NBA Cup knockout predictions and California road trip recap

Tuesday’s episode features a preview of Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal versus Golden State and reaction to Houston’s 1-2 road trip against the Kings, Warriors, and Clippers.

Topics include matchup difficulties with the Warriors; potential reasons for the up-and-down play of Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun; predictions for the NBA Cup knockout rounds; and why fans of the Rockets should still be quite pleased with a 16-8 start to the 2024-25 season and the team’s current placement at No. 3 in the Western Conference standings.

Episode Transcript

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 Box Clutch City
Lagger It is good o Red Nation. Get Ready, Ready,
Get Ready The lagger Line.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
It starts now. Welcome aboard, Welcome back to another new
episode of The Logger Line, again served to you courtesy
of Clutch City, logger of Carback Brewing. I'm Ben Dubos,
your host, editor of USA Today's Rockets Wire, a contributor

(00:49):
to Sports Talk seven ninety, official flagship radio station of
your Houston Rockets. I'm joined by Powo Alves, our co
host and producer out of Portugal. You can follow him
on Twitter, slash x at Palo Alves NBA and me
at Bendubo's As we chat. This Tuesday, December tenth, It's
a big week ahead for the Rockets at the NBA
Cup quarter Final coming up Wednesday night against the Warriors,

(01:12):
who they have now lost to fifteen consecutive times, longest
active streak among all thirty teams in the association. And
then this coming weekend, either you're going to Las Vegas
for the NBA Cup Semifinals against the winner of Oklahoma
City Dallas that's the other quarterfinal in the West. Or
you'll be playing the loser of Oklahoma City in Dallas

(01:34):
on the road on Sunday. So either way, it's going
to be a fairly challenging week for the Rockets, and
they don't enter it with a ton of momentum. They're
coming off a one to two stretch in that California
road trip where they lost in Sacramento and at Golden State,
of course last week, before wrapping up with a win
at Los Angeles and the Clippers, the James Harden Liss Clippers,

(01:56):
but a quality squad. Nonetheless, that's six in the Western Conference.
On Sunday night, Rockets weren't at full strength themselves, missing
fred Enfleet and Tari Easen. And before we get into
thoughts on the cop predictions matchups, I want to start
by looking back at the week that was, and really
the two weeks that was, because I'm sort of torn

(02:18):
on how to contextualize all of this. So when we
recorded a week ago, I think with the Rockets been
at fifteen and six and number two in the West.
If you had told us that the Rockets would go
one and two on the road trip, we would have
been underwhelmed, not stunned by any means, but especially one

(02:38):
and two and the one of the losses being to
the Warriors without staff, without Draymond, that streak continuing for
a team that when we were recording the week ago
was flying high, we would have felt like, Eh, that's
not so great. With that said, you also have to
zoom out a little bit. And when we recorded our

(03:01):
schedule preview show back in August or whatever it was,
the past two weeks on paper or amongst the most
difficult all season, you had the Minnesota Philly back to
back on the road. Then you had the Thunder and
this three game road trip in California, so five of
six on the road. The one home game was against

(03:23):
the Thunder and you went four and two. So I
know you frontloaded it by going three and oh the
week of Thanksgiving and now one and two. But when
you go three and oh, you do provide yourself with
a little bit of a margin for error, and inevitably
injuries are going to creep in over a long season.
I think losing Tari the final two games and Fred

(03:43):
the final game, and it looked like Freud was limited
by injury in the game before that against the Warriors.
That stuff can happen over a long season, and that's
why when things are going well for you, you need
to make hay And that's what they did in that
three and a week. And when you zoom out and
you see four and two on one of your most
difficult stretch of the entire year, even though you know
the class half empty case as well, they left some

(04:05):
stuff on the table over the past week. The glass
half fullcase is, Look, you just wrapped up what on
paper was one of your most difficult stretches all year,
with a winning record and a team that was horrible
on the road for most of last season. Somehow went
four and two in a stretch where five were on
the road and all against quality competition. Now I know

(04:25):
they had some positive injury walking there. You can certainly
point to the fact that, you know, the Sixers didn't
have Embiid and Paul George. The Warriors obviously didn't have
Curry and Draymond, although Rockets lost that game anyway, So
what does that mean? The Clippers didn't have James Harden,
although the Rockets again didn't have Fred and Tari, so
I think that sort of offsets a little bit. But

(04:46):
I think, first off, injuries tend to even out over
a season anyway, And secondly, we knew going into this
year the Rockets were the type of team younger and
with a lot more depth. There's veterans like Aaron Holliday
j Chontate near the end of the bench that you
can plug in, and both of those did a nice job.
And the win against the Clippers on Sunday that should
give the Rockets a few advantages from time to time,

(05:06):
and other teams that are more reliant on veterans that
don't have the depth that'll occasionally catch up with them
over the eighty two game grind. And so even if
the Rockets in this stretch have had some fortuitous injury luck,
the Rockets by design perhaps are in position to have
a little bit more of that over the season. Then
that's what we're seeing. But I just think in the

(05:26):
big picture, to have these types of results in a
two week sample that on paper, based on what we
saw from all of last season and the way these
teams profile talent wise, was going to be amongst your
most difficult all year, even if the last week was underwhelming,
even if some of your big guys, notably all pre
in Shogoon, aren't playing quite as well as they were

(05:48):
a week or two ago. At the end of the day,
I think the good outweighs the bad, at least as
of now, when you zoom out a little bit. Now.
I might revisit this in a few days if they
lose to the Warriors again, this time at home, if
they also lose, and they'll probably be an underdog at
Oklahoma City or at Dallas, if they do lose to
the Warriors and thus don't advance to the Cup semifinals.

(06:10):
So perhaps I'm feeling differently when we record again in
a week. But right now, thirty thousand foot few a
little frustrated, some warning signs. We'll see what happens with
Fred and the knee, because it's you know, if they're
without Fred for any any period of time, it could
get dicey in a hurry because of the lack of
ball control. Otherwise, but I think as of now, even

(06:30):
with the two losses, I feel like the good largely
outweighs the bad as far as well. Certainly the overall
record sixteen to eight, number three in the West, just
a half game back of Memphis for number two. But
even when we look at December specifically, even with an
underwhelming week, I feel like it's tough to be to
be two down on them right now. Is that sort
of where you're at or what are your feelings as

(06:50):
we're you know, looking at this upcoming NBA Cup stretch.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
I'll be totally honest. From the get go, I didn't
know what the game's life, so I didn't get the
feel for you know, these are west these are West
Coast games, three AM games. It's just during the way,
it's not feasible for me. But I kept up with
with everybody's comments over the weekend and I watched here
and there, and my main takeaway is, and I think

(07:16):
this that's going to scale a lot of people. Would
you guess that currently, as a six ft eleven big
men Alprunchinghun has the same true shooting as Kalen Green.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
I actually knew that because I was running the numbers
for a Rockets Wear post earlier today. But if I
had not run the numbers, I would not have guessed
that that is pretty stunning.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
That's actually insane. Like we have said that Kilan Greens
saving an awful season, that he's not worth his contract.
And in the NBA, the expectation or the average to
shooting for the center or big man's always higher than
it is for a guard like Jalen And obviously it's
a bit skewte because Tianna said, you know, two of

(07:58):
the last three games have been pretty good efficiency wise,
But to me, that's that's the reason why we haven't
why we haven't been able to sustain winning, or it
hasn't been as clear cut at this as it has
been earlier in the season. Because we are better than
a scoring we need we need our go to guy
to be in the valperating and obviously we need him

(08:20):
to be at the very least average efficiency wise. And
I don't know what's happening. I don't think it's a
problem long term because I think it's more of a
look than it is anything that you should be concerned about.
But fifty three point four percent through shooting for the
center is concerning, and you can you can make different arguments.

(08:40):
You can say that he's missing bunnies that he typically doesn't.
You can go the other way and say, is it
because he's taking workshops that he used to, or is
it because teams are defending him different ways? Or are
we giving him less space to operate and make all
sorts of arguments. But the truth is June hasn't been good,

(09:00):
but opperashion hasn't been good either, and when when that's
the case, you're gonna struggle. I mean, the Rockets scored
ninety three points against the Warriors, and against the Kings,
who are a terrible defensive team that live in diy
being explosive offensive, we they scored one to eleven and
gave up on twenty. It's kind of a lot of
the game. We need to be able to score better,
especially in game tour. We're not gonna have tire eason,

(09:22):
for example the Warriors game. So yeah, my main takeaway
is we need our offensive go to guys to be
able to score at the very leagues, at the very
least the league average efficiency for us to be competing regularly,
because yes, or effort can take us far fard, it
can only take us so far. And as we've talked

(09:44):
about earlier or in previous spots, efforts something that can
waiver depending on multiple things, like you know, wave against
play fits. So if it's at home, how much the
rest time have you had even just morale things that
happened throughout the game, And if and when that's the case,
you needs to be able to have someone pick up
that slack, and usually that's one of your top two

(10:06):
or top three team offensive players, and it's just not
been happening. And I think, but as I said, I
don't know worried going forward. I think if you sold
me on for intwo over in the in the stretch
where we play the Wolves that under the Kings and
the Warriors, I would probably take in it. I don't
think it's the best we could have done, but it's okay,

(10:29):
and we're not obviously, and we're not going to finish
at sixty wins, So both for our expectations pre season
and for our expectations right now, I think it's it's okay.
It's not great, it's not terrible. No no need, no
need to plan it.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
We'll try to follow up. I think he will be
available for this Wednesday's game against the Warriors. We'll find
out later this afternoon. The Rockets will practice and perhaps
Emay will tip his hand then if not, the pregame
injury report will come out tonight. That's Tuesday night, about
twenty or four hour hours before tip off. But he
suffered a concussion in the King's game, which was a

(11:05):
week ago Tuesday, and then he missed the last two.
The average concussion absence in the NBA is about six days,
and this weekend in La he obviously didn't play, but
he did participate in parts of practice. Basically, the NBA
has like a five phase process, and as Jonathan Fagan
and The Chronicle reported it, that was phase three. So

(11:29):
with that being at about four days at the usual six,
it seems like that everything was pointing towards this being
not a prolonged absence, this being basically right on schedule.
The average absence for an NBA concussion right at about
six days, and that would be around Monday or Tuesday
of this week, i e. Before Wednesday. Nights came against

(11:51):
the Warriors, which will be nationally televised. Incredibly late because
of course they stacked the East and West together and
the West is going to be a little bit later
just based on geography. But nonetheless it's a big exposure
game for the Rockets, and it's very helpful that Chari
will be out there because the one stretch of sustained
play the Rockets have had in a good way against
the Warriors was that game in Houston at the beginning

(12:14):
of November, when after falling behind by thirty, the Rockets
nearly rescued it, got it to overtime, and it which
was largely on the back of Tarry Easton and men Thompson.
Tory Easton the best player on the floor in that game,
and you know, there's a little bit of an asterissue
put on it and that there was no Steph Curry.
But nonetheless, for the Rockets, the problems against the Warriors
haven't even so much been on the defensive end. Now,

(12:35):
there's certainly an argument you can make that even if
they get better offensively, well to get worse defensively because
you're going up against Steph, is it offset. Yeah, that's
a fair concern. But I think in terms of fixing
what's gone wrong, honestly, Steph's absence has not really been
a big factor. The Rockets just have not scored, especially
in the half court against those guys. It goes back

(12:56):
to last season. Look, we can talk about the fifteen
game streak, and people cannon have fairly pointed out that
ten of the fifteen were the Stephen Silas taking years, okay,
but still zero to five since Imo Udoka took over
since the start of the current era, which is basically
e May Fred and Dylan Brooks. To still not have

(13:18):
success even with Curry out for a couple of those games,
it points to something structural, and I think it's especially
the case offensively, where if you remember the game in
April when the Rockets are basically eliminated from postseason contention
last year, they fell behind by twenty in the first
quarter or so. They were even worse in that game
I just referenced at the start of this season in

(13:38):
Houston falling behind by thirty, and then the one last
Thursday in San Francisco they scored just ninety three points
and it was a slog on the offensive end of
the court. At halftime, Fred Jalen and Shanngoon combined for
just nine points on like twenty percent shooting. It was terrible.
Nobody had it going on, and I think the one

(14:00):
semblance of sustained success that they've had was that opening
game at Touda center. But again, that wasn't in the
half court. It was when Tari and Amen just made
it just a frenetic scramble sequence in the second half.
And to their credit, they're really good players. They made
it happen. But against a Warrior's team, especially one that's
likely to have Steph and Draymond both, you're gonna have

(14:21):
to execute in the half court. And even if we
take out the Steven Silas era and say the fifteen
game streak is exaggerated, Okay, well, the zero to five
is not exaggerated. The Rockets have trouble scoring in the
half court against this team, and so that's gonna be
a big question moving forward. And so just sort of
tie that in with what we've seen over the past week.

(14:43):
I think, you know, the Jalen Green performances have been
very up and down, but I think there is something
of a pattern to those. There's a lot of randomness,
but there is a pattern to the randomness, and that
he does a lot of the heavy lifting in games
where there is an a lot of elite rum protection
or length. Certainly the Sixers game where he went for

(15:07):
nearly set his career high with forty one points the
overtime win, there was no embid. But last week the
Kings with Sabonis, that was a big part of how
I mean, honestly, that wasn't a bad showing for the Rockets.
They led by double digits midway through the game. It
wasn't until the Kings just had a you know, just
a magnet ball stretch in the second half or I
think they made like fifteen straight shots where they pulled away.
But yeah, the Kings, they don't have a ton of

(15:28):
length on the perimeter and they don't really have a
run protector. Well, that's the type of matchups that Jalen
typically does well against, and they did drop nearly thirty
on good efficiency. And Sunday the Clippers. You pointed this
out a month ago, Palello, we were talking about how
the Rockets matched up with the Clippers. Before that back
to back they had well two games and three nights,

(15:49):
but back to back against the same opponent. When the
Rockets faced the Clippers in Houston, you said that you
thought on paper that the Clippers were a really favorable
matchup for the Rockets, and boy has proven to be
the case. Rockets have won all three by at least
eight points, and they've now secured any potential tiebreaker. You know,
it absolutely is conceivable the Rockets and Clippers could be

(16:11):
in a tie right now. Clippers fourteen to eleven, sixth
in the West, which is the final non play in spot,
Rockets at a sixteen to eight in the three seed.
So the fact that you've already got a tiebreaker, if
those teams end up tied at the end of the year,
that's potentially really valuable. But yeah, Paulo, you pointed out
correctly that that was a friendly matchup for the Rockets.
And even though the Clippers, you know, they're a good

(16:33):
defensive team overall, they do it more with fundamentals and
discipline more so than you know, elite talent. In terms
of size or rim protection. Zoo Box is a good
big man, but he's not you know, he's not the
type of guy that just shuts down the paint. And
so when you see the Rockets go up against a

(16:56):
team that has at least a lot of size overall,
a big room protector. I wouldn't say the Warriors with
Looney have a great rim protector, but they do have
a lot of size when you factor in Looney and
Draymond when he plays, and coaminga and just the stable
of wings they can throw out there, and they're even
longer when Steph isn't part of the games, which was
the case last week, then that's tougher for Jalen to

(17:19):
get going. Not gonna say that, Oh yeah, Andrew Wiggins too.
Powawlo just made that point in our chat. So yeah,
there's a lot of collective length, even if they don't
really have an elite rim protector. And so while not
impossible for Jalen to get going against a team like that,
for the most part, that's not the type of team

(17:40):
that we've seen him thrive against. And even if you
go back to last March when we know he went off, Look,
that was a weaker stretch of the schedule for the
Rockets and we knew it. It doesn't take anything away. But
in terms of, you know, predictive value, it's not the
type of team that you go into the game saying,
I think Jalen Green is going to go off in
this game, not that he can't. It's a little less
likely and you take it as a bonus if it

(18:02):
happens for me. It's the type of matchup where you
need all par in Shin Goon to do what the
best player on a good team is supposed to do,
and he just didn't do it until the fourth quarter
in Golden State, and by that point it was too little,
too late. And I think, you know, some mental factors
came into play once they started trailing by a decent
margin in the second half, and we all know the
losing streak. I think there was some bad body language,

(18:25):
there's a little bit of here we go again. And
while Shin Gooon ultimately got it to go down for
him the first three quarters, he didn't finish at the rim.
He didn't do the things we know he's capable of,
especially based on last season. I know he hasn't done
it this year, but it's still tend to think, as
you said, that's largely missing Bunny, small sample size, it
will correct. And so if Shin Gooon isn't giving you

(18:46):
for most of that game what he's capable of, and
Fred is also underperforming, and I think some of that
could be the knee as mentioned, that's one you're not
really worried about tore and the concussion with Fred and
the knee, that's to be determined, because there's a little
bit more to it when you're talking about, you know,
a knee hyper extension for an NBA guard that needs
at least some bursts. So hopefully these few days off,

(19:08):
you know, Rockets only have one game in a stretch
of like eight days, will help him get better. But
we'll see. But I just feel like the Warriors are
just not the type of matchup where you go in
expecting Jalen Green to be peak Jalen Green Shingoon. I
think that's a little bit different, you know, and it's

(19:28):
really weird, like he's been bad against the Warriors this year.
We all remember that first game in Houston, he didn't
even play in the fourth quarter in overtime. But I
went back in look the two games he played against
the Warriors last year. He didn't play the one in
April because he was out with the injury at that point.
The two games he played the average like twenty five
points and ten boards a game on good efficiency. So
I'm not sure what's going on. I don't think Kevon

(19:49):
Looney is necessarily his kryptonite, you know. I think some
of it's mental. I think some of its confidence. We
heard hemy Udoka pointing to that. But I'm just I guess,
as I hand things back to Powlo, I'm curious your
thoughts on the matchup. You know, you made a really
great call as mentioned about the Clippers being a favorable
matchup for Houston. Do you have any theories or why
the Warriors are other than the middle side And there's

(20:13):
probably some of that, you know, just this idea that
the Rockets see the Warriors and at this point there's
a lot of sort of mental baggage that until they
beat them is going to be there. Other than that,
is there anything else you see? Again, I can sort
of see the length being a problem for Jalen, but
you know, not saying that Shongoon should feast against those guys,
not saying that Kevon Looney is an easy matchup for

(20:36):
him or Tray Jackson Davis or whoever it is. But
I don't think it's like a terrible matchup either. I
feel like going into this Cup game and looking at
the past week like that's the you know, four and
two is fine over these past couple of weeks, five
and one would be a home run. I feel like
to some of what you were saying, four and two
is you know, solid, it's a nice single, maybe a double,
it's not a home run. Five and one would have

(20:58):
been a home run and it was right there on
the table in San Francisco. The Rockets couldn't get it done.
And you know the biggest reason for that, in my
opinion is, you know, realistically Shangoon underperforming. So I'm just
curious your thoughts on I guess a Shinangoon specifically, and
then b just the Rockets overall offense in the half court.
That's the issue against the Warriors when we look forward
to this Cup game moving forward, the Rockets have underperformed

(21:21):
against the Warriors consistently, going back to really the entire
tenure of Vimy Rudoka. So is there anything you see
in that matchup that might make them disproportionately bad for
the Rockets aside from the mental baggage.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
As a general trend for this Rockets team this season,
it's really hard to figure out why they lose games
or figure out types of teams that cause them trouble
because they perform pretty even only across the board. That obviously,
I single off the Clippers as a bad matchup, a
good matchup for us, but us being a bad matchup
for them because it's our pieces just really fit into

(21:59):
into what they're trying to do, and then they don't
have a lot of threats, and so it's easy for
us to stick one of our one of our best
guys on Jim Sardam and then just respect the guy
that our shooters. But I think with the Warriors, it's
I'm going to speak conceptually right, because they mighty up
the game a lot, right, and they they are big,

(22:20):
they're not tall, and so there very much they stay
in front of you gets you to shoot over this
type of team, you you really need a lot of
those and that that in between game because they're going
to stay in front of you. They're not going to
let you get all the way to the rim. Obviously,
the Rockets are not a good three point shooting team,
and they didn't shoot twelve games the Warriors. On that

(22:40):
game they shot I can double check what they shot, Yeah,
twenty six percent. The Rockets seem to really struggle against
teams that really muddy things up because they're the entire
game plan is we're going to aut rebounds you with misshots,
and the way the Rockets rebound is. It's not they're
not going over people right, It's not about their height.

(23:03):
It's about positioning here, It's about instinctive. It's about kind
of sneaking in and getting positioned and getting the offensive
rebound style way. And the Warrior is just so bulky
in the way that they play, and they boxed out
really well, and they make it so it's tougher and
they're focused all the time, and so they make it
so it's really tough for the Rockets to get those

(23:23):
openings because a lot of in that of the defensive
rebounding and just with guts and put backs and all
of that stuff, they take away a lot of that
side of the game. And if you look at the
offensive rebounding numbers for the for the last game, they
were actually tied eleven to eleven. I don't have the
first half stats in front of me, but I almost

(23:44):
think I can almost assure you that if you look
back at the first half the first Warrior skip, which
was the one where the where the Rockets were getting
blown out, that those stats who line up as well.
And then obviously Tar Reason took over and him and
a man for creating extra possession after possession and running
up and down the court. But I think that's a
part of it, and it's that it's the mental side

(24:08):
of it. And listen, I like to think that I
have a knack for picking up patterns and stuff and
stuff like this. Right, There's one thing that Twitter teaches
you if you try fartment for engagement for any certain
period of time, it's you pick up. You start to
pick up patterns, patterns really well. And I've been looking

(24:30):
and looking and looking, and the only pattern that I
have you're gonna find this funny, the only pattern that
I figured out that works across basically the entirety of
the Warriors loosing streak. So fifteen games. So let's get
into the war of it a little bit. If we

(24:50):
look at the last time the Rockets beat the Warriors.
I'm not going to count the summer League game. That
doesn't count, right, it was a game in twenty nineteen
Russell Westbrook and James Southern era.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
February twenty But yes, it was when Jeff Green was
on a ten day contract. Absolutely, it just spoiled.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Hif that's the entire point, Oh gee, sorry, I was
gonna no, no, no, no, that's why I was gonna say,
the only thing in common between that between the last
Warriors loss against the Rockets and the current team is
that Jeff Green the last time the Rockets speed the

(25:33):
Warriors play twenty four minutes, and there's a game in
between where Jeff Green played twenty one minutes and we
didn't win. So what we need is we need Emai
Udoka to play Jeff Green for twenty two minutes at
the very least, but twenty four is to be safe,
and that's the recipe.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Although jokes aside, let me get up in here real
quick on that point. So last week I felt like
there was a very fine line that he may be
Joe was trying to walk. Obviously he wanted to win
that game, but he didn't go full Popovich like. There
were stretches in that Rocket's Warriors game where so much
of it was clearly mental. There was bad body language.

(26:13):
Confidence was an issue. The Warriors weren't playing their upper
arshlon guys. You might could have won that game if
you played Jeff Green and or Jay Shan Tate, Aaron Holliday,
Jack Landale instead of Emo. Mudoka sort of made the
choice to sink or swim with his starters, especially down
the stretch. I think they played the final eight minutes
of the game and ultimately, you know, they sank. But

(26:35):
I understand the thought process because obviously you don't know
what's going to happen. And if those guys do get
you to the finish line and win, and all of
a sudden, you've put this, you know, enormous mental hurdle
behind you, you know you've sort of gotten the monkey
off your back. So it's very delicate. It's easy to say, well,
these guys don't have it, well, no, because then if
they get you to a win, does it really you know,

(26:55):
build the habits and the confidence and the guys that
ultimate the starters are going to take you and it
hopefully help you win big games down the line. So
there's a lot to you know, consider there. I'm not
going to consider Kim wit Moore in this mix because
I think it's pretty clear by now that with Cam
and the G League, there's more going on there than simply,

(27:17):
you know, do the Rockets think they could use him
in a given game. I think clearly it's more about
style of play, trying to break some bad habits, because
you certainly cannot argue that the Rockets wouldn't have benefited
in small doses at least from having Cam against the

(27:38):
Warriors and the Clippers, especially in LA they were without
both Tari and Fred. I think it's pretty clear by
now that they're playing the long game with Cam, who
is still really really young, and obviously there's a bigger
picture when it comes to his development, and so I'm
not going to consider him in this analysis. But you know,
the Warriors last week, that's a stretch where you might
could have won that game if you just went with
your tryhard veterans. I don't think that's going to be

(28:00):
a consideration Wednesday night, because you know, if the Warriors
have Stephan Draymond, I just don't think you're gonna have
the offensive upside to you know, win the game if
you play guys like Jeff and Jayshawn and Aaron Holliday
that sort of thing. But last week, you honestly might
could have if you just put in guys that play
harder and you know, throw their bodies around and get

(28:23):
some rebounds and finish at the rim. Rocket's un characteristically bad,
you know, for the season. They're the best reventning team
in the NBA. They actually got out rebound in a
decent bit by the Warriors in that game. So what
do you feel about that dynamic? Powell and sort of
trying to blend the fact that, Hey, like, you have
these guys that are proven at the end of your
bench the eleven through fourteen spots, you know, you've got
guys that are better and more established than most of

(28:44):
the teams you're competing with. But then, if you're Ema Udoka,
it's not as simple as saying, well, you know, if
the starters don't have it, I'm gonna go full Popovich,
who was his mentor, and instantly give the Jeff Green
Jayshun tate to your the reins. I think what we
saw last week is Ema trying to blend Hey, like,
we need to win this game, but I would also
like to win it by allowing our starters to you know,

(29:06):
grow and climb their way out of it. How do
you sort of blend those those dynamics or what would
you do if you were in the shoes of Email Udoka.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Yeah, so, I think with as start as playing the
FETs goes, I think there's games where it makes sense
to stick with the starting lineup because you'll likely need
more variants in order to beat a certainty. If you're
playing the Kings, right then someone is having enough night
and they're a good offerends, they're gonna score a lot.
Or if you're playing the Timberwolves or even the Nuggets themselves,

(29:39):
if you're playing a team that's really highly talented, I
feel like you're going to need the variants. It makes
sense to play the younger guys because you either you
go down, but you go down giving yourself fighting.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Kids with the Warriors.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
This was something obviously I told you guys, I don't
watch the game wife, but we're talking about a game
that ended nineteen nine to ninety three. The Rockets shop
thirty eight percent from the field, twenty six percent from three,
seventy six percent from the free throw line. They're struggling
to put the ball in the basket. In a situation
like that, where we are so far below what is

(30:13):
league average for any player, it makes sense for you
to decrease variance because getting to one hundred points wins
you the game, and getting to one hundred points and
not it's it's not hard, and so perhaps the consistency
of someone like a Jeff Green or someone like an
Aaron Holliday, who for all his faults, he's efficient, he
has beneficient throughout his entire is his entire time in Houston.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
And in fairness, they did play Holiday in the second half,
just the second half, but that was the one lever
that he may polls, so I'll give him some credit
for that.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yeah, and as sorry. So I think it makes sense
if we're we're talking about playing against wolve scoring teams,
it makes sense for you to lean on the Vets
because it just needs someone to make shots. And in
the Vet I've been doing it for a lot longer
and it's harder, it's harder to throw off their rhythm
as opposed to some of the young guys. And I
think that's what the Warriors truly do in their current iteration,

(31:07):
is they throw guys off rhythm. They forced had to
take a lot of different types of shots, a lot
of different contexts. As I said before, perfect the perfect
phrase for me is they muddy things up. And in
the game scenario like that, I think it makes sense
for it to play the older guys because it's they've
are not as i'd say, they're not as stuck in

(31:29):
the sense of only doing well in a certain type
of circumstance, and I think it I think that would
have made sense. And I want to touch on your
you're going about who came with more? You guys do
realize that in the games that kem with were played
with the main team, and obviously there's a there's caveats
there because he's averaging what ten minutes again this season

(31:51):
he shot four point eight percent from three.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, he was really struggling, like he.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
Was really really struggling. He and he was playing five
minutes the taking and taking four shots, playing five minutes
taking four shots, playing eight minutes taking six shots. He
was coming in and he was checking, and that's just
not what you want to encourage. And you can make
all the arguments that you want. I think most people

(32:16):
say that they want to bring in cam with Moore
because he can't possibly be worse than killer in Greenwell
for the last three games it has been them, you're
the best player on the team, and so even then
argmon doesn't stick. And I think I think there's more
of an art you want for you to bend, not
to bench, but to send read Shepherd down with him
than there is for you to and play Aaron Holiday,

(32:37):
then there is for you to bring up Kem with Moore.
And I think perhaps if you even if if you
bring Reach Shepherd down, he can be more of a
like a four general type. He can catch your offense
into sets. And we all haven't watch Rougets killing the season,
but I imagine it's like that, like killing has always been.
When then seeingly talented the guy comes in, he's just

(33:00):
a first shots when every he wants. Soon he's going
to be so much more talented than the others that
he's going to get crazy staff lines.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Anyways, let me jump in real quick on the read point.
I think one big difference there. The Rockets have Cam
in the G League because they're trying to stylistically change
some things. They don't want him to be as much
of a ball stopper as he's been, so they're actually
trying to change his approach to the game a little bit.
I think they're open to potentially putting Reid in the

(33:26):
G League if his struggles continue, and we have seen
you know, I may increasingly using Aaron Holliday as an
option in the second half when it feels like it's
higher stakes. But with Reid, I think he's largely seeing
the floor well and competing. It's just he's missing shots.
And there's an argument you can make that well, you know,

(33:47):
if he needs to break out of his slump or
get used to the longer three point line and so
on and so forth and the length of defenders, then
he needs more minutes, which the G League would give
him more reps. That's fair, but it's not quite the
same as Cam where they're trying to, you know, mentally
change you know, how he processes, how he sees the game.

(34:07):
With Reid, I think that's why he's gotten a longer leash. Honestly,
he's playing fine in terms of how he sees the
floor and what he's doing. It's just, you know, he's
missing the same shots that Aaron Holliday is making, and
that's you know, that's not really a shame. Aeron Holliday
is much more established, and you know, he's a really
good shooter. As she pointed out, he's been a fishing
for a while. So for Reid, as a rookie with

(34:28):
just one year of college basketball under his belt, to
not be Aaron Holiday's level, there's no shame in that.
But in terms of the G League calculation, yeah, I
think if this goes on for long enough, the Rockets
which sent into the G League with CAM. But the
reason they haven't yet, it's not so much that, oh,
they like Read more than they do CAM. No, it's
just in terms of what their deficiencies are with CAM,

(34:49):
it's more processing with Red. Again, it's not that there's
no case for the G League, but with Reid it's
just a little more you know, nuanced, because some of it,
you know, he is seeing the game fairly well, he's
just not making the shots that he's supposed to make,
and so I think that's why the calculus is a
little bit different there. Sorry for interjecting.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
I No, My main point was I'm not even saying
that they should do it right now. I'm saying there's
more of an argument for you to send Red down
than there is for you to bring Camp, right.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah. I just want to explain it because I'm sure
some people will listen to that and say, well, what's
the difference there. I think that's the difference. It's nuanced,
but it is there. To your point on the Warriors
muddying up the game, So Jean Schumann does his weekly
Power rankings for NBA dot Com and they're published each Monday.
They came out yesterday. He's got the Rockets at seventh

(35:40):
in the league, which feels like, you know, a harsh
drop after being third last week. But you look at
the teams that jump them. One is the Thunder. Honestly,
the Rockets should have never been behind the Thunder. I
think the NBA Power Rankings guy just wanted to do
that after seeing the Rockets beat the Thunder head to head.
And then the other teams Dallas and Memphis have basically

(36:01):
the same record the Rockets do, but they're more hot
in recent days. And then the Warriors, look, they're a game,
game and a half whatever it is behind the Rockets.
But until the Rockets actually beat the Warriors, I have
zero problems with someone ranking the Warriors ahead of been
so even if falling from three to seven feels a
little steep, I understand the thought process anyway, his point

(36:23):
as far as how the Rockets match up with the Warriors.
So these two games so far this season, the Warriors
have attempted forty seven free throws for one hundred shots
from the field in those two games with that being
their highest rate versus any opponent and the highest rate
for any team versus the Rockets. And I think that

(36:43):
plays into a lot of what you were saying. I
know you were looking at it in terms of how
savvy the Warriors are on the defensive end of the
court and sort of mucking the game up. But also
if they get to the free throw line a ton
and they take advantage of how aggressive the Rockets are
on closeout with guys like Dylan Brooks and Tarry Easton
in particular, although Tari did not play last week. If

(37:04):
they get to the line a lot and they make
it just a slug fest and they turn it into
a slog in the half court, then the Rockets aren't
getting guys like a Man and Tari and Jalen Green
out in transition. They're not as free flowing. There's not
as much rhythm to the way they play. And then
if it gets into a half court's log, we know
the Rockets typically don't have that bucket getter when it

(37:28):
gets sticky in the half court. We've talked about that
a lot, So I thought it was really interesting that
you pointed out rightly that the Warriors have the length
in the IQ to mucket up defensively. But John Schumann
of NBA dot Com his point is that just how
they play offensively getting to the foul line that slows
down the game a lot as well lets the Warriors
set their defense. It prevents the Rockets from getting out
in transition, and so that's potentially a factor as well.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
Yeah, theost thing I was going to mention on the
Warriors front is that especially Aaron Holler, they makes sense
if you're going to use them on ball. Came s
towards because he's one of the two guys we have
on the current process that has a little bit of
a footer game. John can only pull back for midding shots.
Fread the same thing. Aaron Holiday is one of the
guys that has it, OPA think when when he's on

(38:14):
is supposed to have it as well, a little push shot.
And besides that, the only thing that I that I
think is worth pointing out as well is Aman Thompson
played twenty two minutes this game. He was a plus
three you a loss, so I was.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Pretty too low.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
Yeah, you got to play well, especially in a game
where Joan Green is absolutely stinking it up even if
Paulling the argument that that I made earlier, even if
you do need someone to be crafty and make things
work and jail and when he's on, is that when
that doesn't work, you got to get it some other way.
And I mean was a big part of the reason

(38:51):
why in the first time around we came back along
with our reason. So twenty two minutes in a game
like that just not good enough.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Yeah, I would say down the stretch of the game.
Jalen got a lot of the vitriol post game because
most of his low lights were in the fourth quarter
and he had a couple of his possessions where he
just got bumped off his spot. He didn't get a
call because you rarely do in that building. And if
he's not able to make plays in one on one situations,

(39:20):
where else are they going to turn? And they have
a lot of length and he just doesn't have the
upper body strength. It's frustrating, but it's who he is
at this point. He doesn't have the physicality to overcome it,
especially if they're calling the game fairly loosely the way
it tends to happen, especially when you're on the road
and you know I understand why because we always look

(39:42):
back at the last three or four minutes much more closely,
especially if the game is theoretically there for the taking.
But the first three quarters count as well, And so
that's what I want to hit home again. All Frindshangoon
for the most part in that game was dreadful. He
did get some buckets in the fourth quarter, hopefully that is,
you know, something to b but against a Warrior's team

(40:02):
without Stephan Draymond, and you know that all you got
to do is score one hundred and you're probably going
to be home free. And to not be able to
do it because all three of your big guys struggle. Yeah,
it's rough, and there's a lot of things that go
into that, again focusing on the offense primarily because defensively,
you know, it wasn't perfect at the very end of
the game, you know, letting Fred get caught on a
switch against Kuminga and not being able to help, and

(40:22):
then Comingia goes in for the game winning layup, basically
shooting straight over Fred. I mean, that's that's frustrating. But again,
let's not hyper analyze the final possession so much more
just because they're the final possessions. When you look at
the game as a whole, you did not lose the
game defensively or anything closer. If you hold the opponent
below one hundred points, you lost it offensively, which is

(40:43):
exactly where you've lost the previous games against the Warriors
as well, especially in the first half when you haven't
been able to turn it into you know, a frenetic
up and down scramble game the way they were the
second half of fat opener against the Warriors in November.
The other games when the Rockets, especially the starters, have
tried to execute in the half court, they gotten much
going at all. And that's what's ultimately got to change
if they are going to win this game on Wednesday night.

(41:06):
All right, before we close out the pod, I want
to look forward to the weekend because again, difficult week
not only because of the NBA Cup. You would expect
that because the teams advancing to the final four in
each conference are the best, so you would expect to
play upper echelon teams. That's just simply how it works
in any sort of tournament or postseason format, and that's

(41:28):
certainly the case here. But you're also going to have
a game coming up. If the Rockets beat the Warriors,
then you'll be in Vegas for the semifinals, which is
a fantastic stage. I hope that happens. I would be
great for these guys development. And in the semifinals, you
would play the winner of Oklahoma City and Dallas on Saturday.
And if you do not advance to the semifinals, then

(41:49):
you've got to get to the eighty two game schedule.
All these NBA Cup games also count towards the regular season,
with the lone exception of the Championship. That's because for
those teams it would be eighty three games and it
would be imbalanced. But the team that's available to you
is the loser of the other quarterfinal game, and so
if the Rockets lose to the Warriors, they would face

(42:09):
the loser of thunder MAVs tonight. And it's a little
bit frustrating because in a perfect world, the Rockets would
play their quarter final first. Because the way I'm looking
at it, if the Rockets win, I would rather play
the MAVs. But if the Rockets lose, well, if the
Rockets win, I'd rather play the MAVs. And that means
hoping for the Mavericks to beat the Thunder, But if
the Rockets lose, I would rather see the Thunder beat

(42:34):
the MAVs because in that case, you would draw the
MAVs in that Constellation game, if you will, I guess
just looking at those two potential opponents, and you know
some of the themes we've been discussing throughout this episode.
I know the Rockets beat the Thunder, but it took
a lot of things going right for them, especially Fred
and Fleet magnet ball down the stretch, for them to
win that game at home. I think the Thunder are

(42:56):
much more capable of turning the game into a slaw,
which is where the Rockets, especially as young as they are,
have tended to struggle as opposed to Dallas. Look, it's
not that a game against the MAVs is ever easy.
They're seventeen to eight, They've won like seven straight games.
Luca and Kyrie are great, but it's typically very free

(43:16):
flowing and those are games where the Rockets and even
Jalen Green tend to do really well. We saw the
Rockets win at the end of October in Dallas with
Jalen as the best player in that game. It's a
matchup where the MAVs have the firepower that you can't
assume a victory by any means. But I feel like
just the way they play benefits the Rockets a lot

(43:39):
more than facing the Thunder, especially if it's in Oklahoma City,
especially if we lose to the Warriors and you got
to go to OKC where the Rockets, you know, that's
the one spot they've been blown out at really this
entire season, that's the only game they've been uncompetitive at.
I know, the Rockets beat the Thunder a week ago,
and it's the NBA, especially the regular season, ain't making
beat anybody. But I just feel like in terms of

(44:00):
how they match up with the other two teams and
potentially if they are lucky enough to get to the semifinals,
to me, with the way the Rockets want to play,
with the way they defend, and with what it takes
for them to sort of mitigate their offensive shortcomings, which
is what we've been discussing those through the spods, to me,
I feel like Dallas is clearly a much more favorable
matchup in Oklahoma City. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 3 (44:20):
Powow uh No?

Speaker 2 (44:23):
Really?

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Okay, explain it, and it's pretty simple as long as
Luca plays. I love that they the Thundered. I know
we beat them last time. We also beat that Thunder.
Well you last season, we managed to beat that Thunder
later on as well. I think while I do agree
with you in against some teams that the more free

(44:44):
flowing style benefits US, I actually think with the Thunder,
I think we managed dinner.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Play in that game the Rockets beat them. Just want
to clarify that. But yeah, I know.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
But over his last seven games, so going back to
no last season, over the last seven games, he's averaging
against US forty ten and nine. And we all remember
the fifty point game that we was just hopeless for.
He was just gonna make everything and terrified and terrified
of Luca playing against US in a way that I'm

(45:15):
not terrified of Shaye when he's playing against US, partly
because she's gonna do it from the mid range, so
it's not three point bomb after three point bomb after
three point pop. And I think I think we can
play the Warriors' role against the Thunder better than that
we can do against the Maps. And I think I'm
more comfortable sticking sticking, and when Thompson and Shay sticking

(45:40):
Tarryasan or Dylan Brooks or or on on Kilan Williams
or a different combination of those than I am on
sticking anybody any of those on Luca, because with Luca
and certain point just doesn't matter, and you're gonna you're
not gonna face card them three steps behind three point
final game and games the Rockets. He makes those shots anyway.
So it's to me, every time I watch us play

(46:01):
against Oka just feels hopeless, and so I'd rather face
I'd rather face the Thunder. Although my prediction as far
as how the NBA Cup will go, Listen, no team's
beating the Rockets sixteen times.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
In a row.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
We're beating the Warriors. They're not gonna be the sixteen times.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
It's too much.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
Fifteen is a you know, it's not a round number,
which it's a multiple of five. It's so that's not
you know, they're not gonna be the sixteen times. Fifteen
was enough. So we're gonna beat the Warriors, and then
the MAVs are going to beat the Thunder. We're gonna
face the MAVs. We're gonna beat the MAVs, and we

(46:45):
are going to lose in the final games, I think
it will be the.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Cavs that would honestly be I mean, obviously the best
case scenario is winning it, but I mean that's a
very close second because that final game, if you lose,
it doesn't even count of gets you in the regular
season standing. So you get all the benefits in terms
of the exposure, you know, seeing how your guys perform
under the bright lights. Obviously you don't get the trophy

(47:11):
and the banner quote unquote, but other than that, I mean,
you get all the benefits and you wouldn't even have
a loss going on your ledger pertaining to the regular season.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
And I think so in this is actually the last
pig is a bit counter sense. So if I were
to pick all of these games individually, I probably have
US woosing against the mass and probably have US winning
the gamest the CAFs just because from a matchup stem
but do we have the guys to throw a lout
of an until you have the guys to throw at
the Tereus Carland and their double big lineup doesn't scare

(47:42):
me as much considering how we like to play this year.
But I think when you're making predictions that's always something
that goes completely against the grid, and so I'm factoring
the fact that something that I'm going to I would
have predicted something wrong sweaking those games because of.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
It, and I'll give a little bit on my production.
I'm still I think OKAC is better than Dallas. I
know Dallas is on their win streak, but when you
look at who they've beaten, there's a lot of Utah, Portland, Toronto.
It's not as good as you would think when you
look under the hood, and I just feel like, you know,

(48:22):
Dallas has had Oklahoma City's number for a while. I've
actually won five of six dating back to the playoffs
last year, But I just feel like OKAC is too
good of a team shake too good of a player
for that to continue. And much the same way that
you're saying that sixteen games is too long for the
Warriors to beat the Rockets, or really six games when
we talk about this iteration of the Rockets, But I
think seeing the Thunder lose six of seven to the

(48:44):
MAVs is a bit aggressive as well, especially when OKAC
is a better team overall. But to your point, I'm
looking back, it's a closer call than I first thought,
because when you were making your case, I was looking
up the data. So yeah, the Rockets did get blown
out in OKC. But aside from just one game, there
was check Holgrid in that game. There's no check Holmegrid now.

(49:05):
And I think Holgren's run protection is uniquely valuable against
all for Inchmngon and especially Jayalen Green because of how
it deters the drives in a way that isay Hartenstein
just can't. So I think that's a factor. And then
the Dallas games, you know, I think back to you know,
the Rockets lost two close games in Dallas last year.
They were extremely competitive, including that game in April that

(49:26):
eliminated the Rockets from the playoffs that are from playoff contention,
in which the Rockets led by a ton throughout most
of that game before coughing up late. That was when
Regley Block didn't foul up three and Jabari Smith missed
both of the final three throws from the Rockets had
a chance to put it away. So they were very
competitive in those games in Dallas, but sandwiched him between
that to your point, Foulow is that game where Luca

(49:47):
just went absolutely nuts in Houston and ended a winning streak,
So yeah, I can't blame you if you're just sort
of psychologically scarred by everything that Luka Doncic has done
over the years. And you're right. If he's connecting from
three and he he's hot, then that adds another layer
to his game. But even SGA doesn't have. With all
that said, I'm picking the Rockets to beat the Warriors.

(50:09):
I can't believe I'm doing that with everything I said
last Thursday and all the frustration, but yeah, it has
to happen sometime. They're at home. The energy should be
through the roof, and I'm predicting they will lose to
Oklahoma City in the semi final. I just think, okaysee
when they are right. Is a tough matchup for the Rockets.
Perhaps not as tough as I are with Chet, but

(50:29):
still really tough. I think the Rockets defensively can do
a lot of things to muck it up. As you said,
I'm just not sure offensively where they go, especially if
they're not getting a home whistle. You know, with all
the refuse suck chants against Ben Taylor in the middle
of that Rockets thunder game a couple of weeks ago,
when SGA kept getting those calls. I think Houston actually

(50:52):
benefited down the stretch. The refs realized they, you know,
to get out of the building alive. They didn't want
to call every single potential infraction. They didn't want the
game to go on forever, and so the Rockets got
to play a little bit physically with SGA down the stretch,
might not get the same wistol at of neutral site.
So yeah, I'm gonna just go with the Columbus City.
I think they're the best team, and so I think
they'll beat Dallas and I think they'll beat Houston. But

(51:13):
I think just getting to Vegas in the semifinals is
a win for this organization no matter what. And as
long as you get that game, this is where we'll close.
As long as you get that game against the Warriors
on Wednesday, you in that streak. But you also secure
nothing worse than a five hundred week, because even if
you lose in the semifinals, you end up one in

(51:36):
one and so you're right back where you started, eight
games over five hundred. After the NBA Cup concludes, and
I'm gonna throw this scenario where you know, if they play,
if the Rockets lose to the Warriors and they play
the loser of OKCE Dallas. It's not technically an NBA
Cup game, but I'm going to consider it NBA Cup
because it's basically like a consolation game that just happens

(51:56):
to count towards the regular season standings. It's like a
you know, a soccer slash football tournament where the you know,
the losers play the third place game, if you will.
So I'm going to consider the NBA Cup. And so
when the schedule truly starts back up and you don't
have these long breaks between games because of the Cup.
Starting December nineteenth, next Thursday, here's the next ten games

(52:18):
for the Rockets, Pelicans, Raptors, Hornets, Pelicans again, Timberwolves, Heat, MAVs, Celtics, Lakers, Wizards.
That's a stretch from December nineteenth through January seventh where
the Rockets can make a lot of hay. Six of

(52:38):
those ten are at home, including a five game homestand
right after Christmas to start the new year again, Pelicans twice, Hornets, Raptors, Timberwolves, Heat, MAVs, Celtics, Lakers,
and Wizards. If you can get through this week at
five hundred the schedule's been rough of late, maybe not
quite as rough becaus the injuries, but rough than the
last and it will definitely be rough this week. To me,

(53:00):
that's a stretch that you know, we'll make our predictions
in a future episode. But I think that's where the
Rockets are a real opportunity to do some damage, you know,
real office seven and three, maybe even eight to two,
if you can get hot at home where you have
some tougher opponents, but you are within the friendly home
confines of Toyota Center, where the Rockets have been outstanding
this season. They've been much improved on the road relative
to last year, but way better at home. They're seven

(53:21):
and five on the road right now, but nine and
three inside Toyota Center. And so yeah, if you get
through this next week and even zero to two isn't
the end of the world, because there's just two games,
But if you can get through it at one and
one or better, then yeah, you could very easily get into,
you know, back into the number two spot and maybe
even build up you know, a little bit of a
buffer before the schedule does get difficult starting around the

(53:43):
middle of January. So that's the good news. If it
feels like the schedule has been rof of late with
road games and tough opponents. It has been, but it
is about to ease up. You are almost to the
end of this tunnel. Just get through this week. Hopefully
the Rockets can steal at least one game, and the
easiest and most fun way to do that would be
by simply beating the Warriors finally after all this time,
and doing it on national television on Wednesday night, when

(54:05):
the Rockets are playing in an NBA Cup quarterfinal at
Tutor Center. Hope to see many of you guys are
loyal listeners there. Anyway, with that, we'll bring this episode
to a close, and if you want more content before
our next show, the best place to get it is online,
where you can follow me on Twitter, slash x at
Bendubo's in this show at the logger line, and of
course if we go to the logger lines page, you
can find links to our distribution partners, Apple, Google, Spotify.

(54:28):
You can subscribe, leave the positive review at your location
of choice. We greatly appreciate that, and also on that
same page, of course, you can hit up links to friends, sponsors,
partners of the program, USA Today's Rockets, Mark Card, Bike Boring,
Sports Talk seven ninety. Please consume their content as well,
and if you can tell them that we sent you
on buy and then trul To mention Polo is on
Twitter at Palo Alves NBA. I know it's X, but

(54:49):
come on, I'm never gonna want to say that. And
as far as future episodes, of course, we'll keep you updates.
One of those frequent podcasts covering Houston Rockets basketball. Lately,
we've been doing about once a week in the week
because that's been you know, the break in the schedule
the Rockets not playing between Sunday and Wednesday this week.
Schedule may change a little bit as we get towards
the holidays. Obviously we do have personal lives and also

(55:11):
the schedule is going to get a little more jam packed,
so in terms of when the episodes come out, we
may change up things a little bit once, you know,
the game's become more frequent and so we have to
sort of balance out the NBA schedule and also our
personal schedules. This is just the way things have worked
out for now. We should have about one more week
of this as the Cup winds down. Hopefully we're talking
about potentially a Cup final this time a week from now,

(55:32):
but you know, keep your fingers crossed. First things first,
beat the Warriors and then get to Vegas and let's
talk about where things go from there. Anyway, that's just
sort of a lay of the land for why we've
been doing things this way the last few weeks. It
may change, and the weeks it had sick with us.
We'll have you covered no matter what. Anyway, with those
plugs and that disclaimer out of the way, we will
adjourn for today for Polo. I'm Ben, Thanks always for listening,
and please come back soon for another new episode of

(55:55):
The Locker Line.