November 13, 2024 • 8 mins
The Houston Rockets are off to their best start through 11 games since the 2019-20 season following Monday's 107-92 victory over the Washington Wizards, improving to 7-4. The Rockets won the fourth of their last five games without Fred VanVleet, who is dealing with a hamstring injury. Amen Thompson entered the starting lineup and recorded 13 points. Tari Eason provided a spark off the bench, scoring 10 with six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. When asked about his preference to playing the hot hand, head coach Ime Udoka said, "We're going to play the guys that play best... We have a ton of options, a ton of versatility." Jabari Smith Jr. has struggled offensively, especially from beyond the arc, shooting 25% so far this season. Until the shots come back around, "we want guys to stay confident," and Jabari "can still impact the game in many ways," Udoka said. VanVleet has also gotten off to a shaky start, averaging 37.9% from the field. "Until the shots do fall...We always want to rely on our defense." VanVleet is questionable for Wednesday's matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers, but Udoka said "he felt good today" at morning shootaround. The Rockets are tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for fifth in the Western Conference and will look to maintain a winning record by working towards a big goal: "We've really stressed being number one in offensive rebounds this year," Udoka said. The Rockets are currently second in the league in total offensive rebounds.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our weekly Wednesday visit begins with the head basketball coach
of your Houston Rockets. Tonight, the Rockets at seven and
four take on the Los Angeles Clippers for a matchup tonight,
and they'll also play each other on Friday. They'll be
a part of the in season tournament. Coach at Doka's
with us here on the show. Coach, thanks for the time,
congratulations on the recent good run, nice streak for the guys.
(00:21):
I gotta be honest with you, and you're not talking
about this almost every single night. You got a couple
of guys off your bench, and I know men started
for Fred the today but have been tremendous spark plugs
for your squad.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And that's no surprise to you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
But the emergence they've had has been quite special that
so far, this young part of the season.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Now, it's good to have guys back healthy.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know they both missed some time last year and
having those guys as a tand I'm coming off the
bench freaking have it. The defensive things that they do
obviously have given say whose spark.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Does that not necessarily motivate, but just keep everybody knowing
that you may start a game you may start a
second half, you may be a part of a fourth quarter,
but you're definitely a coach not afraid to go the
hot hand. Correct.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, I mean it's kind of laid that that lowdown
last year, where we're going to play the guys that
play best and finish the game with those guys. And
so you guys understand that it's not about starting as
much as you know who's going to be in there
at the end. And we have a ton of options,
a ton of versatility, and a ton of different guys
that have stepped up at different times, and so we're comfortable,
you know, going fourteen deep with all our guys, and
(01:22):
we understand the sacrifice that it's going to take every
night for a different guy to step up and lead
the team. And I think we have very capable guys
and they've shown that so far.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So honestly, you know, when most teams shoot the way
we've shot so far this year, where it's been lower
third in the league, you're not supposed to win a
whole lot of those basketball games. So it becomes the intangible.
So if I told you that this squad was not
shooting as well today as it did, maybe a year
ago at this point you would say, we're doing these
things to win basketball games. What are the types of
things that you are seeing that are helping you get
(01:51):
over the hump when the team has not been overly
hot from the floor.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Well, first off, we always want to rely on our defense,
and you know, we've been playing pretty good defense overall.
We've had a few quarters where we've given up thirty eight,
but other than that, we've.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Been solid for the most part.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So we always know when the shots are on fall,
we can rely on the defensive end and still whole
teams down. The second part, you know, we emphasize offensive
rebounding this team or this year, and it's not due
to horse shooting. It's just an added bonus that we
have some guys that can really do it naturally, and
so we're I think we're second in the league right
now in offensive rebounds. So those extra possessions count well,
especially on with the misshots.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
But once the shots start to fall, we.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Defend at the same level, play at a faster pace,
gets some offensive rebounds, will feel like we'll be a
much more complete team. But in the meantime, until the
shots do fall, we can rely on those things to
maintain a winning record.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
How much is that the play of the players and
then you guys coaching as far as guys crashing and
telling certain guys to crash for offensive rebounds or telling
some other guys to get back in transition.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, we've really stressed it. We want to be number
one in offensive rebounds this year. We finished eighth last
year and it wasn't a real emphasis of ours, but
you had Tari back into the mix, who's naturally great
at it.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I'm in who's there?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
He gets Steven, you get out and those guys that
do it well. Jabari came on last year. So for us,
it's really something that our guys do well already naturally.
But we definitely stress that and our goal is to
be number one, and so we're run away from that
right now, and we understand the impact that has on
our game. And we don't say any direct correlation with
poor transition defense. It's almost our first layer of transition defense.
Teams don't want to leak out. They can have to
(03:21):
get a body on the body, and us attacking the
glasses has proven that so far.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Rocket teach coach Emo Doko, what is here on sports
Talk seven ninety You mentioned Jabari Smith Junior. The shooting
numbers have not been there, But how are you feeling
about the shots he is taking and working within the offense,
and about how you feel about the other aspects of
his play?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, the shots, I mean, I think him Fred you know,
I think Jalen been okay, But some guys have been
off to start the season, and we understand those numbers
are going to come back to form eventually, and so
we encourage him to be confident and take the correct
shot and we'll live with the result. But he can
do other things the impact the game. It's not just
relying on a jump shot. He obviously the versatile defensive,
(04:00):
but we want him to crash the glass area.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
He really improved in last year, get.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Out in transition, try to get himself some easy But
so it's just not relying on jump shots. He still
can impact the game in a ton of ways, playing
much small ball five and put a bunch of guys
around him that were we're switchable and can.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Do all those things.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And so until the shots comes back around, we want
guys to stay confident, continue to hunt the right shots,
and we'll live with the result.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
You went with some different guys in the fourth quarter
of some games about a week ten days ago, Alpi
was not out there. Since then, he's put up some
huge numbers, back to back twenty seven point games.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Where have you seen Alpi.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Just in the last two weeks kind of a step
his game up because he's been it feels like to me,
a pretty much automatic ten feet inside.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, I think you know, we didn't get tricked by
the easy miss shots at the start of the season,
Like I said, Fred had missed someone, so he missed
Jalen missed him, and the Charlotte gage specifically, Jabari has
missed him as well. But Alpi was missing point blank
shots that he normally always makes, and so we're going
to take.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Those shots every time.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
We understand that's going to come back around, and when
it does, he has these huge games and so he
has advantage pretty much every night. We want him to
say aggressive and understand when he gets in better conditioning,
gets up and down, he's a massive problem for every lineup,
and so that came to for him the last few
games against against New York and then last game obviously,
and he's had a huge game. So with him He's
never gonna lack confidence scoring. He gets the looks that
(05:19):
we love, and obviously he's gonna start to put those
in as the season goes.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
How's Fred feeling right now?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Fred's okay. He felt good today. He's untested before the game.
But Fred's a warrior that pushes through almost everything, so
you don't expect him to be out long at all.
He can play through some things high pain tolerance. But
he looked good this morning and shoot around, and we'll
see what he feels like before the game.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Is the hamstring the cruelest part of a basketball players
game that once you heard it and during the course
of the year that you got to do everything you
can to rest. But you guys play three four times
a week, it's hard to have that day or two
to rest.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, I mean, it depends on the severity of it.
And it seems like it's settled pretty quickly. He felt
some tightness in the Detroit game and so sat out
last game obviously, and sometimes for some guys are quick healers,
and he's back that soon, and so that's where he's trending.
But we'll see how it feels before the game. And
obviously severity, wasn't that bad words? And keep him out
long term and hopefully have him back sooner and later.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Paul George is not a part of the Clippers anymore.
You've had a chance to look at them a little
bit on tape. You'll see them tonight and Friday, a
glimpse of what they have been without him.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
A different team led by different guys.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Obviously Kawhi Leonard's out as well, but James Harden's going
to do what he does, and Norman Powell's really emerged
in that PG role and so you know, averaging twenty
six on the year, he's a twelve leading score in
the league, and he's taken advantage of those opportunities. So
a guy that's super confident, aggressive, looking to score, and
he's really taken on that scoring load that's missing with
Kawhi and Paul George. And so still guys you have
(06:47):
to worry about Zubox a little more aggressive in the
posts this year, and so we'll have our hands full.
Obviously James is going to dictate everything, but those guys
are really looking to be aggressive as well.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You know, Zubots is a guy that's just kind of
under the radar in terms of big physical guys. But
I kind of look forward to seeing what him and
Alp will do with each other tonight in terms of
being competing with each other.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, they've gone at it over the years. Alp He's
had some really good games against the Clippers. He's one
of the most solid post defenders. So Alp he will
have his work cut out. But we feel good about
oppring every night against whoever he's guarding him, and so
no different tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Like I said, they are posting to the block.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Up a little bit more and so he'll have his
challenge on that end as well. But you know, we're
happy with Alpi against everybody, and we'll take advantage of
whatever match will bes.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
And I'm assuming you were talking about we're talking about
day to day situations. Steven Adams still for you for
at least for foreseeable future, kind of like how he
wakes up and how the schedule looks, that kind of
thing in terms of when he's going to play and
when he's not.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, until he feels one hundred percent normal, you know,
will be cautious with him the shortestants in the game,
but also one day of rest might not be enough
at times, and so anytime we have a chance to
give a few days, he feels much better, and we'll
play it by year and how he feels until he's
one hundred percent all right.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Thanks for the visitors always. We'll see you tonight at
the arena. Good luck against Clips, you got it. That's
may do and joining us here for his weekly Wednesday
visit on Sports Talk seven ninety
Our weekly Wednesday visit begins with the head basketball coach
of your Houston Rockets. Tonight, the Rockets at seven and
four take on the Los Angeles Clippers for a matchup tonight,
and they'll also play each other on Friday. They'll be
a part of the in season tournament. Coach at Doka's
with us here on the show. Coach, thanks for the time,
congratulations on the recent good run, nice streak for the guys.
(00:21):
I gotta be honest with you, and you're not talking
about this almost every single night. You got a couple
of guys off your bench, and I know men started
for Fred the today but have been tremendous spark plugs
for your squad.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And that's no surprise to you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
But the emergence they've had has been quite special that
so far, this young part of the season.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Now, it's good to have guys back healthy.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know they both missed some time last year and
having those guys as a tand I'm coming off the
bench freaking have it. The defensive things that they do
obviously have given say whose spark.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Does that not necessarily motivate, but just keep everybody knowing
that you may start a game you may start a
second half, you may be a part of a fourth quarter,
but you're definitely a coach not afraid to go the
hot hand. Correct.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, I mean it's kind of laid that that lowdown
last year, where we're going to play the guys that
play best and finish the game with those guys. And
so you guys understand that it's not about starting as
much as you know who's going to be in there
at the end. And we have a ton of options,
a ton of versatility, and a ton of different guys
that have stepped up at different times, and so we're comfortable,
you know, going fourteen deep with all our guys, and
(01:22):
we understand the sacrifice that it's going to take every
night for a different guy to step up and lead
the team. And I think we have very capable guys
and they've shown that so far.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So honestly, you know, when most teams shoot the way
we've shot so far this year, where it's been lower
third in the league, you're not supposed to win a
whole lot of those basketball games. So it becomes the intangible.
So if I told you that this squad was not
shooting as well today as it did, maybe a year
ago at this point you would say, we're doing these
things to win basketball games. What are the types of
things that you are seeing that are helping you get
(01:51):
over the hump when the team has not been overly
hot from the floor.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Well, first off, we always want to rely on our defense,
and you know, we've been playing pretty good defense overall.
We've had a few quarters where we've given up thirty eight,
but other than that, we've.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Been solid for the most part.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
So we always know when the shots are on fall,
we can rely on the defensive end and still whole
teams down. The second part, you know, we emphasize offensive
rebounding this team or this year, and it's not due
to horse shooting. It's just an added bonus that we
have some guys that can really do it naturally, and
so we're I think we're second in the league right
now in offensive rebounds. So those extra possessions count well,
especially on with the misshots.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
But once the shots start to fall, we.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Defend at the same level, play at a faster pace,
gets some offensive rebounds, will feel like we'll be a
much more complete team. But in the meantime, until the
shots do fall, we can rely on those things to
maintain a winning record.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
How much is that the play of the players and
then you guys coaching as far as guys crashing and
telling certain guys to crash for offensive rebounds or telling
some other guys to get back in transition.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, we've really stressed it. We want to be number
one in offensive rebounds this year. We finished eighth last
year and it wasn't a real emphasis of ours, but
you had Tari back into the mix, who's naturally great
at it.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I'm in who's there?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
He gets Steven, you get out and those guys that
do it well. Jabari came on last year. So for us,
it's really something that our guys do well already naturally.
But we definitely stress that and our goal is to
be number one, and so we're run away from that
right now, and we understand the impact that has on
our game. And we don't say any direct correlation with
poor transition defense. It's almost our first layer of transition defense.
Teams don't want to leak out. They can have to
(03:21):
get a body on the body, and us attacking the
glasses has proven that so far.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Rocket teach coach Emo Doko, what is here on sports
Talk seven ninety You mentioned Jabari Smith Junior. The shooting
numbers have not been there, But how are you feeling
about the shots he is taking and working within the offense,
and about how you feel about the other aspects of
his play?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, the shots, I mean, I think him Fred you know,
I think Jalen been okay, But some guys have been
off to start the season, and we understand those numbers
are going to come back to form eventually, and so
we encourage him to be confident and take the correct
shot and we'll live with the result. But he can
do other things the impact the game. It's not just
relying on a jump shot. He obviously the versatile defensive,
(04:00):
but we want him to crash the glass area.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
He really improved in last year, get.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Out in transition, try to get himself some easy But
so it's just not relying on jump shots. He still
can impact the game in a ton of ways, playing
much small ball five and put a bunch of guys
around him that were we're switchable and can.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Do all those things.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And so until the shots comes back around, we want
guys to stay confident, continue to hunt the right shots,
and we'll live with the result.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
You went with some different guys in the fourth quarter
of some games about a week ten days ago, Alpi
was not out there. Since then, he's put up some
huge numbers, back to back twenty seven point games.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Where have you seen Alpi.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Just in the last two weeks kind of a step
his game up because he's been it feels like to me,
a pretty much automatic ten feet inside.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, I think you know, we didn't get tricked by
the easy miss shots at the start of the season,
Like I said, Fred had missed someone, so he missed
Jalen missed him, and the Charlotte gage specifically, Jabari has
missed him as well. But Alpi was missing point blank
shots that he normally always makes, and so we're going
to take.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Those shots every time.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
We understand that's going to come back around, and when
it does, he has these huge games and so he
has advantage pretty much every night. We want him to
say aggressive and understand when he gets in better conditioning,
gets up and down, he's a massive problem for every lineup,
and so that came to for him the last few
games against against New York and then last game obviously,
and he's had a huge game. So with him He's
never gonna lack confidence scoring. He gets the looks that
(05:19):
we love, and obviously he's gonna start to put those
in as the season goes.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
How's Fred feeling right now?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Fred's okay. He felt good today. He's untested before the game.
But Fred's a warrior that pushes through almost everything, so
you don't expect him to be out long at all.
He can play through some things high pain tolerance. But
he looked good this morning and shoot around, and we'll
see what he feels like before the game.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Is the hamstring the cruelest part of a basketball players
game that once you heard it and during the course
of the year that you got to do everything you
can to rest. But you guys play three four times
a week, it's hard to have that day or two
to rest.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, I mean, it depends on the severity of it.
And it seems like it's settled pretty quickly. He felt
some tightness in the Detroit game and so sat out
last game obviously, and sometimes for some guys are quick healers,
and he's back that soon, and so that's where he's trending.
But we'll see how it feels before the game. And
obviously severity, wasn't that bad words? And keep him out
long term and hopefully have him back sooner and later.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Paul George is not a part of the Clippers anymore.
You've had a chance to look at them a little
bit on tape. You'll see them tonight and Friday, a
glimpse of what they have been without him.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
A different team led by different guys.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Obviously Kawhi Leonard's out as well, but James Harden's going
to do what he does, and Norman Powell's really emerged
in that PG role and so you know, averaging twenty
six on the year, he's a twelve leading score in
the league, and he's taken advantage of those opportunities. So
a guy that's super confident, aggressive, looking to score, and
he's really taken on that scoring load that's missing with
Kawhi and Paul George. And so still guys you have
(06:47):
to worry about Zubox a little more aggressive in the
posts this year, and so we'll have our hands full.
Obviously James is going to dictate everything, but those guys
are really looking to be aggressive as well.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
You know, Zubots is a guy that's just kind of
under the radar in terms of big physical guys. But
I kind of look forward to seeing what him and
Alp will do with each other tonight in terms of
being competing with each other.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, they've gone at it over the years. Alp He's
had some really good games against the Clippers. He's one
of the most solid post defenders. So Alp he will
have his work cut out. But we feel good about
oppring every night against whoever he's guarding him, and so
no different tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Like I said, they are posting to the block.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Up a little bit more and so he'll have his
challenge on that end as well. But you know, we're
happy with Alpi against everybody, and we'll take advantage of
whatever match will bes.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
And I'm assuming you were talking about we're talking about
day to day situations. Steven Adams still for you for
at least for foreseeable future, kind of like how he
wakes up and how the schedule looks, that kind of
thing in terms of when he's going to play and
when he's not.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, until he feels one hundred percent normal, you know,
will be cautious with him the shortestants in the game,
but also one day of rest might not be enough
at times, and so anytime we have a chance to
give a few days, he feels much better, and we'll
play it by year and how he feels until he's
one hundred percent all right.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Thanks for the visitors always. We'll see you tonight at
the arena. Good luck against Clips, you got it. That's
may do and joining us here for his weekly Wednesday
visit on Sports Talk seven ninety
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