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ITL debates which version of Houston is the truth in this series.
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00:00They're operating with a level of confidence, and it shows on the floor.
00:03This isn't the confident basketball team that we saw in games one and two, though.
00:06No, not even close.
00:08They looked the part.
00:09We talked earlier.
00:11Everything they did seemed coherent.
00:14It seemed as if this was a team that was the better team, had a plan, executed the plan, fluid.
00:21All those good things that you want to talk about, especially offensively, were there.
00:26So we got to not dilly-dally around, right?
00:31I mean, we got to talk about this.
00:33Yeah, because I could make the argument that you've seen good Rockets in this series for more quarters than you've
00:40seen bad Rockets.
00:41But the question then comes up, is what you saw first most important?
00:45And ultimately, who are the real Rockets right now of those two iterations?
00:49And I think there's a secondary part that I know you want to get through.
00:52Yeah, the real Rockets are this team that have run the ball through Shungun.
00:56He had eight assists.
00:58I mean, everybody was in double figures that started the game.
01:00Nobody more than 22 points.
01:01Nobody less than 12 points.
01:03That is balance.
01:04A lot of people had three, at least four players had three or more assists.
01:08Ball was moving.
01:09They were getting the ball to the right spot.
01:11They were, you know, obviously taking the right shots.
01:15Jabari was outstanding.
01:17Reed Shepard had, you know, a signature moment, if you will.
01:21Well, in terms of, you know, the steal and shot and big three and after getting bumped by LeBron rather
01:30deliberately, if we're being honest.
01:33And so this looked like a very cohesive, fluid team that had a plan and did it the right way.
01:41And they were comfortable on the floor, which of course leads to, we've gotten texts the last two days, much
01:47less today, where a lot are coming in.
01:49Are they better without Kevin Durant?
01:52Well, it's an interesting question.
01:55Obviously, it's an obvious question.
01:57It's also a complicated answer to me.
01:59And let me put it this way.
02:00Okay.
02:01You need, my short answer would be no.
02:04But I get anyone who says yes.
02:06And here's why.
02:07Okay.
02:07They're not playing as much through someone anymore.
02:14They're not playing through anyone.
02:15I mean, you can talk about Shane Goon, but everybody was playing their role.
02:19They're not playing through someone anymore.
02:20And they're not playing around someone like they did with Kevin Durant.
02:25I think they played around Kevin Durant.
02:27You know, so, but, you know, giving him his due, you know, making sure he got his touches,
02:33making sure the offense started there, the old read and react, see what everybody did.
02:37They were playing around Kevin Durant, which is a good thing a lot of times.
02:41You want Kevin Durant to have the ball in particular places, in particular situations.
02:46But when you're not playing around someone and you're just sort of like playing, you're
02:51a better team.
02:51And I think that was the better team we saw last night.
02:55They're not deferring as much to Kevin Durant.
03:00They're just running their offense.
03:01Yeah, and what's funny about that is what we saw last night, which again, markedly better
03:07offense, in part because they were just knocking down shots, but they were passing out of double
03:12teams and they were passing early in a lot of instances.
03:15Some of the instances, some of the things that, one of the things we talked about was
03:17what a man kind of, or what they did to attack Luke Kennard and what allowed a man to kind
03:22of get downhill.
03:23Some of the ways there was definitely just a lot more movement on the floor.
03:26None of that feels like things that they can't do without Kevin Durant.
03:29And in fact, in some instances this season, over the entire of the season, you've seen
03:33instances that they've done this.
03:35I don't think that this is inherently a Kevin Durant creates this issue, but there is there.
03:40You have to point out that they have been more want to lean on Kevin Durant rather than
03:46do these things that makes them really good.
03:48There was a point in time late in the season where you saw them start doing some of these
03:52things.
03:52I think we even had a conversation in my ever-present eagerness to try and see if they
03:58found a thing where it was like, hey, did they find something with the way that they
04:02played in this game?
04:02And it felt like it was something spiritually similar to what you saw in that game last
04:06night.
04:07And that was with Kevin Durant on the floor.
04:09And so I don't think that this, what you've seen is inherently not Kevin Durant, but there
04:13is something to be asked about.
04:15Why had they gone to something that leaned on Kevin Durant as a crutch, even though it feels
04:20like this is something that you could do?
04:21Is it because of just his general status and his stature and maybe they feel like, and
04:26this is E-May and the coaches, maybe they feel like they have to?
04:29Is there a possibility that Kevin Durant has had some level of conversation that this is
04:32what he likes?
04:33Or is it something else entirely?
04:35No, that's really my big point here.
04:38They're not like, oh, well, Kevin Durant first.
04:42You know, they're not playing around him.
04:44Like, if he wants the ball here, if we need to start the offense there, we're still going
04:48to try to do these other things, but we have to defer to Durant, which is completely understandable,
04:53especially in late shot clock, late game situations, late quarter situations.
04:57It's completely understandable.
04:58But what I saw last night that really kind of struck me is, didn't Shengun look a little
05:03more calm?
05:05Like, he looked a little more in control of what the offense was doing, whereas he even
05:11would defer.
05:12You know, he would even defer.
05:14He didn't look like hero ball to me.
05:15Exactly.
05:17And that's big.
05:18So, that's why I say it's a complicated answer.
05:20You need Kevin Durant.
05:21You want him in those situations.
05:22But, man, they sure look better when he's not on the floor because they're just sort
05:25of playing, you know?
05:27One of the things I'll also point to, though, is when they didn't have Kevin Durant in game
05:30one, they also looked like this.
05:32Of course.
05:32Or looked like they did when they had Kevin Durant in game two.
05:35Honestly and truly, and look, I know people will be like, oh, here you go, caping again,
05:39right?
05:39Y'all say anything but the trade was a fail.
05:40I don't think the trade was a fail.
05:41I'll say that every time.
05:43Even if they had gone out here and gotten swept, I do not think the trade itself was
05:47a failure.
05:47I think that there's certain circumstances that created the failure that you have seen
05:51if you wanted, you know, qualified as such.
05:53I think one of the things that's also worth noting is the reason why there was confidence
05:57in this team coming into the series was not as much about the Rockets and the way that
06:01they play.
06:01And it was more about the fact that the Lakers are hampered and that they're not as good
06:05of a team.
06:06And I think that even as the Rockets get back to playing better basketball, it's worth noting
06:09that this is the Lakers.
06:11How does that compare to if you were playing one of these, one of the number of other teams
06:14that have looked really good?
06:15Well, I don't agree.
06:16Or the Spurs.
06:17No, that was a better, that was a better offense last night.
06:19I mean, that was, I don't agree with that.
06:21It was a better version of their offense.
06:22They scored 99 points.
06:24Nevertheless, the ball was flying to the right spots on the floor, to the right players on
06:28the floor.
06:29And if they're playing against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they lose that basketball game.
06:31All I'm saying is the ball was moving the way it needed to be.
06:34The shots were flying as well.
06:35They took 43s.
06:36Now, they made 14, which sounds like a big number, but that's not a great percentage.
06:40No, I'm not going to say any better team this offense wouldn't have looked.
06:44Now, they might not have won.
06:45Maybe the other team, you know, scores as well.
06:47But what I'm saying, offensively, how they looked, you know, the eye test was much more
06:52fluid without Kevin Durant.
06:54But I'm with you.
06:55I don't think the trade was a fail.
06:56I think you need him.
06:57You know, and maybe in those types of games, you know, hey, give the ball to Durant.
07:01That's why we brought him in, you know, against the really good competition.
07:04He needs to have the ball in his hands.
07:06But that was a better Rockets offense, no matter who you're playing.
07:12Yeah, it was definitely better.
07:14And my thing about it is I think that Kevin Durant also fits in that.
07:17The question I've had is why hasn't he?
07:19But more importantly, I mean, was it supposed to be fully a referendum on Kevin Durant?
07:23Ultimately, everything's going to come back to that because he is a star player in conversations
07:28around teams always revolve around star players.
07:31For me, I don't know if it's everybody, but for me, the more interesting part of it is
07:35we were looking at evaluating who this young core was.
07:38And earlier on in this series, we were starting to, at least I'll speak for myself, I was
07:42starting to have some questions about some of the guys that you were leaning on in this
07:46young core.
07:47If we break this down to, is Jabari Smith Jr. more of what you've seen in these last two
07:52games than what you've seen in those previous games?
07:54Is Reed Shepard more of what you've seen in these last two games, including a dude who
07:57when you switch is capable of holding up?
08:00He may not be perfect defensively, holding up better than he has at any other point in
08:04the regular season.
08:05Is that more of what he actually is?
08:07Is Alper and Shang-Goon being able to make that right decision in the ways that he did?
08:11Is that more of the real versus what you saw in those previous games?
08:15I think that those are the interesting questions because that doesn't just speak to this series
08:18or whatever series may come if they are able to pull off the unthinkable.
08:22It also speaks to what we start looking at in the offseason with this Rockets team.
08:25It does.
08:25Yes, but those are some of the big decisions you have to make.
08:30There are things that Reed Shepard did last night beyond just the plays that really decided
08:35the game in the last three minutes that were very, very positive.
08:39And I've been saying it all year.
08:41I get he's not a good man-to-man defender.
08:43He's a target.
08:44He can be a target.
08:46I understand that.
08:47I think he'd be blind if he didn't know that.
08:49But there is value in some of the things he does defensively that really came to light
08:54on the national stage last night that go beyond that.
08:58If you get a steal, and he's been really good at filling passing lanes, grabbing loose balls,
09:03knocking balls free, that is just as good as a stop.
09:07That is just as good as blocking a shot.
09:09On that one possession, but my point is I think that when we get to the playoffs in particular,
09:13which, again, he's made improvement on.
09:15And I don't want to knock that.
09:16When we get to the playoffs, it's less about, hey, you made this one play, which is a big
09:20play, especially in that moment.
09:22It's also a lot of times we start talking about how many of the plays did you not make.
09:25And for Reed, there was more of those before.
09:27This is also an important development.
09:29And I think that for him, I'm starting to believe that this that you're seeing on the
09:33latter part is the real Reed Shepard, if we're going to break this down to the individuals.
09:36The larger conversation about the teams and which ones is real, I think we can probably
09:41agree that the shooting that we saw last night wasn't fully real, right?
09:44The real Rockets.
09:45Right.
09:46I think we feel enough to know that, I mean, they shot 35% from three.
09:49Maybe this is the real Rockets if they can get up enough shots.
09:52Well, they got 40, three's up.
09:55But I don't think you and I are ever going to see this the same way with Reed Shepard.
10:00He's a target.
10:01He's not a great defender.
10:02He does a lot more, and it wasn't just one play.
10:04You know, he does a lot more for this defense.
10:07And he's not a plus defender by any stretch.
10:10But I think the fact that, like, oh, he is a net negative.
10:15No matter, look at the plus minus.
10:17No, he wasn't a negative in this game at all.
10:20And like I said, I think that there's been improvement.
10:22And I'm willing to say that this is more of what is real and can be real when he's utilized
10:27in the ways that he should.
10:29At this point, we're like kind of rehashing.
10:31Well, but what I'm saying is then you balance that with what he brought offensively.
10:34And it was only 12 points, but it was, again, ball moving, getting to the right guy.
10:38Hell, you know, guys that you didn't expect to make threes were making threes.
10:41Right.
10:41Because the ball was moving to their hands.
10:43And who was it, Tari in the corner that knocked a big one down?
10:46A man knocked a big one, a couple of big ones down.
10:49I think Tari knocked one down.
10:50He knocked a couple of shots down.
10:52That's the ball moving to the right spot.
10:55Well, they've had instances with this team where the ball is moving and they just can't make it.
10:58But I'm not going to go out of my way to say they're a great three-point shooting team or
11:01even particularly a good one.
11:02No, I'm saying about wide open shot, you take it.
11:03It went down.
11:04Oh, yeah.
11:04Yeah.
11:05For sure.
11:06But, again, outside of that, just also being able to consistently do that in offense.
11:13Does that feel like something that this is the real of who they are?
11:15Because also this factors into now game six and the possibility of game seven, right?
11:20If this, who are the real Rockets, right?
11:23It's the old, can the real Slim Shady please stand up?
11:25Yeah.
11:25Because I think before last night's game, we would have said that the real Rockets are the ones that you
11:30saw in the first part of that series.
11:32Right.
11:33And that they found a little, you know, they found a little flash of lightning in a bottle and that
11:37that wasn't real.
11:38I think with this additional one, it made me start to go to, can they be this more consistently?
11:43And the word consistency shows up because when we talk about who's real, it's what are you more often than
11:47not?
11:48Well, I'll tell you this.
11:48After game four, even though they played a very good offensive game in game four, I wasn't buying it.
11:54It just didn't look, it looked a little kind of sort of disjointed.
11:58I thought last night it looked fluid.
12:01It looked comfortable and it looked confident just in general.
12:04So, yes, there's much more confidence in what I'm seeing now, even after the, even despite the win in game
12:11four.
12:12No, I think that that's where I am as well on this.
12:15It feels like we're getting closer to this, these Rockets that you're seeing now, especially when they exude the confidence
12:21that they have, that this is who they can be.
12:24Then the question becomes, how do you make sure you maintain them in that confident place?
12:28And they don't end up in these weird spots where they're making bad decisions and playing outside of the way
12:34that a playoff basketball team can play, like games one, two.
12:37And honestly, if you can hold down a minute, just a minute of basketball, all of this feels a lot
12:43different.
12:44I started this segment by mentioning, I feel like they've played more good basketball in this series than not.
12:48It's just inexperience of coming out early and not looking good and then losing game three because you weren't able
12:55to hold on to the basketball and recognize the moment of that situation.
12:58They showed up in a clutch moment last night.
13:00I thought that that mattered in talking about what is real there.
13:04I thought that you mentioned offensively, they were able to maintain a good offensive matter of approach that traveled from
13:11Houston to L.A.
13:12And I thought that those things meant something for this team.
13:15I mean, how much does it go now once you already went down three and three, three, nothing is a
13:20real interesting question that we'll have to dive into as well.
13:22But I also want to caution myself before I close this out.
13:27I have been the optimistic one with the Rockets in this.
13:31Am I too optimistic or have people have met me here?
13:33No, I think it's a matter of confidence.
13:35I'm confident in this team and I wasn't confident, as I mentioned, even when they pulled, you know, to within
13:41when they went game four.
13:43Yeah, so Rockets with a big win, not just in the ledger, but also I think in the style of
13:50play and really kind of the identity of what they are in this moment, right?
13:54Being a team that actually lives up to the grit, that locks down a Lakers team offensively, that brought back
13:59one of their better scorers in this game.
14:00You were able to dictate some things to them, get a big victory, and stave off elimination to bring the
14:06game back to Toyota Center Friday night.
14:08Yes, sir.
14:09We'll talk about that tomorrow and B Scott will be in, so that'll be a great day.
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