00:00All right. Also, shout out to the Houston Rockets, who now have a schedule for the first round of the
00:04playoffs.
00:05And they're geared up for what is probably the the optimal circumstance that we could have asked for, at least
00:11in the first round.
00:12We're facing off against a Lakers team that does not seem like they'll have probably their two.
00:16I guess they're two guys that they depended on the most in the season.
00:19I want to say two best players, but I don't have time for that argument or whatever.
00:22But still, I think that it's it's fair to say that the the optimism or the thought process or the
00:27belief is the word I'm looking for.
00:28The belief with this Rockets team on what their capability is over the stretch of the playoffs around the NBA
00:34world, talk less of around the city.
00:36Houston is is kind of muted. And in thinking about that, I wonder I was just kind of thinking about
00:41that.
00:41I was thinking about the playoffs themselves. Is it possible that the Rockets are maybe just better built for the
00:46playoffs than for the regular season?
00:48713-572-4610, because I was circling back to, you know, conversations about about football or rather basketball, rather.
00:55And Bob Myers used to be the general manager of the Golden State Warriors during the span of when they
01:02were doing some really big things.
01:03And he was talking at the nerd conference that they have at MIT, Sloan Conference, Sloan Analytics.
01:08And one of the things he talked about is just how different regular season basketball is in playoff basketball.
01:13This was the first cut from Bob Myers.
01:15The playoffs are nothing like the regular season. They are two completely different sports. The way it's officiated, the way
01:22that he's playing 42 minutes in the playoffs.
01:26I don't know what he averaged in the regular season when he was playing. So your bench is completely different.
01:31The regular season versus the playoffs.
01:33And you can prepare differently.
01:34You can prepare differently.
01:36You have more time.
01:36And you do prepare differently.
01:38I couldn't agree more with the concept of that, because it's not just what they talked about there, you know,
01:44preparation.
01:45It's scouting. It's adjustments.
01:46It's the rotation goes from maybe nine or ten to seven.
01:50Sometimes.
01:51Sometimes seven.
01:52More minutes, you know, for everyone.
01:55Officiating is a big thing.
01:56I absolutely agree with that.
01:59That being said, you know, to answer your question, you know, are the Rock could the Rockets be built better,
02:04you know, for the playoffs?
02:06I think the real answer is yes and no.
02:09Okay.
02:10You know, yes, because I feel, obviously, they've gotten into a little bit of a groove here.
02:16They have the knockdown shooter, you know, the knockdown score, two of them, if you really want to stretch it
02:22a little bit in a pinch.
02:25They have, you know, defense, such as it is, but, you know, better of late.
02:30They have, you know, better rebounding.
02:32They do, you know, they can be very aggressive, get away with calls.
02:36So, yes, in a sense.
02:38The no part of it for me is the other thing that they didn't talk about that I've always believed
02:44once you get to postseason basketball is you play a lot more half court games.
02:48You play a lot more half court.
02:51And with that, how much do you trust this offense in a half court, especially when the opposing team and
02:58opposing coaches are making adjustments?
03:01Right.
03:01So, and then the other thing that happens in the half court, this is the second part of it, turnovers.
03:07The Rockets have turned the ball over a lot.
03:10You know, where is their ball handling?
03:12We, you know, obviously Reed Shepard can handle the ball, but how much is he going to be doing that?
03:16How much can you rely on them not rushing him?
03:19Kevin Durant is a turnover machine.
03:21You know, I've just been incredibly impressed with his game this year, his durability, his scoring.
03:26He's been awesome, much more than I ever expected, but he turns the ball over.
03:31So, to me, it's an absolute yes and an absolute no.
03:34Interesting.
03:35All right.
03:35Let me give you the rest of what Bob Myers said here so we can get the full context of
03:39it.
03:39This is more of him talking about the difference between the regular season and playoff basketball.
03:42In the playoffs, his first move is gone.
03:46It's like a baseball player that they say, well, here's our scouting report.
03:49He cannot hit a curveball away.
03:51He's getting a curveball away every single pitch.
03:54So, if they say, Paul, take away his right hand, right hand drive, and the pick and roll, we're going
03:57to blitz.
03:59Whatever they know he does well is gone.
04:01So, that's where you need to check as many boxes as you can.
04:04Even shooters.
04:05We played some great shooters in the playoffs and have neutralized them.
04:08Because if that's all you can do is shoot the three, then you're not necessarily the weapon that we sometimes
04:14make you out to be in the regular season.
04:16That two feet of space you had in the regular season is two inches.
04:20And you watch how many players cannot make a shot in the playoffs and shoot 42% in the regular
04:25season.
04:25It's not the same thing.
04:27So, why does that matter?
04:29The more dimensions you have to your game, the harder you are to take away.
04:34This is such an interesting thought, especially when you try to apply it to the Rockets, because this also feels
04:39a little bit yes and no-ish, right?
04:42That's been one of the things I've been wondering.
04:44And we've talked about this quietly and sometimes in passing, but not necessarily a whole bunch.
04:50I wonder how much dimensionality they have in what they do, right?
04:53The idea of, hey, they're going to try and take away, or they're going to try and get you to
04:59do things that you're not as good at,
05:01and they're going to try and take away the things you're good at.
05:03That's impossible to do with Kevin Durant.
05:04He's just going to get to his spots oftentimes.
05:07Except we did see with Phoenix where early on they tried to keep him away from that.
05:10He's eventually going to get to that.
05:11Alperin Shang-Goon is an interesting question because he has some of those capabilities,
05:15but he can be moved off of his spot from time to time.
05:18And I just think as a team even, I go, what are the things that we know that they can
05:23do that they can't be moved out of their spot?
05:25And what are the things that we go, oof, they could be moved off of their spot?
05:28And it feels like there's a lot more in the latter category than there are in the former.
05:31And those are going to change from game to game.
05:33Sure.
05:33Which is another aspect of it.
05:35Like, you know, it's going to be punch-counterpunch in terms of how they're dealing with Durant.
05:41You know, the success level they have with different personnel.
05:45How they deal with Shang-Goon in the post.
05:48And on the other side of the ball, you know, how the Rockets deal with LeBron.
05:53You know, we talked about it, you know, just yesterday about, you know, it could be an assortment of different
05:58players and approaches that you're going to have with them.
06:01And, you know, one thing LeBron gets for all the advantages the Lakers have in this, LeBron gets calls.
06:07And so we'll have to see how that plays out.
06:08I'm just kind of curious, too, because the last time the Rockets played the Lakers, remember they were doing that
06:13whole double-team type deal, causing all the turnovers?
06:17I'm kind of worried about that.
06:19I wonder if the Lakers are going to try to use that plan again.
06:24And I'm wondering what the Rockets are going to do to try to prevent that.
06:27Well, one thing I will say is that since that time, the Rockets have gotten a lot better at passing
06:33out of doubles.
06:34And that's been a conversation that's been there for them all season long.
06:37So I'm not going to pretend like this short stretch means that they have it entirely fixed.
06:41But at least the most recent iteration of them has shown that they've done a lot better at that.
06:46And then also making teams pay on the backside of that.
06:48But how much of that making teams pay on the backside of that changes in the playoffs where things are
06:52tighter, right?
06:53The lemon booty starts hitting you, right?
06:55People start puckering up, so to say.
06:57Those things show up.
06:58So, yeah, it's one of those things where I can't in good conscience say that this team is better built
07:03for the playoffs, the change of it.
07:04The only things that I look at are the officiating changes.
07:07And does that allow them to tap into more of the physicality that they want to be, that they haven't
07:11always been?
07:12Right?
07:13I think that that's a possibility.
07:15I wonder also if we're talking about officiating, does that then hit them the other way?
07:18Because teams like holding on to Kevin Durant.
07:21And if officials let teams play, are they going to blow up possessions and not let the Rockets, like they
07:27have recently, like they got into scoring or at least getting up shots earlier?
07:31Yeah.
07:31Does that slow down because teams are just going to assault Kevin Durant and not let you get into your
07:35action earlier?
07:36I think that's going to be the first thing they try is just blitzing Durant.
07:40Just a waylay him.
07:41Just blitzing Durant as much as they can.
07:43Oh, I'm not even talking about it.
07:44I'm talking about before he gets to basketball, like leaning on him, grabbing on him, that type of stuff.
07:47Consistently, yeah.
07:48It seems like it's going to come down to the Rockets just got to play smart.
07:52They got to play smart because the Lakers, say what you want about it.
07:55I think the Rockets are probably better than the Lakers.
07:59But LeBron is smart, man.
08:01Like even J.J. Ray, he's pretty smart when it comes to basketball.
08:05So I think he may got to really play smart basketball, man.
08:09He's a good coach.
08:09And that's the question.
08:10Yeah, he is.
08:10He's a good coach.
08:11And I was down on him at first, man.
08:13Nah, he's a smart coach.
08:15That's the question that comes up here when you also hear Bob Myers talking about preparation is different.
08:20And you look at this series as it's currently laid out, and we'll talk more about what the schedule looks
08:24like,
08:24but it's a series that's stretched out.
08:27And the first round tends to do this, but it's stretched out more than any of the other first round
08:30series
08:30that we've seen laid out this part far.
08:32I mean, between games one, two, and three, there's two days in between each of these games.
08:38So the idea of preparing differently, how much do you see that?
08:41Do you see that as a positive or negative?
08:42Because that could mean that J.J. Redick has more time to prepare,
08:45but it also could mean that, hey, this staff, depending on how you feel about them,
08:48has more time to hone in on specifically what they want to get to.
08:51I want to dig in more on that because I think it's something else altogether.
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