Rockets Analyst Ben DuBose Previews Warriors Matchup With Play-In Implications

Ben DuBose, editor of The Rockets Wire, joins Next Up to preview the Houston Rockets hosting the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. The Rockets currently sit three games behind the Warriors for the final spot in the Play-In Tournament. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
For the biggest game of the season. A preview if you will. Let's
go to Rockets analysts Bend Bows,also editor of the USA Today's Rockets Wire.
You can hear him on our logLine podcast as well on Sports seven
nine at dot com. Ben,good morning to you, sir. Most
important game of the season, biggestgame around here from a Rockets standpoint,

(00:20):
since filling the blank, I wouldsay Oklahoma City watch Wednesday. I know
I'm being a little lame with thatanswer, but that was you're supposed to
say, Ben. I mean,gosh, you gotta go back to James
Harden in the Western Conference finals andsomething like that. There you go,
sell it. We gotta sell it. We're in this audio medium. Uh

(00:40):
so with our seriousness, all right, let Rockets currently on a two game
skid, they had one eleven ina row. What formula do they need
to get back to? What isreasonable to expect for them to get back
to? Giving the opponent tonight isa multi time champion in the Golden State
Warriors. Yeah, and let's bethis is a must win game for the

(01:02):
Rockets because if they lose it,they would be effectively down five games.
You enter down three and you're alsowithout the tiebreaker. If you win the
game, you're down two, whichis effectively down three with six to play.
That's manageable. If you lose,you're down five with six to play.
That's not going to happen. Soit's still unlikely if you win,
but a three game gap with sixto play, Crazier things have happened.

(01:25):
So if you win, you atleast keep a plausible pass and a reason
from a postseason perspective to stay interestedgoing into the final week of the season.
As far as execution to be,the big thing it's going to come
down to for the Rockets is threepoint shooting. We know a big part
of their surge since the All Starbreak, imy Udoka has wanted this team
to get the math advantage. They'reshooting over forty three per game, that's

(01:49):
their goal, which is near thetop of the league. However, if
you look at the last five games, they're tied for the lead in the
NBA in three point attempts per gameat forty two, but they're in the
bottom number twenty six in three pointaccuracy. I believe below thirty two percent.
And I think what's happened is thatover that thirteen and two march,
over that eleven game winning streak,some of the veterans that had to go

(02:13):
pedal to the medal that you hadto lean on really hard, especially after
losing all Brings and Goon and CamWhitmore to injuries. They're a little worn
down. And I think especially someonelike Dylan Brooks, who's one of eleven
is the last two games from threeredan afleet's been very hit or miss as
well. So what I think youhave to hope for if you're the Rockets
is that the spotlight game playing athome. You know, everybody gets some

(02:35):
extra juice when they see the Warriors. They know that people around the league
are going to be watching that.That helps those guys get, you know,
a second win, so to speak, to get some legs back.
Because they're taking the threes, they'restill getting good looks. I mean,
if you watched that Minnesota game theother night, it was so frustrating.
That's a team that historically has giventhe Rockets a lot of fits. With
Gobert inside, they got good threes, they just didn't make them until the

(02:58):
last three minutes of the game,and by that point it was two too
late. So I think with theRocket, it starts with hoping you get
something of a second win and you'reveteran start to make three at the rate
they did before the last week orso. Yeah, and there's so many
encouraging things with this team too.You know, we say, yes,
this is a big game, they'replaying. Hopes are still alive, and
almost said, you know, treatthis like a play in game. I

(03:19):
mean, the atmosphere Tota Center needsto be playoff like. But you know
your podcast, you got up therethe logger line, Ben, you talk
about, look if the playoffs hopeshopes fade here or play in hopes rather,
the future remains bright. I mean, this is a team with a
lot of young guys that took ahuge leap forward this year. You have
an excellent coach in ima A Dooka. You're gonna have the Brooklyn Nets loss
the other night, so you're gonnahave probably another top ten pick. You're

(03:42):
gonna have more money to spend afree agency. So like, the future
does look bright. But man,a win tonight would be huge. And
this is it. I mean,it's very different. You face Golden State
back in October and November how doyou see them matching up tonight? Because
it just I can't get a goodread because the same Golden Safe team that's
a five game win streak. Iwatch them get obliterated by Boston a few
weeks ago and lose to the Spursand lose to the ball. So what

(04:05):
is this going to look like tonight. Yeah, it's interesting because the Warriors
are a team that when you thinkof them, it's about the shooting splash
brothers Steph Curry, Klay Thompson.But what's really at the heart of what
they do. It's ball movement.And so it's really Draymond Green out of
the high posts finding guys who movedwithout the ball, and so it's really

(04:28):
going to challenge those young guys.The advantage for the Rockets on paper,
these top shelf athletes, they haveguys like Jalen Green, Amen Thompson,
Cam Whitmore. The Warriors can't matchthat. Now they can try a little
bit harder, And I think that'swhat's really happened as the Warriors have gone
on this five game winning streak,to create a little bit of separation the
Warriors, you know, Steve kurbwould run those veterans into the ground if

(04:51):
they went all out over eighty twogames. But now that it's down in
the home stretch and they're really feelingsome pressure, what limited juice they still
have. He's trying to squeeze thatout now in a way that he didn't
for much of the season. Buteven so, even if they're trying at
one hundred percent, the Rockets havesome top shelf athletes and leans that the
Warriors don't, And so that's theadvantage the Rockets can get out in transition.

(05:14):
They can make plays and a halfcourt over the top with the lob
game, they can just do somethings athletically that the Warriors can't. However,
the downside of that youth and athleticismis that they're a bit raw in
terms of their processing, and that'swhere the Warriors can burn you. If
you aren't in sync defensively when you'reswitching, you need to talk, need
to communicate, you need to beaware off the ball. That's where the
Rockets are really going to be challengedby the Warriors in this game. The

(05:38):
shooting is part of it, butit's more the ball movement and the passing.
But I'll just say in general,just being out there in a game
like this, as you were saying, is beneficial. The thing to keep
in mind with the play and race, even if the Rockets did make the
play in, You're not going toput a banner and then Treaderson a raptors
saying we made the play in.The hell, I won't I create one.
It might look like that BS theRangers hanging over there, but I'm

(06:00):
putting something in there that says wemade the play in. Yeah, but
no, I mean it's more aboutthe high intensity games that a play in
push represents. That's why I saidlast Wednesday in Oklahoma City that was a
big one because you were on thewinning streak. That was your first time
going up against a top shelf opponent, seeing how they fear tonight. It's

(06:20):
another test. And so regardless ofwhether you actually get in the playoff or
not, it's not like a championshipor bus season where if you don't accomplish
that end thing, well what wasit all for? No, the play
in is a means to an end, and the end is getting these young
guys ready, and the process isputting them in big time, spotlight games.

(06:42):
I like the way you put itearlier. Treat this like your playing
game. What you're wanting to dois see how your young guys perform on
your high pressure situations, and forbetter or for worse, you want them
to learn from those situations so thatin the future they can handle them better
when the Rockets a couple of yearsfrom now actually are trying to compete for
a title. So that's the wayI'm looking at it. I do think
you need to see some win likelast Wims say to Oklahoma City, it

(07:04):
was a great time to see themcome through under prussure. Tonight would definitely
be another one. But I thinkthat's really the way the Rockets are looking
at this, and whether they actuallymake the play in or not. I
don't want to say it's beside thepoint, but it's certainly not the only
point. All right, A couplemore for you, And I'm just thinking
philosophically what we know about Steve Kerrand what he has done there in the

(07:26):
Bay Area and what Udoka has implementedhere in Houston. We celebrate him winning
Coach of the Year for the monthof March, he doesn't really give a
bleep about that. He'd rather winssome games and get guys recognition and get
guys playing at the next level intheir development. What for you being constitutes
win or lost tonight? Obviously theplan would be a success for everybody,

(07:50):
But outside of that, what wouldconstitute a win versus a disappointment? This
season in Emai Udokah's first year here, for me, it's five hundred or
better because you were thirty eight andthirty six. That was your high water
mark after the eleven game. Oractually, no, you were thirty eight
and thirty five, so that wasyour high water mark. Now you've lost

(08:13):
these last two and you're thirty eightand thirty seven, so you've got seven
games to play. If you areeven close to as good as you looked
in March, you should be ableto win at least three of the final
seven, hopefully four, because ifyou win four, you're going to finish
with a winning record. That's fortytwo and forty If you win three,

(08:35):
that's forty one and forty one.I think for the Rockets in particular,
if they can come out of thisyear play in or not with a five
hundred record or better after three straightyears of about twenty wins, being in
last place, in the West.That's really symbolic because we know the NBA
is the perception leagus man. Allthese big transactions that happen every offseason.

(08:56):
A lot of it comes down tothe narrative of each franchise, where they
are in their development. And Ijust think for the Rockets, if they
can go into this offseason saying thisis a five hundred team or hopefully a
winning team, and it's not ahigh bar to clear at this point.
You just got to win three orfour out of your last seven, that
should be reasonable. I think it'sbig for the prestige. I think it's
big for how the franchise looks.And I also think it validates to a

(09:18):
degree that thirteen and two March ofeleven game winning streak, because you know,
if they go to and five,one and six down the stretch and
finish for the losing record, Iwant to say the winning streak gets taken
away, but it makes it looklike it's you know, maybe a little
fraudulent or a little fortuitous with theschedule, as opposed to if you finish
strong, have a winning record,playing or not, it validates the success
you had in March and makes itlook all the more legitimate and sustainable.

(09:41):
Love it. That is the voiceof Ben Dubo's He is our Rockets analysts
here a sports Talk seven ninety alsoeditor of USA Today's The Rocket. Why
we appreciate his contribution on our loggerLine podcast as well. Do follow brother
Ben Dubos as I imagine he'll beover at Toyota sent its night at being

(10:01):
d U b O s E.That's Dubos d u b O s C.
Being. We got a slot brother, We do appreciate it. On
the Thursday. Thanks for having me, I man, have a good time tonight.