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00:00All right, welcome in. It is Wednesday. It's 440. It's been a minute since I got to talk to my
00:05man B. Scott in his time.
00:08But Rockets report. It's looking better now. It is. It is. Last time, I believe, we were coming off of,
00:15I think, the Minnesota debacle.
00:17I think that's the last time I spoke with you. And it has turned around.
00:22Now, since then, they have won seven straight, and some of those coming against playoff-level teams, including last night.
00:30They were down 25-6. I thought, my boy, this is about to get out of hand.
00:35The Suns went on a 24-0 run in the first quarter. It was like, what's going on?
00:38Yeah, I mean, Mark Williams, he just went crazy for a second.
00:43Before we get to it, like, big picture-wise, last night, in last night's particular game, what jumped out to
00:50you?
00:50Who was it that jumped off the page for you, the screen for you, watched that game, where they came
00:57back and finally took control in the fourth quarter?
00:59Well, the big thing that got them back in the game that stood out was how the defense changed, and
01:03it went back to the defense that we're used to.
01:06Like, that's been a theme of the season. It's like, it's here and it's there. It kind of, it's not
01:11consistent the way you want it to be.
01:12But when it's right, it looks like what you're used to. And they picked up their defensive effort.
01:17The Suns also just started missing. And so those things allowed them to get back into the game.
01:22That stood out. But then the end of the game, how they closed it out.
01:26Really, honestly, I was saying this on my podcast earlier, that, like, nobody played poorly.
01:31Like, nobody really shot, or very few guys shot the ball well.
01:35And certainly as a team, they didn't shoot the ball well.
01:38If you look at the box score, look at the percentages, you'll say, man, this wasn't, this wasn't like a
01:42light show or nothing like that.
01:43But if you watch the game and how they played the game, no one played poorly.
01:49And that kind of really stood out toward the end.
01:52And also, like, on top of the defense, the offensive rebounding was back.
01:57Like, one of the things that has annoyed me throughout this period of, especially since Steven Adams got hurt, right?
02:03Like, we understand Fred VanVleet's been going the whole year.
02:05But after Steven Adams got hurt, it was like, well, I guess that's the end of the offensive rebounding prowess.
02:10They don't have Steven Adams out there, I guess they can't offensive board no more.
02:13And I'm looking around, I'm like, wait a minute.
02:14I understand he's the best one that they got.
02:17I understand he's one of the best offensive rebounders in modern history.
02:20I get that.
02:20But they got plenty of guys, they got plenty of length, plenty of athleticism, and the brand of basketball that
02:26they're supposed to play should be in line with the type of players that would go out and get offensive
02:31rebounds.
02:32Like, that shouldn't be, maybe you're not as good at it, but that shouldn't go away from your identity just
02:37because one guy goes out.
02:39And last night, you really got to see that pretty much everybody got in on the offensive rebounding.
02:44Amen Thompson and Alpern Shingoon, and these were guys that really stood out to me in the fourth quarter, by
02:48the way, just individually.
02:50But these guys had just as many offensive rebounds as they had defensive rebounds or more.
02:55So that's the type of thing that you need, that they are going to need if they're going to have
02:59any kind of success in the playoffs.
03:00You mentioned some of the shift that we've seen over the last handful of games, over the last few weeks,
03:06towards the end of the season.
03:08Emei Doka's been better.
03:10Obviously, Shingoon's been better.
03:11Tari Easing found a shot.
03:13And some of the things on the defensive end that you said you saw last night.
03:17With all the shifts that it seems like has happened here late, how do you think that impacts the Rockets
03:24as their chances in the playoffs?
03:26Well, I think it impacts it greatly.
03:27Like, one of the things that I've been saying whenever I try to keep the glass half full, and it's
03:31been a lot of half empty, let's just be real about it, for a lot of the season.
03:34But when I try to keep it half full, I say, you know what?
03:36When they play at their best, at their best, which is just not consistent enough, but when they do that,
03:42they do match up pretty well against pretty much anybody in the league.
03:46Like, they can beat anybody in the league.
03:47The question is, can they repeat it night in and night out like you have to in a series?
03:53It's not just a one-off.
03:54You're trying to win four games out of a seven-game series.
03:57Can they do that?
03:58To their credit, I mean, they've done it seven games straight.
04:01A handful of those playoff caliber, play-in caliber types of teams.
04:05And again, just the brand of basketball and the identity, what it looks like.
04:09The process, this is a big word, a big buzzword around there, really going back to the early part of
04:15the season once they knew Fred VanVleet wasn't going to be around, and then what that looked like.
04:19Their process of getting shots.
04:21What are they trying to do?
04:23What is the logic and reason in what they're trying to do?
04:26It was hard to kind of figure that out for a good part of the season, and now it feels
04:30like between Reed Shepard being a little bit more of a regular starter and Kevin Durant seems to be making
04:36better decisions with the basketball,
04:38and even above all of that, Alperen Shingun is playing at a superstar level, which is the thing that I
04:44was waiting on and looking out for after the All-Star break is when does all-NBA level Alperen Shingun
04:52reemerge?
04:53And over the last, let's call it 15-plus games or so, we've seen, or 12 to 15 games or
04:59so, we've seen that.
05:00More often than not, B. Scott with us, his Rockets report every single Wednesday at 440.
05:05That's what I was going to ask you with kind of piggyback off of him, big picture-wise.
05:10They have obviously turned this corner.
05:13I think damn near on this show we had thrown in the towel.
05:17Just in terms of the interest and the feel of how we are after that Minnesota game, that is coming
05:24on the heels of them just kind of getting embarrassed on national TV against better teams,
05:30and it's just like, at that point, with the Lakers healthy, you didn't know that they could get them when
05:35they got swept at home by the Lakers in that two-game back-to-back series.
05:40The Nuggets forget about it.
05:42The Thunder, the Spurs forget about it.
05:44And then they had that game against the Timberwolves without Ant, and many of those guys fouling out in overtime.
05:49But since then, it's not just they've won seven straight.
05:53They have looked different.
05:55What would you say is the biggest difference, the biggest difference in this stretch that they can potentially carry on
06:03the next, like the biggest thing that they have changed?
06:05Yeah, it's two key young guys, and that's Alpern Shingun and Amin Thompson.
06:09Like, Alpern Shingun is looking like an all-NBA type of player, at least caliber player, and Amin Thompson, who
06:17really has had a good season despite the fact that he's been misused for at least half of it, if
06:23not more.
06:24I mean, he just affects the game.
06:26He's pretty consistent on what his line is and what he's going to do every night.
06:30Yeah, but also, when you watch him, it's kind of just a little bit beyond the stats, because it's like,
06:35sometimes it can be feast or famine, because sometimes he looks like he's out of control, but he's always impacting
06:41the game from baseline to baseline, sideline to sideline.
06:44Like, you just have to account for this guy on both ends of the floor.
06:48But those were the two guys that really stood out to me specifically last night, and then kind of to
06:53your question in a broader perspective, like those are.
06:56And then I would even add Jabari Smith Jr. in there as well, who we talked about, played a lot
07:00better as of late.
07:01His percentages were not great last night, but you can't tell me that somebody that shoots 18 shots or 15
07:07threes, whatever it was last night, doesn't have a ton of confidence compared to the way he was shooting it
07:12earlier.
07:12So you love to see that.
07:14But specifically, Shingun and Amin Thompson playing, I think, at a level that is just a little bit above what
07:21was the worst of the Rockets in that early winter going into the spring stretch.
07:26Now, over this last month or so, those two guys look a lot different.
07:29Alper Shagun specifically was having a rough game last night from quarters one through three and got his fourth foul
07:37just a minute into the third quarter.
07:39All right.
07:39So that kind of neutralized him a little bit.
07:41It kind of, you know, it wasn't an all-NBA type of night.
07:44He made some plays late.
07:45Oh, but sure enough, in the fourth quarter, he's doing it on the defensive end.
07:49He's getting assists.
07:51He's getting buckets.
07:52He's getting offensive boards.
07:53I mentioned before both of those guys had more offensive rebounds or just as many offensive rebounds or more as
07:59they had defensive rebounds, which is not really a thing normally.
08:02So that just goes to show you the type of effort and just them leveling up their play that makes
08:09you think, okay, OKC and the Spurs are still the class of the Western Conference.
08:15When you talk about those others, that crowd of others between Denver, Minnesota, the Lakers, and the Rockets, they're right
08:23there in that group, whereas the last time we probably talked about this, they felt like the worst of that
08:27group.
08:28Now they just feel like they're right there in the mix.
08:29They felt closer to the Suns than maybe the top of that group.
08:33I think one thing, you know, going into the playoffs is going to be talked about is obviously the starting
08:39lineup.
08:39And you mentioned Reed Shepard a little earlier.
08:42How do you see that playing out?
08:44One go-round, it's Tari Eason.
08:46It's a little bit more of a defensive-oriented, maybe a little more physical, you know, starting lineup.
08:52And then one minute, it includes Reed Shepard with obviously being able to stretch the floor with some shooting, different
08:58ball handler, that kind of deal.
08:59How do you see that playing out as the playoffs get rolling?
09:02Yeah, Clint, I would love to tell you that they will have realized at this point that they overall, despite
09:07Reed Shepard's shortcomings on the defensive end of the floor sometimes, that they win his minutes by and large.
09:13Even if the defense is not good, they normally win the minutes because the offense is that much better.
09:18But I don't think that they're going to do that.
09:19That's me talking.
09:21That's what I think that they should do, and that's what I would do.
09:23They're 15-4 in his starts.
09:2515-4 in his starts.
09:26I wish somebody would yell that at them in their meetings and wherever the places that matter to get that
09:32told to them.
09:33But clearly, they're looking at matchups and a feel for the game.
09:38I will say, like, last night, you get in the, you know, Reed Shepard starts, but then you get into
09:42the second half, and you look up, and Josh Okogie is starting the second half.
09:46Yeah, I don't know.
09:46And he played well.
09:48Nice little dish.
09:49And so, exactly, right away.
09:51So, I'm not crapping on that.
09:53It's just that it's clear to me that Emei Yudoka has much more of a mix-and-match feel of
10:01the game, whatever his vibe is,
10:02on who's playing well and who's earned those minutes as opposed to, hey, we're just going to lock this guy
10:07in.
10:08Look, maybe they do that.
10:10Maybe they do the thing that a lot of us want them to do and just insert Reed Shepard into
10:13the starting lineup and kind of just be done with it.
10:15But Reed started, Tari Eason played more minutes last night, right?
10:20Josh Okogie started the second half.
10:22So, they clearly got three guys that they are comfortable rotating depending on what the matchup dictates.
10:29I think it's going to stay that way.
10:31Now, listen, I don't love that part of it.
10:32I don't.
10:32I just let people know their roles, but you talked about some things.
10:39I think Yudoka has – and maybe it's me.
10:43You tell me.
10:43You're around this team a lot.
10:44You see them and you listen to them.
10:46You talk to them.
10:47It feels like lately to go along with this stretch, he has shifted.
10:52He has changed.
10:53Like I was telling him, the game winner the other night where they didn't just – like there was some
10:59thought on how they were going to try to get the ball in the hands of Kevin Durant.
11:02And they got him on the move and they didn't make it real easy for him to be double teamed.
11:06And they let him become a playmaker and they get the game winner against the Warriors with Chingoon.
11:10But it all starts with how they kind of changed the way they were doing offense.
11:15Do you get a sense that you see a major shift and change from the staff and Yudoka, how they've
11:20been going about business lately?
11:23Yeah, a little bit.
11:24I still can't say that I got a whole lot of confidence in them offensively.
11:28Like honestly, I feel like the change that you're seeing is more of a player adjustment than anything.
11:33Yeah, I just think that they're playing better and responding better.
11:36Teams are still defending in the same way, but I feel like they're making better decisions.
11:40They're moving without the basketball a little bit more and more consistently.
11:44The passing is better.
11:46You know, I was joking about how they don't shoot, pass, or dribble well enough, right?
11:49Well, they're doing those things better now.
11:51And I don't necessarily think that that's a coaching thing.
11:53Some small adjustments here and there.
11:56But certainly, I feel like they got to figure out that minutes allocation thing more than anything,
12:01what those rotations are going to look like.
12:03And I would credit more so guys like Kevin Durant, Alperin Chingoon, Amin Thompson for making better decisions with the
12:11basketball.
12:12Reed Shepard, guys like that making better decisions with the basketball.
12:15Well,
12:15Go ahead.
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