March 6, 2025 • 9 mins
As the start of the 2025 NBA Playoffs approaches, the Rockets are currently the fifth-best team in the Western Conference. However, Houston is on a three-game losing streak, and other conference foes are inching closer in the standings, threatening the Rockets' postseason position. The Golden State Warriors have gone 9-2 since trading for Jimmy Butler in early February, and the Minnesota Timberwolves are regrouping with injured players returning to the lineup. The Warriors are the sixth-best team in the Western Conference and are within three games of overtaking the Rockets for the No. 5 seed. Golden State holds the season tiebreaker over the Rockets. With the Warriors and Timberwolves on their heels, can the Rockets string together some wins to distance themselves in the standings ahead of their first playoff appearance since 2020?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm coming to you today from New Orleans, where tonight
the Houston Rockets will take on the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Rockets are facing pressure from teams behind them in
the Western Conference. Let me give you the very latest
standings as we speak, and I can do that right now.
As soon as my phone works, I can tell you
that I'm here for you, all right. So the Rockets
(00:24):
right now are in the five spot in the West.
They're a game behind Memphis, who lost last night to
Oklahoma City. Wonderful Rockets would have the tiebreaker over Memphis. Yes,
so if it's a four to five matchup with Memphis,
the Rockets have won three of the four games against
the Grizzlies and we have home court. The Golden State
Warriors are three back of the Rockets for the five spot. Also,
(00:47):
Minnesota is three back of the Rockets. With a five spot,
Minnesota is at seven. The LA Clippers are four back
of the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Jesus, the Kings.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Are four and a half back, and the Mavericks, who
are gonna drop out of the ten spot for sure,
are five and a half back. The question is will Dallas,
Philip Phoenix or maybe this hot Portland team inherent that
ten spot because doubt there's no way Dallas can compete
with a d still missing time and Kyrie Irving's done
for the year by the way, Dallas got destroyed last
(01:20):
night in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
So I'm getting Rockets.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
They just didn't. I mean they're not they're not must wins,
but if they don't, they don't win, both games will
be I think it'll be considered it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It'll be a disappointment. I mean, well, they've already been
disappointing us.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I don't know, there have basically been a five hundred
teams since the calendar turn.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Not great. Fred van Vlietz correct.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, Fred's definitely out for tonight. Is it because Fred's
been gone so much? Is it because the team's gotta
caught the teams have caught up with the Rockets? Is
it because the Rockets have turned the ball over a lot?
Is it because of the Rockets? And this is not
my words. I mean Emys I think has been looking
for an intensity boost here and it hasn't happened.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think it's a combination of all those things.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know. One of the things that WEX brought up
your show was listening the a team and the iHeartRadio,
but you'll work, Yeah, said he doesn't. Yeah, he doesn't
see the Rockets getting overly upset when they lose. Now,
I've said this before. In every professional sport I've ever
covered before my life, fans and media take losses way
(02:32):
more in terms of passion and motion, fire hurt than
the players ever do. And that's not just the Houston Rockets.
That's the Los Angeles Kings, that's the Denver Broncos, that's
every sports team. No, there are some guys are obviously upset,
but most of them rossy. It's just one game on
(02:54):
the schedule, or it's one year, or it's I've got
my money or right, you know, we just don't. We
don't ever think that. So we should think that players
are as upset about losses. That weird. And I'm not
saying the Rockets are guilty of this more thannybody else.
But point being is this is that they shake these
(03:15):
things off. Because if you don't, if you all of
a sudden, let a game against Brooklyn where you lost
two weeks ago, sit there and manifest you're never gonna
get over. You have to shake it and move on.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, a lot of these look to reach these heights
that they do. You're talking about a lot of mentally
strong players, and they also generally do view it as
a business. Remember, like speaking of James Harden, Remember they
had that horrible loss to San Antonio and then there
was video of Harden at the club and a bunch
of fans got all upset like, how could he lose
and then go to the club, This is unbelievable. So oh,
(03:49):
he had a bad day at work and he went
to go drink at the club. If you're shocked, relaxed people.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
And I think there's really no better example of things
is when you see two teams play a game, what's
the very first thing to do once buzzer goes off?
They go to their team and go hug the player.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, and that especially happens more nowadays because a lot
of these players grow up in the same circles and
train with each other in the offseason, have the same agents.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It's just a different time now.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'll say this. I don't think if you all of
a sudden, if the Rockets lose tonight to New Orleans,
should anybody go in the locker room and throw the
food around in the water in the Gatorade bottles. I
mean that doesn't last either. Sometimes you have the heart
to have the heart to heart talk. Sometimes you have
to have the team only meaning, whatever the case. And
it's funny anytime anybody you hear of a having a
players only meaning, I'm like, oh, oh, something's really wrong.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I usually means the season is about to get worse.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Right, so it is a marathon. But I what I
would say is this, I would hope the Rockets can
put together some sort of mojo here towards the last
third of the season because they work so hard ross
in the first two three months of the season, right really,
in the first two and a half months to be
the second best team in the Western Conference. They did
work their ass off to get to Las Vegas to
(04:58):
play in that game. They did knock off Golden State
in the first half of the year. They did beat
Cleveland twice this year. They did beat Boston in Boston,
they did beat Oklahoma City, They've beaten down and then
they have a lot of quality wins. And I would
hate for them not to be ruined because of all
of a sudden, this five hundred team they have been
basically for the last two months or so.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, it's very simple. Yeah, they just have to to
avoid all that. Just win games. You've you've got the
weakest schedule. Those teams that we talked about, and we've
been talking about this for a while. Yeah, the Lakers, Nuggets,
and Grizzlies all have harder schedules than you.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And you've lost three in a row.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And the reality is this, I think at this point
of the season, for them to play seven to fifty
basketball the rest away is at patently absurd. You're not
gonna win every game. I just think at this point,
with all of the subpar losses the Rockets have picked
up since the calendar, you're turned and I'm talking about
the two games against Brooklyn, the Utah game, Detroit no
(05:59):
longer a bad loss because Detroit's about to move up
the Eastern Conference standing really quick. I'm trying to think
there anybody else that was a terrible, terrible loss. Sacramento
at home wasn't great because again, you want to win
home games. You're supposed to beating teams that you think
are talent wise, my point is is, I don't think
there's any more room for the shaking my head loss.
(06:22):
No because if you get much more of that, you're
gonna be sitting there, maybe dropping to six, and then
if really things get dicey, maybe you're having to play
that playing game. I mean, to go from two to seven,
I think would be a huge buzzkill for what has
been overall a very positive season for the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Opponent win percentage and strength of schedule remaining Lakers second,
Denver fifth, Memphis eleventh, Rockets twenty third, get it done,
no excuses.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And that would include again, think about this, you have
the two New Orleans games, got tonight here New Orleans,
and then you have Saturday for New Orleans, and then
you got a boatload of home games. I mean, let
me look at these home games real quick before we
move on to some other things. Here, Rockets have six
of the next seven at home at New Orleans tonight,
then six straight home games New Orleans, Orlando. They're tanking quick. Phoenix,
(07:28):
they're the eleventh spot in the West or the Yeah,
they're eleventh. Dallas, No Kyrie, no more Luca, no Anthony Davis, Chicago,
who has sucked all year long in Philadelphia, who sucked
all there? Ross That's that's a six and one stretch
correct lesson that would be disappointing in theory. Then you
(07:53):
have the Orleans. Then you have the Florida Swing with
Orlando and Miami. My guess is, you know you haven't
played really well in Miami the last handers. A lot
of teams don't play with Hello Miami, because I mean
it's Miami. Then you have Denver Atlanta who cares at Utah,
at Phoenix, the Lakers. That's a two and one road trip,
you hope. Then you have Utah Oklahoma City. You hope
(08:13):
to split that at Golden State, at the Clippers, at
the Lakers and home for Denver. That's a that's a
tough four game stretch to end the year. Yeah, Ross,
I'm gonna say if this team does not go six
and one, and no one will publicly say this, but
I think that internally within the organization, they'd be thinking,
we gotta win six the next seven games. That'd be
(08:34):
nice and that would I think would put a lot
of people at hease. Now again, I don't think the
Rockets are considered by many folks as NBA title contenders,
but I think for this to be a season where
you go, man, this really was fun. There were some
ebbs and flows, and sometimes there were some down moments
like and there's any NBA season but there. But the
Rockets have risen the occasion. And what makes things worse, unfortunately,
(08:55):
is the fact that you got the teams in front
of them, for the most part, playing better. The Lakers
don't seem to ever want to lose, Denver's playing better,
Memphis is in a tailspin, but Golden State, Minnesota, the
Clippers are all playing better right now. So selfishly I
want six in one, and based on the calendar and
(09:16):
who they're playing, and the fact that six of those
seven home games are those games are at home, they
should go six and one.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It'd be nice. Not gonna hold my breath, it'd be nice.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That would put them in at forty three and twenty
six sounds a lot sexier than right now at thirty
seven and twenty five is the Rockets. I think I've
lost what eight consecutive road games. I think haven't won
a game this month road, or in February for that matter.
I think the last road win was in Atlanta, and
that was in late January.
I'm coming to you today from New Orleans, where tonight
the Houston Rockets will take on the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Rockets are facing pressure from teams behind them in
the Western Conference. Let me give you the very latest
standings as we speak, and I can do that right now.
As soon as my phone works, I can tell you
that I'm here for you, all right. So the Rockets
(00:24):
right now are in the five spot in the West.
They're a game behind Memphis, who lost last night to
Oklahoma City. Wonderful Rockets would have the tiebreaker over Memphis. Yes,
so if it's a four to five matchup with Memphis,
the Rockets have won three of the four games against
the Grizzlies and we have home court. The Golden State
Warriors are three back of the Rockets for the five spot. Also,
(00:47):
Minnesota is three back of the Rockets. With a five spot,
Minnesota is at seven. The LA Clippers are four back
of the Rockets.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Jesus, the Kings.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Are four and a half back, and the Mavericks, who
are gonna drop out of the ten spot for sure,
are five and a half back. The question is will Dallas,
Philip Phoenix or maybe this hot Portland team inherent that
ten spot because doubt there's no way Dallas can compete
with a d still missing time and Kyrie Irving's done
for the year by the way, Dallas got destroyed last
(01:20):
night in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
So I'm getting Rockets.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
They just didn't. I mean they're not they're not must wins,
but if they don't, they don't win, both games will
be I think it'll be considered it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It'll be a disappointment. I mean, well, they've already been
disappointing us.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I don't know, there have basically been a five hundred
teams since the calendar turn.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Not great. Fred van Vlietz correct.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, Fred's definitely out for tonight. Is it because Fred's
been gone so much? Is it because the team's gotta
caught the teams have caught up with the Rockets? Is
it because the Rockets have turned the ball over a lot?
Is it because of the Rockets? And this is not
my words. I mean Emys I think has been looking
for an intensity boost here and it hasn't happened.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think it's a combination of all those things.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know. One of the things that WEX brought up
your show was listening the a team and the iHeartRadio,
but you'll work, Yeah, said he doesn't. Yeah, he doesn't
see the Rockets getting overly upset when they lose. Now,
I've said this before. In every professional sport I've ever
covered before my life, fans and media take losses way
(02:32):
more in terms of passion and motion, fire hurt than
the players ever do. And that's not just the Houston Rockets.
That's the Los Angeles Kings, that's the Denver Broncos, that's
every sports team. No, there are some guys are obviously upset,
but most of them rossy. It's just one game on
(02:54):
the schedule, or it's one year, or it's I've got
my money or right, you know, we just don't. We
don't ever think that. So we should think that players
are as upset about losses. That weird. And I'm not
saying the Rockets are guilty of this more thannybody else.
But point being is this is that they shake these
(03:15):
things off. Because if you don't, if you all of
a sudden, let a game against Brooklyn where you lost
two weeks ago, sit there and manifest you're never gonna
get over. You have to shake it and move on.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, a lot of these look to reach these heights
that they do. You're talking about a lot of mentally
strong players, and they also generally do view it as
a business. Remember, like speaking of James Harden, Remember they
had that horrible loss to San Antonio and then there
was video of Harden at the club and a bunch
of fans got all upset like, how could he lose
and then go to the club, This is unbelievable. So oh,
(03:49):
he had a bad day at work and he went
to go drink at the club. If you're shocked, relaxed people.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
And I think there's really no better example of things
is when you see two teams play a game, what's
the very first thing to do once buzzer goes off?
They go to their team and go hug the player.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, and that especially happens more nowadays because a lot
of these players grow up in the same circles and
train with each other in the offseason, have the same agents.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It's just a different time now.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'll say this. I don't think if you all of
a sudden, if the Rockets lose tonight to New Orleans,
should anybody go in the locker room and throw the
food around in the water in the Gatorade bottles. I
mean that doesn't last either. Sometimes you have the heart
to have the heart to heart talk. Sometimes you have
to have the team only meaning, whatever the case. And
it's funny anytime anybody you hear of a having a
players only meaning, I'm like, oh, oh, something's really wrong.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I usually means the season is about to get worse.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Right, so it is a marathon. But I what I
would say is this, I would hope the Rockets can
put together some sort of mojo here towards the last
third of the season because they work so hard ross
in the first two three months of the season, right really,
in the first two and a half months to be
the second best team in the Western Conference. They did
work their ass off to get to Las Vegas to
(04:58):
play in that game. They did knock off Golden State
in the first half of the year. They did beat
Cleveland twice this year. They did beat Boston in Boston,
they did beat Oklahoma City, They've beaten down and then
they have a lot of quality wins. And I would
hate for them not to be ruined because of all
of a sudden, this five hundred team they have been
basically for the last two months or so.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, it's very simple. Yeah, they just have to to
avoid all that. Just win games. You've you've got the
weakest schedule. Those teams that we talked about, and we've
been talking about this for a while. Yeah, the Lakers, Nuggets,
and Grizzlies all have harder schedules than you.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And you've lost three in a row.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And the reality is this, I think at this point
of the season, for them to play seven to fifty
basketball the rest away is at patently absurd. You're not
gonna win every game. I just think at this point,
with all of the subpar losses the Rockets have picked
up since the calendar, you're turned and I'm talking about
the two games against Brooklyn, the Utah game, Detroit no
(05:59):
longer a bad loss because Detroit's about to move up
the Eastern Conference standing really quick. I'm trying to think
there anybody else that was a terrible, terrible loss. Sacramento
at home wasn't great because again, you want to win
home games. You're supposed to beating teams that you think
are talent wise, my point is is, I don't think
there's any more room for the shaking my head loss.
(06:22):
No because if you get much more of that, you're
gonna be sitting there, maybe dropping to six, and then
if really things get dicey, maybe you're having to play
that playing game. I mean, to go from two to seven,
I think would be a huge buzzkill for what has
been overall a very positive season for the Houston Rockets.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Opponent win percentage and strength of schedule remaining Lakers second,
Denver fifth, Memphis eleventh, Rockets twenty third, get it done,
no excuses.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And that would include again, think about this, you have
the two New Orleans games, got tonight here New Orleans,
and then you have Saturday for New Orleans, and then
you got a boatload of home games. I mean, let
me look at these home games real quick before we
move on to some other things. Here, Rockets have six
of the next seven at home at New Orleans tonight,
then six straight home games New Orleans, Orlando. They're tanking quick. Phoenix,
(07:28):
they're the eleventh spot in the West or the Yeah,
they're eleventh. Dallas, No Kyrie, no more Luca, no Anthony Davis, Chicago,
who has sucked all year long in Philadelphia, who sucked
all there? Ross That's that's a six and one stretch
correct lesson that would be disappointing in theory. Then you
(07:53):
have the Orleans. Then you have the Florida Swing with
Orlando and Miami. My guess is, you know you haven't
played really well in Miami the last handers. A lot
of teams don't play with Hello Miami, because I mean
it's Miami. Then you have Denver Atlanta who cares at Utah,
at Phoenix, the Lakers. That's a two and one road trip,
you hope. Then you have Utah Oklahoma City. You hope
(08:13):
to split that at Golden State, at the Clippers, at
the Lakers and home for Denver. That's a that's a
tough four game stretch to end the year. Yeah, Ross,
I'm gonna say if this team does not go six
and one, and no one will publicly say this, but
I think that internally within the organization, they'd be thinking,
we gotta win six the next seven games. That'd be
(08:34):
nice and that would I think would put a lot
of people at hease. Now again, I don't think the
Rockets are considered by many folks as NBA title contenders,
but I think for this to be a season where
you go, man, this really was fun. There were some
ebbs and flows, and sometimes there were some down moments
like and there's any NBA season but there. But the
Rockets have risen the occasion. And what makes things worse, unfortunately,
(08:55):
is the fact that you got the teams in front
of them, for the most part, playing better. The Lakers
don't seem to ever want to lose, Denver's playing better,
Memphis is in a tailspin, but Golden State, Minnesota, the
Clippers are all playing better right now. So selfishly I
want six in one, and based on the calendar and
(09:16):
who they're playing, and the fact that six of those
seven home games are those games are at home, they
should go six and one.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It'd be nice. Not gonna hold my breath, it'd be nice.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That would put them in at forty three and twenty
six sounds a lot sexier than right now at thirty
seven and twenty five is the Rockets. I think I've
lost what eight consecutive road games. I think haven't won
a game this month road, or in February for that matter.
I think the last road win was in Atlanta, and
that was in late January.
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