points for a reason. Yeah,
I get it.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
It's just just at this point it's kind of tiring.
It feels like everything has to be absolutely perfect for
it to work out for him. Right in game two,
Schartz was going obviously on giving him the defensive attention
that was on the game player, and it feels like
with yelling it, it has to be one hundred percent
perfect or it has to be magnetoll and it's it's
(10:08):
truly hard to find, you know, something sustainable. But hey,
maybe you know he's been good for or he's been
great for one out of four games. At this point,
hease do five games. Maybe he's due another pop off game.
And man, it would be if there were if there
was one game to pop off, and it's this one,
which is we not go home on the road. But
(10:29):
that being said, moving away from jail on, I mean,
it's just hard to like. At the same time, it
feels like they should be able to keep the game close, right.
They've kept every game close, even the one they were
getting out blown out, and they came back barring obviously
an offware student performance, with which I guess the orders
are due to to do so. But then it also
(10:51):
feels like, yes, they're gonna keep breaking close and that's
all we can really ask for, and they hope they
win in the end, but they've lost so many close ones.
And then you look at the regular season and we
were one of the best clutch teams in the league,
even though we weren't good in the half court. And
it's just I really struggle to know how to feel
about it. And the other thing is, well, friend had
(11:11):
his pop up game last game, and he was good
two games to go as well, but it eventually fell
up fell up?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Can we really expect.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Them to be good again? It's really to me, the
biggest difference in the series has been how we need
one of our back guard guys to play well if
you want to wear and I don't know if I
can trust them, what closet one of them to do so,
because if one of them is playing well, you have
the threat in the pick and roll of just pulling
up and the Warriors don't get to just ignore like
(11:40):
half of the of the three point line when playing
it's like the Riches points where they don't have anybody
anybody you know, over the like the free throw line
extended kind of thing. Right, they're just got in the
corners and the paint and it's like, dude, that's just
such shit spacing. And so to me, just going to
three not game to go into game six, it's kind
(12:04):
of like no expectations, but like, I'm not ready to
get hurt again. If we get to game seven, I'll
be ready to get to be hurt again. At game six,
I'm not my I'll go into it with the with
the expectation that you know we're gonna lose, and if
we win, I'll be very pleasantly surprised. But that's kind
of how I'm going into it. But talking about game
(12:25):
six for a minute, then I guess game five as well,
because we kind of have to because we didn't really,
you know, have a public after that game, Amen Thompson,
Like it feels like a swot chess. But if there's been,
you will have been talking about I'm in Compton offensively
in him not being good, and I really wanted to
take that tense before before the last game to say
(12:47):
he hasn't been that good defensively either, Like if we
go if we go back and watch the games and
in order LEAs look at the stats, you would not
have guessed going into the series that Amn Thompson would
not have a single ten rebound game this the series,
and he doesn't going into last NIGHT'SKA, he wouldn't guess
that men Thompson doesn't have a single game with more
than I I don't quite remember. I think it's more
(13:08):
than three stocks, Like three stocks from men Thompson is normal, right,
that's basically his average, and he hadn't had a game
with more than that. That's far in the series. It
felt like we lost, like we were turning the the
oriers were turning the ball over and we both weren't
taking advanct of those turnovers, and it felt like they
were not coming from the guys they typically come from,
(13:30):
which is which helped with not converting them because the
Men and Tari are two of our best, you know,
fastbreak players, and so it felt like we lost the
entire Terror Twins aspect of our game, which is a
pretty big, pretty big weapon for us. And so men
Thomson kind of rebounded and in the last game, he
was incredible defensively. He was forcing turnovers, he was getting
(13:52):
you know, his second chance points, he was getting his bunks,
he was hitting you know, some tough bank shots and everything,
and it felt like that entire interaction with I think
was carry Payton the third is the third than the
second last year. It really felt like he was in
like kind of beast mode to us in the sense
(14:13):
like he was like he wasn't taking shits from anybody
if he was there for the fight. Like and if
we get that amend thumpson again. Obviously it's not everything
because that's tactics still play a role in it, and
it doesn't really matter if he's playing that good of
defensive he can't make both need the rain shops because
that's what has been the main the make or break
(14:34):
shots for us the series. But it was a good
kind of omen and hopefully can carry that on and
then at the same time with without burnsing And I
just wanted to say that defensively, I think he's been
better defensively than in offensively enacting that kept going throughout
you know, both the last of the last two games,
and I will kind of push back a little bit on.
(14:56):
I guess, I guess I have a point for both
sides of it. I actually don't think a five for
the most and he dropped thirty right, but he have
like forty seven percent. It's you can't miss that many
three broomes and and you were you were cooking in
the third in the in the end of the the
third quarter, but that was because Draymond wasn't playing right,
(15:16):
and we need you to be able to score over Draymond.
That's that's the kind of the the key maplip for
us offensively. Other than you know what, I will probably
go all pliers like games where Fred plays well or
KiB plays well, because they're at this point, those are outliers.
But this to say that we need Chingle to be better,
or we need to get Draymond reading false earlier because
(15:39):
it just it changes too much of the series. And
then besides that, I guess my last my last pine
on this is got to find a way God to
find a way to Ketary Smith more involved. It may
it's okay. I think has been out goat the series
pretty heavily. I think Dealker's willingness to try different things
and twenty different lineups, even if it feels like he
may need to bang into a wall like four times
(16:02):
before remakes of things that you gotta be more versatile
with with the lineups and everything like that. And the
other thing is taking out Steven Adams at the end
of that game was shouldn't have done it. You should
have kept Steven Adams there the entire time. It really
isn't about like, let's be honest, if Steven Adams makes
half a sweetros which ease is average court offense, yeah,
(16:24):
one point, yeah, and one point for possession at this
point is like you as a defensive code should love that.
Like you're getting guaranteed one point on offense every trip down. Basically,
sometimes Steven's gonna knock both, sometimes he's gonna knock one
of them down, doesn't matter. On average, you can get
one point every time. You should trust your own defense
(16:47):
to outperform that on the defensive it and so besides that,
even I think we've played better defensively with the double
bigs anyways, So yeah, I just I just felt like
that was really mist opportunity. But then at the same time,
we did have a shot to win it, and she's
gonna just miss, which is part part from don't play
in him, it's part for the course. Listen, you give
(17:07):
the guy, you can give the guy the ball and
you and you live with the results. He was our
best offends a player that night. That's what you're gonna do.
That's what you're gonna do. But yeah, just going into
going into kind of all in all, get going into
game six, it's I have no expectations. If we win,
I'll get really hyph for Game seven. If we don't,
it's going to be a season that ended on in
(17:29):
a sour kind of in a sour note. I won't
feel good going into the off season. But I think
over time, especially because it's the words, like if it
was in the first round like the Wolves, I was like,
I'll be like, okay, but moving to the word and
for some kind of has an extra extra bite.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
To it and yours.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's just really disappointing. But I
guess in a couple of weeks, once we get into course,
we get to go back and walk at a bigger picture.
Because right now I'm not worried, Like we cannot talked
about trades because of the Janis rumors, but it wasn't
really I'm not diving into that. I'm not diving into
the draft. I'm not diving into potential trades. I'm not
diving into anything. It's just purely the buketball I'm watching
(18:07):
in front of me. At this point, I'm a hyper
reaction to that. But I think once I get a
chance to step back and look at it from any
kind of a bigger picture standpoint, I'll be west depressed
about it. But at this point that's kind of what
I said.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, I'm going into it with the same type of
outlook in that I'm preparing myself for a loss. Logically,
I know the Rockets have had their chances. At some point,
it feels like the Warriors, and maybe it happens at home.
We're going to have a hot shooting game from the
role players. If you have to lean on the double
big lineup with Steven Adams and all for Inch and Goon,
there are some looks you give up in that zone.
(18:43):
Maybe buddy heeled pods guys like that Quent and Post
pop off against you, and the Warriors finally have a
game where they get some separation. I'm not predicting that
to happen, but the hashtag Houston sports guy in me
is afraid of that. With that said, there is part
of me that thinks, Hey, if the Rockets were on
the other side of this, I would be very wary
that all these coin flips have gone your way. Game one,
(19:07):
game three, Game four all could have gone against the Warriors.
At least one of those two in San Francisco should
have and didn't. Is that eventually going to catch up
with them? Because the Warriors are not good enough, or
at least have not been good enough through five games
to get any sort of real separation from the Rockets.
Are they due for a game where the bounces don't
go their way? That's the hope. As far as looking
(19:29):
back on Game five, real quick, you touched on a
Men Thomson. I think that's so huge, obviously for the
future because of what he means for this franchise, but
also for this series. I took some heat on social
media early in the series when I mentioned and a
couple of shagoon stands locked onto it. I mentioned that
the Rockets internally view to Men as their best player
this season. That's true, and I'm not saying that you
(19:51):
can't argue for Shangoon as an All Star or Jalen
as the leading scorer. I'm not saying it's cut and dry.
What I am telling you is that internally, this is
the way the Rockets view it. And the reason that's
important is when they are formulating game plans for how
they're going to win a series like this, they're going
to put a lot of responsibility on the guy that
they hold internally in such high regard. Sure they have
(20:14):
hopes that a Men Thompson could be a superstar down
the line, they genuinely believe that he is a star
right now. They genuinely believe he was that level of
a player this season. And I don't want to make
this a debate because it's sort of besides the point.
The reason I bring this up is to say, when
they are mapping out a game plan for how they
are going to beat the Warriors four times out of seven,
(20:35):
it involves getting a lot more out of him Men
Thompson than they did in the first three games. So
the Rockets are going to go down with their guys,
and a Men is probably at the very core of
the inner circle for who is most trusted by ima
Udoka and that entire basketball operations department, so for him
to finally get going, and I agree with you, the
(20:56):
defense got better in Game five as well, and you know,
he may talk about some of the things they did
on both them of the floor to put him in
a better position to succeed offensively. They talked about the
spacing and how it was vanilla the first few games.
I think, as with basketball, it's an emotional game, and
when things went well for him offensively, he picked up
the intensity against Steph Curry full court. And I think conversely,
(21:18):
when he got a couple of rips of stuff, then
that makes him more confident and he has that look
at his I when he's able and ready to take
over a game. And we hadn't seen that a lot
the first three games. We saw it in the second
half of Game four. It carried over into Game five.
Hopefully we see the same back in the Bay for
Game six, because the Rockets are not going to win
(21:39):
this series without Amen Thompson playing at a star level.
This weekend. I think it's just unrealistic given the stakes
of these games, and we know the Warriors are going
to unload the kitchen sink at the Rockets, especially at home,
and so with how important a men is to the Rockets,
you can disagree with it, but when we're talking about
their formula, how you may Ujoka and his staff is
(22:01):
trying to put together a blueprint to win. It involves
a lot of them men, Thompson, If they get the
version they had in the first three games, it's probably
not gonna be enough. And so a men's stepping up.
That's a very positive development. And it overlaps with the
other big takeaway I had from Game five, which is
the struggles of Steph Curry. Look from a Golden State perspective,
in the three wins, he's averaging twenty eight points on
(22:21):
fifty four percent shooting, and the two losses he's had
about sixteen points per game on thirty seven percent shooting.
So as Curry goes, the Warriors offense tends to go.
Because I've seen him do this in San Francisco against
the Rockets so many times, I am terrified that he's
going to do in game six we did in game
three and just find a way to get even a
sliver of daylight, and before you know what, he's up
(22:43):
to thirty five, thirty six points, but if they can
keep up the level of defense they had in Game five,
if the thumb is perhaps becoming a bigger issue with
the series going to an every other day format and
not having the time to rest and recover, that could
be the ticket for the Rockets to have a very
real chance to win this game, because the Warriors, without
stuff at a thirty ish points per game level, just
(23:05):
don't have the offense. Just score a lot of points
against the Rockets enough to get separation and workst case
if the Rockets need, if they can just turn to
Steven Adams and go super big muck up the game,
and if Steph isn't making the threes, the Rockets should
have a chance. And I agree with you he may
should have stuck with Steven Adams in game four and
(23:26):
we'll see if he learned his lesson in game six,
because I do think there's a world where if you
know one or more of your guards aren't firing, you
may need to close with the double big that they
want to if they want to foalue, let them volluw
you and take your chances at the line, because the
Rockets may need to make this a slug fest and
get as many opportunities via offense and rebounds as possible.
(23:46):
That may be the ticket, and so it could be
a test if he may Joka just as much, just
as much as it's the test of anybody else. But
as far as variables for the Warriors, Steph Courry's at
the forefront of the lists. He's been terrible and the losses,
he's been very good for the most part. In the wins.
He enters coming off sub twenty point games for the
first time in seven years. So something is working this week.
Maybe it's randomness. Maybe he's going to have one of
(24:08):
those legacy games in a close out situation against the
team that he's tortured more than anyone else. Or maybe
be at the defensive him and Thompson and Dylan Brooks,
be it the thumb. Maybe something actually has changed and
the Rockets, as the series has progressed, have found better
ways to defend him and keep him from getting to
his spots. That's the hope we'll find out Friday night.
(24:29):
As far as Game six keys to the game, I
want to be quick here because we've touched on a
few of these already. And as far as things to
watch for and I'll say key variables. Let's frame it
this way for whether the Rockets can get this done.
And there's certain things that are true no matter what.
(24:51):
Like I mentioned earlier, if any team has an outlier
shooting game, they're probably going to win. And so we
know the Rockets need to make free throws. That's been
theme for them. When they've got the free throw line
and they've made them. I think in the two wins
they've been over eighty percent and the three losses they've
been an under sixty percent. That's unacceptable. It's bad. I
think it goes without saying so when I give Mike Keys,
(25:13):
it's not so much that the other stuff doesn't matter,
it's that the other stuff is just implusit. For me,
the biggest swing variable for the Rockets in this game,
you've got to have at least one of fred Anfleet,
Jalen Green, and Dylan Brook's score. I'll say twenty five
points on good efficiency. Because what I am most worried about,
(25:35):
beyond Steph being Steph, is the officiating. I think some
will call the conspiracy theory, but I think it's just
the reality the Lakers going out. Look, there's huge financial
stakes in whether it's Timberwolves Rockets or Timberwolves Warriors. The
NBA does not have that many playoff runs left. With
Steph Curry, he's going to be playing at home. There's
(25:57):
going to be eighteen nineteen thousand fans screaming anytime a
Houston defender even breathes in the vicinity of Steph. For Jimmy,
if it's a borderline call, I think it's highly likely
to go Golden State's way, and I think Steve Kerr
was setting up for that after Game five some of
his comments about hunting Steph Curry's thumb. So I don't
think the Rockets are going to get a friendly whistle,
(26:18):
not that you typically do in the road and the
playoffs anyway, when you're playing a team with all these stars,
don't think it's especially going to be the case Friday night.
And so one of the implications from that, well, for starters,
I don't think you're going to have the thirty eight
to twenty two free throw advantage that you did in
Game five. Not the Rockets got a friendly whistle, I
just don't think they got a terrible one. But in
terms of style of play, I think it's going to
(26:40):
be tough, especially in the fourth quarter, and I think
we both agree the game is likely to be close.
It's unlikely for either team to have a commanding edge.
It's going to be tough for all for in Shringoon
or a men Thompson to land the plane, simply because
Draymond Green is a great defender to begin with, and
I think he's going to be allowed to be extra
physical in this game given all the circumstances. So in
(27:01):
terms of guys that succeed by finishing near the rim
and absorb a lot of contact on their drives or
in the post in the case of Shongoon, it's gonna
be a little bit harder to get those buckets when
you have Draymond Green at peak physicality the way he will,
because the Warriors are gonna lay it all on the line,
and I think the officials are going to let them
(27:22):
do it to some extent too, So you always need
perimeter guys to create a little bit offense. I think
is especially likely to be the case in this game,
because it's gonna be tougher to have your guys finish
near the rim, and so you're gonna need another Fred
Denfleet game like he had in Game four, or Jalen
Green game like he had in Game two, or maybe
Dylan who had twenty four points and really bailed the
(27:44):
Rockets out in a lot of sicky half court situations.
In Game five. You're gonna need at least one, ideally too,
but at least one of those three to go off
and be a guy that's capable of landing the plane
down the stretch of that game. Now fredn Flet came
very close to doing that in Game four. The fear,
as you mentioned earlier, did the Rockets already waste Did
(28:06):
they already fire that bullet and it missed? That's what
you worry about. It's what I worry about. But I
think that's the big question for the Rockets in this game.
I don't think the Warriors are gonna blow them out,
but I also don't think this is gonna repeat a
Game five or the Rockets are clearly the better team.
Someone is going to need the plane. I don't think
it's gonna be all prim Shingoon or a Men Thompson
down the stretch of the fourth quarter. You're gonna need
(28:27):
one of those perimeter guys. That's the biggest key for me.
And then the secondary one is emi Udoka going to
trust Steven Adams because if one or zero of those
three perimeter guys that I mentioned are scoring at an
elite level, then the counter is just to try to
muck up the game as much as you can slow
(28:49):
the pace, force the Warriors and the higher variants because
you play zone, you get all the rebounds because you're
getting offensive rebounds or possessions last longer, and just make
it as ug as possible, and hopefully, because Steven's such
a good screen setter, maybe one or more of your
perimeter guys can get a good look late in the game.
That's the counter if none of your perimeter guys are
(29:11):
really clicking. And to this point, in four the five
games in this series, Steven has played less than twenty minutes.
I don't think that's acceptable. In Game four he played
twenty six, but even with the twenty six there was
meat left on the bone, and that he was taken
out for about two and a half minutes down the
stretch because he may didn't want to trust him at
the foul line, which I completely agree with you. It
was silly because the Rockets were not converting in the
half court at a higher rate than that. Anyway, is
(29:33):
this going to be the game? And maybe the Rockets
don't need it, but if the perimeter guys aren't clicking,
the only other lever you can pull is to give
Steven Adams legit starting level minutes. He says he can
handle it. We've asked him in the media scrums and
he says that there are no limitations, and I guess
you can argue that, you know, because he didn't play
(29:54):
much in the second half Game five because of the blowout.
Just as the Warriors are more arrested, Steven should be
as well. That's the the only other option the Rockets have.
Will emay Ujoka actually close with him and bench a
Jalen Green or a friend and Fleet or Dylan Brooks,
whoever it is. That's that's cold. I don't think he's
in the bench. Shouldn't Gooon or men Thompson, they're just
too important, but any of the other three potentially could
(30:14):
be if they're ever a bad night. I think ideal scenario,
at least one of your premier guys is clicking, and
then as the backup plan, just trust Steven Adams and
hope for the best to be those are the big
variables to watch. Obviously, Steph Curry mentioned that earlier the
Rockets have actually had their way with stuff the last
few games. The hope is just that you can get
that to continue for one more to get back to
(30:34):
Houston for a home game seven. Pallo, what are your
variables as it pertains to game six tomorrow night? It's
stronger than me.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I'll just say that if you guys want, you want
to roll the pot back a minute and listen to
what Ben's last sentence. All I'm going to say is
pause as before I move on to my clothing. Are
you in so as far as games, I think the
rules really have en changed from where we were after
to win to where we are now there are it
(31:04):
feels like to me that these teams are close. When
the Rockets play the basically almost the worst possible basketball,
they know how to play, so all they need really
is for one of three or four variables to go
their way. Just one of them probably flips the game
three three percentage. You can't continue. If you missed twelve
(31:24):
three throws, You're not gonna win the game. It's as
simple as that. And so missed three throws shooting, especially
from Gill and Green, and whether those two in specific,
so freddily having a good game probably wins us the
game or dream having a good game probably wins us
the game. Then beyond that, it's really about keeping like
(31:46):
obviously keeping stuff down, but at the same time, it
feels like we go stretches where we forget we're one
of the best regarding teams in the Green and the
Warriors get you know, three four possessions, three four of us,
the reboundance in possession, it's that and for Jalen Green,
and this is mostly in game five. If you like,
(32:07):
if you don't have it going offensively, it's double the
punishment if you keep losing guys on cuts defensively, And
it happened a lot, and it's why he deserves the
defense to close that game. Like he was just non
passable on defense, Like he was too bad, he was unplayable.
He can't be that way. And sadly, from what we
(32:28):
saw from Aaron Holiday last game, I'm not even said
like trust modern I was scaling at this point, like
I thought he was a valid option. He played so terrible.
He like such a LOWI like you like the way
the way the Warriors came back to within thirteen or
whatever it was was ninety to Aaron Holiday taking early
shot clock shots in the game. That was a thirty
point blow up with ten minutes to go. Like that's
(32:50):
the only way he lose that game. So I don't
even trust that on Holiday anymore. But yeah, and besides that,
it's probably the biggest one. Cannot Bruning make the flutter
or the majoring shots from the line over Draymond, Like
if he has the floor game going and hitting those
you know, ten fifteen furthers, at that point, Draymond has
(33:12):
to kind of step up to you and you have
a lot more space to try and pull off their
post moves kind of behind him. So Chengu making those shots,
it can be. It doesn't even have to like it
has to start with the touches he gets from the
short row passes in the pick and roll. He has
those going it and walks the game. It unwalks the
(33:33):
rest of his offensive game and it doesn't allow Draymond
to play as I beliefense that he has been playing,
which has been before before we close up. It's something
that I have I have to cut off my chest.
I see a lot of people complaining about the rough
being of Steph Curry that we're doing. Listen, they are
allowing the physicality on the perimeter that they are allowing
on the other end. On the post Draymond is holding
(33:56):
thing on with two hands the end we see what possess.
Are so unused to watch postplay at this point that
they don't know that you can't do that. So it's
not a one side of things. It's because on one end,
see it clearly because it's in a three point line,
and they need so so unused to seeing postplay on
the other that you don't notice that Draymond is illegally
gardening Shingo in every single posession.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh. Absolutely, And that's why I'm not especially paranoid of
Shangoun being the guy laid in the game, just because
of how much physicality Treymind can get away with.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
But you're exactly right, yeah, And so this is why
I haven't complained about it, because I understand where we're
being allowed to do the exact same thing on the
other end of the floor. But it's definitely not a
one way thing. They're doing it both ways. They are
allowing us to take Steph courn not out of the
game because Steph Courk doesn't need much to get going.
(34:47):
But they are allowing us to diminish Steph Curry, but
they are also allowing the Warriors to diminish what our
biggest stuff as the weapon is, which is open thingle
even without double teaming, which is kind of a series
breaker for us as well. So it's just one of
get that out there that that's not like we're not
being benefited by the by the referee. I think it's
been pretty besides the Draymond agree not getting ejected at
(35:08):
Stenannigan's largely agree.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
But I am very per right about Game six in
San Francisco, especially with the potential for a Scott Foster
wrestling style heel insurance. Oh boy, I doubt it will
actually be Scott Foster. I don't think he's rough the
game yet. It seems like he's on there just for
replay duty because he's coming off the cat injury. That
would be the cherry on top of the shit sull
day if you will, ohead will.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
So the biggest injury of the series is not Steph Curristam.
It's not Hiling Green's knee. It's as to Gott Foster's cat, Yeah, exactly,
that's the injury that makes the series.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, well, hopefully, and we'll find out in the morning.
It can't actually be a wrestling style entrance because the
NBA announces about eight or nine in the morning who
the officials are going to be, so we'll find out early.
Hopefully it's not Scott Foster. If it is Gold. But honestly,
that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world because
Scott Foster, for all of the about him, I mean,
Warriors fans don't think he's in their corner either. Obviously
(36:03):
that's ridiculous, but the perceptions out there, and one thing
that is true with Scott his ego is so big
that he's the type of guy that I don't think
is going to get manipulated by a home crowd, as
Rockets fans were in the hard way in Game seven
of twenty eighteen. So in this particular game, Scott Foster
might not be the worst case scenario. The worst case
(36:23):
scenario is going to be someone on top of the
obvious angles that gets manipulated by the crowd, which is
going to be especially lit given the stakes, given that
I think most people understand that if it goes back
to Game seven in Houston, crazier things had happened, But
I think the Rockets would be favored in the name
for the Warriors, they are going to unload the clip
Friday night, and that includes the fans, that includes everybody
(36:47):
in that arena, and a ref that gets easily manipulated
by that. I think that's the worst case scenario for
the Rockets. I do agree with you that by and large,
officiating has been five It's not why the Rockets are
down three to two. But in Game six, I'm more
aware of it. I'm more wary of it than in
any other point in the series. And so knock on wood,
(37:08):
Hopefully the Rocket's going to crue that at least isn't
grown to be manipulated by the crowd, because there's enough
manipulation that's going to happen no matter what between the lines.
Hopefully you get some guys that aren't manipulated by the
nineteen thousand screaming idiots and the fans in the stands
on top of it. All. Right, well, we'll wrap it
here and again we'll be back with a more normal
(37:28):
episode next week, hopefully talking about the round and two
series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. If not, we'll be wrapping
up the season that was and a playoff series against
the Warriors that Again, it's been frustrating at this point
because the Rockets, it's not like they look fraudulent by
any means. They have competed, but there's just been so
many swing variables that haven't gone their way in the
(37:49):
coin flip games to date, have not gone their way
in this best of seven series. Anyway, until next time,
this is where we will break and if you want
more content, just go to the logger line on Twitter
slash x where you have the link strain. You've got
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(38:11):
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for tonight, we're done on behalf of Paalo Alves. I'm
Don Jubo's thanks to all of you for listening. Please
come back soon for another new episode of the logger line,
Go Rockets,
Cheers, Rockets fans, Welcome to The Logger Line, an exclusive
podcast from the home of the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
The Logger Line.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It's proudly served to you by car Bocks Clutch City Logger.
It is good Yeah, Red Nation, Get ready, Ready, get Ready.
The lagger Line starts now. Welcome aboard.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Benjubo's here, Paolo Alves there, Welcome into another episode of
the Logger Line, sponsored by Carbock Brewing. It's Thursday night,
May first, the off day between Game five and Game
six of the first round playoff series between your Houston
Rockets and the hated Golden State Warriors. Since we last
recorded a week ago, between Game two and Game three,
the home team has won every game. That's been the
(00:59):
case since. The war unfortunately took the game one back
a week and a half ago in Houston, and so
now the Rockets have one last opportunity to get a
road win in Friday night's Game six. If they do
not get it, the season will end with the six
game loss in the first round of the playoffs. If
they do get it, Game seven is Sunday night in Houston.
The winner of this series is going to play Minnesota
(01:20):
in the second round starting next week. Since the Timberwolves
have already finished off their series against the Lakers in
five games, so since the shelf life isn't as long
as it typically is for this episode and the timeliness
of everything going on in the playoffs, this pod is
going to be a bit shorter than usual and also
may not have the usual editing standards because we know
(01:41):
you guys just want some fresh content, and so we're
going to give you a little bit of quick hitting
insight on what we've seen in recent games and what
we hope to see in Game six and hopefully Game
seven this weekend. We're going to save the bigger picture
post mortem type discussions. Well, hopefully it's not post mortem,
but it certainly could be. Rockets still underdogs in the
(02:01):
series for a reason, we'll save that for next week,
hopefully talking very happily about the Rockets becoming just the
fourteenth team in NBA history to overcome a three to
one deficit. If not, we'll talk about where things went wrong.
And I do think at this point, look by not
going out sad in five games at home, there are
gonna be some positive macro developments that you can take
(02:23):
out of this series no matter what. At this point,
they have not embarrassed themselves. They look like they belong.
They actually have a superior net rating more points. They've
looked like the better team. They just haven't closed out
the corn flip games, and so we'll talk about that
on today's pod. And regardless of the end result, there's
something positive you can take in terms of a young
team on the upswing in its rebuilding cycle. There are
(02:45):
some silver linings, but this is not going to be
a silver linings pod because right now the Rockets are
still in this series, and so looking at it from
a more micro perspective, we're gonna be talking about what
needs to happen for them to hopefully win a couple
of games this weekend and extend their season into the
second round of the Western Conference playoffs. So let's start
with a general wellness check and take the temperature of
(03:08):
where things are at in this series, because for me, Powo,
I'm a little bit torn. I think there's a glass
half empty way to view it, and there's a class
half full, and for me it sort of varies based
on the hour and how I'm feeling and what the
latest insight I've read from some of the people I
respect online, So I'll start with the glass half empty way,
(03:28):
the sense of pessimism that overcomes me at times. It
boils down to how many chances can you reasonably expect
to get in a best of seven series to close
out one of these corn flip games. In the preview pot,
I talked about wanting to see and the Rockets needing
to see a classic Fred then Fleet game on the
(03:51):
road to steal you one. You had that in Game four,
and yet you still couldn't finish the deal. The reality
is Game one, you were down three midway through the
fourth quarter. Game three. In Game four you led midway
through the fourth quarter. You've let these opportunities slip away,
and typically you aren't going to get an unlimited supply
of those. At some point, it feels like the Warriors
(04:13):
are going to have a game where maybe it's just
shooting variants in a way that the Rockets had positive
shooting variants in Game five, but things just go the
Warrior's way. Is that going to happen tomorrow night in
game six when they are going to be heavily incentivized?
Is Steph Curry do for a bounce back performance these
last two games. He's been held below twenty points in
consecutive playoff games, the first time since May of twenty eighteen.
(04:34):
You can also argue that the regulars on the Warriors
because Game five was a blowout. Basically nobody played more
than twenty five minutes. So those veterans that have been
leaned on a lot, Steph Currige t I mean, Butler,
Raymond Green. There's nagging injuries, Butler with the pelvis contusion,
Steph Curry with the thumb. They didn't have to go
all out in Game five, and so those are the
(04:56):
reasons for pessimism. The glass half full perspective, as I
see it, is that there's been nothing in this series
to suggest the Rockets won't have a chance, because the
two wins for the Rockets have been commanding, and really
the only time the Warriors had a sustained stretch of
being the better team was the first two and a
(05:16):
half quarters of Game one and I think we can
largely attribute that to inexperience for the Rockets and probably
a little bit of rust since they didn't play any
meaningful games in the previous two weeks. Everything since the
middle of the third quarter of Game one has either
been the Rockets clearly being the superior team, or a
corn flip type of game that just happened to go
(05:37):
the Warriors way down the home stretch because Stafford Jemmy
were better at landing the plane, and so they deserve
credit for that. But at the same time, I also
think of the old Daryl Morey quote, which is that
good teams don't win close games, they avoid them. And
so you can certainly make the argument that what the
Warriors being unable to get real separation with the Rockets,
(05:59):
or again to the Rockets, are they flirting with disaster
by having every game that they win go down to
the wire. Are they due for one of these corn
flip games to go against them, for some of the
bounces in a close game to go the Rockets way.
You can also argue that now the series is every
other day instead of every three days, maybe these veterans
stars with bagging injuries like Steph Curry and the thumb,
(06:22):
that's a factor because they don't have the time to
rest and recover. And as far as hand, the Rockets
win a road game against elimination in Game six, I'll
raise you that Warriors King series from two years ago
when the Warriors were up three to two going back
to the Bay for Game six, and the Kings not
only won, the Kings won that game six decisively. Now,
(06:42):
the Kings did go on to lose a home Game seven,
but Steph went for fifty in that game. I don't
think that's gonna happen against Avan Thompson. And I don't
think the Rockets are even thinking about game seven at
this point. They are just trying to survive Game six.
Get the game back to Houston. Go ahead, take that back,
take it that back.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
What you think that if we get the tame seven
now he's gonna drop fifty? Like, oh, I need you,
I need you to take that back live, like right now, okay,
Like you can't just say it's okay, thank you. I
was just thinking for the people out there because I've
been getting cooked on Twitter for jinxing things, so I
just I had to put on on to be on
(07:17):
the right side of history on this one, I guess.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Okay. So with that in mind, Powell, I'll turn this
over to you because I could go both ways. Which
direction are you winning.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
As so as well as we winning game six.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Well, no, just the glass half full or the glass
half Oh okay, I O back and forth on these two.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I'm really torn just because it still stinks the way
we lost game five, and so I'm still kind of
depressed about it. Yeah, game four and I'm still kind
of depressed about it, and I you know, I don't know,
it just it felt, it felt felt so hopeless then
that now even though we won last game, I'm like, well, yeah,
(07:55):
but it's it's not really about winning two more games.
It will it's it's been pregameg you know, even though
he already one game one, but then you know, the
entire probabilities thing. But it's rough because the Jill and
Green think was the game two was clearly just a
flashing the ten. I'm just really sad about that because
(08:17):
to me, like game so game three actually, I was
actually on the side of defending jail On because I thought, well,
they were they were clearly not letting you score. That's
the priority. In game four, it they didn't feel the
same way everybody else was scoring. And you know, Jim
and didn't get enough volume to have a big night.
Well he wasn't that inneficient first that he did sake,
(08:38):
but it just feels like a gamest physical defense. He
just he just can't make it work and it becomes
heavily reliable, reliant on him moving off ball and finding
getting open and he's just throwing, you know, not not
enough attention to be double team, but in the attention
to have a guy stay sputting him all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Been real quickly on that. I thought he started Game
five in a very positive way and then he just
wasn't the same guy physically after bumping knees. And so
that's the storyline to watch for Game six for sure.
It's just not an excuse the Rockets can use because
obviously Butler with the pelvis contusion, Steph Curry with the
injured thumb on his shooting hand. I mean the excuse
rings howl or if you're talking about a bump knee
(09:22):
for a twenty three year old in his fourth season,
when you're talking about playing against veterans that are much
older and having injuries of at least similar significance. But
I will say, in Jaalen's defense, I thought he started
off Game five very well and then he just it
was a combination of not being as explosive after he
bumped knees and him not wanting to sort of get
the Rockets out of what was already working with them
(09:43):
up by twenty five thirty points for a reason. Yeah,
I get it.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
It's just just at this point it's kind of tiring.
It feels like everything has to be absolutely perfect for
it to work out for him. Right in game two,
Schartz was going obviously on giving him the defensive attention
that was on the game player, and it feels like
with yelling it, it has to be one hundred percent
perfect or it has to be magnetoll and it's it's
(10:08):
truly hard to find, you know, something sustainable. But hey,
maybe you know he's been good for or he's been
great for one out of four games. At this point,
hease do five games. Maybe he's due another pop off game.
And man, it would be if there were if there
was one game to pop off, and it's this one,
which is we not go home on the road. But
(10:29):
that being said, moving away from jail on, I mean,
it's just hard to like. At the same time, it
feels like they should be able to keep the game close, right.
They've kept every game close, even the one they were
getting out blown out, and they came back barring obviously
an offware student performance, with which I guess the orders
are due to to do so. But then it also
(10:51):
feels like, yes, they're gonna keep breaking close and that's
all we can really ask for, and they hope they
win in the end, but they've lost so many close ones.
And then you look at the regular season and we
were one of the best clutch teams in the league,
even though we weren't good in the half court. And
it's just I really struggle to know how to feel
about it. And the other thing is, well, friend had
(11:11):
his pop up game last game, and he was good
two games to go as well, but it eventually fell
up fell up?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Can we really expect.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
Them to be good again? It's really to me, the
biggest difference in the series has been how we need
one of our back guard guys to play well if
you want to wear and I don't know if I
can trust them, what closet one of them to do so,
because if one of them is playing well, you have
the threat in the pick and roll of just pulling
up and the Warriors don't get to just ignore like
(11:40):
half of the of the three point line when playing
it's like the Riches points where they don't have anybody
anybody you know, over the like the free throw line
extended kind of thing. Right, they're just got in the
corners and the paint and it's like, dude, that's just
such shit spacing. And so to me, just going to
three not game to go into game six, it's kind
(12:04):
of like no expectations, but like, I'm not ready to
get hurt again. If we get to game seven, I'll
be ready to get to be hurt again. At game six,
I'm not my I'll go into it with the with
the expectation that you know we're gonna lose, and if
we win, I'll be very pleasantly surprised. But that's kind
of how I'm going into it. But talking about game
(12:25):
six for a minute, then I guess game five as well,
because we kind of have to because we didn't really,
you know, have a public after that game, Amen Thompson,
Like it feels like a swot chess. But if there's been,
you will have been talking about I'm in Compton offensively
in him not being good, and I really wanted to
take that tense before before the last game to say
(12:47):
he hasn't been that good defensively either, Like if we
go if we go back and watch the games and
in order LEAs look at the stats, you would not
have guessed going into the series that Amn Thompson would
not have a single ten rebound game this the series,
and he doesn't going into last NIGHT'SKA, he wouldn't guess
that men Thompson doesn't have a single game with more
than I I don't quite remember. I think it's more
(13:08):
than three stocks, Like three stocks from men Thompson is normal, right,
that's basically his average, and he hadn't had a game
with more than that. That's far in the series. It
felt like we lost, like we were turning the the
oriers were turning the ball over and we both weren't
taking advanct of those turnovers, and it felt like they
were not coming from the guys they typically come from,
(13:30):
which is which helped with not converting them because the
Men and Tari are two of our best, you know,
fastbreak players, and so it felt like we lost the
entire Terror Twins aspect of our game, which is a
pretty big, pretty big weapon for us. And so men
Thomson kind of rebounded and in the last game, he
was incredible defensively. He was forcing turnovers, he was getting
(13:52):
you know, his second chance points, he was getting his bunks,
he was hitting you know, some tough bank shots and everything,
and it felt like that entire interaction with I think
was carry Payton the third is the third than the
second last year. It really felt like he was in
like kind of beast mode to us in the sense
(14:13):
like he was like he wasn't taking shits from anybody
if he was there for the fight. Like and if
we get that amend thumpson again. Obviously it's not everything
because that's tactics still play a role in it, and
it doesn't really matter if he's playing that good of
defensive he can't make both need the rain shops because
that's what has been the main the make or break
(14:34):
shots for us the series. But it was a good
kind of omen and hopefully can carry that on and
then at the same time with without burnsing And I
just wanted to say that defensively, I think he's been
better defensively than in offensively enacting that kept going throughout
you know, both the last of the last two games,
and I will kind of push back a little bit on.
(14:56):
I guess, I guess I have a point for both
sides of it. I actually don't think a five for
the most and he dropped thirty right, but he have
like forty seven percent. It's you can't miss that many
three broomes and and you were you were cooking in
the third in the in the end of the the
third quarter, but that was because Draymond wasn't playing right,
(15:16):
and we need you to be able to score over Draymond.
That's that's the kind of the the key maplip for
us offensively. Other than you know what, I will probably
go all pliers like games where Fred plays well or
KiB plays well, because they're at this point, those are outliers.
But this to say that we need Chingle to be better,
or we need to get Draymond reading false earlier because
(15:39):
it just it changes too much of the series. And
then besides that, I guess my last my last pine
on this is got to find a way God to
find a way to Ketary Smith more involved. It may
it's okay. I think has been out goat the series
pretty heavily. I think Dealker's willingness to try different things
and twenty different lineups, even if it feels like he
may need to bang into a wall like four times
(16:02):
before remakes of things that you gotta be more versatile
with with the lineups and everything like that. And the
other thing is taking out Steven Adams at the end
of that game was shouldn't have done it. You should
have kept Steven Adams there the entire time. It really
isn't about like, let's be honest, if Steven Adams makes
half a sweetros which ease is average court offense, yeah,
(16:24):
one point, yeah, and one point for possession at this
point is like you as a defensive code should love that.
Like you're getting guaranteed one point on offense every trip down. Basically,
sometimes Steven's gonna knock both, sometimes he's gonna knock one
of them down, doesn't matter. On average, you can get
one point every time. You should trust your own defense
(16:47):
to outperform that on the defensive it and so besides that,
even I think we've played better defensively with the double
bigs anyways, So yeah, I just I just felt like
that was really mist opportunity. But then at the same time,
we did have a shot to win it, and she's
gonna just miss, which is part part from don't play
in him, it's part for the course. Listen, you give
(17:07):
the guy, you can give the guy the ball and
you and you live with the results. He was our
best offends a player that night. That's what you're gonna do.
That's what you're gonna do. But yeah, just going into
going into kind of all in all, get going into
game six, it's I have no expectations. If we win,
I'll get really hyph for Game seven. If we don't,
it's going to be a season that ended on in
(17:29):
a sour kind of in a sour note. I won't
feel good going into the off season. But I think
over time, especially because it's the words, like if it
was in the first round like the Wolves, I was like,
I'll be like, okay, but moving to the word and
for some kind of has an extra extra bite.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
To it and yours.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's just really disappointing. But I
guess in a couple of weeks, once we get into course,
we get to go back and walk at a bigger picture.
Because right now I'm not worried, Like we cannot talked
about trades because of the Janis rumors, but it wasn't
really I'm not diving into that. I'm not diving into
the draft. I'm not diving into potential trades. I'm not
diving into anything. It's just purely the buketball I'm watching
(18:07):
in front of me. At this point, I'm a hyper
reaction to that. But I think once I get a
chance to step back and look at it from any
kind of a bigger picture standpoint, I'll be west depressed
about it. But at this point that's kind of what
I said.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, I'm going into it with the same type of
outlook in that I'm preparing myself for a loss. Logically,
I know the Rockets have had their chances. At some point,
it feels like the Warriors, and maybe it happens at home.
We're going to have a hot shooting game from the
role players. If you have to lean on the double
big lineup with Steven Adams and all for Inch and Goon,
there are some looks you give up in that zone.
(18:43):
Maybe buddy heeled pods guys like that Quent and Post
pop off against you, and the Warriors finally have a
game where they get some separation. I'm not predicting that
to happen, but the hashtag Houston sports guy in me
is afraid of that. With that said, there is part
of me that thinks, Hey, if the Rockets were on
the other side of this, I would be very wary
that all these coin flips have gone your way. Game one,
(19:07):
game three, Game four all could have gone against the Warriors.
At least one of those two in San Francisco should
have and didn't. Is that eventually going to catch up
with them? Because the Warriors are not good enough, or
at least have not been good enough through five games
to get any sort of real separation from the Rockets.
Are they due for a game where the bounces don't
go their way? That's the hope. As far as looking
(19:29):
back on Game five, real quick, you touched on a
Men Thomson. I think that's so huge, obviously for the
future because of what he means for this franchise, but
also for this series. I took some heat on social
media early in the series when I mentioned and a
couple of shagoon stands locked onto it. I mentioned that
the Rockets internally view to Men as their best player
this season. That's true, and I'm not saying that you
(19:51):
can't argue for Shangoon as an All Star or Jalen
as the leading scorer. I'm not saying it's cut and dry.
What I am telling you is that internally, this is
the way the Rockets view it. And the reason that's
important is when they are formulating game plans for how
they're going to win a series like this, they're going
to put a lot of responsibility on the guy that
they hold internally in such high regard. Sure they have
(20:14):
hopes that a Men Thompson could be a superstar down
the line, they genuinely believe that he is a star
right now. They genuinely believe he was that level of
a player this season. And I don't want to make
this a debate because it's sort of besides the point.
The reason I bring this up is to say, when
they are mapping out a game plan for how they
are going to beat the Warriors four times out of seven,
(20:35):
it involves getting a lot more out of him Men
Thompson than they did in the first three games. So
the Rockets are going to go down with their guys,
and a Men is probably at the very core of
the inner circle for who is most trusted by ima
Udoka and that entire basketball operations department, so for him
to finally get going, and I agree with you, the
(20:56):
defense got better in Game five as well, and you know,
he may talk about some of the things they did
on both them of the floor to put him in
a better position to succeed offensively. They talked about the
spacing and how it was vanilla the first few games.
I think, as with basketball, it's an emotional game, and
when things went well for him offensively, he picked up
the intensity against Steph Curry full court. And I think conversely,
(21:18):
when he got a couple of rips of stuff, then
that makes him more confident and he has that look
at his I when he's able and ready to take
over a game. And we hadn't seen that a lot
the first three games. We saw it in the second
half of Game four. It carried over into Game five.
Hopefully we see the same back in the Bay for
Game six, because the Rockets are not going to win
(21:39):
this series without Amen Thompson playing at a star level.
This weekend. I think it's just unrealistic given the stakes
of these games, and we know the Warriors are going
to unload the kitchen sink at the Rockets, especially at home,
and so with how important a men is to the Rockets,
you can disagree with it, but when we're talking about
their formula, how you may Ujoka and his staff is
(22:01):
trying to put together a blueprint to win. It involves
a lot of them men, Thompson, If they get the
version they had in the first three games, it's probably
not gonna be enough. And so a men's stepping up.
That's a very positive development. And it overlaps with the
other big takeaway I had from Game five, which is
the struggles of Steph Curry. Look from a Golden State perspective,
in the three wins, he's averaging twenty eight points on
(22:21):
fifty four percent shooting, and the two losses he's had
about sixteen points per game on thirty seven percent shooting.
So as Curry goes, the Warriors offense tends to go.
Because I've seen him do this in San Francisco against
the Rockets so many times, I am terrified that he's
going to do in game six we did in game
three and just find a way to get even a
sliver of daylight, and before you know what, he's up
(22:43):
to thirty five, thirty six points, but if they can
keep up the level of defense they had in Game five,
if the thumb is perhaps becoming a bigger issue with
the series going to an every other day format and
not having the time to rest and recover, that could
be the ticket for the Rockets to have a very
real chance to win this game, because the Warriors, without
stuff at a thirty ish points per game level, just
(23:05):
don't have the offense. Just score a lot of points
against the Rockets enough to get separation and workst case
if the Rockets need, if they can just turn to
Steven Adams and go super big muck up the game,
and if Steph isn't making the threes, the Rockets should
have a chance. And I agree with you he may
should have stuck with Steven Adams in game four and
(23:26):
we'll see if he learned his lesson in game six,
because I do think there's a world where if you
know one or more of your guards aren't firing, you
may need to close with the double big that they
want to if they want to foalue, let them volluw
you and take your chances at the line, because the
Rockets may need to make this a slug fest and
get as many opportunities via offense and rebounds as possible.
(23:46):
That may be the ticket, and so it could be
a test if he may Joka just as much, just
as much as it's the test of anybody else. But
as far as variables for the Warriors, Steph Courry's at
the forefront of the lists. He's been terrible and the losses,
he's been very good for the most part. In the wins.
He enters coming off sub twenty point games for the
first time in seven years. So something is working this week.
Maybe it's randomness. Maybe he's going to have one of
(24:08):
those legacy games in a close out situation against the
team that he's tortured more than anyone else. Or maybe
be at the defensive him and Thompson and Dylan Brooks,
be it the thumb. Maybe something actually has changed and
the Rockets, as the series has progressed, have found better
ways to defend him and keep him from getting to
his spots. That's the hope we'll find out Friday night.
(24:29):
As far as Game six keys to the game, I
want to be quick here because we've touched on a
few of these already. And as far as things to
watch for and I'll say key variables. Let's frame it
this way for whether the Rockets can get this done.
And there's certain things that are true no matter what.
(24:51):
Like I mentioned earlier, if any team has an outlier
shooting game, they're probably going to win. And so we
know the Rockets need to make free throws. That's been
theme for them. When they've got the free throw line
and they've made them. I think in the two wins
they've been over eighty percent and the three losses they've
been an under sixty percent. That's unacceptable. It's bad. I
think it goes without saying so when I give Mike Keys,
(25:13):
it's not so much that the other stuff doesn't matter,
it's that the other stuff is just implusit. For me,
the biggest swing variable for the Rockets in this game,
you've got to have at least one of fred Anfleet,
Jalen Green, and Dylan Brook's score. I'll say twenty five
points on good efficiency. Because what I am most worried about,
(25:35):
beyond Steph being Steph, is the officiating. I think some
will call the conspiracy theory, but I think it's just
the reality the Lakers going out. Look, there's huge financial
stakes in whether it's Timberwolves Rockets or Timberwolves Warriors. The
NBA does not have that many playoff runs left. With
Steph Curry, he's going to be playing at home. There's
(25:57):
going to be eighteen nineteen thousand fans screaming anytime a
Houston defender even breathes in the vicinity of Steph. For Jimmy,
if it's a borderline call, I think it's highly likely
to go Golden State's way, and I think Steve Kerr
was setting up for that after Game five some of
his comments about hunting Steph Curry's thumb. So I don't
think the Rockets are going to get a friendly whistle,
(26:18):
not that you typically do in the road and the
playoffs anyway, when you're playing a team with all these stars,
don't think it's especially going to be the case Friday night.
And so one of the implications from that, well, for starters,
I don't think you're going to have the thirty eight
to twenty two free throw advantage that you did in
Game five. Not the Rockets got a friendly whistle, I
just don't think they got a terrible one. But in
terms of style of play, I think it's going to
(26:40):
be tough, especially in the fourth quarter, and I think
we both agree the game is likely to be close.
It's unlikely for either team to have a commanding edge.
It's going to be tough for all for in Shringoon
or a men Thompson to land the plane, simply because
Draymond Green is a great defender to begin with, and
I think he's going to be allowed to be extra
physical in this game given all the circumstances. So in
(27:01):
terms of guys that succeed by finishing near the rim
and absorb a lot of contact on their drives or
in the post in the case of Shongoon, it's gonna
be a little bit harder to get those buckets when
you have Draymond Green at peak physicality the way he will,
because the Warriors are gonna lay it all on the line,
and I think the officials are going to let them
(27:22):
do it to some extent too, So you always need
perimeter guys to create a little bit offense. I think
is especially likely to be the case in this game,
because it's gonna be tougher to have your guys finish
near the rim, and so you're gonna need another Fred
Denfleet game like he had in Game four, or Jalen
Green game like he had in Game two, or maybe
Dylan who had twenty four points and really bailed the
(27:44):
Rockets out in a lot of sicky half court situations.
In Game five. You're gonna need at least one, ideally too,
but at least one of those three to go off
and be a guy that's capable of landing the plane
down the stretch of that game. Now fredn Flet came
very close to doing that in Game four. The fear,
as you mentioned earlier, did the Rockets already waste Did
(28:06):
they already fire that bullet and it missed? That's what
you worry about. It's what I worry about. But I
think that's the big question for the Rockets in this game.
I don't think the Warriors are gonna blow them out,
but I also don't think this is gonna repeat a
Game five or the Rockets are clearly the better team.
Someone is going to need the plane. I don't think
it's gonna be all prim Shingoon or a Men Thompson
down the stretch of the fourth quarter. You're gonna need
(28:27):
one of those perimeter guys. That's the biggest key for me.
And then the secondary one is emi Udoka going to
trust Steven Adams because if one or zero of those
three perimeter guys that I mentioned are scoring at an
elite level, then the counter is just to try to
muck up the game as much as you can slow
(28:49):
the pace, force the Warriors and the higher variants because
you play zone, you get all the rebounds because you're
getting offensive rebounds or possessions last longer, and just make
it as ug as possible, and hopefully, because Steven's such
a good screen setter, maybe one or more of your
perimeter guys can get a good look late in the game.
That's the counter if none of your perimeter guys are
(29:11):
really clicking. And to this point, in four the five
games in this series, Steven has played less than twenty minutes.
I don't think that's acceptable. In Game four he played
twenty six, but even with the twenty six there was
meat left on the bone, and that he was taken
out for about two and a half minutes down the
stretch because he may didn't want to trust him at
the foul line, which I completely agree with you. It
was silly because the Rockets were not converting in the
half court at a higher rate than that. Anyway, is
(29:33):
this going to be the game? And maybe the Rockets
don't need it, but if the perimeter guys aren't clicking,
the only other lever you can pull is to give
Steven Adams legit starting level minutes. He says he can
handle it. We've asked him in the media scrums and
he says that there are no limitations, and I guess
you can argue that, you know, because he didn't play
(29:54):
much in the second half Game five because of the blowout.
Just as the Warriors are more arrested, Steven should be
as well. That's the the only other option the Rockets have.
Will emay Ujoka actually close with him and bench a
Jalen Green or a friend and Fleet or Dylan Brooks,
whoever it is. That's that's cold. I don't think he's
in the bench. Shouldn't Gooon or men Thompson, they're just
too important, but any of the other three potentially could
(30:14):
be if they're ever a bad night. I think ideal scenario,
at least one of your premier guys is clicking, and
then as the backup plan, just trust Steven Adams and
hope for the best to be those are the big
variables to watch. Obviously, Steph Curry mentioned that earlier the
Rockets have actually had their way with stuff the last
few games. The hope is just that you can get
that to continue for one more to get back to
(30:34):
Houston for a home game seven. Pallo, what are your
variables as it pertains to game six tomorrow night? It's
stronger than me.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
I'll just say that if you guys want, you want
to roll the pot back a minute and listen to
what Ben's last sentence. All I'm going to say is
pause as before I move on to my clothing. Are
you in so as far as games, I think the
rules really have en changed from where we were after
to win to where we are now there are it
(31:04):
feels like to me that these teams are close. When
the Rockets play the basically almost the worst possible basketball,
they know how to play, so all they need really
is for one of three or four variables to go
their way. Just one of them probably flips the game
three three percentage. You can't continue. If you missed twelve
(31:24):
three throws, You're not gonna win the game. It's as
simple as that. And so missed three throws shooting, especially
from Gill and Green, and whether those two in specific,
so freddily having a good game probably wins us the
game or dream having a good game probably wins us
the game. Then beyond that, it's really about keeping like
(31:46):
obviously keeping stuff down, but at the same time, it
feels like we go stretches where we forget we're one
of the best regarding teams in the Green and the
Warriors get you know, three four possessions, three four of us,
the reboundance in possession, it's that and for Jalen Green,
and this is mostly in game five. If you like,
(32:07):
if you don't have it going offensively, it's double the
punishment if you keep losing guys on cuts defensively, And
it happened a lot, and it's why he deserves the
defense to close that game. Like he was just non
passable on defense, Like he was too bad, he was unplayable.
He can't be that way. And sadly, from what we
(32:28):
saw from Aaron Holiday last game, I'm not even said
like trust modern I was scaling at this point, like
I thought he was a valid option. He played so terrible.
He like such a LOWI like you like the way
the way the Warriors came back to within thirteen or
whatever it was was ninety to Aaron Holiday taking early
shot clock shots in the game. That was a thirty
point blow up with ten minutes to go. Like that's
(32:50):
the only way he lose that game. So I don't
even trust that on Holiday anymore. But yeah, and besides that,
it's probably the biggest one. Cannot Bruning make the flutter
or the majoring shots from the line over Draymond, Like
if he has the floor game going and hitting those
you know, ten fifteen furthers, at that point, Draymond has
(33:12):
to kind of step up to you and you have
a lot more space to try and pull off their
post moves kind of behind him. So Chengu making those shots,
it can be. It doesn't even have to like it
has to start with the touches he gets from the
short row passes in the pick and roll. He has
those going it and walks the game. It unwalks the
(33:33):
rest of his offensive game and it doesn't allow Draymond
to play as I beliefense that he has been playing,
which has been before before we close up. It's something
that I have I have to cut off my chest.
I see a lot of people complaining about the rough
being of Steph Curry that we're doing. Listen, they are
allowing the physicality on the perimeter that they are allowing
on the other end. On the post Draymond is holding
(33:56):
thing on with two hands the end we see what possess.
Are so unused to watch postplay at this point that
they don't know that you can't do that. So it's
not a one side of things. It's because on one end,
see it clearly because it's in a three point line,
and they need so so unused to seeing postplay on
the other that you don't notice that Draymond is illegally
gardening Shingo in every single posession.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Oh. Absolutely, And that's why I'm not especially paranoid of
Shangoun being the guy laid in the game, just because
of how much physicality Treymind can get away with.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
But you're exactly right, yeah, And so this is why
I haven't complained about it, because I understand where we're
being allowed to do the exact same thing on the
other end of the floor. But it's definitely not a
one way thing. They're doing it both ways. They are
allowing us to take Steph courn not out of the
game because Steph Courk doesn't need much to get going.
(34:47):
But they are allowing us to diminish Steph Curry, but
they are also allowing the Warriors to diminish what our
biggest stuff as the weapon is, which is open thingle
even without double teaming, which is kind of a series
breaker for us as well. So it's just one of
get that out there that that's not like we're not
being benefited by the by the referee. I think it's
been pretty besides the Draymond agree not getting ejected at
(35:08):
Stenannigan's largely agree.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
But I am very per right about Game six in
San Francisco, especially with the potential for a Scott Foster
wrestling style heel insurance. Oh boy, I doubt it will
actually be Scott Foster. I don't think he's rough the
game yet. It seems like he's on there just for
replay duty because he's coming off the cat injury. That
would be the cherry on top of the shit sull
day if you will, ohead will.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
So the biggest injury of the series is not Steph Curristam.
It's not Hiling Green's knee. It's as to Gott Foster's cat, Yeah, exactly,
that's the injury that makes the series.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, well, hopefully, and we'll find out in the morning.
It can't actually be a wrestling style entrance because the
NBA announces about eight or nine in the morning who
the officials are going to be, so we'll find out early.
Hopefully it's not Scott Foster. If it is Gold. But honestly,
that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world because
Scott Foster, for all of the about him, I mean,
Warriors fans don't think he's in their corner either. Obviously
(36:03):
that's ridiculous, but the perceptions out there, and one thing
that is true with Scott his ego is so big
that he's the type of guy that I don't think
is going to get manipulated by a home crowd, as
Rockets fans were in the hard way in Game seven
of twenty eighteen. So in this particular game, Scott Foster
might not be the worst case scenario. The worst case
(36:23):
scenario is going to be someone on top of the
obvious angles that gets manipulated by the crowd, which is
going to be especially lit given the stakes, given that
I think most people understand that if it goes back
to Game seven in Houston, crazier things had happened, But
I think the Rockets would be favored in the name
for the Warriors, they are going to unload the clip
Friday night, and that includes the fans, that includes everybody
(36:47):
in that arena, and a ref that gets easily manipulated
by that. I think that's the worst case scenario for
the Rockets. I do agree with you that by and large,
officiating has been five It's not why the Rockets are
down three to two. But in Game six, I'm more
aware of it. I'm more wary of it than in
any other point in the series. And so knock on wood,
(37:08):
Hopefully the Rocket's going to crue that at least isn't
grown to be manipulated by the crowd, because there's enough
manipulation that's going to happen no matter what between the lines.
Hopefully you get some guys that aren't manipulated by the
nineteen thousand screaming idiots and the fans in the stands
on top of it. All. Right, well, we'll wrap it
here and again we'll be back with a more normal
(37:28):
episode next week, hopefully talking about the round and two
series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. If not, we'll be wrapping
up the season that was and a playoff series against
the Warriors that Again, it's been frustrating at this point
because the Rockets, it's not like they look fraudulent by
any means. They have competed, but there's just been so
many swing variables that haven't gone their way in the
(37:49):
coin flip games to date, have not gone their way
in this best of seven series. Anyway, until next time,
this is where we will break and if you want
more content, just go to the logger line on Twitter
slash x where you have the link strain. You've got
all the links to partners, friends, sponsors, everything you could
possibly want to learn more about this program. It's at
the logger lines Twitter page. And also if you go
(38:11):
to Apple, Google, Spotify, wherever it is that you listen
to your podcast, please subscribe leave a positive review. That's
how we can keep this podcast running as one of
the most active podcasts covering Houston Rockets basketball. All right,
for tonight, we're done on behalf of Paalo Alves. I'm
Don Jubo's thanks to all of you for listening. Please
come back soon for another new episode of the logger line,
Go Rockets,
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