- 3 hours ago
Seth and Sean kick off the show by talking about the Rockets staying alive by winning game 5 last night, and how they're feeling about the Rockets' chances of actually winning the series.
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00:01Basketball continues in the city of Houston.
00:04Man, congrats to the Rockets last night, man.
00:07Good morning.
00:08Good morning, Seth.
00:09How you doing?
00:09It's good to see you.
00:13So, it's...
00:13I gotta give this team a lot of credit, man.
00:15They were talking about this at the end of the game last night.
00:18The announce crew on the game.
00:21And on ESPN.
00:23And it was weird because it was a Jay Billis game.
00:26Like, Jay Billis doing an NBA game was a little unsettling for me last night.
00:29He's a college guy.
00:30But he was doing that game.
00:31Look, it's all hands on deck in the first round of the playoffs for these networks.
00:35Because there's so many games.
00:37But they were talking about it down the stretch in this game last night.
00:40And if you didn't stay up late for it, the Rockets win 99-93.
00:43They withstand a rush by the Lakers at the end of the game.
00:47The Rockets had a big lead in the fourth quarter.
00:49Saw it dwindle.
00:51And they punch back at the end.
00:52And that was cool to see.
00:53But for them to come back with these two wins.
00:55Two really gritty wins.
00:57One on the road here last night.
00:59After the way that game three ended.
01:01The way that game three ended.
01:03I don't know about you.
01:04It's really hard for me to root against any of my teams.
01:06Even in like when I'm frustrated with them.
01:09Or if they're in a tanking situation.
01:11I don't bet against my teams.
01:13Because I don't like rooting against my teams.
01:15The Rockets had me as close as I've been to rooting.
01:19Just for a season to be over with.
01:21Yeah.
01:22After game three.
01:23And it's probably a culmination and an accumulation of what the last month and a half of the season.
01:28The win streak at the end of the year notwithstanding.
01:31About how the whole thing just looked this year.
01:33You know it's just been a very frustrating season.
01:36And they've bounced back with no Kevin Durant.
01:38And last night the Lakers.
01:40They didn't have Luka.
01:40But they had Austin Reeves back in this game.
01:42And they were at home.
01:43And to see them punch back the way they did at the end of the game was really really cool.
01:46I just thought it was really really cool.
01:48No it was.
01:49Well and Reed Shepard at the end of the game.
01:51Gets shoulder checked by LeBron.
01:53Goes down.
01:54Hits a pull up.
01:55And then on that next possession.
01:57It was the very next possession right?
01:58Yeah.
01:59He stole.
01:59He stripped the ball from LeBron James.
02:02And goes down for an uncontested dunk.
02:02Biggest sequence.
02:03Biggest sequence of the game.
02:05Well this is what was kind of liberating.
02:07Really is you know.
02:08As you watch these last couple of games.
02:10It's that for all of your frustration over the lack of any kind of a coherent offense
02:17through the season.
02:18The turnovers.
02:19All of those things.
02:20At the end of the day the Rockets go into that game last night.
02:23With either the youngest or the second youngest lineup in NBA history.
02:27Depending on which.
02:28It's frustrating.
02:29I've seen it cited differently in different places.
02:31Incredibly young.
02:32Yeah.
02:33So you don't have Kevin Durant out there.
02:36But that frees you up to say alright.
02:39What can these young guys do versus this Lakers team on the road.
02:42And they played tough gritty defense.
02:45Yep.
02:46That you know.
02:47As they've done.
02:48They've played.
02:49They've limited the Lakers offensively throughout this series.
02:52But they really poured it on last night.
02:55And you know.
02:56Reed Shepard.
02:57Without Durant on the floor.
02:58And with him also asking Udoka to let him switch more.
03:02He's going to be a defensive liability.
03:04But can you limit that defensive liability.
03:06And then can he make up for it on the other end of the court.
03:08For everything about that team.
03:10The way it was constructed last night.
03:12That's a team you can get behind.
03:14If that had been the team the whole season.
03:16We would have been saying.
03:17Well they're young.
03:18Look at what they're doing.
03:19That's right.
03:19Sure.
03:20Sure.
03:20It doesn't look exactly the way you want it to look.
03:22But they're so young.
03:24So that was what was really encouraging.
03:26But it also.
03:28Not to inject the negativity into it any too soon.
03:31It does make you wonder.
03:31Okay great.
03:32We're seeing the very best version of this young core.
03:34When Durant's not on the court.
03:36Yeah.
03:36So.
03:38This is a discussion for the offseason.
03:40For sure.
03:41But.
03:41Yeah.
03:42That was.
03:43This has been a really tough and gritty stretch by the Rockets.
03:47And they're now two games away from pulling off what no team has ever done before.
03:51Yeah.
03:51Which has come back from being down 3-0 in the playoffs.
03:54Okay.
03:54Well let's revisit that.
03:56Because Kendrick Perkins said that this is a must win for the Lakers a couple days ago.
04:02He said game five.
04:03Ironically the team that can't get eliminated by losing game five.
04:07That was.
04:07It was a must win for them.
04:08Not the Rockets whose season would be over.
04:10Yeah.
04:10If they lost this game.
04:12So.
04:12Forget about the.
04:13You know.
04:13Taking Perk all too literally here.
04:15I get his sentiment.
04:17Which is.
04:17Boy if you do let the Rockets up off the mat.
04:20Then they start to believe in themselves a little bit.
04:22You can see that at the end of the game.
04:23I think Ahmed Thompson even though his box score didn't look good.
04:26I thought he was.
04:27I thought he was orchestrating things with a little more confidence.
04:30It looks far from perfect.
04:32Don't get me wrong.
04:33This team offensively is still very frustrating to watch.
04:36Because they don't really seem to have a plan.
04:39But I thought they seem to lean on Ahmed Thompson at the end of the game.
04:42Especially like okay he's going to be our primary ball handler.
04:45He's going to be the one that initiates offense.
04:47And I thought in the second half when they needed baskets.
04:49They got the ball to guys in better spots.
04:52And they've been getting it to really throughout the season.
04:55Let's replay Kendrick Perkins here.
04:57And see if we're feeling today what he said we might be feeling.
05:01And what the Lakers might be feeling if the Rockets won this game.
05:08He hasn't woken up yet.
05:09Yeah.
05:09Do we have him Ben?
05:10One second.
05:11Okay.
05:11Wrong Perk.
05:12Oh wrong Perk.
05:13Okay.
05:14Which Perk were you?
05:15There's other Perks in the.
05:17I had the Durant one queued up.
05:18Oh.
05:18Oh.
05:19He had the one queued up.
05:20I thought it was a different Perkins of some sort.
05:22It's the CEO of the restaurant.
05:24Perkins.
05:25The one the Tiger used to go to and treat it as his own personal Tinder account.
05:29Yes.
05:30So Ben's finding that.
05:31We'll get that.
05:32Tell the CEO of Perkins I don't like it when sometimes the.
05:34I hate it if the butter's too cold and it just takes.
05:37Oh really?
05:38Melt underneath the.
05:39How do you do it with your butter on your pancakes?
05:41Do you put it underneath the top one?
05:43I don't eat pancakes.
05:43To give it a little bit of.
05:44When I do I put it in between the pancakes though.
05:47The butter.
05:48You don't eat pancakes but when you do eat pancakes.
05:50I'm saying I don't eat them on the regular.
05:52You know what I mean?
05:52Yeah.
05:53I sound like Vrabel.
05:54I don't cheat on my wife.
05:56But when I do.
05:57I do it with a spunky little Italian.
05:59I don't like eating sweet things for breakfast.
06:01Like I don't eat donuts.
06:02I don't eat.
06:03But when I do.
06:04But I've eaten pancakes in my 57 years on earth.
06:07And when I do I slip the butter.
06:10Do we have Perkins now Ben?
06:13Do we have him?
06:14Okay good.
06:15Okay.
06:15I'm glad we had this talk so.
06:16Thank God.
06:18That's a good topic.
06:19Alright.
06:20Here's Kendrick Perkins.
06:21Game 5 is a must win for the Lakers.
06:24I know that much.
06:25They better get it done in game 5.
06:27Which I believe they will.
06:28Because if it's prolonged past it.
06:31Then we're going to be having a different conversation.
06:34But game 5 on Wednesday.
06:36Is a must win for Braun and the Los Angeles Lakers.
06:39Because you don't want to have this series extended.
06:42And all of a sudden Kevin Durant comes back.
06:45And all of a sudden the Rockets and their confidence continue to grow.
06:49And all of a sudden we could be seeing something that we've never witnessed in the history of the NBA.
06:54So again.
06:56Me knowing Braun.
06:57He's going to come with a level of focus.
06:59Those role players are going to play better at home.
07:02But they're in a must win situation game 5.
07:05They better close it out in L.A.
07:08So are we feeling that now?
07:10Like that was Perkins obviously before the game.
07:11And put the Kevin Durant part aside.
07:13Because the reports about Durant's bone bruise on the ankle.
07:16I don't think it come out yet.
07:17That it's as bad as it is when Perkins said that.
07:21But the other thing he said.
07:22The confidence in the young players here.
07:24That's relevant to this.
07:25I get what he's saying.
07:27But that's an egregious abuse of the non-mathematical what must win.
07:33So yeah.
07:34Like what the hell are you talking about?
07:36Perkins?
07:36They've still got two more opportunities to close this series out.
07:39Yeah.
07:39So no but I think that in terms of the pivot point of again an extremely young Rockets team when
07:47Durant's not on the floor going against a team that's much much older including LeBron James who's 41 years old.
07:55And how does he endure throughout the series?
07:59I think yes.
08:00That was the danger.
08:02It becomes more and more dangerous the deeper you get into this series for obvious mathematical reasons.
08:08But also because the Rockets are a different team and maybe more adept and more capable at taking advantage of
08:16the Lakers age as they get deeper into the series.
08:20Because they're so young.
08:21Yeah because they're gritty, they're resilient, they're going to bounce back physically and because they can play better defense without
08:28Durant on the floor.
08:29In this particular matchup at least.
08:32Because you just you can do you can you can switch more.
08:37You know you don't have to accommodate for Durant as much.
08:40And then you also in doing so disguise the fact that the Rockets don't have an actual offense of any
08:46sort.
08:46Yeah.
08:46And it becomes down it comes down to that annoying all right well are they going to hit their threes
08:50which last night by and large they did.
08:52They were 35 percent from three.
08:53Yeah.
08:54They took what 40 attempts last night.
08:56And it was so it was like that that's a recipe for winning.
09:01Just three and D your way against an older team and just be tough be gritty.
09:07And don't be idiots in the last two minutes of the game.
09:09Right.
09:09Last night they weren't.
09:10They weren't.
09:10That's smart.
09:10Yeah.
09:1114 of 40 from three as you mentioned.
09:1335 percent.
09:14Which is you know it's not spectacular but it's good enough.
09:17It's not you know it's not good.
09:19It's not 7 of 31 like we've seen at times this year.
09:22When you hold the opponent to 93 points.
09:24That's right.
09:24That's good enough.
09:24You know.
09:25Yeah.
09:25They don't have to be raining.
09:26We don't need cocaine curry out there.
09:28That's right.
09:28That's right.
09:29Credit Jabari Smith Jr.
09:30Man.
09:31Jabari said this the other day about the Rockets comparing them to the Lakers.
09:38You know.
09:39Just stay with it.
09:40Be us.
09:41Be aggressive.
09:42Play free.
09:44You know.
09:44We're obviously the better team I feel like.
09:46So just knowing that.
09:48Being confident.
09:48Trusting our work.
09:50You know.
09:50Just telling us to be us.
09:52You know.
09:52Why do you think you're the better team in this series?
09:54We.
09:54Us.
09:55I just feel like from top to bottom.
09:58You can say that's an opinion.
09:59You can say I'm biased.
10:00But I just think we're the better team.
10:01You know.
10:01My one request for the NBA and the media at large with the NBA is.
10:07Can we do the interview somewhere where there aren't balls bouncing in the background?
10:10Oh.
10:10I like that.
10:11You do?
10:12You do?
10:12Yeah.
10:12I enjoy the background noise of basketball more than any other sport.
10:15It kind of pounds my brain a little bit.
10:16I'm not.
10:17I'm not upset about it.
10:18But yeah.
10:18Yeah.
10:19Yeah.
10:19I like hearing squeaking sneakers and balls.
10:23I get it.
10:23Going through hoops or hitting rims.
10:25I get it.
10:26I get it.
10:26Yeah.
10:26I don't want to be.
10:27But now I don't want to.
10:28I don't want to be listening to a Rockets interview and hear a bunch of clangers.
10:32You know.
10:33Right.
10:33Like what's going on in the background there?
10:35What's that?
10:35Swish.
10:36Swish.
10:36Swish.
10:37By my count.
10:37Swish.
10:38Because I've been completely ignoring what this guy is saying.
10:40I'm hearing two for ten.
10:42A lot of ten.
10:42Yeah.
10:44Jabari.
10:45Credit Jabari on the heels of that quote.
10:47That got a lot of attention from a lot of people a couple days ago.
10:50Yeah.
10:50Especially the word obviously.
10:52He had a good game last night.
10:53Jabari was their leading scorer last night.
10:55Shot the ball pretty well.
10:56Yeah.
10:56No.
10:56And LeBron James.
10:57You know.
10:58LeBron James did that classic LeBron James thing where he said he didn't care about stuff
11:03like that.
11:03Of course a young guy is going to say that.
11:05But he laced in a bunch of profanities with it.
11:07So how do you think LeBron?
11:08LeBron used it to put a little chip on his gargantuan shoulder.
11:12Well if LeBron wants to keep shooting threes he can keep shooting threes.
11:15He was 0 for 4.
11:16Do it.
11:16Yeah.
11:17Do it LeBron.
11:18When they were making that run at the end of the game and after the Rockets got it they
11:23made the run at the Rockets and LeBron was getting to the rim at will towards the end
11:27of the game.
11:28Like he had a really good fourth quarter.
11:29He just didn't make any three pointers.
11:31And so when his decision when they got to the point where they had to have a buck at the
11:35Lakers or the game was over.
11:36Yeah.
11:37And LeBron takes a step back three.
11:39I'm like mission accomplished.
11:40That's what you want.
11:41Again going into with a 41 year old star the deeper you go into these playoffs.
11:48Yep.
11:48You know we all remember when we the last couple years we ever played pickup basketball.
11:53You start hitting a lot more.
11:55Start taking a lot more threes.
11:57Dude.
11:58It's funny you say it.
12:00I think about that a lot.
12:01I'm like God me and my buddies would play basketball all day.
12:05Yeah.
12:05Like back in the day.
12:06Like at the playground I'm talking.
12:08Like all day.
12:08Like I look back now I'm like how did I.
12:11And we go then we go you know then we'd stay up till one in the morning.
12:14Like God how did we do it man.
12:15Right.
12:16How did we do it.
12:17Oh to be young again.
12:18Well eventually you just start you start taking you start more threes.
12:22Yeah.
12:22Yeah.
12:23I never realized what I would never accept it is I hadn't actually worked on my three
12:27point shot to the point where by the time I was 35 years old it was yeah.
12:31That's great.
12:32Get that old man off the court.
12:33That's right.
12:34That's right.
12:34So what is you know going back to perk I guess here.
12:38I don't know what's your confidence level in this team right now.
12:40Like LeBron's never LeBron's never coughed up a 2-0 lead.
12:44Does he cough up a 3-0 lead.
12:46Right.
12:46Right.
12:46Right.
12:47It's higher than it was before.
12:49Yeah.
12:50Obviously.
12:50Yeah.
12:51The you know I just I really do I tend to look at oh a team's never come back from
12:563-0 historically.
12:58I don't worry about that once a series is at 3-2.
13:02Like plenty of teams have come back from 3-2.
13:04Yeah.
13:04Yeah.
13:05To win a series.
13:06Yeah.
13:06And especially when it's a young they're young dumb and don't know any better.
13:10Well they should be up 3-2.
13:11That's the thing.
13:12Right.
13:12Yeah.
13:12It's not like they got it's not like they got walked off the court those three games.
13:16Yeah.
13:16They were close games.
13:18The Rockets you know it was it was more the Rockets losing those games especially game
13:23three than it was the Lakers winning those games.
13:25I don't want to discredit.
13:26I mean LeBron had to go make a three and get a steal at the end of that game.
13:29Like the Lakers did have to do some things but they sure were done a lot of favors by
13:33the Rockets.
13:34So that's the thing for me is like man they're like I don't think Jabari Smith is wrong when
13:38he says we're the better team.
13:40It was that he's saying I think the criticism is he's saying we're obviously the better team
13:45when you're down 3-1 in a series sounds a little silly.
13:48Well plus and you got to think about this too when people try to bring up that oh a
13:52team's never come back from being down 3-0 in the playoffs.
13:56Remember it was they went to the seven game format in the early 2000s.
14:01So before that it wasn't if you were down 3-0 which in the first round is probably when
14:08you're most likely to be down 3-0 because you've got the lopsided matchup.
14:13You're saying they went to the best of seven in the first round.
14:15In the first round yeah yeah yeah.
14:16It used to be a five game format.
14:18That's right.
14:18So when you're looking at a top seed versus like you're more likely to have a three be
14:22down 3-0 in the first round and yeah in a five game series very unlikely you're going
14:28to come back from that.
14:29So it's only been a couple of decades.
14:31You'd be swept.
14:32The series would be over in a best of five.
14:33Yeah exactly exactly right right exactly exactly.
14:36So like the when you're most like when you're most likely to come back from or when you're
14:42most likely to have that 3-0 lopsided series is in that first round and yeah they don't
14:47even count those ones because you can't come back from them.
14:49Yep.
14:49So it's only been 20 years or so that in this first round of the playoffs you've had opportunities
14:54for teams to come back.
14:56So it's not as daunting in my mind.
14:57Well yeah that I mean it's one way to look at but it's ever like it's I think it's ever
15:01that nobody's coming it's not just the first round 3-0 yeah yeah yeah yeah.
15:04But in the first round I think is when.
15:08Oh I see what you're saying.
15:09There's a first round dynamic there.
15:11Yeah yeah yeah.
15:12No I just want.
15:12Like if you're down in the second round of the playoffs if you're down 3-0 it's unlikely
15:17that you're even going to be down 3-0 in the second round because you've got better
15:20matchups.
15:21It's more balanced.
15:22Yeah yeah yeah.
15:22That makes sense.
15:23So like the I feel like the stats are not as heavily skewed and weighted as it should seem.
15:29I get what you're saying.
15:29I get what you're saying.
15:31So that's exciting man.
15:33Now this is my prediction today Seth.
15:35This is a prediction for for today.
15:37I think on the shows that we have on in our studio the get-ups and the first takes of
15:43the world I think there will be a topic should because you brought it up earlier about the
15:47Rockets how hey they are playing better defense with no Durant out there.
15:50Yeah.
15:51And they are younger and there's there there are there are rationalizations I'll call it
15:56that we can make about not having Durant out there.
15:58You keep Udoka from just running his favorite offense which is Durant bringing it all on
16:03Durant which is Durant taking the ball out of bounds underneath his own basket and dribbling
16:08the length of the court and getting double teamed yes.
16:10Yeah you take away something for the opponent to focus on yep because since Udoka refuses
16:16to construct any kind of an actual offense it's very easy for teams to say all right we're
16:20going to blitz Durant and see what happens.
16:21And they talked about that in the post game on inside the NBA they talked about that like
16:26wow the Rockets were really getting a lot of guys involved early yeah and that has a ripple
16:30effect on the defense which is when guys are touching the ball on the offensive side you're
16:34just more you're more plugged into the game yeah and maybe that that spills over but this is my
16:39prediction there will be a topic on these shows today we'll have them on in the studio I'll keep
16:44eyes on this are the Rockets better off if Kevin Durant doesn't play in game six or seven that'll
16:50be a problem I think going like the if they just decide to hashtag run it back this offseason
16:56it's got to come with them hiring some kind of an offensive coordinator that that Udoka can work
17:03with the same way things looked a lot better when Dan Tony had Bizdelic in there um as the
17:09defensive coordinator that you've got to balance this out somehow I agree I agree with you
17:14wholeheartedly um uh Rockets get the win last night 99 93 text message base power text line can
17:21email get some love sure I mean they yeah they won two games in a row email when you win
17:26and you're
17:26the head coach you'll get a little love there's his love there you go I think it's I think it
17:30was
17:30mostly about grit at the defensive end and not anything that email which is I mean if you're gonna you
17:36know what if the if defense is involved yeah you got to give Udoka sure yeah yeah he's he is
17:41the tone
17:41setter for the ethos at that end of the team
17:43you
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