- 2 days ago
ITL reacts to the victory and what it says about Houston’s current form.
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00:00The Rockets are just in hell because the physicality and the chippiness is there from the Phoenix Suns.
00:06And that was to be expected to some degree.
00:08That's how, you know, Dylan Brooks plays, and that's what they've been imbued with.
00:12The Rockets managed to, after a while, get themselves back into a groove, win this game.
00:17How important, how much meaning do we actually put in this?
00:20Because, again, this is like game 78 of the season, or 79, actually, of the season, right?
00:27We've seen a lot on wax from them, but this felt like it meant something for some reason.
00:31You know, I'm glad you put it like that.
00:34The way I would put it, and we talked about it earlier, I really, you know, given how we all
00:39just sort of like,
00:40all right, you know, it ain't going to happen.
00:41We gave up on them, what, about 10 days ago or so, you know, that this was, it's just not
00:46going to happen.
00:48The way I framed it is it did kind of strike me as a 2025 version Rockets-type performance.
00:54They played, they rebounded like crazy.
00:57They played better defense.
00:58You got a spark off the bench.
01:01Here's the thing, though.
01:03It's one thing to acknowledge.
01:04That looks like the best version of the Rockets that we have seen in a while.
01:09But it's a whole other thing to think that this is going to be something that makes a huge impact
01:14in the playoffs.
01:15Like, I think in the first round, especially if it's the Lakers, they'll win that series.
01:19The Rockets will win that series.
01:20I still don't know how much more confident I would be in the next round.
01:24That's where I am.
01:25Like, okay, you know, we approve.
01:28You know, we approve of what we're seeing.
01:29It's better than last year, Lopez.
01:31It's much better than, you know, than they were 10, 12 days ago.
01:35And as much as we approve and they look better and, you know, had Jabari playing well.
01:39Tari had a good spark off the bench.
01:41You know, he seems to really suit that role.
01:44And certainly, what are you doing right now?
01:46And certainly.
01:46Do you want to do this?
01:47Because I got a little verbal weapon that I was just deciding I was going to set to the side.
01:52We can do this if you want to do this.
01:54Don't pull the thing out of us unless you're playing on back.
01:56He was ready for this moment, Lopez.
01:58Because Tari played, what, 31 minutes.
02:00He ends up 5-7 on the plus 29.
02:03And I'll take you to your boy, Reece Shepard.
02:05And, yes, I did say, yo, boy, even though I quite enjoy him.
02:08I think that this was a part of why that game got out of hand, right?
02:12With the Phoenix Suns being able to sit on the things that you like doing and hit those pressure points,
02:17the defensive step-down that you have there for this team just generally with that starting lineup,
02:23it showed up.
02:24It's why that game got that wild, the turnovers and such.
02:26And I think that you did not find a level of equilibrium until you put in the crew that I'm
02:31feeling like is the grit crew.
02:32Oh, I forgot the person.
02:33I remembered the person who I've forgotten.
02:35It was Jay Shantae who came in and gave you grit.
02:37It was Aaron Holiday who came and gave you grit.
02:39Josh Akogi for a minute there.
02:40I don't know who the hell he thought he was, but it wasn't Josh Akogi for a little bit.
02:43He was doing some really good things, you know, driving closeouts, making great passes, getting rebounds, you know, those types
02:50of things.
02:51And then Tari Eason, I thought that those guys brought a level of grit that it feels like you're going
02:55to need in moments like this
02:56because you're going to have teams that are able to apply maybe not the same kind of pressure
03:00because Dylan Brooks is kind of a madman and some of the interpersonal stuff applied pressure here.
03:05But I think teams are going to apply this pressure.
03:07And if you are not able to dig your way out of that with some of the grit, I do
03:11wonder, right?
03:12Like Jay Shantae, how comfortable are you going to feel with him in a rotation to try and give you
03:15that grit, to be a generator of that in the postseason?
03:18Bring Aaron Holiday in.
03:19How comfortable is that going to feel in a playoff rotation circumstance rather than a regular season game?
03:24Some of the guys in the places where you needed to get this team jump-started are guys that I
03:28go,
03:29I don't know how many of the times you're going to be able to go to them to fix this
03:32question in playoff circumstances.
03:35Anywho, so here's my point, though.
03:37And I think you take that, Lopez.
03:39No, no, here's my point.
03:40Well, I tried to give you actual analysis rather than just do the Reed Shepard-Tari Eason thing.
03:44No, no, no, no, no.
03:44But I'm glad you did because this is my point.
03:47Asha, shut them up.
03:48They're not going to, with Reed Shepard as a starter, they're not going to fall 26-5 consistently, much less
03:55than every game.
03:56You know, he has been, we've talked about it, and we're not going to go there necessarily too much now.
04:02But we've got some stats for you.
04:05One thing we've agreed on is they are a better team when he plays a lot and starts.
04:10The record says as much, too.
04:11What is it, like 17-5 now as a starter?
04:1318-5, something like that?
04:15So that's not my point.
04:16My bigger point when I said that, and I triggered you, is Tari.
04:22That's the argument that I hate the most is, oh, you're triggered.
04:24It's like, no, I had responses.
04:26I had a response that I have for you.
04:27Hey, rent-free.
04:28No.
04:29The worst.
04:30Those are the worst people.
04:31I hate them so much.
04:32Lopez is rent-free.
04:33But again, that's my point.
04:34Tari Eason seems to have fit into that role off the bench.
04:38You know, you're going to have good games as a starting unit, you know, with Reed Shepard.
04:42So my bigger point here is, like, and this is what I really wanted to talk about here,
04:47is you're seeing a Rockets team that kind of is defining a formula.
04:51They're defining a formula.
04:52It didn't work to start.
04:54We talked about that.
04:55But that's not going to be every case with Reed because he is a valuable asset offensively
05:00and makes you better.
05:01He is valuable.
05:02So my point is, there's kind of a formula now.
05:05It's funny that, I mean, obviously, there's a lot of things that you can have multiple people
05:08look at and see them a little differently.
05:10I thought it was important that this team was able to dig their way out and, you know,
05:14not allow themselves to let go of the rope.
05:16That they held onto the rope.
05:17They clawed their way back into it and they found their way to playing good basketball
05:20that ultimately got them to winning.
05:21And a lot of that was under the pretext of playing great defense and getting rebounds,
05:27right?
05:28The thing that I'm not going to be able to shake watching this game was, I mean, obviously
05:33that first half, but it wasn't just that they got down deep.
05:35It was the way that it happened.
05:36Phoenix said, we know what you want to get to.
05:39We're going to get there and not let you get to those.
05:41What are you going to be able to do in that response?
05:43And the Rockets had nothing for a good long stretch.
05:46And that's a, that's part of the other thing that I was saying about, I don't know how much
05:50it's going to really translate to round two, because then you have to rely on Emei Adoka
05:54to do that against a really good team.
05:56Like they'll probably, they play Lakers over the win game, over in the first series.
05:59And you talk about what the Suns are doing to them.
06:02Can they do that offensively to another team?
06:05Oh, like, Hey, yeah, that's, that's also, and maybe this is the ultimately the question I
06:09need to ask.
06:10Can the Rockets play more than one way and be successful?
06:13Offensively.
06:13Well, really both ways, but, but especially at really both ways, but especially offensively,
06:18you know, you, you highlighted what the, what the Suns were doing against the Rockets.
06:23I think it works both ways.
06:24And that's, that's why I'm still not, Hey, we're back, you know, not even close.
06:28It was nice though, that once you were able to get to some of these places while also in
06:32foul trouble, which is not a small thing to mention that they were able to handle that
06:36adversary.
06:36That is a good thing that I'm not going to be able to knock down.
06:39Even if I, even if I was to try, but yeah, once they got, did get to that, it was
06:44nice
06:44to see once Katie, you know, once Katie gets his spots, he's going to knock it down.
06:48You mentioned Jabari knocking down shots.
06:50How did you feel about Albert Shang-Goon in this game?
06:52Because this was, this was very much a Rorschach test.
06:55I think if you watch this game of how you took the Albert Shang-Goon game, look, I thought
07:00that was about as good a performance as you could see from him in recent weeks.
07:04I think what, what the, the way they, the way they went through him more, the way that
07:10he was able to, I mean, nobody can stop him when he gets the ball or very few when he
07:15gets
07:15the ball.
07:15I thought that was about as good as you could get, you know, from him.
07:18Didn't you?
07:19There was, there was definitely moments where it felt a little dicey, like times where he
07:24was trying to play in the post and it didn't work out as well.
07:27But of course that's again, early on in the game, he seemed to find himself, got himself
07:30to those places.
07:31And one of the things I loved is Alperen Shang-Goon was a rebounding machine in this game.
07:36And there's been, there have been some instances where you go Alperen Shang-Goon in there by
07:42himself trying to do the rebounding work has not looked as stellar.
07:46This one was a, he decided that he was going to need to be dominant and he did while also,
07:51I think he was the dude who got to the four fouls sooner than anybody else.
07:54And he was able to do all of that in a way that was very, that was very, I've appreciated
08:00a lot.
08:00So it was definitely a moment where, I don't know if it was a moment of growth, but it
08:04demonstrated a moment of growth for them.
08:05As you mentioned, they closed down the game well, they, you know, got into a hole and they
08:09dug their way out.
08:09Now it's, it's, it's weird because I can see those and I can appreciate those, but
08:13what's, what looms a little larger in a way is the way they're being attacked is the way
08:17that they were attacked so specifically.
08:19And to be fair to them, that is particular to the way that the Phoenix Suns are playing
08:23right now.
08:24And maybe the way that some of those players specifically that they have over there,
08:27I don't know that the Lakers can hit the rockets in the way that they showed up.
08:31I definitely know that the thunder can, but that's kind of, that's what I'm saying.
08:34But yeah, would they be able to respond to not just getting down like that, but a team
08:40sitting on those things that they do really well in a playoff-like context is a question
08:44I have.
08:44Look, I think, I don't know, I'll put it this way.
08:48You have to be more confident with what you're seeing from the Rockets.
08:52Yes.
08:52But are you more confident that what you're seeing from the Rockets can elevate them past
08:57what should be a gimme first round series?
09:00I don't.
09:01And even if it's not Oklahoma City, which it will be, but, you know, even if it's not
09:05that, just against another, you know, tier one type team, whether it's the Spurs, you
09:11know, if you want to put the Nuggets in there or whatever, could that elevate them in those
09:15series?
09:16I don't, I can't quite see it yet.
09:18Yeah.
09:19I did.
09:19I did love the chippiness of this game though.
09:21And that also factors into some of this because the Phoenix Suns went to the free throw
09:25line a lot.
09:27But I didn't feel though that this, I don't know if anybody's actually making these claims.
09:31I haven't staked out a Rockets Twitter or anything like that to see.
09:35I hope that nobody's going, well, the refs were being unfair.
09:38Cause it did feel like, yes, the refs did not fully understand what should have been obvious,
09:42which is this is a game that's going to get chippy, right?
09:44That's how Dylan Brooks plays these teams when they've played before they've played physical.
09:48I will say that so many of those fouls that I could think of in the moment, like, yeah,
09:52they earned those.
09:52Oh yeah.
09:53And that's also a thing where I go, can the Rockets, if a team is going to play like that,
09:57are they capable of defending in such a way where they don't get into that foul trouble?
10:00It's, it's not really been an issue for them a lot this season, but that particular physicality
10:05and getting into them and knocking them off of their block did seem to put them in place
10:09where they were swiping a lot.
10:10Yeah.
10:10I mean, even Reed Shepard with a kind of, I didn't think it was a great foul, like all,
10:14you know, the turnover, which was not a very good pass.
10:18And then going and having the strong foul, you had a lot of those moments that I think
10:22were more about the Rockets than they were about the refs or anything else.
10:25I think you're probably right.
10:26You know, Reed Shepard, what did he end up with?
10:2712 points, something like that?
10:28Yeah.
10:2912 points, five of nine from the field and five rebounds.
10:33It wasn't so much, you know, oh boy, you know, he disappeared.
10:36You've got 12, whatever.
10:37It was the defensive side early, the start early.
10:40And it wasn't, as we've mentioned, it's not just Reed Shepard.
10:44You gave the stat on the defense in general has been, you know, what, second worst in the
10:48league with that starting lineup.
10:49With that particular lineup when you get to the defensive rating, yeah.
10:52Yeah.
10:53One thing, though, a little mini confession on the end of this, I do not like having Derek
10:58Fisher on the broadcast.
11:00Oh, I got it.
11:01I got to admit, I was in bed watching it with the volume.
11:04You're watching with the sound off.
11:05Yeah.
11:06Fair enough.
11:06I did not enjoy Derek Fisher on the broadcast.
11:08And I guess the confession of it is, I don't know how much of that is just not liking Derek
11:12Fisher for Lakers reasons or just feeling like he was really green and not really giving
11:18the insights that you hope.
11:19You would think he'd be better.
11:21I think that he has an opportunity to be better.
11:23Like it was very, you know what it felt like?
11:25It felt like they had the C team on the call, which again, when you have a number of games,
11:29eventually you're going to get C teams on calls here or there.
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