2025 NBA playoffs: Key variables, storylines for Rockets

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Cheers, Rockets fans, Welcome to The Logger Line, an exclusive
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The Logger Line, It's proudly served to you by car
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(00:23):
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Speaker 2 (00:29):
It starts now. Welcome aboard, Welcome back to another new
episode of The logger Line, again served to you courtesy
of Clutch City, logger of Carback Brewing. I'm Ben Dubo's
your host, editor of USA Today's Rockets Fire and contributor

(00:49):
to Sports Talk seven ninety, official flagship perdociation of of
your Houston Rockets again joined by Powoll Alves, our co
host and producer out of Portugal. You can follow him
on Twitter, slash x at Polo al NBA and me
on there at Ben Dubo's so as we chat This Tuesday,
April fifteenth, it's a very busy week for the Rockets.
The play in tournament game between the number seven seed

(01:12):
Golden State Warriors number eight seed Memphis Grizzlies is tonight.
The winner will be the seventh seed in the playoff bracket.
The Warriors, well, they're both forty eight and thirty four,
but the Warriors have the tiebreaker. That's why the game
will be in San Francisco. But really it's not the
seventh seed. It's the seventh spot in the standings, and
then the seventh seed in the playoff bracket will be
determined by tonight's late game in San Francisco. The winner

(01:35):
will play the Rockets. So you'll either have a Rockets
Grizzly series in which every other game is on NBA TV.
It's fine because first run games can be broadcast on
local television as well. We'll all be watching the Space
City Home Network crew Craig Ackerman, Ryan Hollins, Vanessa Richardson,
all great people, friends of the program. But Rockets Warriors
would be box office. You would have a lot more

(01:56):
prime time games. I suspect that would be a Sunday
ABC afternoon start. The NBA has announced that the Rockets
series we'll start on Easter Sunday, April twentieth, but we
do not know the time just yet. I think that
will depend on whether it's Rockets Warriors that will be
an ABC draw, or if it's Rockets Grizzlies, which will
be a T and T draw on Sunday night. So

(02:18):
we know where the Rockets are themselves in the standings,
number two, fifty two and thirty. Really we should consider
them fifty two and twenty seven because they took the
foot off the gas with nothing to play for in
the final three games of the season, all losses against
teams the Clippers, the Lakers, and the Nuggets that were
playing to lock up their own playoff seed. So fifty
two and twenty seven was where the Rockets were the

(02:41):
last time we saw them truly dialed in, playing hard
and winners of fifteen of seventeen games. And so how
I'll bring you in on this because the last couple
of pods you were traveling in Rome. So I did
a couple of many episodes in the interim, but our
last pod together was two weeks ago. At that point,
the Rockets were in the number two spot, but by
about just a game over Denver. In LA we were

(03:04):
talking about how the season could play out over the
final ten games, and we said the baseline was just
getting in the top six. That was not a given
at that time. The realistic goal would be top four,
home court advantage and at least one round and the
stretch goal would be a top three seed home court
advantage in at least one, possibly two rounds, and on

(03:26):
the opposite side of the bracket from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And not only did they accomplish the stretch goal, they're
on the side of the bracket with the Warriors or
Grizzlies and then the Lakers and Timberwolves. The winner of
that would be your potential second round opponent. But they
clinched the second seed home court advantage in at least
two rounds with three games left to play, allowing them

(03:46):
to be very conservative with minutes and appearances over the
final three games. As discussed, that's a big part of
how the Rockets go into the playoffs on a three
game losing streak, which in my opinion, means absolutely nothing.
So POWLO, let's start with a thirty thousand foot view,
because you have not been on the last couple of
If someone had told you this scenario two weeks ago,
that this is where the Rockets would be entering the playoffs,

(04:08):
this is where they'd be in the standings, what would
you have thought. What's your thirty thousand foot assessment on
where we are as the playoffs are a little under
a week away.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
And so my main takeaway is actly that. So I
was in Rome at the time that we beat the Jazz,
the Thunder and the Warriors. So if you guys want to,
you know, find me back out there for the first
round series. In the second round series, we'll probably be champions.
So I'm just gonna throw that out there. But other

(04:38):
than that, as you were asking me, if you told
me that this would be the outcome, well, it depends
on how you phrase it. If you told me, oh,
in the last seven games we'll be three and four,
I'll probably say, damn, how did it fall off that badly?
But then when you'll talk to me about the games
before and tell me that three of those losses are
actually just because we don't really care about the games

(04:59):
anymore because we are already we have already quinned not
the four, not the three, not the five, but the
two seed, I'll probably say, Okay, this is probably one
of the best seasons of the lab, probably were the
top three season in the last fifteen years, probably so,
And so I think it is. It does kind of
sting a little bit that we go off on a

(05:22):
three game losing streak although we didn't care about two
other games. Right, it always feels nicer to win, even
though the games are completely in English, and it would
have been it would have felt a little bit nicer
if we put up more of a fighter games than Nuggets.
Although you know you're not in one of those things.
You're not going to win many games. When Dylan Brokes
and Dylan Green had have the game as they were having.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Let me jump in on that real quick. I really
think this particular Rockets team is going to pretty disproportionately
bad when there aren't stakes, because this team's formula is
so dependent on peak effort. And for Jalen in particular, Look,
Jalen definitely struggled in that game oh of seven zero points. Well, Jalen,

(06:03):
he's not especially big. He's an okay shooter, but he's
certainly not great. For Jalen to be at his best,
it depends on him playing with a lot of burst,
a lot of pace, going into the paint, finishing through contact,
drawing fouls. Those are risks you don't want to take
if primarily you don't want to get hurt before the playoffs.

(06:24):
So I think the Rockets overall, with how reliant they
are on defense and peak effort crashing the glass. And
for Jalen specifically, who's not a Steph Curry archetype of
a player in terms of how he generates his offense.
I just think this team in particular, even if they
do play their regulars, the losses against the Clippers and
the Lakers, for the most part, they didn't. The game

(06:45):
against the Nuggets, they did at least for the first
two and a half quarters. I just think this particular
Rockets team, if there aren't stakes and if the effort
is inherently going to be a little bit lower because
they don't want to get hurt. This is a team
that's basically made in the lab to look artificially bad.
That's another reason why I wouldn't. I wouldn't take much
out of that.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, an hundred person, I'm not saying I'm not taking
anything away from it. And there wasn't a need to
follow me onto the real No, to me, there wasn't
much of an a of a incentive to win this
game at all, because unless the Jazz beat the Wolves,
if you beat the Nuggets, you were going to get
the Nuggets in the plane. They would likely beat the greaslies.

(07:23):
You'd likely face the Nuggets in around one and say
what you will about them having firing their coach. I
don't want to face the best player in the league
in round one under any circumstances. And so whether we're
a good matchup or a bad matchup, but now it
doesn't matter because they're on the other side of the bracket.
But there was no incentive to win. The more important
thing about the last ten games that since you guys

(07:43):
haven't heard from me from me since, is obviously the
fact that you beat the Thunder and the Warriors back
to back in convincing fashion. Those are two statement wins.
And I bet you if Rockets had a chance after
that Warriors game, if they could have just sent the
guys to Cancun or shut the season off, you know,
and not have the next three games we played, they
probably would have done so. If they could have in

(08:04):
the de season there and played in the playoffs a
week later, that's probably how they would have wanted to,
you know, go off. But regardless, I think it shows
it shows you that they were trying their hardest. Those
were the two games that clinted obviously the two seed.
They were games two teams that most people would have
lose the series at that point, would have us lose

(08:24):
a series against in the playoffs. The Warriors were obviously
in the I think fifteen game winning streak with their
starting lineup that they played the games because then we
were the ones that broke that streak, and obviously that's
under the thunder. They were at full power, and you
saw those games. Really I didn't want them, Ie. I
rewatched them. Those guys. Those games really felt like playoff
type atmoshies. And you know, it is something that will

(08:45):
get again onto U as we analyze playoff games. But
it made me, it really made me feel like, you know,
we talk about how will Shane Gunn performed the playoffs
or will when performing the playoffs, what guys will rise
and what which guys won't. These two games showed me that,
as unbelievable as it might sound, the man Fountain has

(09:07):
another gear defensively, and that's scary because he's already defense
that's played of the air type player. And you know,
he showed us on Shay and on Curry that hey, listen,
there's there's another gear that this guy can hit, and
that's scary. In the playoffs, both offensively and defensively, but
for this year defensively even more so. And it will

(09:28):
play a critical factor into how we match up against
you know, the Warriors if they win. Specifically, if we
beat them, how we match up against Luca and Lebron,
because that's our one argument against all of these teams
that there's I don't remember in you know, any time,
any any recent you know, playoff history, a team that

(09:49):
had as many defense, as many excellent defenders as we
have one on one defenders, and has as very of
a type of defenders as we have. Typically teams have
one or two defensive specialists. Sometimes it's a guard on
the wing, sometimes it's a guard and a big We
have a man who can defend at an elite level.
One through four. We have Dylan Brooks, who you probably

(10:11):
don't want on shifty guards, but he's an elite defender
too through word probably as well. He will play on
some fives. You have Tarresan who has who's more of
who's more of a length defender where you can throw
on guys like Kawhi for example. And you have Baris Smith,
who's a switchable guy that you can you know, if
you want to go small, you can very comfortably go

(10:32):
small and switch every reaction defensively, and that's to me,
that's a massive weapon. In the playoffs, people talk about, oh,
this team doesn't have, you know, a critical go to
scorer in the qultch I can just generate offense out
or nothing that's not easy to double like Klingoon. Well,
I argue the opposite. There's no other team in the
league that has as many weapons defensively, individual weapons that

(10:56):
you can deploy specifically in matchups, as much as we do.
And I don't think that has been a team like
that in a really long time, at least from memory.
Even when the Rockets were running those bunch of wing
defenders that they that they used to do in the
Muri era, you didn't have this type of defensive talent.
I don't. I think you'd be hard pressed to find

(11:16):
a team as good defensively, you know, spread out throughout
the roster as the Rockets currently have. And it's just
as much of a weapon as a guy that can
be guarded.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Right.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
If you have Shay, you have a guy that can
be garded, right, If you have the defenders that we have,
we have a lot of macups that you can just
negate out of other teams and that you if the
point correctly, you can completely shift the way a series works,
because if you're gonna if you're gonna have call for
a switch and go from Jail and Green to men

(11:47):
thombsend from from Killen Green to Dylan Brooks, from Dylan
Brooks to two men thombsand and formats from a men's
Thombs and to try Easton and from Tarry Easton to
Jabari Smith Junior, you're gonna milk like twenty seconds a
clock basically every pause, and you're not gonna get that
favoral matchup anyways. I think especially with the with the
defensive mind, as much as he made it okay, if
he's not too stuck on with his rotations and playing

(12:08):
and having to play Thread and having to play Jail,
and if he's completely free and he loses those shackles,
that is sometimes it feels like he has. We have
one of the most unique defensive arsenals that you'll find
out there in the league that in itself, to me
is as much of a weapon as it is to
have two stars paying max money and but at the

(12:30):
same time you're playing MAXI Money to two stars, so
you have that offensive, you know, strength, but all of
your other role players are you know, probably defensive viabilities
or can shoot or or not. And you're near the elites,
the elite defense that we have. And so that's what
those two games kind of showed me. It was like,

(12:50):
you're not going to find guys and you're gonna not
gonna find teams that can hold Shade to twenty two
points and two free drows. You're not gonna find guys
that are able to hold Steph Cory to three points.
And it wasn't because Steph Curtly was cooled. It was
because the man Thompson was on him all night like
there was. It was one of the most impressive differensive
performances are seen in recent merit. It was just like

(13:10):
a man, someone put in a men's mind that he
was going to shut these guys down and that's what
he was focused on. And to me, that's you know,
that was really eye opening. And I've talked earlier and
sorry for going on for too long, but I thought
on previous pause about how this season has kind of
shifted the way I look at basketball and I think
this is another one of those things that I never

(13:30):
thought about that I'm thinking about now, which is what
I just said there is that are offensive weapons, and
that's typically what people look what people people look for,
What matchups can we can we exploit. I think there's
also defensive matchups that you can exploit where you have,
like you're gonna have your stars running away from this
guy on offense, and you can put this guy in

(13:50):
different positions and completely little offensive flows. And in a
league where you have less and less true ISO guys,
you're gonna just a lot of offensive schemes by having
the type of defenders that the Rockets have. And I
know we'll talk about more than specific as we head
into the playoffs, but that was my main takeaway from
those two games, was like, and when Thompson had another

(14:13):
year defensively and for a guy that was already to
meet All Defensive first team, a defensive Play of the
Year contender, because when he's hurt, it's kind of terrifying
that that guy still has another year to go to well.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
And to your point on the volume of defensive options,
I think that's something that people around the league may
have forgotten about. Because it's been a while since we've
seen it, at least on a consistent basis from the Rockets. Really,
it feels like there's been multiple iterations of this team,
and we've talked about this in the past, where the
way they started the year in October and November is
not how they finished the year. Now, you can argue

(14:50):
that maybe this fifteen to two stretch ling into the
playoffs was the most encouraging of all, but it wasn't
the exact same formula that they had to start this year,
and a lot of it's because of the injuries, and yeah,
this attrition happens to most teams over the season, but
I think with this unique formula that you're describing, really,
ever since Jabari Smith Junior went down with the broken
hand at the end of January, they haven't been whole

(15:13):
other than for one or two games here or there.
So you haven't had the volume of switchable wings who
can cover such a diverse range of positions on the
other team. In that you had six weeks without Jabari.
When he came back, you had the Helasia's scheduling stretch
with a lot of back to backs, which took out
Tari for half of those games, you had a men

(15:36):
going down for a couple of weeks. In March, you've
had Fred van Vleet, who isn't certainly a defensive stopper,
but he is important from a communications standpoint stability those
things defensively. You also had down the whole structure of
the year, Jabari struggling with ankle and growing issues which
they say are minor, but thankfully has over a week
basically a lot of two weeks to resk because he

(15:57):
has not played since that Golden State game a week
ago Sunday, and the Rockets won't open until game one
on Sunday, the twentieth Easter Sunday at home against either
the Warriors or the Grizzlies. And full disclosure, we're not
gonna talk too much matchups in this pod because by
the time you're listening to it, the play in game
late tonight may have already happened, So there'll be a

(16:19):
short shelf life. We'll come back to matchups a bit
more when we record later in the week and we
know who the Rockets are actually gonna play. This pod
is gonna be focused primarily on the Rockets and things
that are within their control regardless of who they play,
key takeaways down the home stretch of the year. If
the Rockets get ready and they're gonna practice this week

(16:39):
Wednesday through Friday at their new training facility, perhaps Saturday
as well, they have a lot of time to get
ready for this first round series, and there's things that
are within their control regardless of who the opponent is.
But to use those two teams, the Warriors and Grizzlies
to illustrate your point, Pallow, I think with the Warriors,
they're gonna send staff around the maze of screens as

(16:59):
I did game, and there's going to be some possessions.
Even if the men is defending out of his mind
that the Warriors are successful in getting him switched off,
especially because you can't risk giving him even a sliver
of daylight all the way out to thirty feet. It's
Steph Curry, the greatest shooter the game has ever seen. Well,
if you're also having Tarry Easton, Dylan Brooks, Jabari Smith

(17:21):
Junior out there, it's pretty tough to find a matchup
that's clearly more favorable. So the diversity of the guys
you can throw, and of course if you do switch
out while you're letting a men off the hook for possession,
so he's conserving energy. There's a lot to think about.
And then the Memphis Grizzlies. Look, if we're talking about
the Rockets versus the Grizzlies or the Rockets versus the Warriors,

(17:44):
the games against Golden State have been a slugfest. Both
teams are offensive rating against each other in five games
would be the lowest in the entire NBA for the
season as a whole. Against the Grizzlies, it's been much
more up tempo, high scoring. Rockets have actually had a
top five offensive rating if you extrapolated it to the
season as a whole, based on their production against Memphis.

(18:06):
But the Grizzlies have been much better offensively against the
Rockets than the Warriors set. And I think one of
the things that the Grizzlies bring to the table, you've
got when they're healthy, and they should be guys who
can score at three different levels and in three different ways.
Between Ja Morant, Desmond Bain and Jaron Jackson junior, well,
the Rockets can guard all of them. Between you can
stick a man on jaw, you can stick Dylan Brooks

(18:28):
on Desmond Bane, and there's some personal history there, so
I think Dylan would be very jacked for that matchup.
And Dylan seems to do well against the more physical
types anyway. And then you can have Jabari to defend
against Jaron Jackson Junior. We know that, you know, one
of the big weaknesses for the Rockets against the Grizzlies.
There were those three games in January. The Rockets won
two of them, but they all went down to the wire,

(18:50):
and the Rockets really struggle to defend Jaren Well, Dylan
was just a little bit too small. That will not
be the case with Jabari. So between Jabari on Jaron
Jackson Junior, Dylan on Desbond Bane, and a men on
John Morant as the point of attack guy, you have
different types of defenders who can cover all of their options.

(19:12):
And that's if Memphis is your opponent, if it's Golden State.
It's the fact that having so many diverse options makes
it less appealing to draw those switches the way that
we know they try to do. It makes it oh,
I shouldn't say less appealing, it just makes it less
likely to succeed. But the bottom line is, I think

(19:32):
this is your point Paulo. The Rockets having this many guys,
because that can defend this many ways, it makes it
way tougher to hunt out a specific mismatch than it
typically is for a team like that in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Right, yes, and even if you do get a missmatch,
and let's let's field probably for most guards, the closest
thing you can get to a mismatch on the Rockets
if they want to, you know, be playing if they
want to play small, it's Rauli Debari. If you want
to not be playing small, you're gonna have Gon out
there and saying, you know, it's something that you should

(20:06):
probably be doing. Anyways, when if you play, if you
play the bigger lineup without Steven Adams, and they do,
and when they do play Steven Adams, this sometimes happened
as well. You said, just you just have things, will
over commit to the perimeter, and you trust that you're
six foot seven or six foot eight the man Thompson
Uber Athletic, your six foot eleven of Kbari Smith, your
six ft eight of Tarryasan, and you're in any if

(20:29):
Kivin Green's out there or the one Brooks is out there,
you know, not small guys for what would be the one.
You just trust that those guys who are athletic, who
are active on if it will just be able to
make those rotations. And you're you're kind of picking your poison.
And even after you go into the eye, so even
you do get if you do get an advantage, you're
looking at a stacked roster of guys that are basically

(20:49):
built in an app to to recover from from whatever
advantage you create it. And so especially you know not
to not don't want to hold in on the Warriors
too much, you know, th I think there will be
our matchup. If you watched the Clippers game last night,
Steph only needs a slipper space to get a shot off.
But then in the in the overtime, like in overtime,

(21:11):
they the Clippers had no trouble forcing everybody else to
beat them. And we saw how that how that ended, right,
And so especially if they are the matchlip, I'm not
worried about Jimmy Butter. He's you know, tough bucket caller.
But you know, we have the perfect defenders for that
type of guy. And besides him, he might be hurt
who we don't know, But besides him, we have more

(21:33):
than than good enough defenders to the nice as we
as we did when we beat the Warriors. We have
more than good enough defenders to just we don't let
Steph beat us. And I'm pretty confident that in most cases,
and I don't want to think it, but I'm pretty
confidence in most cases or off offence is good enough
to beat a team of Brandon Brandan, Patziemski. Uh, I

(21:58):
don't even know Buddy Heal and the rest of the
mos of this movie beating us. And it's not like
they're going to be getting straight up open shots because,
as I said, our guys are athletic and fast enough
to be recovering, especially when they're playing in playoff intensity.
So that's my main segway from the end of the
season is that we were and I think rightfully so

(22:20):
wondering earlier in the season or a couple of weeks back,
how our adventage of just being more active than other
teams in the Seaton the irregular season will translate to
the playoffs. And I think it really showed that. Well,
we have another kid too.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, And we'll talk more about Golden State specifically if
they win this game later tonight. We'll have plenty of
time because the series is not starting until Sunday, But
I just think they do illustrate the broader point that
you're getting at. As a side note, watching that Clippers
Warriors game, I went in sort of agnostic in terms
of which result was better for the Rockets in terms

(22:56):
of who fall into the play in range, but it
was just striking in the fourth quarter and overtime, how
many more options it felt like the Clippers had to
generate good shots. And I also think it kept Golden
State's defense on its toes because you could go, you know,
one possession hard in another Kawhi. You had big buckets
by Norman Powell and Zubox in there as well. Whereas
the Warriors, it felt like they were much more limited

(23:16):
in terms of how they could generate offense. And Steph
Curry was absolutely brilliant in the fourth quarter, and that's
something that if that ends up being your matchup, he
can swing a series by taking over a game five
or a game seven. He actually did that in the
Game seven at Sacramento a couple of years ago in
a first round series where the Warriors were the lower
seed without home court advantage and they ultimately got it

(23:38):
largely in the back of their veteran experience, and that
would be a factor if they ended up being the matchup,
But it was just a reminder watching them struggle to
generate any offense outside of stephf of just how much
the Rockets are able to potentially take them out of
their comfort zone by making step work. And it's not
just that game in April, it's this entire season. The

(23:59):
rocket have held the Warriors to I think it's either
one hundred and three or one hundred and four offensive rating,
but it would be the lowest in the entire league.
And what's striking about that there have been five meetings.
The first one was that game at the very beginning
of November when the Rockets they're playing the Warriors without Steph,
and they fell behind by like seventy to forty something
ridiculous at halftime, and then the Rockets ended up actually

(24:20):
pushing it to overtime before eventually losing. But the point
is they were terrible in the first half of the
first game defensively, and yet for the five games overall,
they've still been outstanding. So that tells you how great
the final four and a half games were as they
got more comfortable with how they wanted to defend the Warriors.
And yes, it is translated to when they've had Steph
and its translated to multiple games to Jimmy Butler as well,

(24:40):
and I think it speaks to, you know, the level
of defensive options the Rockets have. The Warriors are always
a team that the Rockets sort of struggle on their
calendar from an intensity perspective, and that's the glass half full.
Way to look at the Rockets going into these playoffs
is look, Ebo Ujok is a really good coach. We
know they are dependent on trying hard well, not having
any back to backs, having all this rest before, and

(25:01):
especially if you draw all the Warriors, who we know
this team, certainly the franchise, the fan base, but even
this group. Look at Tarry Easton last year, and the
Warriors come out and play anything that brings out peak focus,
peak effort, and certainly Ima Udoka and the culture he's
built ties into that as well. That's usually to the
betterment of this team, and Golden State typically does that.

(25:22):
And so I think, you know, some of us personnel,
some of us attitude, but I think those are all
reasons why even though the Warriors would be favored against
the Rockets nationally, I actually like the Rockets chances. But again,
we'll pause that discussion for a couple of days. I
promise we'll come back later this week if in fact,
the Warriors do win this game later tonight against the Grizzlies.

(25:46):
One other thing I want to discuss, as far as
the close to the season, right off the top, before
we turn our attention fully to the playoffs and some
of the key variables X factors to watch from a
Rockets perspective, let's talk about the Phoenix Suns. I had
a little segment of this in the last pot that
I did by myself polow So I think our listeners
already know where I'm coming from on this, but I
do want to update the final standings the Thunder or

(26:09):
not the Thunder, excuse me. The Suns finished with just
one win in their final ten games, so thirty six
and forty six tied for the number nine slot in
the draft lottery with Portland. There'll be a coin flip
in a few days. Not yet, because there's other ties
and some of them depend on the play in tournament results.
So after the play in tournament is fully complete, the

(26:32):
NBA will have coin flips in either Phoenix or Portland
will be the number nine, the other will be the
number ten. But with the Flatten lottery odds as we've
gotten accustomed to the last two years, last four years,
actually with the Rockets rebuilding and or having high draft
picks because of the Brooklyn nets, we know that if
you're in that middle to ladder part of the lottery,

(26:54):
the odds are much better now of you jumping into
the top four and getting one of those four lottery
picks than they used to be. Because wants to discoorage
tanking now. Whether it's working, we can debate that, but
the fact of the matter is the cold hard math.
If you're at number nine or number ten, you have
a much better chance of moving up, and you only
need to go back eleven months to see it. The
Rockets were at number nine in the order last year

(27:16):
or via Brooklyn and moved up to number three. That's
how they got reached Shepherd who had a nice close
to the season, and the Atlanta Hawks were in the
ten slot right behind them. They ended up jumping all
the way to number one, and that was the recess
ha pick. So if you want to believe in the
Cooper flag dream, if not implausible coming from the nine
or ten slot, because the nine and ten slots last

(27:36):
year when all the way up to number three and
number one, respectively. So I think we're at a point
now the point I made on last week's pot, and
I'm curious your thought on this pillow. The twenty twenty
five angle of that Nets Sun steal that the Rockets
did and involving the future picks has already canceled out
the Nets even trying to tank this year, having their

(27:58):
pickback finished six in the lottery order. You cannot tell
me that they would not have been a few slots
higher had they not, or a few spots worse had
they not had their pick and dust had no incentive
to tank. I think they would have been right where
they were a year ago, which is the number nine spot,
winning thirty fiveish games in a pretty bad Eastern Conference.

(28:20):
So basically, when you consider the incentives the pick the
Rockets are going to have in the twenty twenty five
lottery from the Suns, which will allow the Rockets, by
the way, to swap from their own pick at twenty
seven all the way up to nine or ten, and
the pre lottery order lottery will be on Monday, May twelfth.
Side note, how cool would it be if the Rockets
are playing that night? They have both a second round

(28:42):
playoff game and the chance at Cooper Flag in the
draft lottery, And I'm not sure anything like that has
ever happened with the playoff team before. We can dar
to dream that the Rockets will somehow accomplish that feat
this year. They'll have to win a first round series
to get there. But the larger point that I want
to bring you in on, Paolo, to me, the twenty
twenty five angle has already canceled out in that had
you not done that deal, the odds you would have

(29:03):
and the pick you would likely get from the Nets
this time a year ago is pretty much exactly the
same as what you have locked in at number nine
or number ten from the Suns this year. So basically
what the trade is now is the twenty twenty six
Brooklyn pick. And this is a world where the Nets
would not otherwise have had them send them to tank.

(29:24):
But even so, even if you want to have the
most bearish outlook on Brooklyn possible and They're a big
market team, as we've talked about in the past, so
they have some shortcuts they can take if they wanted to.
Even with the most bearish outlet possible though, Nets twenty
six for Suns twenty seven and twenty nine and Dallas
twenty nine. The Suns being just a train wreck, kd

(29:45):
likely to leave this offseason, and even if he doesn't,
he's gonna age out Dallas looking like a train wreck
as well. With the Luca trade aftermath. I don't know
who in the world wouldn't grade a hypothetical deal of
the Brooklyn twenty six for two Phoenix picks in twenty
seven and twenty nine and a Dallas pick in twenty
nine as a home run like that's potentially depending on
how it turns out, Rafelstone statue level moves to get

(30:10):
those three picks, which might be the most valuable future
picks from another team in the entire NBA, for one
Brooklyn pick. That's basically what this trade is now because
the twenty twenty five angle, my opinion, has totally canceled out.
So how what's your perspective on I guess A how
the Suns finished the season and B what the implications

(30:32):
are for for not just their future, but for that
trade and the way we evaluate it.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, it's it might go down as one of the
most side ethides of all time.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
And when you.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
Package it with this is still one hundred percent just
trading things that we got for hard than in the
first place. And so right now before this year, it's
standing at Tari Eason, who's a key player, who's a
key rotation piece who I'm two hundred percent here. They're
going to extends as early as they can because they

(31:06):
love the guy and their models, you know, their analytics
models absolutely love them, and obviously anybody that watches basketball
absolutely love them. So they got Tarys and Reed Shepherds,
who we don't know what he's going to be yet.
He's was the number three pick in the draft, and
now they're going to get a top tevend pick, most
likely in this draft. And then they have what two

(31:28):
more Sons picks in twenty seven and twenty nine, and
they have a swap with the Nets in twenty seven,
and the Nets are not looking like they're going to
be a good team in twenty twenty seven, especially if
they don't win the lot rate this year, and they're
going to get a twenty twenty nine Dallas for Shron
pick who by that time av is going to be
old and lost. Kyrie is going to be old and lost.

(31:50):
They they're not going to have any assets or basically
any assets to actually build a decent team around it.
They're in the West, They're not going to be any good.
That's another premium pick. And you got all of that
for you know, wasn't MVV caliber but the player, but
who asked out And that's this is the best position
you could possibly be, Like, I truly, truly think the

(32:13):
only team in the league, or the only two teams
in the league in a better position for the next
seven years and rock than Rockets are are okay seeing
the Celtics. Because the Celtics have two young superstars and
a great coach and they really well built roster and
guys that are cost control through a very large number
of years. I think they'll be good for the next
half decade. The Thunder purely because they have Sha Goes.

(32:37):
We don't have a player of that caliber. But besides that,
you are currently in the position the Celtics were in
before they drafted, or probably before they drafted Tatum. Where
you are a playoff team and you have a terrible
team's future or three terrible teams' future while you consent,

(32:59):
and this allows you to pay everybody. This allows you
to pay a man. This allows you to pay to
pay Sengun, Jalen, Tori Dabari, anyone you want, because at
the same time that you're paying them, you're the rest
of your rotation. Your role players are going to be
dirt cheap because they'll likely be coming from draft picks.
You can trade down and takes and take you know,

(33:19):
lower ceiling, higher floor players. You can negotiate it in
any and you can kind of build your in any
way you want because it's basically the exact same thing
that people are accustomed to doing in the NFL, which
is Indian, in the MLB, which is all of the
you know, great teams have great guys on rookie contracts

(33:40):
coming in and they allow established stars for about to
get paid. Sometimes that you feel are the most discardable,
you allow them to go because you have guys coming
here to save their places, like the Rockets are likely
going to have a lottery pick a top. I will
actually say I would call it right now, there are
drugs are likely going to have a top ten pick

(34:00):
this year, not next year, in twenty six, but in
twenty seven, in twenty eight, in twenty twenty, in twenty
twenty nine. At the same time, they have the second
seed in the West, the West that everybody says is
the toughest conference, and their entire rotation or six or
what not six, Well, if Jalen a Man, Tarry Bari Shanzun,

(34:24):
I'm forgetting someone, so.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Five, five or seven potentially come on.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, but no. But my point is you have five
your key rotation guys playing thirty minutes a night, five
of them are under twenty three. Like you have a
playoff rotation on a two seed in the West made
of five under twenty three players, and you have, by far,
quality wise, the best asset chest in the league. Like

(34:50):
if I can guarantee you, I don't play two K anymore.
But when I started, when I started watching basketball, I
used to and I was, you know, glued on my
what was it, my lee? I was good on my league,
and I would exploit all of the trade mechanics and
a lot of the times I would not get as
good as an outlook as we have right now. That's
how crazy this is. Like you don't get to be

(35:14):
a really young team as a two seed with the
best assets still to come in. Like there are rebuilding
teams right now that have stripped their entire teams from
any good players, that don't have the asset pull that
dropers have right now just from their dropt picks. Like
the Jazz sold everything they had. They don't have better

(35:34):
picks than us. The Wizards sold everything they had, They
don't have better draft picks than us. I'm trying to
bring up the rest of the rebuilding teams. The Hornets
obviously don't have better draft sticks than us. You know,
Brooklyn sold off all they had. They don't have better
draft picks than us. The Suns, the Spurs, the same thing.
The players are the same thing. All of these teams
traded away superstars that they do not have better draft

(35:56):
picks than us, and we have those. Like if we
were to start the real from scratch right now, would
probably be one of the best reviuals in the league
just from the assets that we're going to have coming in.
But we have that plus a play off caliver team
to a top two seed in the West playing right now,
full of young guys like, that's how ini, that's how
insane our situation is. And before I hand it back

(36:18):
after you on on the Struss stuff, I wanted to
make a quick point on you know, I at a
bank on us winning the lottery five years in a row,
because that has never happened, and and by will remind
everybody that winning the lottery by definition is getting a
top four pick, because the way the lottery works is
four combinations, number of numbers are drawn and those are

(36:42):
basically the teams that move up or into the top four.
Nobody is you know, pegged into kind of placed into
the top four by default. You know, there are four
teams that are picked that those are the teams that
win the lottery. And Rockets have been picked the last
four years. That's why they have They've had the top
four pick the last four years. If your combination does
not get selected, you fall to fifth, even if you

(37:05):
are the worst in the league. So they've won the
lottery for four years in row. I'm not saying it
will happen again, but I will say that last year
Pick nine and Pick eleven moved up going into the lottery.
The year before the lowest pick to move up was fifth,
So that one is you can throw that one out.
The year before that, the Kings moved up from seven.

(37:26):
The year before that, the Raptors moved up from seventh.
The year before that, the Hornets moved up from number eight.
The year before that, the Pelicans moved up from number eight,
and the and the Pelicans moved up from number seven,
and the Hawks moved up from number eleven. The year
before that, the Kings moved up from number seven. That is,

(37:49):
always teams moving up from the latter part of the
top ten moving up to the top for it might
not happen this year, but this to say that even
though the odds are I believe seventeen percent at this point,
there is a pretty good chance to one of these
teams going to move up. It's just what as being
the lucky ones that up. And last thing I'll say,
just to explain how this conflip stuff for it because
a lot of people don't get it. The odds between

(38:10):
nine and ten are the because they have the same record.
They are even that they are every doubt if Rockets
and the Blazers have the same odds at every single
pick except for one thing, and this is why the
coin flip matters. The coin flip matters in scenarios where
neither team moves up and nobody from below the Rockets

(38:31):
and the Wolves, so from tenth to fourteenth moves up.
It matters because if a team, if a team moves up,
obviously if they have the same amount of moving up.
So if the Rockets or the Blazer move up, it
doesn't matter. But if they don't, the coin flip the
sides who gets pick nine and pick ten if if
the status full stays the same. So if the Rockets

(38:52):
win the coin flip, they'll get the nine bar any
change in the between those two teams. If Rockets lose
the coin flip, they'll buy default get pick ten going
into the lottery, So if nothing crazy happens, they'll get
ten and the Blazers get nine. If they win the
coin flip, the Bloisers will get nine, the Rockets get nine.
No places will get ten. However, we do not get

(39:14):
the ninth pick odds at moving up, and they don't
get the tenth pick odds at moving up. That the
only matters for the for the situation after the wattery
is drawn, so basically the odds are the same. It
only matters. It's the basically decides if for pix bit
higher or want to bick over on nine versus ten? Yeah,

(39:34):
which might you know matter depending on you know, I
haven't done too much traft work, but nine versus ten
is probably in this truck from what I've been seeing,
the position where you're probably going to be in a
good place to grab a guy that's falling from a
tier above. I think the tier. I think there's probably
a tier brick at seven. But you know, even though

(39:57):
the tier breaks at seven, there's always guys at fall
and so being at nine versus that them might matter
if one of the top seven falls anyway, being a
police bushes, which is no to be fair, kind of
Rofelstone's bread and butter, because he's got some of his
best picks by just thinking the obvious guy that's been
falling in tarisean in kem whitmore Yeah, for example, So

(40:21):
a mean sing one as well, And we'll.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Do more draft talk after the playoffs end. I don't
want to spend too much time on that today, but
I just think it's an important time to highlight with
the Sun's season coming to a close, one of the
most disappointing ones we've seen in the modern NBA. Just
how brilliant that move was from rofall Stone, and it
should have you feeling good about not just the president
of the Rockets, but obviously the future as well for

(40:44):
the reasons you laid out By the way I mentioned
the Thunder by accident, one of the small downsides of
moving up. I had this in my notes if a
team like the Rockets moves up, and I did my
latest of them moving up, had the Rockets getting to
two while the Thunder ended up getting a because you
jumped Philly, and if Philly falls to seven or below,

(41:04):
that pick would go to Oklahoma City. So one of
the small little things to think about is that you
can move up, you do probably give Oklahoma City a
mid lottery pick, but honestly, if you're getting a top
four pick, you will happily take that trade, especially because
you know from a trade perspective a lot of this,
We've said this before, comes down to tiers. Do you
have enough to be in the game for a big

(41:26):
time player, and then it just depends on it if
that player wants to go to you, and if he does,
you can make it work. The Thunder clearly have enough assets.
The Rockets do as well, So from that perspective, if
the Thunder get another pick, it's really not going to
matter that much. It's more about the scenarios where you
need the player to develop yourself, and that's one where

(41:47):
I don't think fans are considering those scenarios enough. Maybe
the Rockets don't need to make a big trade. Maybe
they're good enough as is, and so you just use
these picks, these lottery picks. That is, well, this year's
a lottery pick, and we hope there's more from the
Suns and Maps than the years ahead to fill out
your roster with cheap role players value contracts in the
years ahead. Just as your current team, your current Course

(42:10):
seven is getting more expensive. Obviously, Jalen and Shagoon will
be on your one of their extensions next year. The
same will be happening with Jabari and Tari the year
after that, and then and Cam the year after that,
and so potentially you don't even have to make a
big trade. You just have this as a pipeline to
keep turning out good role players around your existing core,
because we know the current CBA of the NBA is

(42:31):
going to make it much more difficult to have highly
expensive teams with lots of good players. Tough decisions are
going to have to be made, and one easy way
to bypass those would be if you have a pipeline
to just keep getting good young players on rookie contracts
that can fill in the gaps around your existing core. Anyway,

(42:52):
let's turn our attention back to the playoffs as we
wind down the pod again. I don't want to do
too much matchup talk today because we'll have more of
that later in the week once we know who the
Rockets are actually going to play. I want to talk
from a roster perspective, who we're going to learn the
most about in this playoff runt. Who you think are
going to be the X factors, are the key variables
for this team. Because I've seen some of this talk

(43:14):
on social media on other pods, I actually have a
different take than a lot of other people. I think,
you know, the common answer to this question with the
Rockets is going to be Jalen Green, But I don't
think it really changes for the playoffs. I think we've
talked a lot about the volatility of Jalen's performances, and
some of it has to do with his archetype as
a player. But I don't think that much is going
to change with Jalen in the playoffs regarding how teams

(43:36):
cover him, how other teams attack him. He is who
he is, and hopefully more shots go in in the playoffs.
I think he had a good close to the year.
He's generally gotten more consistent. I'm not that worried about
his subpar close to the season over the final week,
for reasons we discussed earlier in the pod. I don't
think his game is conducive to even though it's admirably

(43:56):
wants to be out there for all eighty two games
he's out played and started one hundred and eighty six
straight third longest streak in the NBA. I don't think
his game is conducive. We saw this in the final
week of last season as well to games in which
he doesn't want to get hurt. I just don't think
he has the size or the skill from a shooting
perstructive to be particularly efficient in those settings. He needs

(44:17):
to be playing hard, absorb contact, get to the line,
finish through contact. Things that he's not going to do
if the games aren't meaningful, and the primary motivation is
just not to get hurt. But the larger point with
Jalen's inconsistencies, I think a lot of that is baked
in and it's a question that's been ongoing for Imo
Udoka's two seasons in counting as Rockets head coach. So

(44:40):
I don't really view that as a unique X factor
for the playoffs. I think we're already That's something that's
been there and will be there moving forward until Jalen
takes a leap into another class as a player, which
hopefully he will, but I think at this point in
year four, he is who he is right now, and
any massive leaps are probably going to be next season
or beyond. As far as the playoff front, in particular,

(45:04):
the one guy I'm looking at the most is all
for in Shangoon because I think and it's not so
much about Alp specifically, it's more his archetype as a player.
We know this is the type of big man that
gets targeted in the playoffs in teams specific game plans
in a way that often isn't over the regular season,

(45:26):
or at least not on an every game basis. So
for instance, if it's the Warriors, we know they'll try
and play five out at times the tray mine at
the five, as they've done for ten plus years now,
as long as the Warriors have had the death lineup,
the so called death lineup, at least it's not as
lethal as it used to be, but still in spurts
can be useful. They'll try and play Shagoon off the floor.
And conversely, there's matchups where if it's the Grizzlies, they

(45:50):
play pretty big with Zach Ede and Jaron Jackson Junior
in the front court, or maybe it's a combination of
the two, and the Rockets play very big to try
and offset the small ball lineup, because the Rockets counter
to a team playing small could be to go double
big with Steven Adams and all for Inch and Goon
and maybe Jabari spent that the three to where the
size and the rebounding is just collectibly too much and

(46:11):
the Rockets just bludgeon their way out of those small
ball lineups. But the common thread that ties it all
together is that in all of these situations, it's not
going to be just one of eighty two games where
Shoin Gooon goes out and Mono on Mono has a
chance to win his matchup. No, he's gonna have to
to play and be used in different ways, and so

(46:34):
maybe it's defending on the perimeter against a smaller lineup.
Maybe it's functioning as something of a four on offense
because the Rockets think or field they need to go
double big themselves. But the point is that it's not
a situation that he's never going to be a traditional five,

(46:54):
but on both ends of the floor, Shin Gooon is
going to be used in this playoff run much more
differently than he was for the majority of the regular season.
So how is he going to fare defensively offensively? Used
in roles that aren't you know, in a perfect role,
you just let him go out one on one and
dominate in the post the way we know he's capable

(47:15):
of doing well. The matchups and the way teams choose
to cover and attack the Rockets in the playoffs may
make it to where and probably will make it to
where other usage patterns make more sense. So how does
Shingoon handle that? How does he defend in the perimeter,
how does he fare in the double big lineups where
he's something of a power forward. That's the big X

(47:38):
factor because we're going to see on both ends of
the floor. We're going to see that much more in
the playoffs than we did in the regular season. We
saw it a little bit in the regular season, but
in the playoffs, when the team you play can dial
up a Houston specific game plan, that's going to be
more of a challenge for Shangun and the Rockets than
it was in the regular season. It's not going to
be a fish out of water. They've dealt with its

(47:59):
some it's not. We have no data on it. But
the relentless nature of the way teams will try and
hunt out any potential deficiency you have in the playoffs
is different. And so from that standpoint, Shingoon's archetype is
a player to me, that's the big question going into
this playoff. How he's going to hold up and ultimately
does he provide enough value offensively to where it's still

(48:20):
worth it to play him big minutes relative to anything
he potentially gives up defensively. Again, not a shot at him,
just his archetype as a player. We know the way
traditional bigs are often exploited or teams try to exploit them,
at least in the playoffs in the current Pace and
Space version of the NBA as a secondary guy, and
this is sort of an offshoot of the Shingoon storyline.

(48:42):
I'm also watching Jabari Smith Junior because there's been a
clear trend this season that the Rockets are at their
best when they have Jamaris Smith Junior, and specifically the
elite version of Jabari Smith Junior. They are forty to
nineteen when he plays twelve and thirteen when he doesn't,
and they are sixteen and two when he plays fifteen
or when he scores fifteen or more points. So I

(49:03):
think it's pretty clear Jabari is the variable that can
take this team from good to great. And in some
of these scenarios where Shingoon becomes something of a concern
for one reason or another, than having the option in
your back pocket to go to the other extreme and
play Jabari Smith as a small ball five, I think
that's useful. I think having Jabari for the reasons you

(49:24):
outlined earlier, Polo as another type of defender that you
can throw into the mix along with a men Tari
and Dylan. That's important because of the versatility because of
your ability to defend different types of players, to be
able to switch the way we know iman Udoka wants
to do, especially when the Rocket style up team specific
game plans, and so they can hone in the defensive

(49:46):
minded coach on exactly what they want to do. Then
having different types of switchable wings. I know we call
Jabari a big, but really he could be both the
big and a wing. That's just depending on how you
want to play in the given game series, whatever the
case may be. But I just think that at least
for me, Shangoon is the big question, that's the biggest variable,
and then as sort of a subplot of that, Shavari

(50:08):
would be my second guy because if Shingoon does run
into trouble, or if Shingoon gets the foul trouble, perhaps
for some of the reasons we lay out earlier, the
Jabari is a really useful insurance policy. So I left
a lot on the table for you. I think you
know Fred van Fleet is an obvious one because the
Rockets have been at their best when he's able to

(50:29):
make shots. We know how he struggled a lot in
the second half of the year. I'm not too worried
about Fred. I think with the rest he's gotten, I'm
cautiously optimistic that we've seen down the home stretch of
the year, including that Thunder game, when he's gotten rest,
he's been better, and so he's gonna get a lot
of time off. I think Fred's gonna be fine. You
can certainly make the argument for Jalen. I'll accept some
for Dylan and Tari Easton as well, But for me,

(50:50):
it's Shangoon and Shabari. Those are the two guys that
I feel like may make the Rockets sink or swim.
Those are the two I keep coming back to, Hollo,
Who are your X factors? Variables just speaking broadly and
dependent of any unique matchup factors.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
So to me, I just can't I can't get away
from the obvious answer, because to me, it really is
the office answer. To me, this team will think or
swing based on tailor dream. You just you need, as
we've talked about throughout the entire season, you need the
perims or playmaker in the playoffs. You need someone that
can make shots, and you need someone who can take
if Kalen is on one one of his you know,

(51:28):
really hard to guard. Kind of mindsets, and he's getting
the calls, and he's getting to the free throw line
and he's making his trees. They take an immense amount
of pressure off of Thingu. And to me, the way
the Rockets lose the series is if teams are allowed
to double and triple team shangun. And because we're not
a good enough shooting team, we need someone who to
be a shot maker from free and from everybody and

(51:49):
from everywhere else. And Keilen's not there, and Fred's quirely washed,
and that's how he ruse the playoff series. To me,
that's the only way we will, not the only way
we can get just up, you know, just but the
most that's the most plausible way for us to lose
a series. And so you just you need Jalen to
be focused. You need Jillen to be to be having
a smart shot, so I think, but more importantly than that,

(52:11):
because this is the playoffs and not all shots are
going to be smart, we need them to be making
the tough shots that he's going to take. We need
him to be making those nighboring shots, those timely shots
that he has been making. He's not been shooting whites
out for you know, a couple of months after his
really hot stretch, but he's been making really timely buggets, right,
and we need that. That is the most important thing,

(52:32):
because even if Fred can bill us out of a game,
he's also going to shoot us out of a couple
of games as well, because that's just he's not that
good anymore. I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but that's
just the way I see it, and that ties into
what my second X factor is. My second X factor
is he made bog He is perhaps the one guy

(52:53):
that nobody would put asis playoff experience because he's had
one playoff ruder and he got to the finals. To me,
he is the X factor because of how willing will
he be to move away from the guys he trusts.
This team is clearly not as it's not at its
best with the current starting lineup. We typically get ourselves
into a hole and we climb that out of that hole.

(53:15):
With the double big lineup. It's been happening for a while,
and because we've been winning games, it hasn't mattered. Come
to playoffs. We might not be able to sustain this
type of realization much longer.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
There.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
It might come a point where this team's just uncertain
matchups straight up better starting big, starting kaylan a Man,
Dylan Brooks, Tivori Smith, Junior, Opern single or Torresan in
the place of one of those one of those guys.
And it's going to be up to email to be
to be, you know, not really brave enough, because I
don't think it's brave, but to be flexible enough to

(53:49):
think that this might be one of the solutions.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
It might.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
There's also that the argument that you know, there's probably
going to be series where we're going to want to
be starting the double big, and when we're starting the
double big, you know, I think that's that's a good
that's a good argument to be made that you probably
shouldn't be playing for Frevan Vleet as a starter when
you start the ball big because Jaalen can take advantage
of the Steven Adams screens well enough, and he's shown

(54:13):
prowess in in in handling, you know, all those actions
with Steven Adams and uppron ching gun and you could
really really use the size around them and the ability
to get offensive rebounds because of how much you know,
Steven Adams contribute so to those offensive rebounds and too
and too to the size, but having the extra guys
out there does so as well. And I think that

(54:35):
will probably be one of our best lineups. And you know,
I'm talking about pencing fre than Vleet, not bncing him
from the get go, but being you know, open to
that possibility.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Or does not like thirty five plus minutes just because yeah, yeah, yes, exactly.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
And I should probably also talk about the open the
possibility of bencing Jalen. I'm not really talking about that
because I don't think it's a question a question if
they'll he feill do it or not. I think if
Keylan's not playing well, he'll just pend him and that's it.
I haven't seen the willingness to do it with Fred
van Vleet. If Dylan Brooks is shooting us out of games,
you should be open to considering that as well. Play

(55:10):
Aaron Holliday. There are worlds out there. There are there
will be games where playing Aaron Holidays is better than
playing Fret than Vleet, And I know that's probably a
really hot seight to a lot of people, but there
will be games out where our best lineups that should
be playing those those story thirty five minutes are the
double ways with Jillen at the point of attacks a
tin attack or as the main ball handler. And in

(55:34):
some of those line ups, all you're going to need
from Fred VanVleet has spotted Cooder and if he's not
making those shots. Aaron Holiday is like a forty three
point short of the season. I mean, I'll let me
double check that. I believe he was at points during
the season. He is currently at forty percent. All right,
it's not forty five, it's forty percent, doesn't matter, it's elite. Anyways.

(55:54):
There will be points in playoff series where you know
Jillen has started going and and if Clones got it going,
the need for Fred when leg goes down even further.
And it's just the worst way to go down is
to go down because what's thanking you or the way
and the second worst way to go down is to
go down because Jones having a bad game and you're

(56:15):
willing to have all your thread and with and he
can't play shots. You need to be able to be
open to the possibility of not playing Thread as much,
of not playing Dylan as much if need be. You
need to be you know this team has a lot
of variables and a lot of guys that can be
there's there's a lot of you know, pieces that you
can plug and plug in and plug out, and you

(56:37):
need to be you know, cognizant of those possibilities and
willing to take those risks and not go down with
the ship as much as it has felt like it
sometimes happened during the regular season. So, first one is
killing because if Clone's cooking, none of this probably matters.
If it's Kelen's cooking, we have a two headed monster
with an ebite defense will probably beat most teams other

(56:57):
than two or three teams out that I'll talk about
as we go further into the playoffs. But if he
isn't and especially Fred isn't shooting lights out is the
key factor because that's one of the things that I
haven't seen from him during the regular season, which makes
it a question going into the playoffs, which is his
willingness to not play his vets if that's what's best

(57:19):
for the team, no matter no matter how much that
breaks up kind of the hierarchy within the team. For
two reasons. First of all, because the playoffs are the
time where you bring that hierarchy and you just throw
everything at the wall. If going coming out of the playoffs,
that hierarchy is broken. Guess what, alt has a team
option you can just you can just not bring them back.

(57:40):
And you know that problem is that potential problem solves itself.
And when you think about the best playoff coaches, when
you think about they are exposures of the world that
I lose of the world. The guys are really known
for in their in game adjustments. They're not stuck to
some precur seats principles that come from from that come
from the rougular season. They're willing to try whatever it

(58:03):
may be. Just thinking thinking about thinking about the series
against the Lakers in the bubble, Frank Vogel to me
completely help cut Mike tan Tony back then because he
saw that Mark if Morris was a complete mismatch and
the answer to what we were doing, and the guy
that was barely playing played the key role the entire series,
and that won them the game, that won them the series.

(58:24):
And even though it works, it worked for one game
and and he kept doing it. And I'm just not
quite sure that emai Udoco will be as kind of
light on his fee to or as edge out in
maneuvering potential little advantages match up adventatives we may be
able to get. I think he'll be really smart about
it defensively, but offensively. I just don't quite trust him yet,

(58:48):
and he might. He might evolve into guys to getting
suggest saying guys should have made that shouts that they haven't.
And there's ways that you can you know, there's a
little advantages that you can get into me. That's why
imay look will be the second X factor for the team.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Yeah, I think that's fair. It's just I have a
little bit less concern about e May simply because I'm
more bullish Unfrednanly. It's just and I'd met a lot
of this as a hunch. But I like the way
he moved against the Nuggets. He made a few threes.
I love the way he played against the thunder Made
shots took its secondary role as Jalen scaled his usage

(59:26):
up for the obvious reason because he was cooking. And
I trust Fred. He's delivered in big spots before, and
I think he's the guy that on paper profiles to
benefit the most from this extended break. It's been a
disappointing year for him. But one thing, I think a
lot of people forget that month of January when the
Rockets were at their best, are close to it before

(59:47):
all the injuries hit in the schedule Titan in the
beginning of February, Fred shot thirty nine percent from three.
He was trending upward. He was a big part of
them winning those games against great teams, like the two
against the Grizzlies, like the two against the cat to
win in Boston, and then he got hurt. He's never
been the same. He tried to come back, and then
he hurt the ankle again in the first game back.
I think this break benefits him. He's a guy I

(01:00:09):
trust from an intangible perspective. So all your points are
completely valid, Powell, I just I have a hunch that
they may be a little less important that dynamic because
Fred ends up playing better than what we've seen for
the better part of the last two months, really ever
since the start of February when he got hurt. Your
points on Jalen, I completely agree with It's just I
guess my perspective is it just sort of baked in.
It's nothing new for the playoffs, that's the same as

(01:00:31):
the regular season. For me, it's Shangoon and Shabari. Then
focus a little bit more on as far as the
playoff variables for this team, but full disclosure, there will
be some variability depending on who the exact opponent is
and how the matchups go. And honestly, that's what makes
the NBA Playoffs, in my opinion, so much fun to
discuss because unlike you know, baseball or football, where just

(01:00:51):
crazy things can happen because the sampule just isn't big enough.
Typically in the NBA, a seven game series. There are
some outliers, but for the most part, a seven game
series is enough to determine who the better team is.
It just comes down to how players are used over
those games, and you know, it's a chess board in
terms of how guys are deployed and who could spam
the right actions and do it at the right high

(01:01:13):
leverage moments. To me, that's what makes the NBA playoffs
fun in that, you know, randomness could be fun from
a fan perspective if you're a casual, but if you're
a die hard and you want to understand either does
your team advance or the reasons why they didn't if
they don't then to me, the NBA playoffs, there can
be a little bit more of a sort of linear

(01:01:34):
nature to the way things play out, and so hopefully
it's for the better. But regardless, it makes for a
more interesting discussion in my opinion, because it's easier to
understand why things happen or don't happen anyway. Closing comments,
I want to get your predictions Pallow on the Grizzlies

(01:01:56):
Warriors game. Well, I mean you can do a prediction,
but more what you're cheering for, and also Lakers Timberwolves,
because I think most of us would be in alignment
in terms of predictions. I think there's a lot of
data on who the better side is, but I'm more
curious which is better for the Rockets because I'm a

(01:02:16):
little torn. I think one clear tiebreaker for me and
hashtag Houston sports. I always think of things through a
negative lens, at least part of me does. It'd be
way easier stomaching a loss to the Grizzlies than it
would another loss to the Warriors, given all the baggage.
I will say, I think this whole narrative of Rockets
Warriors and all the history that's a storyline for the

(01:02:39):
fans for sure, and ownership. I don't think it's a
storyline for ami Udoka or the current players, especially because
they won two of the last three meetings, including convincingly
in Golden State a couple of weeks ago. I think
that angle is going to be much more in the
social media bickering between the fan brass than it is
a reflection of what's actually going on should those teams meet.

(01:03:00):
That said, my personal preference, yeah, I would hate playing
the Warriors simply because if you lose, boy, it would
be brutal. Now conversely, if you win, it would be amazing.
My god, would that feel good? But that's a heavy lift.
I think even though they'd be the seven, the Warriors
would be favored over the Rockets. I personally don't think
they should be. I'd give a little bit of an
edge to the Rockets, but the Warriors would be favored,

(01:03:21):
and there are legitimate reasons for that. I do think, though,
the matchup between the Rockets and Warriors relative to the
Rockets and Grizzlies is a little closer than the average
fan will think. A lot of fans seeing Steph Curage,
Raymond Green, Jimmy Butler Steve Kerr, the big names and
the history between the Rockets and the Warriors, and then

(01:03:41):
the Grizzlies being relatively anonymous. They just fired their coach.
Rockets went three and one against them this year. I
think a lot of people will be cheering hard for
the Grizzlies in that game tonight, and I understand why. However,
I don't think the gap is as big as a
lot of people will make it out to be. I

(01:04:02):
think each matchup brings its own advantages and challenges to
the Rockets. You know, the Rockets Warriors matchup. The Rockets
were much better defensively against the Warriors than they were
against the Grizzlies. I think it's a matchup that, especially
with the men Thompson as your lead guy against Steph
Curry profiles very favorably for the Rockets. I also think
the Warriors, as veteran Layden as they are, there's a

(01:04:24):
lot of mileage. Gayden seven was the term Steph Curry
used to describe that Clippers finale, and it felt like
they left it all on the floor by the end
of it. Steph has the bad thumb. He didn't want
to use it to get up off the floor, Jimmy
Butler took the knee to the quad from James Harden.
Draymond Green went to the locker room with a neck
or shoulder issue early in the game. There's a lot

(01:04:46):
of mileage. The Rockets have a lot of bodies they
can throw, and they've held up very well defensively against
the Warriors all season long. So I still think Memphis
is a better matchup. But I I could argue for
Golden State, and there's a reason why both of these
teams finished with identical forty eight and thirty four records.

(01:05:07):
It's closer the margin, then I think the average fan
on Twitter or Reddit or whatever the platform may be
will think, However, I stole in Memphis simply because if
it's close, I'd rather not deal with, you know, and
I think any of these series are likely to go
six or seven games. I'd rather not deal with the
potential of Steph Curry doing what he did in the

(01:05:30):
fourth quarter against the Clippers, where it felt like, to
be at least, it looked like LA was a way
better team. They could generate offense far more easily. And
yet if Steph just got a slipper of daylight and
he went off on almost perfect shooting eighteen points in
the fourth quarter that nearly stole the game, even though
it felt like the Clippers were far more talent overall.
You know, I go back to the song, look might
not be as good as I once was, but I

(01:05:52):
was good once as I ever was if it gets
late in the series. And that's basically I mentioned earlier
the parallel to Warriors Kings a couple of years ago.
I know it's stylistically not the same and that those
Kings were not a good defensive team the current Rockets are.
But where I do think there are some parallels is
that once it got laid in the series, even with
the Kings having a huge home cooart of Vatage, Steph
Curry and treymond Green had to pedigree to steal that

(01:06:14):
they do in this situation as well. So I'd rather
not in a late series, high leverage scenario, I think
they're not going to get rittle. Conversely, the Grizzlies, who
just went through a coaching change, they're the type of
team if you get off to a two zero start,
they might get a little bit rittle because there's clearly
not a lot of internal belief that they have enough
to figure it out. And then the other reason why
I would lean Grizzlies in this particular case, I would

(01:06:37):
rather mitigate a weakness than accentuate a strength in that
all the data suggests that the Rockets would be better
defensively against the Warriors, but I trust the Rockets, especially
with Amyoudoka, to figure it out defensively no matter what.
So I would rather feel more confident offensively. That's been
the variable for this team. We know they've been top
five most of the year defensively, it's the offense that's

(01:06:58):
been middle of the pack. They've been very good offensively
against Memphis. I would rather take the matchup that plays
more to the Rockets offensively and trust that Imo Udoka
can figure it out on the defensive end. And so
to me, that's where even though it's likely to be
higher scoring, and you could make a counter argument and say, oh,
maybe the Rockets should prefer a series that's in the mud,

(01:07:19):
which it feels like it would be with a lot
of low scoring games against the Warriors. In this particular case,
I would rather gamble on the side of providing a
stimulus to the offense and trust that the defense can
eventually figure it out because Emo Udoka is just say
what you will about the guy. He's got a perfect coach,
but defensively culture and especially with time to hone in
on one specific opponent, I trust him to be very good.

(01:07:42):
That's why I prefer Grizzlies. It's not as much as
I think the average fan will prefer, and I'll certainly
be you know, I'll love to troll the Warriors if
they lose tonight to the Grizzlies, which I think is
definitely in play. I don't think it's a given the
Warriors win this game at all, because boyd did the
Warriors ever empty the take against the Clippers in a
one game scenario, which is inherently Volatiles will begin with
I could see Memphis winning this game. I don't think

(01:08:03):
it's a gibbet at all. I would enjoy Memphis winning,
but I don't think and I do think it'd be
better for the Rockets. I just don't think the gap
is huge. And then with the other series, I'm sort
of torn on this one LA and Minnesota. I think
I would probably lean to as a Rockets fan, wanting
Minnesota to win simply because if it's close, I'd rather
not air on the side of playing Lebron and Luca

(01:08:26):
and the refs and everything that comes with that. I
don't think the Lakers you're a terrible matchup for the Rockets.
We talked about that. You have to throw out that
game where nobody played, and then the one before that
where Gabe Benson and Doriy Anthony Smith went twelve to
twenty four from three and Fred VanVleet went two to fourteen.
I think the Rockets played okay, and they were right
there even night two of a back to back, and
the Lakers barely eke that out. So I think either

(01:08:49):
way it's a good matchup. And there have been times
this year that the Timberwolves has scared me the most
based on Anthony Edwards, Nasri, Chris Finch, the pedigree they
have getting to the West Finals last year. But I
think gets close enough where I'll take my chances with Minnesota.
And historically Gobert has been a very good matchup for
all per in Shin Guon, so we talked about him,
or I talked about him being a variable. I think

(01:09:09):
that's a series where Chinoo would fare very well against Minnesota,
So I don't have an overwhelming interest in Lakers Wolves,
but I think I would prefer Wolves simply because if
it's close. For man the same reasons why I don't
think the Rockets have a huge advantage or disadvantage against
any of these teams. All of these series will be
somewhere between forty five and fifty five percent in my opinion,

(01:09:30):
in terms of probability, So we're talking about very fine margins.
For much the same reasons why I wouldn't want to
take my chances with Steph Curry. What if he goes
nuclear in a Game five or a Game seven on
the road where the Rockets have home court advantage, Maybe
he doesn't mean as much When you have a guy
like that that can take over a game. The same
can happen with Lebron and Luca in a way that
it certainly can with Anthony Edwards. But you have two
of those guys, and Anthony, as good as he is,

(01:09:52):
I wouldn't put him at quite the tier all time
that certainly Lebron but even Luca are at. Just yet,
I think I prefer see in Minnesota win. Those are
my long winded answers. Definitely, Grizzlies over Warriors, although the
margins a little bit closer than I think the average
fan thinks. At least for me, the margin is closer,
and then I think I'm cheering Timberwolves over Lakers. But

(01:10:13):
to me, that's basically a corn flip. I don't see
a huge difference there, Pollo, where you at as far
as rooting interest for those two series, not well, one
series in the case of Timberwolves Lakers and playing game
in the other case.

Speaker 3 (01:10:24):
Yeah, you're flirting with it take. I'm I'm actually going
to go with it. And it's and it's not because
it's it's a hot take or anything. It's genuinely what
I believe. I think the Grizzlies are going to win
the game. Ooh, and I would rather the Warriors win
the game.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
I actually I was predicted. So I did lockdown Rockets
with Jackson Gatlin today. He made me pick I actually
predicted the Grizzlies to win the game, but I still
said that I wanted them to win the game as well.
I didn't say as much. I didn't go as far
as you are to say I want the Warriors, so
I like this.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Tame, so I want the Warrior. I think the Bruzzies
are going to win because the Jimmy Butlers is clearly hurty,
and I don't think he's going to be one hundred percent.
And I think the Grizzlies just have too much scoring
for the Warriors. And I don't think the Warriors have
enough defenders to throw out there to beat a fully
healthy Grizzlies team, and so I don't think they're going
to be able to score enough. And then why I

(01:11:22):
want the Warriors to win is very much fight into
that as well. I watched that Clippers game and you saw, oh,
this is Steph Curry doing. Steph Curry thinks he almost won.
And what I saw was Steph Curry was absolutely unstoppable
and he still lost. That's what I saw.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
And they had a ten point lead because they got
a hot start. It really felt like the Clippers were
the better team for most of that game. To your point, yeah,
I would agree with you on that. It did stand out.
Now some of that. I think the Clippers are really good,
even better than I thought, but it also just felt
like to me, the Clips were clearly the better team.

(01:12:01):
I see what you're getting at.

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
Yeah, And it felt like Steph Curry had to be
en absolute superhero in the fourth to keep them in
the game. And then Debi Butler had had no flock
with the game whatsoever. And to me, they were they were,
you know, they they they were hanging on because Raymond
Green made a crazy three and Brendan Tazimski made a
crazy three and not crazy to the normal three in

(01:12:25):
the clutch and Kawhi missed a shot at a game
winner and he had just made one private that with
when Raymond foul, and it felt like they had no
answer for Harden, who which is a very di minisd
version of James Harden, and they still had no answer.
They had I believe Gary Peyton the third on him
and he couldn't do anything. To me, I know, the

(01:12:47):
Clippers were good and Kahil and it is one of
my favorite players of all time, but it to me
felt like they were completely outclassed. And Steph Curry was,
you know, flowing his way trying to win that game
and he was his best health and he still couldn't.
And because of that and because of how they match
up with us for two reasons. First of all, because
as you said, grueling season, very old team. While a

(01:13:10):
lot of bumps and bruises on on their star players.
I do not trust whatsoever Brendan Putzimski and Mi Moses
Moodie and and Lily to trust some extent, but still
not the same player he used to be to actually
beat us. And I think you can just you can
take Steph out of the gate basically at this point,
you can double team on screens, you can, you can

(01:13:33):
just there's some actions that you won't be that he
will still get shots off. But I think that they
are a one man show, and I don't think Jimmy
butter By himself can beat us. And this might get
clipped in the future, but I think I'm much more
confident in us defending them well enough, in us being
able to score well enough against them with our defense,

(01:13:54):
than I am on potentially catching a just a scotching
hot Grizzlies team does on being seems like he always
kills us. Jammeran is one of those guys that he's
on it's really hard to guard and we've never had
an answer for Jaron Jackson Junior for the last few years,
and he's the one type of guy I don't really
think Amen Thompson Cansolt just because of you know, just

(01:14:15):
too long to crafty. You're going to foul them a
bunch of times, and I don't even want them and
being the primary defender because I don't want to man
in Faul trouble and I'd rather keep him fresh and
be able to help on him rather than be the
primary defender. I know we've beaten the Grizzlies. They've always
been tough games, and we've played good enough offensively in

(01:14:36):
those games against the Grizzlies, and I don't know if
that's going to translate to the playoffs. What I do
know is going to translate into the playoffs is our defense,
and I trust our defense to hold the Warriors. I
trust this better. It's a lot of the same reasons
why I don't think we have any shot at beating
the Celtics. I think we have a lot better of
a shot against the tough defensive team because we're going
to beat them at their own game versus a potential

(01:15:00):
yeah versus the potential shooters team that's going to force
you to shoot at the innotional thing you can do.
I would still back as to beat the Grizzlies, but
I think against the Grizzlies, it's a seven game series,
I think against the Warriors it's five or six. Like,
I'm really confident we beat the Warriors, and I think
and besides that, you know, you're worried about how it's
going to free free lose. To me, it's going to

(01:15:21):
feel like garb regardless if it's the Warriors or not.
I'm not going to watch or consumed basketball content for
a while if that happens, either the Grizzlies or the Warriors.
But if we do beat the Warriors, it's the storybook,
you know, start to discontending season. We beat our you know,
the ghosts of the past of the Warriors against that
we beat them in a playoff series. It's going to

(01:15:43):
feel so good to watch national media afterwards because listen,
you know, I'm a huge Nick right first Steak fan,
and Nick yeah, Nick over the last week has kind
of cooled off on the Warriors, and I think he's
close to picking as in the playoffs here is. But
Broussard is like going all in, like the Warriors have

(01:16:04):
the Rockets have no champs against the Waters, it feels
it would feel so good to just see all of
these guys like, oh my god, this team that's going
to feed my ratings the rest of the playoffs just
got eliminated by the team that only plays defense and
nobody wants to watch and would feel so great.

Speaker 2 (01:16:21):
And then the Rockets ruined the lebron staff showed out
in the second. Oh no, that would be amazing. Speaking
of the other part.

Speaker 3 (01:16:30):
Of that, Yeah, So as far as the Timberwolves versus
the Lakers, I'm going to go hot tache as well,
but this is not really a hot tache. You've kept
up with the pod for for the last few weeks
pre playoffs. I think we're a good matchup against the Lakers.
I would rather the Lakers win. I think the times
we've played the Timberrowlves, we've beaten them some of those times.

(01:16:52):
But we just don't seem to have an answer for Nazviez,
and we certainly don't have an answer for any especially
because of the way he draws fouls, and because we
don't seem to have too much of amens against the
then against cards that really there are really fifty and
that draw a lot of fouls and and promotes a
lot of contact, And to me, that's the one way
you can kind of beat our team is this press

(01:17:14):
are calling everything, and I think and as a really
I don't know, convincing is perhaps the right word way
of drawing fouls where there's just not really much you
can do once it starts. Once that starts and the
Shu go watch his games against it. He always has
a lot of three throws and then from three it's
just magnet fall against us every single time. And I'm
kind of a lot more scared of that, and what

(01:17:35):
than I am of a Lakers team that doesn't have
the size to card Opera schan Gun. The way they
typically got the ore Chingoun when they haven't had Anthony
Davis is to put a Lebron on him. And if
you're gonna put Lebron on on shang Gun, first of all,
I trust Changun to score enough and efficiently enough. Second
of all, you're gonna tire all run out, run out
on offense over a seven game series, especially, and I

(01:17:58):
think over over the course of a series we can
exploit that. Obviously, we need to be shooting well, but
I also love the fact that we have so many
defenders we can throw at both Lebron and Luca and yes,
Luca has caught us in the past. You know, at
this point you're picking your poison. But I'd rather it
be the Lakers. And also because the playoffs, the payoffs
would would be higher. Right if we beat the Warriors

(01:18:20):
and the Lakers, that's that's nirvana, yea.

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
Yea yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
And and and you could you could get swept by
the Thunder in the Western Conference finals, but this would
be just an insane season. And I actually think I
would actually back us to beat both of these teams,
both the Warriors and the Lakers. And I would love yeah,
and I would love to get the champs to actually,
you know, test that theory and see how we would
do in those situations.

Speaker 2 (01:18:48):
Very high pressure. Absolutely, yeah, we're talking about stressed testing.
That's the playoffs. You can't stress test more than going
against Lebron and stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:18:54):
Yeah, And you'll establish yourself if you if you beat
the two of those two teams, like that's the passing
of the torch. And I think that's if if we
beat if we play our type of game, low scoring,
defensive battle games, two of you know, the two last
remaining true superstars like celebrities of the league. I think
that's cements your reputation as this is the.

Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
New heat, yep on the radar even more.

Speaker 3 (01:19:20):
You clearly sweep away the hardened era, the lot of threes.
These these guys, these star players don't play defense. These
guys are are an offensive, you know, juggernaut team, and
you in your rem state kind of a different type
of culture and with the Heat kind of you know,
on the downward slope, there's no real team to pick

(01:19:41):
up that reputation around the league. And the league has
always had in You've had, You've had the Heat, You've
had the opposite, the Gritain crank Grizzlies, you had the
Raptors at a certain point when Kawhi was there with
mar Saul, when President Litten, Marc Gasol and Serjibaka, and
believe them, I'm forgetting some important people that team. But
I really think that at that point, like that's the

(01:20:04):
final nilin the coffin for for these you know, for
these older old or older teams. The Lakers will become
Lucas team as Ron fades away. And I think this
is probably the final coffin for the Warriors, and so
I would love to for us to be the easy
transition from these guys kind of taking a back seat.

(01:20:26):
And I think once guys, once people are actually forced
to watch us play our cell of basketball. It doesn't
look pretty in highlights, but when you watch us play,
it really gives you a vibe of a basketball from
a different time. Like guys are giving it, they're all
guys are playing in same level defense, Guys are being
physical and there's no true star out there that there's

(01:20:47):
no Bailey Wow. They have to keep that effort one
hundred percent of the time. And I think it's I'm
not gonna say it's a service type of team, but
it kind of is. It's if you if you like
basketball for the traditional sense of it, I think we
are the team that represents that the most, just because
we don't really shoot that many threes compared to you know,
a team like the Celtics or the Gaps who shoot

(01:21:07):
the most in the league and so and there's a
lot of starting lines that you can kind of get
get invested into. And I'll really, you know, I really
want to see us at least even if we lose.
I want to face those teams out to see how
we do against those those type of bedroom teams.

Speaker 2 (01:21:22):
It would be more fun. And the way I'll close
the loop on all of this, I just want to
stress and this is my biggest overarching point. And we'll
talk more about the specific Round one matchup for the
Rockets in our pod later this week once we know
the actual opponent, which will be after tonight's playing game.
Between the Warriors and the Grizzlies, there are very valid
arguments you can make in both directions because the margin

(01:21:45):
is so much closer than simply looking at the bracket
and seeing the siege would have you to believe the
Grizzlies are in the eighth spot and they're forty eight
and thirty four. The Lakers are in the three spot
and they're fifty and thirty two. We're talking about a
two game different over eighty two games. That's almost nothing,
being the difference between number three and number eight. So

(01:22:05):
it can be very easy to look at the bracket
and say, oh, I want the lower seed or I
guess the higher seed, to think on how you define that.
But wanting the worst team on paper, the worst seed
on paper the win because that's a better matchup. It
can be, but in this particular case, that's not a
given at all because the margin is very, very slim

(01:22:27):
between these teams, and so a lot of it's going
to come down to matchups, who's playing hot at the
right time, who isn't. So there are very defensible arguments
you can make in both directions, and I think the
and you, Pollo, we just made. I think we both
argued pretty compelling points. And I don't think it's not
even close to being determined as far as which of

(01:22:47):
us is right and which of it's strong, and honestly,
it could easily go the other way, and who knows,
it may end up splitting. But that's the point that
I will leave off on. The gap in the Western
Conference specifically is so small that you know, we can
quibble over our exact opinions of certain matchups and how
it goes down. But honestly, we're talking about maybe moving
the margin from fifty three percent to fifty four percent

(01:23:08):
or forty seven percent to forty eight percent. It is
incredibly fine. It is an incredibly narrow band, and so
it's going to be fascinating to watch. There's a lot
to talk about, but uh, there are no easy answers
because this is it's a deep Western Conference with a
lot of good teams. Rockets didn't hell of a job
getting to number two, and honestly, they'd probably be at
fifty four even fifty five pins, so they hadn't taking

(01:23:28):
the foot off the gas. But nothing is going to
be given in the playoffs at all. Lots of these
teams can win, they can also lose. Hopefully the Rockets
are on the right side of this. Starting Easter Sunday.
All right, well, that's where we'll wrap things for today
and if you don't, we're content before our next show,
which again will be later this week once we know
the matchup. The best place to get content for both
Polow and myself is online. You can follow me on Twitter,

(01:23:48):
ex at Benjubo's powow, at Paolo ALVE's NBA, and this
show at the logger line. If you go at that
logger line page, you can find our link tree that's
got links to our distribution partners like Apple, Google and Spotify.
You kind necruble to review at your location of choice.
We greatly appreciate that. Also on that same link sure
you can find links to friends, sponsors, partners in the program.
USA Today's Rockets Wire Card Back Brewing forks Talk seven ninety.

(01:24:09):
He have those links and you can enjoy their content
as well. So with those plugs complete, we'll adjourn for
today for Paolo, I'm Ben, Thanks always for listening, and
please come back soon for another new episode of the
Loggery Line.

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