- 1 week ago
ITL recaps an electric Rockets game capped by a Kevin Durant game-winning shot.
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00:00In fact, you know who enjoyed that moment maybe more than anybody?
00:03Well, one, Kevin Durant, because he was out here talking about this.
00:06In the moment, you saw the emotion.
00:08Scapegoated.
00:09And then afterwards, he said that winning against the Suns,
00:13the team that he was traded away from, is one that it mattered.
00:16It made it more for him.
00:17He said that he felt like he was scapegoated for it not working in Phoenix,
00:20which I still find to be kind of wild.
00:23But, yeah, he enjoyed it quite a bit.
00:25You want to know who else enjoyed it?
00:26Can I interest you in an Amen Thompson, who said this about the KD game winner,
00:31and I found this to be kind of amazing?
00:33I told him, I was like, that was the best moment I've had as a Rocket.
00:37Just the shot and the home crowd, how loud they got.
00:41I think that's the first game winner we hit.
00:45I mean, since my game winner, you know.
00:49I mean, you know, since me.
00:53Like one of his favorite moments, Amen.
00:56Well, part of that is very understandable.
00:58I mean, that's Kevin Durant.
00:59That's the guy that they've all, and he's a young guy,
01:01so, you know, clearly has idolized him, probably middle school,
01:04you know, watching him, et cetera.
01:07So, it makes sense.
01:08And then for it to come to fruition in terms of, like,
01:11when you make the Kevin Durant trade, this is exactly what you envisioned.
01:15Hey, we need a shot.
01:17Give the ball to Kevin Durant.
01:18Let's see what happens.
01:18This is it.
01:19How about an off-balance fadeaway four feet behind us?
01:21That's exactly why you got him here, man.
01:24Because you didn't have that.
01:25It was a deep three.
01:27It was a big, big-time three.
01:29Without question.
01:30Sidestep.
01:30Yeah.
01:31And that's what you get him for.
01:32But I think also the cultural portion of it,
01:34and men doing that is the cultural portion.
01:38You know, in the ability to tough it out and everything,
01:42the concerns that people had about Kevin Durant also,
01:45about acquiring Kevin Durant also popping up a little bit,
01:48because I think the biggest news on the day got obscured by Kevin Durant
01:53pulling you out of the game, managing to get that win, being tough,
01:57rallying in the building.
01:58Yeah.
01:58One of the weird things that happened in the building was all of the clocks
02:01in the game.
02:02Oh, man.
02:03And the shot clocks not working.
02:04Old school, middle school.
02:06And one of the things about it is it's no longer just like, oh,
02:08there's a scoreboard and there's, you know, clock up there.
02:11The NBA has the mechanics of this.
02:13Like, it's really nuanced.
02:15There's all sorts of things.
02:16We were actually talking about it with Hannah because Hannah was at the game.
02:18Yeah.
02:18And she has a little bit of an insight into it.
02:20And I knew this, but hearing it again reminded me,
02:23you know that the referees' whistles, when they blow,
02:26it actually stops the clock.
02:27Like, they have so many mechanisms that are tied to all different parts,
02:30and that system was down.
02:32So it took the game out of this weird place,
02:33although it allowed the PA announcer to add a little bit of home cooking to it,
02:37to the game, by giving you countdowns
02:39and then giving intermittent countdowns.
02:40The arm thing and all that stuff.
02:42I think all of that, the excitement of that,
02:45the Emae sideline, you know, being on the sideline with Boris and Jim Crane
02:49and his family, all of those things,
02:51took away from what was the most important news on the day for me.
02:54Did you see that before we even got to the game,
02:56Alperin Shangoon is going to be out for at least another 10 days
02:59before he's evaluated again?
03:01Yeah, this is obviously enormous.
03:04I mean, these games all count.
03:05That's two weeks.
03:06We say it in baseball.
03:07It applies in basketball.
03:09This was a game that, on the upside,
03:11you got exactly what you hoped to get out of Kevin Durant
03:14when you traded for him because then he did it,
03:19and it was emotional, it was cool,
03:20and you just heard from a man Thompson.
03:22On the downside, Shangoon out for 10 days,
03:26two weeks in essence of basketball,
03:28it amplifies the trouble you have in getting an offense
03:33that helps you avoid being in a situation where Kevin Durant
03:36has to take a last-minute crazy shot, you know,
03:39because in a good, well-run, efficient offense,
03:42and I know they're right behind you in the standings,
03:44but that's a game that you should have been able to control
03:45just by and get to more than just 100 points.
03:48Yes.
03:49You know?
03:49But that's because the offensive issues,
03:52and this is where I come back to the thing that I said,
03:54which is the questions that some people rightfully had
03:56about the Kevin Durant acquisition that I personally,
03:58I know I waved away.
03:59They're coming up, which is you are leaning so much
04:02of what you do on Kevin Durant offensively.
04:05Amen Thompson, I love him as a player,
04:07but as a primary ball handler,
04:09it's becoming more and more annoying for me personally.
04:12I say this with as much respect as I can give,
04:14and I will also preface this by saying I really do love the player
04:18that I'm going to compare him to,
04:19even though there's a negative connotation.
04:21He is a more aware Russell Westbrook.
04:23He takes shots with the confidence that he probably does not deserve
04:26in some of these instances.
04:27He attacks well, but he's also not creating some of the separation.
04:32He's not turning the corner as easily because defenses can sit back
04:35and they know what's happening.
04:36So, so much of your offense looks hard.
04:38There's that portion of it.
04:39There's the fact that you don't have a lot of guys that generate,
04:42and without Alperin on the floor, teams can sit back
04:45and make it so hard.
04:46So, you're taking a lot of contested jumpers.
04:48You're taking a lot of contested layups outside of Kevin Durant
04:51making a little something out of nothing,
04:53and that was a question people had.
04:54They were like, I don't want this to become just,
04:57Kevin Durant, and through injuries, obviously Fred Van Vliet being the first one,
05:02but now Alperin Schengen, you have gotten here,
05:04and that's the thing that's a little upsetting right in this moment for me.
05:07So, two questions that I'm looking at with this team right now.
05:11Number one, does it amplify?
05:14Does it make it more important to get something done at the trade deadline
05:18because of what you just said?
05:20They need, and it's not just, even if Schengen's back,
05:23you need something to be able to run this offense better.
05:27And number two, how are we feeling about the Kevin Durant trade in general,
05:31just in terms of how, let's keep in mind,
05:34there were championship expectations immediately.
05:38Well-deserved and should have happened.
05:41Championship expectations.
05:44There are four or five seed right now with an offense that can scuffle a little bit
05:48and is a disjointed team altogether.
05:52Has it been successful?
05:54I think so.
05:55I still think so.
05:56I think going back to, you see a man, I've seen growth in Jabari Smith Jr.,
06:01and I still think there's more to come, to become, like,
06:05if you're going to be the KD Jr.,
06:06I need you to be KD Jr. in some of those moments
06:08where you are able to kind of just get your own shot.
06:11We've seen development in a lot of other players,
06:13and we've seen, like, even there was a moment in this game
06:15where Tari Eason is trying to throw a pass to KD.
06:19He errantly throws it.
06:20It goes out of bounds.
06:22And in a moment, you can kind of see him be like,
06:23hey, I want you to do this.
06:24And you can see in the moment also, KD gives him, like,
06:27a quick word of advice, and, you know, Tari goes, nods his head,
06:31like, all right, I feel you.
06:32Those development moments, I think,
06:34is continually what you want from this team.
06:36And he's still giving you that.
06:38Again, you're not just being centric to the offense,
06:41but giving you that thing at the end.
06:42That, what you got him for, he's still showing up.
06:45I think the other question is the one where I'm dabbling now
06:48because you know that I got into the place where I looked around the league
06:51and I said, I don't know what the answer is on the trade market.
06:55I think I'm opening myself up more to,
06:57can you find some level of answer that helps you figure this out
07:00because it's becoming more and more apparent
07:02that this is going to be something that matters.
07:04And some of this, you have to give credit to the Suns,
07:06and obviously the familiarity that Dylan Brooks has,
07:08but just generally that they were able to bring with this
07:10because they are just sitting in your passing lanes.
07:12They know that passing for you is not a good thing,
07:15and they made that tough.
07:17How many other teams can do that?
07:18But more importantly, how many teams will do that to you?
07:20Yeah, no, I think I'm there with you when it comes to the trade.
07:23It does make it a little more interesting because, again,
07:25you're sort of adjusting on the fly here midseason
07:27and trying to figure things out.
07:29But that's something you probably need to do
07:31in order for this offense to start working a little better.
07:35The other point you made, yes, it's a successful trade
07:39in terms of like Jabari, for example, helping him individually.
07:42That doesn't do a lot for the squad
07:44in terms of what you're doing in the half court.
07:47Now, yes, that is fair.
07:49I think offensively you were still also,
07:51it was a little problematic for you last year as well,
07:53and I don't want to grade them at what could be viewed
07:56as one of their lowest points in the season to this point
08:00where they also still won a basketball game.
08:02Sure. Because you have those abilities to finish out the games.
08:06And one of the things that was encouraging,
08:08again, I will take you to the score, 197.
08:11One of the things that got them over here
08:12was they locked down defensively in the second portion of it.
08:16And we have not seen that kind of.
08:19They've been lesser of a defensive team.
08:21They've started finding their groove, obviously,
08:23in December and such.
08:24But I think that having Tari Eason back,
08:26coming back off of his injury,
08:27and then having Doreen Finney-Smith debut in C,
08:30we're seeing that defensive intensity kick up.
08:32So they have the instances or the inclination
08:35to be able to lock down where they need to.
08:38And KD still presents the opportunity to,
08:40if I need to get you the ball, he can do it.
08:42It's just a little bit dicier than we thought it would be.
08:45And, of course, that's on us.
08:46Because why would we think it'd be all unicorns and rainbows?
08:49No, it was deserved.
08:49It should have been that way.
08:51You know, the expectation.
08:53Man, they got one of those stupid back-to-backs
08:55on the road coming up, too.
08:57At Portland tomorrow and then at Portland on Friday.
09:00Yeah, the little baseball series.
09:01I hate those.
09:02My mom is right there with you.
09:03I was on the phone with her.
09:04I hate those, yeah.
09:04It's necessary, though, to try and limit some of the traveling.
09:09Sure.
09:09These are all just Band-Aids because the NBA won't do what they're doing.
09:12Back in my day.
09:13Okay.
09:13All right.
09:14What the NBA needs to do is shorten the schedule,
09:17except nobody involved wants to get back money.
09:19Yeah, I know.
09:20And so we're just going to find a way to make this work.
09:22But that's a good back-to-back against Portland.
09:24And, again, you won't have Alperin Shangoon.
09:26I don't even know what the tidying over is without Alperin.
09:30The only thing that I hope here, John, is that this is a pressure-makes-diamonds
09:34type situation, and they can find some ways to rise above the occasion
09:40and what they're missing and find some answers.
09:42I don't know what those would be, though.
09:44Do you have a best guess of what you think some of the answers would be
09:46to creation in the absence of Alperin Shangoon?
09:48Well, I think the answer is go with what works in terms of getting points
09:54on the board in critical minutes.
09:55I think you're not running the offense per se through his hands on the ball a lot more.
10:00Well, that's already the answer that they have.
10:02Because, obviously, there are things you can do.
10:05A man's still going to have the ball.
10:07You know, Shepard's still going to have the ball.
10:09But I think you just mix and match, and when you need it,
10:11you go to Kevin Durant.
10:13Well, that's what it's looking like.
10:14And here's the thing.
10:15They're managing to make it work, make a shake, a 22-11 Rockets team,
10:19get a 100-97 victory.
10:22It was fun.
10:23It was exciting.
10:24But I don't want to ignore that there's something under here
10:26that they're traversing, they're having to deal with.
10:29A fair question, though, going back to what you were talking about,
10:31the KD trade from the 7-1-3.
10:33I don't understand how this team would look any different
10:35if you didn't make the trade.
10:36And some of that is, for the third time when you see the Phoenix Suns,
10:40Jalen Green is over there in street clothes.
10:42That's also something you have to consider with what's happening here.
10:44Dillon Brooks brings that intensity, but you had the same intensity
10:47because of the likes of Tari and Doreen Finney-Smith.
10:51So I would still do that 10 times out of 10, that deal.
10:54But that does not ignore the fact that—
10:56Doesn't fix the other thing.
10:57Yeah, the other thing is that Fred VanVleet injury
11:00is really harming you right now.
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