- 16 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:04Ron Ugly is out, Paul Gallant is in,
00:07and it is time for a Rockets report with Brandon Scott,
00:11also known as B-Skeezy.
00:14He's in the building.
00:15If you've been listening, he joined us in that previous segment
00:18to talk a little bit about what's going on in the NBA
00:21with the load management slash Cade Cunningham Supermax deal situation.
00:27That's going to be interesting to follow.
00:29But now we move into our home team here, them Houston Rockets,
00:33and the Rockets have slid into that sixth seed 13 1⁄2 games back,
00:38behind Minnesota now.
00:40It's a half a game behind Minnesota, I believe.
00:43And next up on the schedule tonight,
00:46Minnesota is where the Rockets are at Minnesota, 830.
00:52Is this the game it's on?
00:53Yeah, it's on ESPN tonight.
00:55Big game, just where they got 11 games left,
00:5811 games left here in the season.
01:01You don't want to mess around and let Phoenix catch you.
01:04Good God, that'd be a disaster.
01:06But Minnesota tonight, B. Scott, big game.
01:09Just thoughts on the Rockets where we sit right now.
01:12Yeah, it's a big game because when you think about last week
01:16and the opportunity that was missed against the Lakers, right,
01:18you get the Lakers twice at home.
01:20And that second game after, again, losing the first game,
01:24that second game was for the tiebreaker, right?
01:26It was for the tiebreaker.
01:26And it's very much possible when you look at the teams between the Lakers,
01:32Timberwolves, Nuggets, and Rockets,
01:33it's possible that any combination of those teams could finish with the same record.
01:37And so the Lakers being one of those teams, you're not taking advantage.
01:41Here's another team for you to try to take advantage of
01:44or try to take advantage of your opportunity against, I should say.
01:47And then we got to think about the fact that Anthony Edwards,
01:49like this is going to be a Minnesota team that, similar to you,
01:55not a lot of people really know what to make of.
01:58They know Anthony Edwards is really good.
01:59They know the team is super athletic and they got shooters
02:01and all of that kind of stuff.
02:02They know the team profile.
02:04But what are you going to get from Minnesota on a night-to-night basis
02:08is a similar question to the one that we have here in Houston about the Rockets.
02:12So here's the head-to-head.
02:13Something that's got to give between two teams like that
02:16is a pretty cool opportunity for the Rockets to at least do something
02:19for their seeding after, again, the disappointment against the Lakers last week
02:23and coming off a loss in Chicago that, frankly, just should not have happened.
02:26It was embarrassing.
02:27It should not have happened.
02:28I think a lot of people got back on the bandwagon
02:31because you got a couple of games from Reed Shepard
02:33after the two Lakers games were, hey, all right,
02:36they're putting them in the starting lineup.
02:38We're seeing Les Tari easing.
02:40And, I mean, they just gave all the goodwill back right away
02:43with that dreadful performance in the first quarter.
02:45And to their credit, I mean, they fought their way back into that game,
02:48but the first quarter shouldn't have happened.
02:50So, Brandon, why am I supposed to get back on this gravy train before the playoffs?
02:55Because that's where I'm at.
02:57I want to wait until the playoffs to give this team my attention again.
03:00Yeah, no, I can't in good faith be like, man, you need to get back on it.
03:04Now, if I were to give you a glass-half-full type of view,
03:08I would say that starting Reed Shepard does open things up for this offense
03:13that weren't previously there when they weren't doing that.
03:15And they're going to stick to it.
03:16And it looks like they're going to stick to it.
03:18If they got any sense, they're going to stick to it.
03:20So, that part is good.
03:22And not only having Reed Shepard in there for his individual skills,
03:25but how it opens things up for other guys.
03:27It gives Alfred Shingun, a credible pick-and-roll partner.
03:31It allows Amin Thompson to go off the ball and be more in his natural role
03:36as kind of more of an off-ball-cutting type of situation.
03:41Or when somebody's being doubled, he can be the guy that flashes in the middle.
03:44When they're going up against a zone, he's not over there camped out in the corner.
03:48Then basically baiting him to shoot threes that he can't really make.
03:52And to his credit, he actually has been shooting those a little bit better.
03:54But you don't want him taking them, obviously.
03:56So, there are things about putting Reed Shepard back in
03:59or putting Reed Shepard into the starting lineup that make this team better.
04:03And I will point to Alperen Shingun.
04:05They lose that game against Chicago despite a super-efficient 40-point game
04:11from Kevin Durant, an uber-efficient 30-point triple-double from Alperen Shingun.
04:16We've been waiting for him to look like the superstar
04:18that he looked like he was going to become early in the season.
04:20He finally looks like it against Chicago.
04:22If you can get more of that plus the Reed Shepard stuff,
04:25then I think you're cooking with grease.
04:27But what it all comes down to, Pauly, is the fact that these guys can't shoot.
04:31They can't shoot.
04:33Worth a damn.
04:34And they have Kevin Durant.
04:35Well, they have Kevin Durant, and he's the only one that can shoot.
04:37Right.
04:38Monday night.
04:39You thought it would be better, though, this year,
04:41like significantly because Durant's aboard, and here we are.
04:44But you know what, guys?
04:45Monday night was the perfect illustration of what's wrong with this Rockets team
04:48because on one end, the defense fell apart, right?
04:51And Chicago hit a lot of really good shots.
04:53But you can't give up 50% from the field and from three and expect to win,
04:57especially when you can't shoot yourself, right?
04:59And so you give up 50% from the field.
05:01Chicago shot 50% from three and from the field overall.
05:05Flat 50, okay?
05:06And then outside of Kevin Durant, can't shoot a three?
05:10I think Reed Shepard and Jabari Smith Jr. want to combine four of 21 from three,
05:16either four or five or 21 from three.
05:18I don't want to go between those two guys.
05:19You get three more threes between the two guys, and you win, right?
05:23It's an eight-point game.
05:24There's three threes right there.
05:25There's nine points right there if those guys just shoot a little bit closer
05:28to the profile.
05:29So it's an issue of the fact that they can't shoot consistently,
05:33and the defense has fallen off of a cliff a little bit.
05:37Going into the All-Star break, this was a top six defense, okay?
05:41Top six in defensive rating.
05:43Since the All-Star break, they're slightly below average.
05:46They're 17th.
05:47So that's pretty much like night and day, from close to elite
05:51to slightly below average, right?
05:53And it's the same thing with three-point shooting.
05:55Top five in three-point shooting pre-All-Star break.
05:57Since the All-Star break, I feel like they're bottom five, right?
06:01Or bottom six or something like that, toward the bottom of the league.
06:04So these are the numbers that are illustrative of what's wrong with the team,
06:07and they are not good signs, fellas.
06:09Not good signs.
06:09Yeah, to me, with all that being said, I mean, with the 149 mark, I think,
06:17of the fourth quarter, it's a 118-118 ballgame.
06:21And to your point, you go down.
06:24I know Reed Shepard missed a three, and then you go down,
06:27and you give up, I mean, a set feet in the concrete three
06:31from somebody in the corner.
06:33And then you go down, and I believe it was Jabari Smith misses a three.
06:37And then you go down, and you give a wide-ass open three
06:40to some white dude on the floor that I'm not sure what his name is
06:42or what he brings to the table other than shooting threes.
06:45And there ain't nobody within 10 yards of him.
06:47And I know we're on the hardwood, we ain't on the football field.
06:49There wasn't nobody within 10 yards of him.
06:51And, like, that's the thing you can't – you can't be a bad shooter on one end
06:56and not play defense on the other all within a minute-and-a-half span
07:00when the game's on the line.
07:01And to what you're saying, Clint, how many times have we heard Eme Udoka
07:06say this same old song and dance after a game?
07:08Excuse me for a quarter, blah, blah, blah, blah.
07:10These guys are P-words.
07:11You know, like, he's implying that.
07:13I'm so tired of this, and they've got to be getting tired of it too
07:16because clearly they're not enacting his message.
07:19I'm glad you brought that up because that's my next question for B. Scott.
07:23I know there's a lot of rumblings because the two games where guards got a lot of run
07:29after the Laker debacle, some really good things happened.
07:33And then Monday night, things fell apart.
07:37Is there a thought in your mind that Eme Udoka – because I've heard this on social media
07:42that Eme Udoka goes back to the starting lineup that includes Tari Eason,
07:47or do you think he pushes forward with the guards in the lineup?
07:50Yeah, he's just not getting enough from Tari Eason.
07:52Like, I feel like Tari's play – anybody that's listening, feel free to disagree.
07:58But Tari's play has made this an easier decision, right?
08:02Like, he's made it harder to justify him either starting or playing starter-level minutes.
08:08You don't get the playmaking.
08:09You don't get the shooting because the shooting's falling off a cliff.
08:12And then even the defense isn't exactly what it used to be.
08:16So you're not – there's nothing really about his game that's making you better.
08:20The worst part about this guy, the worst part about Reed Shepard in the starting lineup
08:25is what it does to the bench because, like, it's the same conversation –
08:29a related conversation.
08:30Put Reed Shepard in the starting lineup because he's a much better player.
08:33But then also now what does that do to you?
08:35He's basically your only guy who can come off the bench and give you 15 to 20.
08:39I mean, Tari, maybe he used to feel that way, but now Tari Eason is your best scorer off the
08:44bench.
08:45You know, so they've also got a bench problem.
08:47They basically got nothing from their bench against the Bulls.
08:50But you would take that sacrifice for what you get in the starting lineup.
08:53So I have a tough time seeing that.
08:54You've probably talked about this on that B-Block podcast, which, by the way,
08:58if you're not, you know, hip to that B-Block podcast, you need to –
09:03Subscribe, rate, review.
09:04You need to subscribe, rate, review.
09:06I appreciate that.
09:07Give me the line, man.
09:08Give me the phrase.
09:09I'll throw it out there.
09:10B-Block.
09:10But what hadn't been discussed enough is the impact – and I'm not taking a shot.
09:16I'm just calling a spade a spade, right?
09:18The impact that Tari Eason has had on this team, I don't know that I had that on my bingo
09:27card
09:27that Tari not shooting the ball really well was going to cause things to fall apart.
09:31But the reality is that's the one thing that I think – you know, the fact that he and Bari
09:36could shoot,
09:37particularly from beyond the arc, could shoot from beyond the arc is one of the things that I think kind
09:42of gave you a shot
09:42to play great defense but also knock down shots.
09:45And when he falls off, boy, you're going to start grasping for straws.
09:49They're not good enough overall to be able to afford any of their guys who are supposed to be shooters
09:55to not shoot.
09:57So when Jabari was struggling, his scoring is essential to the team, so they couldn't have it.
10:02Well, even – you can argue just his threat to score.
10:04Like right now, they can just sag off of him just like they do Ahmed Thompson, and you got to
10:07– they can clutter it up.
10:08What about – you mentioned the 30-point triple-double from Shingun.
10:15Obviously, Shingun has struggled throughout the middle of the season up until that game, relatively speaking.
10:21I mean, I don't know if our expectations were unrealistic for him or not, but your thoughts on him
10:26and what you saw in that 30-point triple-double and what we should expect moving forward in the next
10:3111.
10:31It's just the efficiency and the touch around the rim.
10:33I've been talking about this on the B-Block podcast that you mentioned.
10:36It's just like, man, you cannot afford in the year of our Lord, 2026, to be a primarily twos guy,
10:42a guy who shoots twos, and be inefficient, right?
10:45You can kind of be a little inefficient from three if you're high volume and you make enough of them,
10:50but from two, you're already taking twos and you're not a threat from three.
10:53And so the issue with Shingun was the touch around the rim.
10:57It was missing bunnies, a lot of looks that he normally gets that he makes, and he was making them.
11:02And also, the Bulls were not double-teaming him, and they were inviting single coverage against Alpen Shingun,
11:08and they had nobody that can guard him.
11:09And we've seen when he's physically right and locked in, he can score and get a bucket against anybody in
11:16the NBA.
11:17So, you know, a big part of it is him just cashing in on his opportunities,
11:22taking advantage of his one-on-ones, and then again, going back to this conversation,
11:26the players around him making plays out of the double-team the same way we talk about with Kevin Durant.
11:31That's going to be key with Alpen Shingun.
Comments