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ITL breaks down what matters most for Houston heading into their playoff matchup.
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00:00We're a couple days out from the NBA playoff starting in earnest for your Houston Rockets
00:05as they'll have the first game of their best of seven series versus the Los Angeles Lakers
00:11on Saturday night, 730 on ABC.
00:14And I figured the best way to preview this rather than telling you specifically is just
00:18kind of working through some questions, some questions that you typically have about a
00:22series, questions that are particular to this series, those types of things.
00:24And I'll start with the big one, which feels like it tracks with so many NBA playoff series.
00:30Feels like the best player in the series often wins the series.
00:32I think this might be changing a little bit in the modern era as you have deeper and deeper
00:36teams.
00:37However, let's start just right up top.
00:39Who has the best player in this series?
00:41This is actually a much tougher question.
00:43Ain't it?
00:44It's such a much tougher question than I thought it would be.
00:47Because Kevin Durant playing 70, was it 76, 78 games?
00:51What are you talking about?
00:52He's been incredible.
00:52LeBron James has stepped back to being a third option on that Lakers team intentionally at
00:5741 years of age or whatever.
01:00However, with Luka Doncic and Anthony, or sorry, Austin Reeves being out for a significant
01:07amount of time over this last, I don't know, couple of weeks, he's revved up to being that
01:12starter or that number one guy.
01:14Buddy, 23, nine and seven in his last five games.
01:17Yeah.
01:17Right?
01:17Like he's turned himself back into, he's turned it back up and it's working pretty well.
01:22Like it, he is getting to the bucket.
01:24He, it's not that he can't do it anymore.
01:26It's that they just didn't want him to do it consistently over a long stretch.
01:29It might actually even work in the other way where he's been more well rested in not
01:34having to carry as much.
01:35And he might actually be able to come out the gates and do more of the LeBron stuff.
01:38Well, you're, you're kind of in my head and figure I'm, I'm interested in your opinion
01:41on this, uh, simply because this is not 20 year old or whatever he was back in the Cleveland
01:46days when he carried me 18, when he, when he carried those slugs to the finals, he's
01:53not that anymore, but he's all about legacy.
01:56Uh, he's resting, you know, he's rested more.
01:59He can, uh, turn it up a notch.
02:02He can probably even play more minutes, especially might have to play more minutes.
02:07Is it nuts to think I'm still kind of leaning LeBron?
02:11I don't think it's fully nuts.
02:13I really and truly don't.
02:15I think I want to go Kevin Durant here though, because he's the role that he is going to
02:19execute.
02:20He has been doing that role a lot more this year and he's been doing to an incredible
02:24way.
02:25I shortchanged him 78 games of the 82 this year played by Kevin Durant at 26 points a
02:30game.
02:31And, you know, obviously adding in the assists, adding in the rebounds.
02:33Uh, and then the biggest thing is I think this very well could come down to who's going
02:38to make that last shot.
02:39And LeBron is incredible at that.
02:41Kevin Durant, like that's what he does.
02:43And especially with the freedom that he's been given in this offense, he just gets to
02:46a spot, raises up and knocks it down.
02:48I like that a little bit more.
02:49I'm going to say Kevin Durant edges it out, but I'm going to under also understand I might
02:53be coming with just a little bit of bias here.
02:55Yeah, I think throughout the whole season, I think it's fair to say Kevin Durant, but
02:59I think LeBron is, it's hard to count out LeBron, even a 41 year old LeBron.
03:04Yes.
03:05And LeBron, he's a smart player.
03:07He, and of course he dialed it back a lot this year, but, uh, playoff LeBron is a little
03:12bit different.
03:13Yeah.
03:13Can I ask you the question in a slightly different way?
03:15Because I feel like my philosophy on playoff basketball is your stars have to be your
03:19stars.
03:20They're your, they're the foundation of a series.
03:22They have to be themselves the whole way through and then role players pop up here and there
03:26and create, and they add in those different times, different things at different times
03:30to add on top of, but they need to be more steady.
03:32Who is the more steady, great player of Kevin Durant and LeBron James, if we're looking for
03:37best player in this?
03:37Oh, that would be Durant.
03:39You think so?
03:39Yeah, I think it, it, it's Durant, uh, you know, LeBron can, can have those days where
03:44it's just, it's just not there.
03:46He, you know, he's not, you know, feeling it physically, whatever it may be.
03:49I still think LeBron overall, if he can dial it up.
03:51And again, I, he's all about, I got to carry this team now.
03:56And, and then what would that mean for my legacy?
03:59And, you know, being all that, I think he's going to be really good in this series.
04:02I don't think there's any question about it at all, but the more steady player it's been
04:07Kevin Durant.
04:07Do you guys know how I feel about Kevin Durant's season this year?
04:10I think he's just been spectacular.
04:12Yeah.
04:12The thing with Kevin Durant, like no, no matter how bad the Rockets played this year or some
04:17of the games they played that were pretty bad, he was still doing this thing.
04:22So it wasn't like, I, I can't sit here and say he was the problem.
04:26I know you could count in the turnovers and all that type of stuff, but, uh, he been really
04:30consistent in his play.
04:32Yeah.
04:32This one, I think if you really, if you wanted to be fair, you could make this even a push,
04:36which makes the series even more interesting, but yeah, I, I, I'm still going to be in a
04:40place where me personally, I'm going to go edge to Kevin Durant with the understanding.
04:43And I will say it right up front.
04:44I might be a little biased in this, right?
04:46I might, I've watched a lot more Kevin Durant this year than I have LeBron James.
04:50And especially because we have not seen LeBron James have to execute this particular role
04:54for a long period of time outside of like these last final five games.
04:57But somebody mentions experience, right?
04:59LeBron has had to exhibit this particular role more times in the playoffs, you know, compared
05:04to Kevin Durant has had to exhibit this particular role.
05:07Although I will say, don't get out here and bring it up, bring it up golden state because
05:10Kevin Durant was the best player on those teams.
05:12Like we don't have to, we don't have to litigate this right now, but I'm telling you, Kevin Durant
05:16was the best player on those golden state warrior championship teams that he was on.
05:19And so he has done it, but that is, that still does not compare to the amount of times.
05:22The thing is he's done it by not by himself, but he's been the best player on a team, but
05:27he's never done it by himself.
05:29Yeah.
05:29You know, and I think that's a big factor.
05:31Yeah.
05:31Someone mentioned Katie got to be more consistent from the free throw line.
05:34Probably so.
05:34I think that's a fair point.
05:36All right.
05:36How about this as a question?
05:37Cause I did mention star players.
05:39They're the foundation of a playoff series.
05:40They're the metronome.
05:41They have to do what they do.
05:42And then you have other guys that step up.
05:44I always view in the playoffs, there's going to be a role player that has his podium game
05:49and he helps you steal a game, right?
05:51There's certain games that, okay, you should win this one.
05:53You should win this one.
05:53But then you get a dude who's pops up and he was like, here's 22 that you did not expect
05:57from that place.
05:58And that stole you this game.
06:00Who is the role player that is capable of doing, having that performance that steals a game
06:03for the Rockets?
06:04To me, the easy answer is, is a man Thompson.
06:07Interesting.
06:08Okay.
06:08Easy.
06:10He's been like steady 20 points a game this year.
06:12And he's showed us 41 real, very recently.
06:14That's a great point.
06:16He put 41 up there very recently.
06:20So to me, without question, it's a man Thompson.
06:23The Lakers are in a bad spot, but I think they have, they have a guy that has been playing
06:28pretty well lately that can knock down six out of seven threes, you know, can, can play
06:33inside, outside.
06:35Not consistently.
06:38Ruri Hachimura.
06:39Ruri Hachimura is, is a good player.
06:41He never really talked about, and if LeBron can control the, you know, the ball and the
06:47inside and the kickouts, he's, I don't even know what his numbers were this year overall,
06:52but I've seen him go off for 22, 25, you know, most of it from three point range and, or
06:57half
06:58of it from three point range or whatever.
06:59Yeah.
06:59The shooting for them is going to be notable because, you know, and they don't have Austin
07:04Reeves who brings in some shooting.
07:05They clearly don't have Luca who is a decent amount of shooting.
07:08They're going to need some of that shooting.
07:09And Ruri on the season is an 11 and a half point guy, but he's had some 22s, 25s.
07:14Yes.
07:14He can pop up here and there and give you, give you something like that.
07:19In fact, during the course of the season versus Houston in the three games that he's played,
07:23he has, he's only knocked down like 29% of his three pointers compared to knocking down
07:28damn near 50% of his three pointers in the last 10 games, right?
07:31He is a dude that can be that type of guy.
07:33If he gets hot.
07:34I wonder if Jake LaRavia could be that kind of guy as well.
07:36He's going to be a guard that plays a lot of minutes now, seeing as those other two guards
07:39are not playing Jake LaRavia, maybe if he's, if he's knocking down shots and if the Rockets
07:43somehow aren't dialed in on, you know, paying attention to him.
07:47I think the other answer for the rocket side of this is Jabari Smith Jr.
07:50Without question.
07:50Right.
07:51I think he's been kind of a, a low key or a less discussed bellwether for if they're
07:56having a great game versus if they're not having a good game when he's knocking down,
07:59especially when you talk about spacing.
08:00And we talked about this with Roon Shankar when he, when we had him on earlier in the
08:05week, he's a guy that he's necessary to help you have that spacing, knocking down three
08:10pointers.
08:10Cause if it's, if he's not knocking on three pointers, who is consistently, maybe you'll
08:13get some read mixed in here.
08:16Maybe you can you depend on Tari right now?
08:18He had a real rough stretch of three point shooting, right?
08:20There's not a lot of guys you can depend on to help add that three point shooting.
08:24I think he's going to be vital in that.
08:26And then I just, just by the nature of how three pointers work, Reed Shepard has to be put
08:29in this, right?
08:30No, see, I think Reed Shepard is clearly right there with a man.
08:33You know, I think, I think it's, it's one in one a in terms of, cause Reed could go for
08:3730, you know, and all of a sudden hit the podium with, you know, as you put it.
08:42So yeah, I think it's one of those two guys for the Rockets.
08:44Lakers is a much dicier deal from the seven one three.
08:47I bet if it was 41 year old Michael Jordan, y'all wouldn't be putting Katie over him.
08:51Just kidding.
08:51Just trying to stir up the MJ LeBron.
08:54You almost got me.
08:55I'm not going to lie.
08:56The bait was there and I sniffed it a little bit, but I did not bite.
08:59Yeah.
08:59And so I will take a victory on that.
09:01That's our, that's a starting, I think that's the first forays into it, uh, into the preview.
09:05I've got a lot more questions that we can dig into maybe later on today, but more importantly,
09:09definitely tomorrow as we really set up and get ready for what this series is.
09:13But if you just look at that, right off, if not that this is a way you could predict
09:16a series, but if you just look at the two things we talked about, who's the best player,
09:19who are the guys that are liable to steal a game to give you that type of, um, that type
09:25of performance, who are, where are you leaning in this series?
09:28Just off of that, without getting into the rest of your, it's rockets.
09:31I know I, I, I feel, and I said it yesterday that the series won't really start till, till
09:35game four or game five, uh, simply because of, we don't know what the latest is going
09:39to be with, uh, with Luca.
09:41Uh, I don't think Reeves is going to play, but we'll see.
09:44Um, but yeah, rockets rockets right now.
09:46Yeah.
09:47I think I'm there as well.
09:48And a fair question from magic on the YouTube page.
09:50Are we considering a man as a role player?
09:52He's in this weird place where kind of, but not really, you know, like he's, he's a role
09:57player.
09:57He's the number three guy.
09:58Yeah.
09:58He's like, he's, he's on that borderline.
10:00I think you would consider obviously Katie Alperin, are you star players?
10:03And then a man is right on that borderline.
10:06And depending on how he plays in this, I think that that could be an interesting storyline in
10:09this.
10:10Does a man play more like star player or role player in this series?
10:13And he's vital to what they do.
10:15Don't get me wrong, but there's, there are vital role players.
10:17I think that might be an interesting thing to see because that could also determine whether
10:20this is a long series or a quick series.
10:22And a man gets out here doing what he did.
10:24He won't get to game five.
10:26We'll be talking about gentlemen sweep and we'll be out of here very quickly and on to
10:30the next.
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