Rockets-Warriors series: Playoff takeaways from split in Houston

After splitting the opening two games in Houston, the first-round playoff series between the Rockets and Warriors now shifts to Golden State for the next two games.

Friday’s episode explores what we learned from the first two contests, including encouraging signs from Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green; Houston’s relatively strong defensive effort against Steph Curry; and the role of Jimmy Butler’s uncertain health in upcoming games.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Cheers, Rockets fans, Welcome to The Logger Line, an exclusive
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Speaker 2 (00:15):
The Logger Line.

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It's proudly served to you by car Box Clutch City Lagger.

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Speaker 2 (00:29):
It starts now.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Welcome aboard.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thanks for checking out another new episode of The Logger Line,
again served to you courtesy of Clutch City Lagger of
Carback Brewing. I'm Ben Dubo's, your host, editor of USA
Today's Rocket Squire and contributor to Sports Talk seven ninety,
official flagship radio station of your Houston Rockets. As always,
I'm joined by Polo ALFs Our, co hosting producer out
of Portugal. You can follow him on Twitter, slash x
at Powo Alves, and and me on there at Bendubo's

(01:03):
so as we chat late night on Thursday April twenty fourth,
early Friday April twenty fifth for Pallo, the Rockets and
Warriors are tied at a game apiece in their first
round playoff series. I mentioned the time off the top
because we are still waiting for clarification as of our
recording regarding the pelvic contusion suffered by Jimmy Butler. It

(01:25):
took him out for most of Game two. His status
for Game three on Saturday night in future games of
the series not quite clear. We know he's a gamer.
My personal expectation is that unless the MRI shows something
really bad, he'll play. But as of our recording time,
nothing has been confirmed on the Warriors end. So that's
why if you're listening to this Friday or Saturday before

(01:46):
the game and you're wondering why the analysis sounds a
little bit dated, we're still waiting for final clarification. I'm
going to go into this thinking that he plays, if
not in Game three, certainly by Game four. By the way,
it's going to be very interesting next week. Starting with
Monday's Game four, everything is going to be every other day.
This first week, it's been spaced out games Sunday, Wednesday,

(02:07):
and Saturday. Starting Monday, it's every other day for the
remainder of the series. That could benefit a younger team
with a little bit more depth like the Rockets. We'll
just have to wait and see and look. As far
as this pod, there's a number of individual storylines we
can get to. I think Jalen Green is certainly the headliner.
He had a terrible Game one when the Rockets scored

(02:29):
just eighty five points and lost despite playing well defensively.
Then he went out and was brilliant in Game two,
maybe his best game as Rocket, thirty eight points, solid efficiency.
Rockets won by fifteen. Even without Jimmy Butler. The Warriors
still shot forty percent on threes at high volume, and
they still weren't even able to be close. That speaks
to how good the Rockets can be with that level

(02:51):
of defense if they have that version of Jalen Green.
He went out there and bounced back from a bad
Game one and was brilliant in Game two. All friends
very good in both games. A men's Thompson hit or miss.
He's had his moments, but foul trouble for the most part,
has prevented him from having the impact on this series
that you would like. That's one of the low hanging

(03:13):
fruit for the Rockets moving forward. Hopefully in these games
out in the Bay, the Rockets are able to get
a better version of a Men and that sort of
is the meat left on the bone for them. If
you're the Warriors, you can point to not having Jimmy
Butler for a lot of Game two. The Rockets can
point to not having the peak version of a Men
Thompson for most of the first two games, and some
of it probably look He's in just his second NBA season,

(03:34):
this is his first playoff run. He's going to get
his feet underneath him and get used to the playoff environment,
just as Jalen did between Game one and Game two.
It's not easy for these young guys. We can also
talk about what the Rockets have done defensively to Steph Curry,
which honestly, I think it's been pretty strong. Even though
Steph has shot well from three point range to be
expected one of the greatest players of all time in
the playoffs, they forced him into six turnovers in Game two.

(03:56):
They haven't given up a ton of open looks, to
least his hot shooting teammates. Now, the second half of
Game two we saw a little bit of death and
Rockets playing with their food a little bit up fifteen
to twenty points and not really threatened. But for the
most part, I think the Rockets defense on staff has
been sound. He's made some tough shots, so lots of
things we can get to in terms of individual storylines

(04:17):
throughout this series, and I'm sure we will as we
make our way through the pod. But for me, what
I want to start at least my analysis with is
the reality that everything we saw in the regular season
is translating to the playoffs and that's a really good feeling. Look,
I'm not saying the Rockets are going to win this
series because the Warriors currently have home court advantage. They

(04:39):
did what they needed to do, took one of the
two games in Houston. Now it's the best of five
and the Rockets are going to have to win in
San Francisco at least once if they want to win
this series. So this is not me taking a victory lap,
because it is entirely possible that the Warriors can still
win this series, and they're favored right now for a reason,
and that Game one loss was very frustrating. However, the

(05:02):
way the two games went down, even in Game one,
which was so frustrating, with all the energy in the
building to see the Rockets offensively, Leia dud the process
was fine, the energy was fine. They competed their butts
off defensively. The Rockets have now played the Warriors three times,
this month. The Warriors have not gotten to ninety seven
points a single time for the season as a whole.

(05:25):
We talked about this on the preview pot. The Warriors
had the lowest offensive rating in the NBA if you
extrapolated their performance against the Rockets for the season as
a whole. So the defense is holding the energy is there?
Quite Frankly, Game one, Jalen Green and Fredin Fleet just
couldn't make a shot. Rockets also shot uncharacteristically poorly, just
fifty five percent on free throws. In Game two, a

(05:47):
lot of the issues corrected, they shot eighty percent on
free throws. Jalen Green bounced back, and the Warriors basically
had the same point total mid nineties in both games.
The Rockets just went from eighty five in Game one
to a one hundred and nine in Game two, and
so you had a very different outcome. And so for me,
when I look at the collective, it's just a sense
of relief that there's nothing about what we saw in

(06:11):
the regular season that was fraudulent. Nothing has changed when
we see teams styling up and Steve curR is a
very good coach. Houston specific game plans to attack all
perin Shangoon, or attack Jalen Green, whatever the case may be,
or give more resources to defending those two guys on
the offensive end of the court. Nothing has changed. In

(06:31):
some ways, the Rockets have been even better. Maybe not
for the two games as a whole, but certainly in
moments I think collectively we've seen the emi Udoka system
is certainly translating the playoffs in terms of the defense,
then only as it held. It looks even better in
a playoff environment where there's more physicality allowed For me.

(06:52):
As good as this season was fifty two and thirty
number two in the West, you always have to worry
a little bit when you're a team this song without
much experience, how is it going to translate? Is there
going to be something about your formula or one or
two of your key players that for one reason or
another just doesn't translate to the playoffs? And I don't
think we're seeing that at all. Even the game the

(07:14):
Rockets lost, again, the process was good, the effort was good,
everything was fine. They just couldn't make shots and they're
not a great team at doing that. That's been an
issue at times throughout the entire season, and maybe it
ends up costing them the series. Maybe a game that
otherwise was very winnable, that game one at home ends
up being something they can't recover from. In terms of
can they get four wins against the Warriors, time will tell.

(07:36):
But in terms of the process, to me, there's nothing
in terms of the lights being too bright, the team
not being able to handle, or the environment just not
being conducive to how they play. No, everything we saw
over eighty two games, and at least for me, when
you see the type of leap the Rockets made this
year from forty one wins to fifty two, number two

(07:58):
in the West after being number eleven year ago, there's
always something in the back of your mind, at least
for me, wondering is it too much, too soon? How
much of this is real? Through two games, everything looks
pretty real. They are meeting the moment, they are rising
to the challenge. And that's not me saying they're for
sure going to win this series. But I do think

(08:20):
that there has to be at least some sense of
relief that, both in terms of individuals and the collective,
there's nothing that seems alarming. They are meeting the moment,
they are doing what needs to be done on the
big stage, and I couldn't be prouder of this group.
Those are my general thoughts. Pollow, what have your high
level thoughts been? Just about what we've seen at a

(08:40):
collective level from the first two games, and then we'll
get into some of the individual storylines a little bit later.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
I'm one hundred percent with you in the sense that
that has not been a single thing happening that wasn't predictable,
and it really feels like and you know, just as
a general kind of I know, we'll talk about these
guys individually, but it's a small sample size, and obviously
we're coming off of a big win, but it doesn't
feel like guys are underperforming. I feel like the first

(09:07):
game there were definitely some some you know, nervousness, especially
earlier in the game, and you could tell by basically
everybody except for albern Singun. I think even somebody Smith
who didn't make a shout earlier on on defense was
you know, kind of.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Hit or miss.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
But then as the game progressed, I think guys got
better than I think last game. You know, obviously Gavin
is going to be the main storyline, but when you
look at the game. It did really feel like the
Rockets kind of took the foot off the gas a
little bit in the second half. They were not playing
with the same level of intensity. That's why the game

(09:44):
kind of stayed that kind of doesn't go. But I
don't really I don't think it was because of lack
of ability or because of nerves. It's just what this
team has done in the regular season. It really felt
like the same thing that the Rockets do in the
regular season and against not tough for teams and against
everything in general. Once the Rockets get a big lead,

(10:05):
it often feels like, unless the shots are going in
that they kind of take the foot of the cast
and and that's why the Jones Green's performance was so
important because he was basically our go to guy to
keep us, you know, kind of out of striking distance.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
I guess that the MS linked was the phrase that
I used on.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, that's right. I was kind of looking for the
opposite of within striking distance, not in striking exactly, just
the negative.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Guys, bear with me.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
I stayed up until six am last night. I go
up at eight am to go to work and I
haven't slept since.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
So if I if I go, we sound hilarious. There's
a reason for that. I'm pretty much at the same boat.
I would have Kilan stories till three am, and you know,
my dog was whining to get fed by seven forty five,
So I get it. I get it.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, So that's what kind of like my overview going forward.
Kind of from a high level standpoint as well, I
do think that obviously, Jimmy Potter's injury is huge because
it allows us to just hone in on staff and
if the other guy's beat you, as long as they're
not huning open waves and open corner trees all day,

(11:19):
you're kind of you kind of you know, you just
tip your cap. But the other thing that I want
to mention, and I didn't, I wish I made this point.
It's still early enough for me to make this point,
but I always I made this point a couple of
parts ago when we were talking about matchups and you
were talking about the importance of securing home cart advantage.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
I was at the time.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
I didn't end up making the point, but I was
going to make the pount Depp and I'm not even
sure homecore advantage is that big of a deal for
us I think maybe it was that big of a
deal on the first series because you know, obviously there
were nerves, and obviously having two games in a row
at home kind of makes it easier for it not
to snowball. Right if things went wrong the first game
and then the second game both of the games were away,

(12:03):
you know, that could have you know, snowballed, and and
two easily becomes Torio and that then sid series over.
But I do think that as we talked about on
the preview of the series, that Jalen was in the
series and every series we're going to talk about this
that Jalen is the biggest kind of swing factor on
these games.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
I g.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
If we know what we're going to get from mostly everyone,
but this team struggles with a half guard offense, and
Jalen Green is the best source of half guard offense
other than Abram zenggun By Abram Sing's going to get
double team right. And so for Jillen and specific Listen,
I would probably take Jalen being at one hundred percent
his best self in exchange for everybody else being at

(12:42):
eighty percent. That's how important he is and how much
and how important what he brings when he's on is
versus the other guys. That being said, what I'm what
I mean by conclusion with this is that away Jillen
Green is just a much better, much more efficient player
this season, Jalen on the road is actually a forty
four to thirty eight eighty three split guy versus at

(13:05):
home being a forty one thirty three eighty split guy.
So he's basically more efficient across the board, although you
know the totals as far as you know how many
points he is scoring is basically the same. But he's
much much more efficient on the road, and so him
being our biggest swing factor actually makes me more confident
on the games on the road at Golden State than

(13:26):
the ones at home. And so the way I kind
of viewed the series is I always felt more confident
on us playing at the Warriors, and so kind of
when they took Game one, I was, you know, obviously pissed,
but to me it wasn't nearly as much or as
big of a deal as it was most other people,

(13:47):
because I kind of thought, well, they were kind of
supposed to win this game, and if we can steal
one at home in game two, we're actually we get
the reverse from Corde vettis because I think that's more
important us and so if we actually if we look
at the times we played in the regular season, or
last win against the Wors, which was the most the
more convincing one was at Olymstick, so obviously falls in

(14:10):
line with what I was saying, and so kind of
that's my last point as far as moving forward with
those series is one one. But I wouldn't be surprised
if the Rockets won both games on the road and
then kind of st struggled a little bit to close
out the series because of.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
How they are.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
That wouldn't surprise me. I hope it doesn't happen, but
just moving forward, you know, before we talk about all
of the good things and all the bad things about
the series so far, I'm actually more optimistic than most
about the two road games coming ahead.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
Well, and I would go the other direction simply based
on recent Rockets history. So you can look back at
that Rockets Clippers series from ten years ago when Houston
won in seven games, and to me, that's why home
court is so important, and that was a relatively young
Rockets team early in the hardened era, where the value

(15:05):
of home court really comes into play is late in
a series, those pivotal game five if the series has
tied it to game seven obviously, where you oftentimes get
a friendlier whistle. If you look back at that Rockets
Clippers series, which I thought a little bit about this week,
because it went the same way, Rockets losing a home
game one, winning at game two to tie the series.

(15:27):
They then lost the next to at LA by twenty
five plus points each. Now, I do not expect that
to happen this weekend in San Francisco. That not saying
I expect that to be the case. I think even
if they lose, the games will be much more competitive
because of the level of defense this team consistently plays with.
But even if you're down three to one, you still

(15:48):
are only one game off serve if you will, and
the other team is only going to have one chance
to close you out at home, and that's the game six.
So the ideals is, obviously the Rockets go in and
win one, if not both, and close out the series
as soon as possible. But even in the worst case
world where you go down three to one, three to

(16:10):
one is not as damaging as it sounds. If you're
the team that has two of the final three at
home because you only force one or you only face
one potential closeout game on the road, and so it
just leaves you many more options. And that's where home
court advantage really comes into play. It's not so much
that you expect to win every single home game or

(16:33):
an Astros like situation where the opposite. No, it's not that.
It's more the big swing games late in a series,
games five through seven, more of those are in Houston.
They give you more options, and so that's where to
me it could have an impact. I see your point
on Jalen specifically being better on the road, and so
for the balance of the series, perhaps the Rockets are

(16:55):
better off away from Houston. I think this is not
a team that's going to get rattle by the crowd
in San Francisco being mean to them. If anything, they
might feed off of that. But I think in terms
of the benefits of playing in Houston, they would show
up disproportionately as the series gets deeper and as the
games get bigger.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Does that make sense, Yeah, it does, And I do
agree that perhaps my point maybe works if we if
all games were killed the same, right, if we were
just talking about you know, we're playing twenty games and
all of them have the same worth. I think my
argument would hold more water then than it does in
real life, And I do kind of lean towards agreeing

(17:37):
with you as far as, yes, the important game that
might you can't really treat them as the average or
treat them the same as the average you would get
over a larger sample size. So yeah, I do need that.
Perhaps in that sense it's probably better to play them in.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
And also, let's talk about the officiating, because everybody on
both sides of this series is talking about it today.
Rockets fans obviously we think it hasn't been in our favor.
Warriors fans think the opposite. But I think what's really
noteworthy about this We can quibble over just how bad
it's been and exactly what direction it's bias two, but

(18:18):
it doesn't feel like the home crowd and the fans
that totos have been incredible, by the way, has been
that impactful in terms of influencing the referee decisions, Like
there were two especially controversial ones in the second half
of Game two, with the Jalen Green flagrant foul on

(18:39):
the Draymond flop the Fred then Fleet three that was
taken away on replay because they said he kicked his
leg out. Also they said, I mean Steph Curry pretty
much tackled Dylan Brooks on a three, and somehow it
was an offensive foul on Dylan his fourth. I bring
up those examples to say, I don't think that just
because the Warriors are home, that they're necessarily going to

(19:02):
get every single call. Now, there's certainly going to be
some that go their way, and he maybe Dooka has
you know, if you listen to the audio, because he's
miked up in a lot of these games. With him
talking to his players and timeouts, he's telling them, don't
focus on the roughs. Do what you've got to do.
And that's the right approach. You can't emotionally get too
high or too low based on you know, the act

(19:25):
of God that is NBA officiating. But from what I've
seen so far, and I could be wrong, we know
how roughs historically are with the Rockets and the Warriors,
but it doesn't feel like that just because these next
two games are in San Francisco, that they're necessarily going
to get every single call. I would say the officiating
has been bad. There's certainly evidence that both and bases

(19:48):
compoint too of things that should be corrected, And anybody
who follows me on Twitter knows I'm not standing for
NBA officials at all. I totally get it. But in
terms of predictive value the next two games, I'm not
going in necessarily expecting the Rockets to be like a
minus twenty differential in terms of net points based on officiating. Like,
it feels like these guys they're bad, but they're more

(20:10):
randomly bad, and so if you're the road team, that
might be to your benefit. I guess what I'm trying
to get to the bottom line, It doesn't feel like
the home team in this series necessarily has a huge
edge with the officiating. So from that perspective, while the
Rockets can't, they shouldn't bank on getting a super friendly whistle.

(20:31):
I don't think they're necessarily going to get a horrible
one either in these two games coming up in San Francisco.
What's your perspective on what we've seen officiating wise and
your expectations for the next two You.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Know, it's just open that can that kind of ords,
right as far as officiating, I think I think there's
a lot of things we have to talk about. I
think when you talk about officiating, you obviously you are
going to have to talk about Draymond, and you're gonna
have to talk about the amend Butler foul, and you're
gonna have to talk about obviously the physicality. I think
it's been a trend in Ease Playoffs. That's there's been

(21:05):
more physicality allowed than I think even in typical playoffs series.
And everybody's saying, oh, that's just the playoffs. It's been
more more than than it's been allowed in the past
with love right, and it fits our play style much better.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
And it's not just this series. So it's pretty clear
that it's not randomness. It's not who the Rocket's true
in terms of officials, it's across the board and that
probably should benefit the Rockets to some degree.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
Yeah, and which makes me want to talk about a
bunch of specific cases that I'm just kind of that
kind of pissed me off. First of all, the entire
clip of email you Dooga's saying they aren't going to
call anything so play physical, like listen to nobody told
email U Doolka prior to the game, and said, hey,
we're not gonna call anything. You can fall as much

(21:52):
as you want. And this is a big conspiracy theory.
And and you just leaked it on this clip that
you know you were being recorded on two It was
very Warriors spending on triaging it like this. It was
very clearly certainly I don't remember what part of the
game this was on, but email, notice, Okay, they're letting
us play, so go out there and play physical and

(22:14):
test the limits, like, go out there and play it
toward strengths. It's very clearly that and not oh my god,
they told me they aren't gonna call anything, and the
Warriors don't know this, like it's that's just inside the
second of all, I think it's to the Rocket's interest
to even if the refs start calling more files to

(22:36):
be physical anyways, see where it can take you if
if if like this is a bit extreme from me,
but if guys foul out, guys fill out, if you
if you if you read the end of the game,
and you have Dylan Brooks failed out, the man Thompain
falled out, the reason fouled out. Fine, let's see how
the NA reacts to a game in which you fouled
out a bunch of tacks. And let me tell you,

(22:57):
once you get to three or four files, the rest
are gonna start swallowing their whistle because they don't want
to be the ref crew that that through throughout three
or four pilations the Saint and.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
We actually saw that in Game two. A man and
Jillen got three fouls in the first half and they
didn't come that close to folling out in the second half.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yeah, because listen, that's that's not what the NBA wants.
And then what reads me to another rant that I
want to have, which is I am so sick and
tired of Warriors fans victimizing themselves. Like I know, I
know they have the the I know they have the
what's it called the main character syndrome into which I

(23:35):
think it's what I usually call it of the NBA.
They think that everything's about them. Listen, Steph Curry is
being hugged on these screens at the same time the
refs are allowing your guys to set the most insane
moving screens as they always have. The only difference now
is that typically you get away with it and there's

(23:57):
no counterpart. And now that they're along, you're moving screens.
Not I feel kind of fair because they're allowing it
from both sides. It's it's physicality, they're allowing it. That's fine.
Now it's an even playing field for your in fiet
existence as basketball fans, because we know none of you
were fans before the Warriors for the Earth, you have
been favored for your entire existence.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Also, in game one, those clips that went viral of
Steph's defense on Jalen and attributing that to Jalen having
a bad night. Steph was fouling him the rockets. No,
he's a mismatch, but he's not as much of a
mismatch if he can be handsy and bumped a little
bit to overcome his lack of size and physicality. But
the reps were allowing it, and that's fine. That's the playoffs.

(24:39):
I get it. But then you can't turn around and
cry on the other end. That's the quote that he
may had post game. If it happens for you on
one end, you can't turn around and cry on the
other end. Warriors fans, they want the best of playoff
physicality on one end, but they want the regular season
rules on the other end, that's just not how it works.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
Yeah, understand. And if you go through the specific good
that everybody's talking about, the one where Steph makes a
three and Frednwet's kind of touching him and he's like
kind of lean trying to draw a weird foul and
everybody's saying that, oh that was that should have been
a three and one, Listen to him. If you look
at that exact clip that is not a single group

(25:17):
of more than three frames in which Kevon Looney is
standing in the same place like he is moving throughout
the entire clip. He starts moving one the four step
comes to him, and he's still moving by the time
Stet's shooting the ball I gets It's almost in the
same moving screenze I had ever seen. Like he's driving
into Revenet's body as Steph is shooting like it's not

(25:40):
like that clip does not show what you think the
clip's showing. And this isn't. Besides that, I actually don't
even hate the whistle on specific plays or over the
course of the game. The whistle I'm currently hating is
that Draymond gets to poke every single bear and nobody
can pope through him. On right last game in specific

(26:01):
was insane, Like Dylan Brooks got the foul on it
a man Thompson got a foul on something insane where
you know a man has hands on Raymond, he's trying,
he's trying to fight through a screen, and Draymond kind
of like throws his hands up and throws a man
like that. That's just insane overly, you know, aggressive Draymond
type shit. It makes no sense that even within more

(26:27):
physical rules, every benefit of the doubt goes to Draymon,
Like it's he's legitimately the player I hate the most
ever since I started watching basketball. The double standards insane.
The hypocrisy is insane from him and from the rest
of the Warriors, Like, this is the dirtiest player I

(26:48):
have ever seen in my entire life. It's not Zaza,
It's not who everyone it's not. It's obviously not Dylan Brooks.
I don't know how Nick Krai got that one. It's
not I'm even trying to think about. It's not Grayson Allen,
it's it's it's none of these guys. It's literally Draymond Green.
You can put up a high light wheel, you can

(27:10):
put out a bigger highlight level of him, of their
de plays of him, that he can just have a
highlight real in general of him at all, even if
include defense, Like it's insane and it's going to keep
that's going to keep being an issue. But I actually
kind of don't hate it because that fuels our team.
And we've seen throughout the season these types of things
fuel or team. This is a team that thrives on

(27:32):
that negativity. This is a team that thrives on the
on the on that confrontation. And I think as as
you know, as the as these games go along, the
other problem, the problem for the Warriors is Draymond has
a lot of guys he has to pick fights with
trying to try and foul one out. Like let's imagine
in any given game, dy One Brooks gets thrown up

(27:53):
by a weird it gets rejected, not that rather than ejective,
basically the same thing. But on a on a fight
with Jaymon Green, guess what, you're still screwed. We still
have Tories and men Thompson, even Jillian Greens been playing
great defense. Or series will get into these specifics, you know,
as we go on to the pod, but guess what

(28:14):
this is not a contender paying maximiny to three stars
and has one good role player that in guard, the
one that's in guard, Stefph Cord. This is not This
is not Marcus smart than the Celtics. This is not
uh I guess Lavon that don't really they have a
lot of good differences as well, But this is not
one of those exacts. This is not p J. Tucker
bikon on those on those on those Rockets teams like

(28:36):
this is not your one good perimeter defender. Rockets have
a lot to throw at you if you want to,
if you want to risk getting yourself rone out, I
guarantee your it's a much bigger ons for the Words
to lose you then it is for the Rockets to
lose any individual of these guys out there that are
playing great defense on you. So, just as far as
officiating those I don't think it's been that egreagious. I

(28:57):
think there's been some bad calls going both ways. I
think it's just been incredibly lopsided on all of the
kind of skirmish type things between Draymond and the guys,
or Draymond just gets the benefit of without every single time.
Besides that, I can't really complain. They a lot of
physicality they Jalen Brings was getting roughed up. Obviously, Albron

(29:18):
Doung is always getting bodied up in the post. Obviously
you're playing physical. But on the other side, we are
getting to hug Staff and even even Jimmy Butler haven't
been shooting the demand free throws he typically shoots, and
they're allowing us to play physical on him. And there
there's a specific player on my mind. I think it
was early. I think it was actually early game two

(29:38):
where Jimmy just kind of tarts to pay the foul
and goes up for a middering shot and like this is,
you know, kind of a twelve footer where he goes
up for the middering shot and he's clearly trying to
draw a foul but doesn't call it any hair airballs
a medi which is kind of unheard up for Jimmy.
So they're letting like they're not even calling those all

(30:01):
these calls. I do think that there's been both ways,
some three point landing area calls that should have especially
especially for the Jailen last game. I think Keilen had
like a couple of them where I'm like, well, dude,
this guy's he made one of them and he missed
the other where they're clearly undercutting him. He's getting hacked
up to Yeah, yeah, it's not hand to hand. It's

(30:24):
the entire like he's shooting and after he shoots, his
arms getting hit Like, it's not hand to hand. They're
not high fighting. But anyways, I didn't I didn't even
complain about that because I understand that they could have
called a lot of other stuff on the other on
the other side as well. It's just the managing of
dreamond dream stamper that's been triggering me, especially because it

(30:48):
I live terrified every single game that is gonna hurt
someone seriously. Then It's been that way forever, regular season
at all. I always hate playing the Warriors because I
never know how the team's going to look like at
at you know, at the end of the game. The
only parallel I can kind of make to it is

(31:09):
how terrified I was when the Texan is going to
play against the Cats in New York. It's like it's
a surface Yeah, I'm like, listen, this is I'm terrified
that these guys are gonna get hurt. I'd rather just
forfeit the goddamn game and nobody gets hurt. So how
it happened with the Texans. We saw Draymond injerre KPK
a few a few seasons a couple of seasons ago.

(31:31):
Like I just I truly think we're going to be
Dolarriors in six. We take out and it for players.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
By the way, the elephant in the room is obviously
the injury that did happen. We'll see as far as
the severity Jimmy Butler. But I mean, first off, the
folks blaming a man are just absolutely silly. There's nothing
malicious about that at all. And if you look at
the overhead view, if you look at when the action
actually started, a men is going down before Butler has

(32:04):
even committed to going in the air for that ball.
There's contact from both Draymond and Steven Adams on a
men's leg. And you can argue, what's funny about this?
People are trying to tie it into the whole narrative
on physicality. I would actually argue that it's the reverse.
They were so tight with the whistle early in the game,
and that's part of the frustration, is that it feels

(32:25):
like sometimes from quarter to quarter, half to half. They
let him play sometimes then they tighten up or vice versa.
Early in the game, both the Men and Dylan had
two fouls. Both teams were in the bonus, and so
I think when the Men felt that contact, he went
down thinking that it would get two free throws for
the Rockets. Just as fate would have it, he ended

(32:45):
up going into Jimmy's life. He wasn't even looking when
he went down, and Jimmy went up to try and
secure the ball, and that made the fall all the
more brutal. And so just you know, wrong place, wrong time,
bad luck. Rockets fans understand it. Just all you need
to say is Chris Paul twenty eighteen. And everyone knows
this is competitive sports. This stuff can happen. So there's

(33:07):
nothing dirty with that play at all. I think, if anything,
you could argue that maybe a men was selling it
a little bit too much to get a foul, and
that he went down a little too easily. But the
Warriors fans aren't complaining when it happens on the other
end and their guys are getting fouls, and a Men
and Delan are in foul trouble. So this just sort
of comes with the territory. And as far as Butler

(33:29):
moving forward, again, we're recording this late Thursday night. We
have not gotten clarification just yet. My guess is that
unless it's really severe, he's going to play because he's
a gamer. But honestly, I'm cautiously optimistic. I think you've
got to be very careful in extrapolating the minutes with
Butler to the minutes without Butler from Game two, because

(33:52):
I think there were a lot of advantages the Warriors
had after Jimmy went out. You know, the Rockets had
not seen Jonathan Mingo or Pat Spencer yet, and so
they did some things that were very difficult or very
different from what the Warriors role players did in game one,
and so now they aren't the shiny new toys. The

(34:13):
Rockets have seen them, they will game plan for them. Also,
the Warriors shot really well from three in Game two
on high volume seventeen to forty three, basically forty percent
on forty three attempts. That's as good as you can
reasonably expect, even for a team with Steph Curry. So
while they'll be better with Jimmy back, I don't think

(34:34):
the shooting from game two is sustainable. It also might
be aided a little bit by the fact that the Rockets,
playing with a fifteen to twenty point lead, didn't have
quite the intensity they usually do, simply because of the
huge advantage and being in strong position to win the
game no matter what. And then when Jimmy does come
back again, I'd be very surprised if he doesn't play,
But if he's eighty percent instead of one hundred percent,

(34:57):
that could be a pretty big difference. And so I
wanted to touch on the Butler play and get your
thoughts on, you know, not just what happened, because clearly
it's a talking point in these two off days between
game two and game three, but also the implications of
potentially having a limited Butler moving forward because you know,
him coming back. Yeah, it'll affect the game some. I'm

(35:18):
sure he's still a very good player. Playoff Jimmy is
a thing. He's very good in game one. It makes
it harder to trap Steph Curry aggressively when Jimmy's out there,
and that played into Steph having six turnovers in game two.
Butler coming back, assuming he does, would help them some.
But I don't think it would be as dramatic as
a lot of Warriors fans will want to think. Because
you look at that Game two offensive output, and even

(35:38):
with the hot shooting, it'still only scored ninety four points.
There's a lot that goes into how the Warriors are
likely to perform in game three. In Game four. Should
also mention, by the way, the Rockets had very recent
experience playing in San Francisco earlier this month. That game
they won by ten on April six. So Jimmy Butler
coming back, assuming he does, would help the Warriors. I

(35:59):
hope he does. You don't want to see anyone get hurt.
It wasn't a malicious play, but don't want to see
anyone injured downe the lass. I would love to beat
the Warriors at full strength, but I guess Number one,
it remains to be seen exactly what version of Jimmy
the Warriors had if he comes back. And two, assuming
he does, I don't know relative to Game two that
it would be quite as drastic as the narrative will

(36:22):
have you believe, based on how well the Warriors shot
the ball in Game two and based on the fact
that the Rockets had not accounted for some of the
role players that went in Spencer and Kaminga chiefly among them,
in a way that's going to be different as the
series moves along.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
So as long as the man Butler thaying, it's just
completely blown out of proportion by just Warriors, like I
was on rented, seeing the reactions from other teams fans,
everybody agrees it's not at their deplay obviously, you know
it's it's both not at their deplay and Dreamond didn't
push a man Thompson into Butler, which is kind of
the too extreme, Like there's people saying a man's thirty

(36:58):
Inma's people saying, oh a man, oh Raymond's thirteenness came
back to haunt him, Sneider, No, Steven Adams is boxing
out and someone I can't remember who was boxing up Adams.
Whoever's boxing up Adams is pushing him backwards, which pushes him.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
Your men's Thompson, I think it was Pods. Yeah, Adam
are fighting for position and then Adams touches Raymond. It's
just a chain reaction and by then gone down a
little bit easily to try and get the foul. But
there's nothing malicious there at all.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Listen, I don't even I don't I don't even to
agree with that. I think obviously Adams is pushing him
into the side and then a man's kind of pencil
between Adams's body and Draymond's leg which is in front
of him, and if you any and he tries to jump,
and when he jumps, he just completely lose control, Like
if you were to make it a very foul, he
would not foul him with his face like it's just

(37:49):
it's sick. And so yeah, it's just unfortunate obviously, But
as far as moving forward, there's an argument to be
made that an eighty percent to me, but it's actually
probably not better than no Kimmy Butter. I'm gonna say this,
and maybe he's gonna drop forty on us, but there's
an argument to be made because we have the defenders

(38:10):
and if Kimmy is not one hundred percent being able
to be in physical and he doesn't have the burst,
because Jimmy's game is a lot about angles, and when
you look at the guys from Martem that defend them,
it's actually curious because it's pretty consistent who's able to
stop them and who isn't a man can stop them.
They don't can stop them. Even Shengun can stop them.

(38:31):
And those guys are kind of probably our smartest defender
from an angle standpoint. The guy who can't seem to
stop him Star Easan, who is a guy who realizes
a lot more on length and effort rather than approaching
you know, the one on one defense from a correct
positioning standpoint. He relies on his length a lot to
recover and his quickness, but he gives up angles a

(38:53):
little bit too easily. And that's why I think Jimmy
has probably an easier time scoring on him than any
of it but three, including Kingo, who I'm going to
get into. And so if he doesn't have that person,
that's more that's one Morgan that can offend him. Even
Fredan Lee does a solid job on Kimmy at least
stopping him and bumming him off his spot early on
and allowing help to come. It's probably mainly because of that.

(39:15):
It's it's just understanding angles, and but what kind of
gets but only needs to get a shoulder in, you know,
on on the right spot to get enough you know,
leverage to go up for a shopping and make a
it And so from from that perspective, I think any
percent Butler might not even be.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
It's not a drastic upgrade on what we saw in
game two.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
Yeah, because I'm will cominga typically does really well against us,
and and he didn't last game, and he's obviously, you know,
not informed because they stat him a bunch. But it
still scares me because he is that type of tough
shot maker with a lot more speed than Jimmy has
and and if he's hot, and his willingness to shoot

(39:58):
threes up as well, it kind of scares me. The
variums there, right, because stepburd can keep him in a game,
and if you have Coming as the X factor, you know,
and that kind of I'm not necessarily scared that I'm
wary of it. So yeah, as far as a teamMy
that's that's what I meant.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
As far as the Rockets, because we've talked about a
lot of the Warriors players and how Houston has defended them,
which that's been the most consistent element of the first
two games and really the entire Rockets Warrior season series
going back through the five regular season ones as well.
We now have a seven game sample and the Rockets
have defended them at an elite level. So that's the story.

(40:41):
That's what we're talking about. What they do against Steph,
what they do against Jimmy if he plays, what the
Warriors shooting looks like, what their alternatives are, how limited
these role players are. By the way pods with the
food poisoning. He could be better than Game two, but
it's not like he was all that impactful in Game one,
so I don't necessarily view his return unless he has

(41:02):
a hot shooting game as being that meaningful. But I
mean the caveat of if he has a hot shooting
game quite literally applies to anybody. So we're talking more
about defense because that's where the Rockets, that's the primary
advantage this season, and if they win this series, that's
probably where they're going to do it. I guess defense
and rebounding there's often an overlap there, and that leads

(41:25):
me into the storyline I want to get into from
an individual Rockets perspective, which is all per Inched and Goon. Look.
Game one, the stats were there, the team result wasn't.
Obviously it wasn't his fault, but twenty six points, nine
rebounds over sixty percent shooting. The one question was, hey,
was some of the defense the Warriors sort of giving
up the one on ones and letting him cook Draymond

(41:48):
at times to prevent getting threes, And we saw in
Game two not really. It just took the Rockets making
a few more of those threes and Jalen getting in
rhythm and next thing you know, he's got eighteen attempts
and he's doing it in good efficiency as well, because
I don't think the Warriors dramatically changed up their coverages
from one game to the next. The Rockets just needed

(42:08):
a couple of guys to get in rhythm. And I
bring up that context to say Shingoon has been excellent
and I don't see any reason to think that it's
going to change. My biggest source of optimism going into
this series. I said it on our preview pod last week.
I think it's a good matchup for all per Inchion Goon.
I don't think it's a great matchup because certainly the
Warriors with the stray mind at the flyve and the spacing,

(42:31):
there's some things they do that especially when the Rockets
play double big and want to go zone. With the
Warriors having Steph in the game. That can be problematic,
but the Rockets and Shingoon specifically are just so dialed
in on everything the Warriors want to do on both
ends of the court. They have played each other so

(42:51):
much this year and in high leverage situations, there's no
element of surprise all pro and Shing Gooon knows what
he wants to do, what he needs to do, and
so because of that, I don't have any concerns about
how it's going to translate on the road. I trust
him assuming he's not in foul trouble in this matchup,
and he hasn't been in foul trouble really in either game.

(43:13):
And I think these first two games, first off, give
the guy his flowers. He's stepping up, and even though
the efficiency wasn't quite there in game two he didn't
finish quite as well. The Rockets were plus twenty eight
in his thirty seven minutes and he led the team
with sixteen boards. And the Rockets are out rebounding the
Warriors by an average of fifteen in each game. We
expected that to be the case. It is holding up.

(43:33):
That's a big part of the formula for how the
Rockets continue to limit the Warriors to mid nineties and scoring,
and really all I need to do is score one
hundred plus and have one guy go off in Game two,
it with Jalen, and that's probably going to be enough
to win because of the defense, but also because of
the rebounding and Chengoon's leading the rebounding, but he's you know,
having a vital role defensively as well, certainly one on

(43:56):
one defense against Draymond Green a lot of the time,
but the rebounding is related with the defense as well.
And just overall, Shangoon has played at a very, very
high level this series. He's played like an all star.
He's stepped up in the playoffs, and that's exactly what
you want to see from your young guys. That you
try and learn about them, you stress test them under
the bright lights, as we've talked about all year. But

(44:18):
the thing with Shangoon that stands out the most to me,
and perhaps we should have seen it coming. The questions
that have always been there about the defense and how
he's going to hold up in a playoff setting, as
long as he embraces the moment, and I think that's
always been the case with Shangoon. If you pay attention

(44:39):
he gets up for these five time games, he has
that competitive streak to him. The focus is going to
be there, and even if teams hunt you a little
bit more, which at times the Warriors have tried to
do in this series, and if the Rockets are fortunate
enough to advance, I'm sure other teams will as well.
It's offset by the fact that, like the eighty two

(45:00):
game grind, he is fully dialed in on the defensive end.
And some of this, Let's be clear, eighty two games
is a marathon, and what's asked of modern NBA big
men is incredible, So some of these limitations defensively, some
of it's just his player archetype, but also modern NBA bigs.
There's matchups and often in the same game where you

(45:21):
have to bang with big men and you also have
to go out on the perimeter and defend in space,
and sometimes it varies from one possession to the next.
So especially at the center position, it's very rare that
you have a player that you don't worry about in
the regular season from time to time, especially because there's
so many games. You have these stretches with three and four, nights,

(45:42):
five and seven, and everybody takes a few possessions off
and so especially for a guy at that position. And
keep in mind, we haven't seen the Rockets in the
playoffs before, so the regular season is all we have
to go on. It's easy to wonder is this guy
gonna be you know, Monte Sabonis, Karl Anthony Towns, insert

(46:02):
defensively limited big man here who you know raises your
floor but has a clear ceiling. I know it's just
two games, but it feels like defensively he's at a
different level than those guys. He is capable of more.
A lot of it comes down to focus, and you know,
he's the one guy for the Rockets that win. The
series shifts next week to every other day instead of
you know, the big gap between games. If you do

(46:24):
worry about that dynamic a little bit. But I just
think that the one question with him, how is he
going to hold up in the playoffs? It's been offset
and then some by the fact that he's just so
much more dialed in defensively. The focus is there. He's
not a defensive liability. Offensively, we know what he does

(46:45):
as a scorer, as a playmaker, and I just I
could not be impressed could not be more impressed, excuse
me by what he's done in these two games. Game
one it speaks for itself. In Game two plus twenty
eight and thirty seven minutes, that's just phenomenal. So all
princh and good, let's get the guy his flowers. To me,
you know, Jalen Green is the ceiling razer, and he
did some things in game two that were really special

(47:07):
and no one else on this team can do. But
all for instant gooon. To me, he's been the MVP
for the Rockets and really the MVP of this series
through two games right to me.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
And obviously this is subject to how the next few
games go, but this completely changes the auto Crowl Brinsingen
for me, and and you know, and then people who
follow the pot know that the biggest question with al
Bron shing Gun for me was always going to be
how those defense fair in the playoffs. It's been that
for a long time. There's obviously you obviously have the

(47:41):
two extreme you have Jokic, who's the best player in
the world, and you have Sabonis, who is an All
Star who's just useless in the playoffs. And I've been
saying that Singun's better than the Savonas for a while
now since they since the Kings lost that series to
the Warriors. I did not, even the most optimistic version
of me, did not expect apron Chingen to be as

(48:03):
good defensively as he was. He has been absolutely elite
to me. He has been a better defender this postseason
the entire season for example. That's he's probably been behind
the man and maybe Dylan the best defender I've seen
on the court for US disposed season. That's how good

(48:24):
he is me. He's been tasked with playing the toughest
roll on offense. He's been tasked with with judging when
to stunt, when to blitz, went to play drop, went
to full out switch. He's done all of them at
an excellent level.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
He has been.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
He has times where he's been on an island with
Jimmy Butler and he's just gardened him.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
He has been able to.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Obviously, Jimmy is kind of easy for the setter because
it doesn't really have the pull up three potential, but
he has been during the three in the series, the Warriors,
being a small team, got to test you in the
perfect way to test Apurningum's defensive ability, which is they're
playing small, they're spreading the floor, they're as open chingun

(49:09):
is being asked to run around the lot and to
make this in and to make snap with the snap
decisions basically all the time defensively, and the way he
has answered has been absolutely insight. It to me, completely
changes the outlook on open Chingland. That combined with this
performance offensively that I'll get into after talking about his defense,

(49:32):
is just makes it so to me he is probably
and obviously a man. Was this for me before, clearly
the one a guy, the guy you built around, this
guy has there is not a liability defensively. We'll see
how he does against you no bigger biggs as far

(49:53):
as teams that get more downhill, and how he will
do as far as protecting the room. But he has
made he has generally made me confident that it is
genuinely possible to play him at the four in the playoffs. Obviously,
in your season you don't want to do that because
you don't want this train on him mentally and physically

(50:13):
over an eighty two game series A seasons as you
as you pointed out Risley's hope, but I would I
think it I would be comfortable with him. That's how
he's been. I'll be confident with him playing the four,
so much so that even he struggles in a second
round series against the Wolves with Gobet, for example, although
Gobert is really really limited offensively, it makes me confident

(50:36):
enough that worst case scenario, you'll play a big next
to him and he'll be more than five. That's the
level of ability on the perimeter that he's shown to
me defensively, like completely complete kind of paradigm changer for
for Auburn Lingon. And then offensively he has just been fearless.

(50:58):
Like actually, I'm saying he has a few turnovers, but
they're not turnovers from you know, brain that place. The
turnovers he has is when he's trying to post the
Raymond and Draymond kind of shoves them and he will
just control the ball like that's that's just Traymond. That's
not gonna happen, I guess other teams. And besides that,
the playoff shot for him is the photo, and the

(51:18):
photo has been going going in at an incredibly good rate.
And I know people can argue that the field goal
percentage in the second game isn't the best the field
goal percentage in the second game is insanely insanely flawled
stat because there's one play where in one play in
tip like in tip tries, he has four misses in
the make and so in that one play, if you

(51:41):
take that those away, he have a I think six
to eleven shooting game, which is fun. So his efficiency
is obviously tanked in the two games, simple size. But
in Game one, nobody had it going nobody and it
wasn't like he was scouting hot. He was just willing
the Rockets back to the game and willing the Rockets

(52:01):
not be down by more than what they were at
those points. It really felt like a superstar moment where
nobody else on the team has it and he was
dragging us, keeping us close, the same way Steph Curry
was doing for the Warriors. In Game two, theft Wars
had any intense of a comeback, it was because of
Steph Curry, and they only were able to put us

(52:24):
away in Game one because of Steph Curry. That was
what al Bernsingan was doing for us. He had everything away.
The Warriors were seen to give them trouble, and he
has it is very intentional for him. The way he
is playing. It's not circumstance. It's not what the Warriors
are willing to give up. No, it's what he's forcing

(52:46):
them to take, like he is imposing his will offensively,
and it's just it's magnificent. It's magnificent to see like
he is our star player. He has been these two games.
And to me, there are no questions. He's obviously made
two three so which is kind of insane out of
what four attempt or something close to it. But to me,

(53:07):
that's not that's not even a question. He has not
left a single question to be answered throughout these two games.
And if this keeps up going forward against a team
that's basically built an allow to test his limitations or
his supposable limitations defensively, I could not be happier with
how Brinchington has played. Clearly the best player across the

(53:30):
two games, even in the second game where he had
acting seventeen and seventeen, Even in that game where jil
Grin was clearly the star because he had thirty eight points,
he was probably ninety five percent as impactful as Kalen was,
as good as Kalen was, that's how important his defense
is for us, And I think I honestly think if

(53:53):
you put if I honestly think playing small ball with
Jabari at the five right now is the worst look
defensively against a small Vault team Michael Warriors than it
is to play without permthing. And I genuinely think Schengun's
making better decisions than what your body would have made
in his position with much better physical tools. That I

(54:15):
think that's the biggest testament that I can make to
how well he's playing defensively. It's I would literally rather
play him than a small wall five when playing when
when playing a small voltem that's how good it is.
Me So yeah, And that's just I do not have
the words. I do not speak English well enough to
describe how proud I am involve from tengo and how

(54:35):
good he's been and how much he's proven to me
through these two games, and I hope and I'm and
I'm confident that he will continue to do so the
rest of the series and on and on if we
if we make it to the second round.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
And his ability to play the four is so important too,
because Steven Adams has an offensive rebounder is just so
vital for a team that has the shooting limitations. You
nearly stole Game one even with everything going wrong, in
large part because of Steven Adams, and that only works
for an extended stretch if you can run Shingoon at
the four as well and still have his offensive ability

(55:11):
to be an engine a hub for this team, you
need Steven Adams as something of a you know, an
offset for the poor shooting in that even if you're
not shooting the ball well, well, if you get two
three opportunities per possession, eventually you should make one. And
so that's why in the macro, Steven Adams is so important.
But you need the versatility from all para in Shingoon

(55:33):
to enable that, and he has shown that and then
some As we wind down the pod, I want to
transition to obviously talking about Jalen and what change between
game one and game two. Certainly some of it is
just the make shots adjustment that Imo Udoka said before
game two. A lot of shots they missed in game
one went in in Wednesday's game two. But I also

(55:55):
think in this will make for sort of a natural transition.
The two big adjustments that I saw. Part of it
was Shingoon facilitating more. We saw Schngoon get his teammates
involved more in game two, not because he changed his approach,
but because the Rockets were playing with the lead. It
wasn't as easy for the Rockets or for the Warriors

(56:17):
excuse me, to concede the one on one opportunities. And
so game one we saw Shanoon cooking, but it was tough,
especially with Curry making threes to catch back up with
Shangoon largely making twos. But if you're playing from level
or in front, yeah, you don't want all for in
Shangoon to get going. So you're gonna commit a few

(56:39):
more resources and that's gonna get more ball movement and
that's gonna benefit everyone. And certainly Jalen Green was one
of the big beneficiaries in game two. And it's reflecting
the box score. Schaangoon had one assist in game one,
seven assist in game two. Don't think his approach changed
that much. It's just the Warriors defended a little bit
differently because they were trailing, naturally opened up more opportunities.

(57:02):
So I think, you know, playing from in front is
a big benefit to any NBA team. I think it's
especially so for one that has offensive limitations like this
one I think that Orchard Jalen's benefit, and the other
I think the higher pace. Even with the Rockets in
the fourth quarter trying to sort of dribble the air
out of the ball because they had a comfortable lead

(57:22):
late in the game, they still had ninety five possessions
in Game two, which is slow for the season as
a whole, but it's a decent bit faster than they're
eighty nine in Game one, And again I think the
ninety five probably would have been ninety seven to ninety
eight if the fourth quarter had been more normal from
in the sense that the Rockets hadn't been just trying

(57:44):
to burn clock with a huge lead, knowing that they
had the game in the bag unless they do something stupid.
So it was a decent bit faster in Game two,
a lot of it because they didn't wait until the
final five, six seven seconds of the shot clock to
make their move, which sort of boxes you in because
there's only so many things you can do. There's only
so many passes you can make when the clock is

(58:05):
mining down. Instead, when you start your move with ten, eleven,
twelve seconds left, you have more options. There's more things
the defense has to account for, and so that's what
I saw from Jalen Green. He looked just more decisive,
is how I would phrase it. And obviously making shots
helps with that, but I just think there was a
clear tactical adjustment to go a little bit earlier, and

(58:26):
some of it, you know, he's feeling out the defense.
In the playoffs, there's just a constant game of adjusting
to adjustments and so on and so forth. But I
just thought, besides making more shots, that's the obvious. The
two things that stood out to me for Jalen in
Game two would be benefiting from Shingoon, which largely has
to do with the Warriors defending a little bit differently

(58:48):
since they're not playing with a huge lead and so
take away there try to play from in front. It's
easier said than done, but I think it's especially big
for this team. And then secondly, the pace of play.
I think, you know, any transition opportunities are very important
for the Rockets given their athleticism advantage. But beyond that,
in the half court there are degrees of bad. We
know this is a below average offensive team and the

(59:09):
half court, but if they get going a little bit
earlier that can make all the difference and give them
more options, make the Warriors account for more things. I
thought that was what really changed between game one and
game two. I think the possession data reflects it, and
I think that's something that needs to be a point
of a physis moving forward in game three on Saturday
night and beyond Powoll. What did you see as far

(59:31):
as the changes for Jalen Besides the obvious of more
shots went in.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
It seems obvious that a large part of it was
shots going in, and the second part was there was
a There was a clear shift in energy and in
confidence from what Kailn did last game from convert to
first game. First game he couldn't get by Steph Gury.
First game, he wouldn't golf for screens. Basically all his
possessions were straight ISOs. First game he shot from memory

(01:00:00):
maybe one step back three and this game he was
a lot more comfortable. Obviously, you know, I had an
early three day and usually that helps him get killing.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Ye had only the cyrus hemps from three in game one,
had eighteen in game two, to your point, and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
It felt like he was not forcing the issue driving
to the paint, which like it or not, there's still
a weakness for him finishing around the rims. The weakness
he's not strong enough and the Brothers are not calling
those fouls. And to Emay's credit, he did kind of
set a little bit of a precedent by the teting
Kalon and calling that talent that came to Keillen those
two free throws very early on, and to me, that

(01:00:36):
was a master moved from Email, a mastermind moved from
Emay as well. But then besides that, to me, to me,
it was mostly just a confident thing and they it
felt like Jayalen was relocating more on the perimetered He
got a lot of catching shoot shots from it, and
it felt to me like Kaylon Like even in the
first game when Kiln's was in the game, the Rockets

(01:00:58):
were better offensively, if you will get the even though
he wasn't making any shots. Because the Warriors, the way
the Warriors de friend, they are giving Gallen a lot
of attention and having Gaiven on by itself because he
creates that level of kind of disturbance in the Warriors
defense is a benefit. But you need him to be

(01:01:19):
making those shots, and he was making shots this time around,
because if he's not in the game, and if you
have take him out, even if you put it on
holiday in, they're not going to respect him as much.
They're going to play a lot more one on one.
They're going to play, and they're not going to help
and overreact as much. And when he wants playing confident
even if the shots aren't going in, there's two possible optims.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
If he's playing Conference and he's getting those shots and
he's missing them, it's probably best for the Rockets to
let them play through those myths because the offense without
him just doesn't work if you're playing even if you're
playing Shanghun Amn, Fredan Vleet Tarrees and and Dylan Brooks
unless still usually hot from from three or or has

(01:02:03):
the scoring going which.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
And by the way, Jalen did have some big half
court buckets last night ISO creations that felt like the
Warriors were getting a little bit closer that sort of
kept them at bay. Sorry for interacting, just wanted to
not highlight that with Dylan.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
Yeah, that's no, that's a great point, and I absolutely agree,
but we need employer that's warping the defense and Galen
is doing that, whether whether you like him or not.
When you watch the games, you can tell that there's
a difference one he's on the court versus one is,
and even if the shot isn't going down, just the
way the offensive possessions play out. But that being said,
I think he was making like great reads. I don't

(01:02:39):
think he forced the single shot. Maybe one shot was forced.
He was taking good shots. You have to adjust your
meter for what a good shot is to a playoff
setting right to what the games are. You can you know,
you can't have one standard the and a fight across
the board here. So for me, a step back three
from Jalen in this context where nobody can score, it's

(01:02:59):
probably good shot. If he's making them at even a
thirty three percent rate, probably a good shot. These games
are barely scratched one hundred points. The words haven't scratched
one hundred points yet, and so it's just you need
you need Joan to keep playing with that level of confidence.
And you know, I don't. I wanted to mention something

(01:03:20):
just so we don't just talk about Kilan and open.
Thing on Zilan was awesome, right, I guess I will
say one more thing on tailing. Sorry for the confusion,
which is the game he had last night wasn't just
a normal jail and pop off game. And it might
sound ridiculous, but Jalen had probably his best game as
a Rocket in the playoffs in an absolutely must win game.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
He defended, He had six assess he did everything the
Hoffle everything you could possibly want.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
Yes, but yeah, and but something that I really want
to hammer home. The Rockets could not, under any circumstance
lose that game. The series is over. If they was
the gun pressure, ye like they're not like they if
they lose that game, they're going to be extremely nervous
going to the game three. We saw how Game one
went where when they were nervous at home or away

(01:04:12):
at Golden State. If you lose, you just one hundred
percent out. This game was it must win. This game
was the most important game Kilan has played in his
entire life. It was also the best game Kiyalen has
played the entire life. And I cannot emphasize enough for
both him and sing how kind of encouraging that is.

(01:04:36):
Especially you know, I'm not going to get into Kiln
into James Harden and how he ended up performed in
the playoffs or didn't you know, I think a lot
of that talk is overdone because he was better than
given credits.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Bottom line.

Speaker 3 (01:04:52):
Yeah, yeah, But but what what I was going to
get into is I think you can't argue that James
Harden had as a Rocket, had his best game of
his career in the playoffs. I would argue get hard
than was probably you know, ninety percent of himself in
the playoffs. What we just saw from Jalen Green was

(01:05:13):
the best game of his career, in the biggest game
of his career. And it wasn't like dumb kind of
they just don't be there. It was it wasn't like, oh,
they just they don't know what they don't know. They
don't know they're not supposed to be there, so there's
no pressure. No, we saw game one, the pressure was there.
They they were struggling with the pressure in game one,

(01:05:36):
and in game two they went complete game on in
the specific, but king On obviously was just as good.
But Jay in the specific went completely the other way.
This was the biggest game of his career. He played
the best game of his career in the biggest in
the biggest states that he had that he has faced
thus far, and to me that is so so so
important just because getting to the getting to the playoffs

(01:05:59):
is but it's a lot easier than having success in
the playoffs. You know, you can live with Jillan being
inconsistent for eighty two games if in the biggest games
he comes through with the playoffs, Like, I more than
find playing him max money or whatever he is making
to be inconsistent in the regular season. If I get
to the playoffs and in the games I needn't, he's

(01:06:21):
there because that's really hard to find, especially from a
star player. That from Dylan, and I apply that to
Jalen as a kind of a boost to his to
him as a player, as opposed to if he didn't,
if he wasn't able to be this good, you'd have
questions about, you know, him becoming a star. On the
other side of it all, from Shanglun, it's not he

(01:06:44):
performed in the the most important game of his career.
To me him with him, it's well, he's had two
important games and he's performed in bost of them, and
you know, perhaps he's consistently good. Obviously, being consistently great
is the best type of grade. But if that's not possible,
if if you're great in the big moments, that goes
a long way as well. That's what I'm trying to say,

(01:07:05):
and that's that's what I am trying to get it
at with feeling, I guess.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
All right to finish out the pod. We can do
quick hitterers on other players throughout both rosters, really just
key variables as we shift to San Francisco for Game
three on Saturday and Game four on Monday. For me,
I said it going into the series, I'm still at
some point and maybe I'll go down with the ship,
but I'm expecting Fred Benfleet to break out. He hasn't yet,

(01:07:34):
but the shots have been there. Even in Game two
it wasn't nearly as Claricum because he didn't take thirteen threes.
The volume wasn't there, but he's still shot about twenty
five percent overall. I think low twenties, from three to
something along those lines. He's getting good shots. I watched
him warm up. It's not like he's forgotten how to
shoot at some point, and perhaps on the road. We

(01:07:54):
know he's delivered at Golden State in the past. The
close out Game six of the twenty nineteen Finals. He's
getting good shots. At some point, I think Fred's gonna
step up. He needs to. I don't think they can
win four games with him playing at the level he
has the first two games. But I think that's a
lot of meat that's being left on the bone Aman Thompson.
He's got to get going at some point. Offensively. The

(01:08:15):
defense has been there, but I think a lot of
it just foul trouble. Game one, there were definitely nerves.
He didn't finish as well as he usually does. Game two,
he started off very well offensively, but he missed most
of the first half socially after picking up the third
on that chimmy sequence, and by the time he came
back in the second half, we obviously weren't gonna run
too much through him when Jalen was clearly having a

(01:08:35):
huge night and other guys were in rhythm. So the
bottom line, through two games, they have not seen that
much from a men Thompson offensively. I think that's something
that on the road will probably see a little bit
more of. He's capable of more, and so that's why
I'm pretty optimistic. You've got two guys Fred and Amn
and I'm not saying there are reasons to panic. In
both cases. The processes sound, but in terms of the results,

(01:08:59):
there's meat that's like on the bone. Those are guys
that I'm expecting to get a little bit more from
on the road, even if for one reason or another,
Jalen and Shongoon aren't quite as good as they were
in these first two games, well second game in Jalen's case.
As far as Golden State, I mentioned it a couple
of times already, but one reason I'm not two phased

(01:09:19):
when you worry about a team built like the Warriors,
there's the old adage of role players shoot better at home.
I don't know if that's gonna apply, because they made
seventeen threes, they shot the ball at a high level
in Game two, and yet they still scored just ninety
four points. So I'm not necessarily worried about the Quinton
post Moses Moody types going off. What I do worry

(01:09:40):
about is an all time great in Staff having a
quarter like he did in that regular season finale against
the Clippers where he basically won it by himself, or
the two threes that he had late in the play
in game against Memphis to get them to the seventh seed,
and this first round series with the Rockets, So Steph Curry,
we know what the Rockets do over the balance of

(01:10:01):
forty eight minutes with the Men as the head of
the snake and a little bit of Tarry Easton Dylan
Brooks as well, but in high leverage moments with the
crowd spurring him on, I do worry a little bit.
Can the Rockets we know they have to win at
least one in San Francisco to win this series. Can
they absorb a turbo nuclear button? That's our good buddy

(01:10:22):
Stanford KP. Karthik prosad, that's his expression. Can they survive
a turbo nuclear stretch from Steph, which I think is
a little bit more likely in that building in front
of his own fans. That's the one variable and I'm
most worried about. And I think it's true even if
Jimmy Butler comes back. So those are my storylines, Powell,

(01:10:42):
what are you looking at? I'll leave it open ended
for both rosters, just quick hitting. Besides Jalen and Shongoon
key storylines to watch, and I guess besides Jimmy as well.
Over these next couple of games in San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (01:10:54):
Yeah, so first of all, our toots on the Curry thing,
you know, heck, I want to try my life luck here.
But to me, it's felt like Steph has already been
better than what he is supposed to be for the
shots he's been able. Yeah, to me, Steph has already
these two games, has already been a superhero. The only

(01:11:17):
problem is he's been a superhero consider because we have,
like we have played defense on him that would have
any normal player scoring under fifteen points, and because he
is Steph, he has scored the way he has scored
as long as the defense from Morgan stays the same.
I had I struggle to see Steph going off for fifty.

(01:11:40):
I think that's probably not impossible. But I think that's
really really unlikely.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
And maybe he's the type of guy that would be
hurt by the series as it gets deeper, going to
every other day. You know, one of the things you
hear a lot about when we talk about the April
six game where he had three points and one of
ten shooting, is oh, yeah, he's about And then it
was the third game in four nights for the Warriors,
and he was just out of juice and the Rockets
were rested well. As the series gets deeper and you

(01:12:07):
don't have these two days off in between games, and
they had I think four days off going into game one,
maybe it's a little bit more difficult even at home
for him to find that extra gear when he doesn't
have that recovery time between games that he's had between
the first couple.

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
Then, so my kind of my storyline is going in
the two ways we lose the series is if they
start calling touch fowls and we're sending Steph Corey to
the line fifteen twenty times a game, that's the type
of consistent scoring that we just can't feel with. And
if we can't play the level of defense that we
have played on Steph and completely changes the series. So
rev criteria, arm files and on physicality is one thing

(01:12:46):
that I'm scared of a well, other than that, it's
my X factor from the Warrior's standpoint is kaming Cominga
is gonna have to play here better. If they lose
the next game, they're going to have to try something
to some level of spark, and so I think will
probably try to implement coming up. As you know, we
gotta try to just throw everything at all and see
what's tax stype thing again. I guess I will went

(01:13:08):
into a lower level another X factor. And I called
this before he went off in the second half. I
call this during Game one. Is Quentin post he is
kind of the scheme breaker for us for defense, right
and if he is a forty percent don't know, high volume,

(01:13:30):
high volume for a big Obviously in the in the
regular season, he made a lot of Three's last cleft
game and the way, and you probably don't want to
switch the way you're defending. You gotta hope he misses
and you got to put him on the other end
because he's not a good defender whatsoever. And he files
a lot, and he like you can exploit him. And

(01:13:50):
even the Rockets, as struggling as they are and have
card defense offense, I mean, they have more than enough
tools to punish him being out there defensively. And then
as far as the Rockets go out of town, obviously
you have a ton of man. I struggle to see
a way for to me, there's two ways that nuclear
men can can exceed himself going forward in the series.

(01:14:11):
I don't think he's been that bad I think the
two ways that he hasn't shown us what he has
been the regular season is in generating turnovers uh and
and running the fast break him and Tari has not
generally we've carried it turnovers, But funnily enough to me,
it's it's mostly been Kaleen and Dylan and Thread and
shang Un not necessarily the two guys that were typically

(01:14:33):
were used to seeing generate those turnovers. So adding that
boost that the Terror Queens boost to our offense, more
so for to our offense than to our defense, is
would be a key factor. So that's one of the
ways the man can improve. And and the other is
it's just a massive swing. If he can make meither
in shots against the Celtics in that game where he

(01:14:56):
hit the game winner, Yeah, that that's the shot hit
he can generate against anybody at any time. If he
has the touch going, which he hasn't up to this point,
then that team is everything, because all of a sudden,
now you have a three headed market as far as
generating shots goes. If you can give the ball to
two a man, you can give the bottle jail, and
you can give the battle of Shingun and they can't
generate a shot that they can not reliably make. For

(01:15:19):
a man, that will be the middering shot, basically the
only shot he can get.

Speaker 2 (01:15:22):
It will.

Speaker 3 (01:15:23):
For Jalen, he can get any shot at will. It's
about making them. And and for Shingun, he's you know,
he's probably unless as long as Dreamon's on the floor,
he can probably. He probably can't get all the way
to the rim, but he can always get the hook
shots and the and the florater game going apparently the
threes as well. So obviously those are my two main storylines.

(01:15:46):
And then besides that, it's just Kenari and Jabari punish
people from the corner. So Tabari was huge, Jordan notary
Tario was huge in game two as far as making
those trees earlier on, and so that's another thing that
I'm looking forward to going to game three.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
Yeah, I completely agree getting that separation which Tari making
those threes early allowed the Rockets to do. That was
the difference. You know, Game one, the Rockets had a
few minutes of playing with the lead, but they lost
it in that sixteen to five stretch with Curry on
the bench and basically played for behind the rest of
the way, and it really impacted were both teams. The
way the rest of the game played out, with the

(01:16:25):
Warriors having a comfortable lead most of the way as
opposed to Game two with the Rockets playing from in front.
That really helps you offensively for a team that has
limitations in the half court, if you aren't trying to
play from behind, then it makes you less predictable, like
it makes the defense account for more things. It's good
for Hinoon, it's good for Jalen, it's good for everybody.

(01:16:48):
A team like the Rockets that has limitations is much
worse off if they are also predictable based on the score,
based on having to play catch up and try to
get threes at volume, and makes it much easier to
squeeze them the way the Warriors did in Game one.
I don't expect that to be the case moving forward,
because I think a lot of things about Game one
were unsustainable and at a bare minimum. If as long

(01:17:10):
as the Rockets are at least competitive in these games
and closed and I have not seen anything that suggests
the Warriors are capable of blowing the Rockets out, that
I think it can make for a much more diversified
approach for the Rockets that is much more difficult for
Sieve Kerr and the Warriors to defend. Anyway, that's where
we'll wrap things for tonight and we will be back
early next week. We'll see either between Game three and

(01:17:32):
Game four, between Game four and Game five, but we'll
have more insight as the series progresses. It will now
at least go five games with the series tied at
two after the first two between the Warriors and the Rockets.

Speaker 3 (01:17:43):
Travis Andrie, you're getting cooked by Nico Collins and you're
getting shut down by derekxtingtly.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
Have a good night. Here we go. And by the way,
Nico Collins made the first shot of Game two, so
things always look better when that celebrity first shot goes in.
Nico went up there, he knew what he was doing.
That's an athlete, and so yeah, that's at the right tone,
and yeah, we gotta make sure we get the appropriate
Houston sports athlete out there for Game five, which is

(01:18:09):
confirmed to take place next Wednesday night, April thirtieth. Thank goodness,
it will be a six to thirty start instead of
an eight to forty five start. That will hopefully make
next week's pod a lot more linear. I think both
Powlo and myself being sleep to five have been a
bit all over the board today. It's understandable based on
when the game ended, even later for Paolo and Portugal,

(01:18:31):
not that much later relative to me since I had
to file the story copy after the game. Whatever the case,
Game five in Houston at six thirty and the only
super late game will be the game four at nine
o'clock Pacific time on Monday night, So that's a little
thing to benefit from for Rockets fans over the next
few weeks. Monday will be the only late night in
this series. Game two, well, it should have been a

(01:18:53):
late night, but the porzingis bleeding situation made the game
start about ten minutes later than it was expected to,
and then all the replay reviews, all the chippy sequences
made it to where Gabe to dendlect eleven thirty Local time.
Then you had the post game and where you know it. Yeah,
I think all of Houston is on a little bit
at sleep today, so we'll try and get some rest
and hopefully the series having a few earlier games Saturday

(01:19:14):
being an ABC exclusive and that seven thirty slot will
help with then perhaps that will make these pods a
little more concise, a little less rambly, although of course,
you guys know us, we'll always be rambly, at least
to some extent. All right, that's where we'll wrap things
for today, and if you want more content before our
next show next week, the best place to get insight
from us is online. You can follow me on Twitter

(01:19:34):
or x at Dundubo's the Show, at the logger Line
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(01:19:55):
Sports Talk seven ninety you have those links and you
can enjoy their content as well. All right, With those complete,
we'll ajourn for tonight for Paolo and Ben. Thanks as
always for listening, and please come back soon for more
new episodes of the Loggery Line. The Rockets Beat the
Warriors