WEBVTT - 5 Takeaways from Thunder-Rockets, Warriors getting HOT, Lakers lose AGAIN 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:16.360 The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.480 the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:20.439 are having an incredible end to your week. Have a 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.280 jam packed show for you guys today, pretty straightforward. We're 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.640 gonna be touching on five games from last night to 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.200 various extents, as the thunder got their revenge I shouldn't 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:30.880 say revenge. They beat the Rockets earlier this year, but 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.120 they're starting to find their groove and dominated the Rockets 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.000 on the road, getting a twenty point win, pulling away 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:38.000 in the fourth quarter. We're gonna break that game down. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.760 We're gonna touch on the Warriors win against the Knicks. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.560 We're gonna touch on the Celtics fourth quarter comeback against 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:45.560 the Miami Heat. We're gonna touch on Kate and Jalen 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:47.800 Dura's return for the Detroit Pistons and a win versus 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.960 the Phoenix Suns. And then my very brief thoughts on 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.239 the Lakers kind of just at peace with who they 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:53.680 are at this point. We'll get to that at the 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:54.959 tail end of the show. You guys are the job. 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.320 Before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:59.160 channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.200 Make sure you like this video. That helps us a lot. 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:02.600 In the last but not least, if you want to 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.080 get mailbag questions in for next Friday's mail Bag, make 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.080 sure you drop them in our full episodes on YouTube. 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:08.880 Just put mail bag with the col and write your question. 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.480 We'll get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.520 the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.399 Thunder control of this one pretty much throughout. Houston kept 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.320 making runs throughout the first three quarters that kept things close, 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.040 preventing them from getting down double digits. Okay, see, didn't 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.960 actually push ahead double digits until about nine minutes left 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.440 in the fourth quarter of this one. Couple of clear 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.920 advantages for Houston, and I actually'd argue this is kind 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.240 of the concerning thing if you're a Rockets fan. Like 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.480 they dominate the offensive glass, they have a twenty five 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.600 to ten second chance points advantage. They actually did a 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.360 decent job of taking care of the basketball in this game, 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.720 at least avoiding some of the more painful live ball 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:51.080 turnovers that can lead to easy runouts, and that is 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.640 usually what ends up blowing games open for Oklahoma. City, 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.680 So they were actually able to keep this relatively close 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.560 for the first three quarters and change. But ironically, Oklahoma 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.640 City pulled away doing the thing they had struggled mightily 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.840 with for weeks, which was shot making from the perimeter. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.280 Jump shooting had been a problem for Oklahoma City during 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.519 their struggles in December and early January. They had These 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:16.280 are just numbers from Synergy, just to give you guys 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.960 an idea. These are points per jump shot attempt in 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.799 the first Spurs loss, zero point eight, points per jump 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.960 shot attempt in the first in the Minnesota loss right 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.480 after that, zero point seven to nine. In the third 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:35.080 Spurs loss, zero point seven eight, in the Hornets loss, 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.800 zero point seven eight. And I actually thought right around 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.240 that Hornets game was where it really started to peak. 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.560 There was a three game stretch where they lost to 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.919 the Hornets, they barely beat the Jazz, and they barely 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:48.600 beat the Grizzlies, and they went zero point seven eight, 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.280 zero point eight four, zero point seven to nine points 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.320 per jump shot respectively in those three games. And it 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.959 was you know, what was weird about those particular games 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.760 is they were shooting extremely poorly on wide open catch 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:05.080 and shoot threes. During net span. One of the things 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.040 that was kind of popping up in their other losses 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.480 is they were making the wide open ones, but they 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:11.800 were missing anything that was semi contested, and they were 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.359 missing a lot of their pull up jump shots. In 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:20.480 that three game stretch, they attempted sixty three unguarded catch 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.679 and shoot jump shots and made just thirteen of them. 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.600 Just brutal bad shooting for Oklahoma City in that stretch. 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.040 And it was after that that I talked about how 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.000 it kind of started to feel a little bit like 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.480 a case of the yips, you know, just like a 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.160 team that like was legitimately in their own head to 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.600 the extent that a lot of their guys were shooting 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.560 below their capability. But I had two follow ups to 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:43.520 that idea when I kind of talked about how they 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:46.560 were entering into that kind of funk. One was that 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.680 I'd be certain they'd snap out of it eventually. Why 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.560 they shot the ball too well for too long beforehand, 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:55.640 they had too much time to figure it out as 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.880 early in the season, and they're still just too talented 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.440 up and down the roster. Eventually found a way to 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:03.600 figure it out. For lack of a better way of 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.560 putting it and then two. I think for everyone, including 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.200 the Thunder themselves, we have to at least kind of 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:14.400 file that away in that the potential for a cold 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.839 spell like that from the perimeter is at least something 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.039 will always have in the back of our minds with 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.760 this Thunder team, at least is something that is a 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.960 potential vulnerability, even if we can all admit that they're 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.040 the runaway favorite at this point in time, but they 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:29.840 snapped out of it in a big way last night. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.599 They got one point one one points per jump shot 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.760 overall in that fourth quarter stretch when they blew things open. 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.440 They were five for nine on catch and shoot threes, 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:40.919 and that was with Kenrich Williams missing a couple of 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.640 wide open ones in that stretch. It was this chet Holmgren, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.560 Jalen Williams, AJ Mitchell kind of group that did all 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.680 the day image and they did what they did best, 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.840 which was relentlessly attack the rim. This team does have 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.839 a clear identity on offense. All of their stars and 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.160 all of their ball handlers I'm even gonna include a J. 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.080 Mitchell and guys like Cason Wallace here, they are all 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:07.560 in attack mode all of the time. They may have 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.480 some up and down nature to their rim decisions. Sometimes 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.039 they can get a little you know, sketchy with forcing 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.839 things in traffic at the rim. They can certainly go 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:19.880 cold from the perimeter at times, but they're never going 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.920 to stop attacking. That is very much even like Chet 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:25.360 and his ISOs. He's always trying to get downhill at 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.640 a big driving dunk past Kevin Durant to start the 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.799 fourth quarter. Jay Dub a couple of really nice drives 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.080 in that early fourth quarter that set up Caseon Wallace 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:36.440 catching shoot threes one of those like kind of patent 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.400 and Donovan Mitchell windmill dribbles over the top that set 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.960 one up another drive off the right wing against Reed Sheppard, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.960 and then aj Mitchell ended up hitting a catch and 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.680 shoot three off of a Case and Wallace drive off 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.120 of the right wing, and things blew up fast for 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.240 Houston from there. This was a two point game with 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.480 eleven minutes left in the fourth, Then it was an 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:57.760 eleven point game with nine minutes left in the fourth, 0:05:57.800 --> 0:05:59.840 So in two minutes they blew it from a one 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.640 session game to a double digit lead, and next thing 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:03.840 you know, you look up at the scoreboard and the 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.680 Thunder up by twenty five, and that can be what 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:08.440 it's like when you let go of the rope against 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.840 this type of team. The thunder also held the Rockets 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.359 to just sixteen points of their own in the fourth quarter. 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:16.760 I thought we started to see some of the cumulative 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:20.600 wear and tear of the Thunderball pressure and physicality get 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.000 to guys like Kevin Durant Albern Shangun. I thought both 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.800 of those guys looked kind of exhausted in that fourth quarter, 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.680 a lot of like stagnant ball where neither of them 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:30.560 was attacking, but they were kind of looking around the 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.359 floor waiting for something to naturally break open, or looking 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.240 at the other guy to see if maybe they wanted 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.400 to look to go attack. And there were a handful 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.600 of plays where guys got aggressive. Shangun had a big 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.560 drive past chet Holmgren where he went past him, and 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.560 obviously KD hit a couple of jumpers, but for the 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:47.880 most part, it was a lot of just kind of 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.440 standing around not really knowing how to penetrate the defense. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.480 And lou Dort has done a fantastic job on KD 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.080 and both of these games, this one and the season 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.000 opener of just getting up underneath them and getting really 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.479 physical and forcing him into some misses. And then all 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.440 game long, I thought the Thunder did a really good 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.920 job of overloading the middle on rolls and cuts, and 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.240 it was ironic because they were giving up a lot 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.520 of these openings on the weakside corner and Houston just 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:14.600 wasn't getting it there. As a matter of fact, Houston 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.320 attempted just four unguarded catch and shoot jump shots in 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.000 the entire game. This was not a game where they 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.560 were missing a bunch of wide open threes. They weren't 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.880 really getting the ball there. A lot of like catches 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:27.880 in the middle of the floor that were turning into 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.440 bad forced misses like that one of men Thompson had 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.880 down the stretch where he jumped into Kenridge Williams, or 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.760 turnovers like the past, the Steven Adams on that roll 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:38.880 where he gets the ball poked away by Shake Gills 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.680 of Alexander okay See was swarming that middle and Houston 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.200 was just turning the ball over or shooting some bad 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.320 shots in there. And then big picture looking at because 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.120 they did get quite a few catch and shoots that 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.320 were contested in this game. The Rockets are having some 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.680 jump shooting woes of their own. As of late, the 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.640 Rockets have shot the ball extremely poorly seven games in 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.840 a row now. They've been below zero point eighty five 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.280 points per jump shot in every single one of the 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.960 last seven games, averaging in total over that seven games 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.480 just zero point seven to nine points per jump shot 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.640 since the loss in Dallas, and they're just two and 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:16.880 five in that span. Now, some of that is just 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.960 a slump, but some of that is some natural regression 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.240 after they shot kind of absurdly well to start the season. 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.960 Several of their players were shooting better than you would 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.600 typically expect them to based on what their career history 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.960 was to that point. As a team, the Rockets have 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.520 actually slipped to sixteenth in jump shooting efficiency in the 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:39.840 NBA after that recent stretch. Nonetheless, a really impressive win 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.440 for the Thunder team that appears to be back on track. 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.840 They've now won five in a row, nine out of 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:49.000 eleven since that rough stretch. I wanted to dig though, 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:50.880 you know, as we look at this team, you know, 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:52.839 every time we get an opportunity to see one of 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.800 these kinds of matchups where these are two teams that 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.400 I have in my list of top tier contenders at 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.080 least going into this game, I think, Okay, so he 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:02.960 showed a little bit of a gap between them and 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.160 Houston in this game, and we'll dig into the reasons why. 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.000 But going into the game, we viewed it as a 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.640 matchup between our top tier two of our top tier 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:11.760 contenders at this point in the season. I have them 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.679 two as well as Denver in that conversation, and then 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:18.240 I'm strongly considering most likely going to add Minnesota to 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.280 that conversation. Is as we get to the end of 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.839 this month and every month we're gonna do new contender rankings, 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:24.440 We're gonna have one here in a couple of weeks. 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:26.559 But if we look at those two matchups, now, I'm 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:30.800 starting to look at very detailed, like kind of schematic 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.240 stuff that may or may not translate to a potential 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.080 playoff matchup for these two teams. So I have five 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.440 takeaways from this game to from last night that just 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.079 kind of demonstrate some of the things we can look 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.200 at and expect to see if these two teams face 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.800 off in a playoff series. First of all, the doubling 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.600 of shake Yieldes Alexander Houston basically just blitzed the hell 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.080 out of Shay on every single ball screen, but then 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.440 allowed him to work one on one against his primary matchup. Now, 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.360 the reason why is Houston likes their primary matchups. There 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.320 is a lot of the men Thompson or Joshakoge in 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.800 this game, and Shaye if he wanted to work a 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.040 tough iso against one of those two guys, Houston was 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:10.119 willing to let him do that. But if they attempted 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.120 any sort of ball screen action, they were just aggressively 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.000 doubling him to get the ball out of his hands, 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.760 and it actually worked pretty well. Overall. I think it's 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.760 a worthwhile scheme for Houston to have in their bag 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:25.160 of tricks should they end up in a series against Okay. See. 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:26.640 Shae was a little flum mixed by it in the 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.760 first half. He had a few uncharacteristic turnovers, didn't really 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:33.320 get anything going offensively outside of a handful of short bursts. 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.800 Wasn't really able to get anything substantial going offensively in 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:38.640 this game. Ended up kind of getting his way to 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:40.800 the foul line to keep his twenty point streak alive 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:42.319 at the end of the game when things were kind 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.400 of already out of reach. The Thunder had a one 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.719 oh five offensive rating with Shay on the floor in 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:48.959 the first half, and then one hundred in the third quarter. 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.079 It wasn't really until the fourth quarter that that unit 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.760 started to score super effectively, and at that point it 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:57.040 was already a double digit lead. The bench group had 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:58.679 already kind of grown the lead. Does that mean it's 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.560 gonna work perfectly every time time? Know? But what it 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.760 does mean is that they have a decent sample that 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.160 that was a worthwhile option to have in their bag. 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.560 So we should all be prepared if these two teams 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.800 face each other for Houston to do the same thing 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:13.880 in a playoff series, Don't be surprised if they go 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.640 have your fun with Tarry Easton, Josha Kogi, and Men 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.000 Thompson one on one. But if you bring any sort 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.440 of screening action into the equation, we're just gonna double 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:24.000 the ball out of your hands. I think we'll see 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:28.280 more of that from Houston. Secondly, Chet is a real 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.840 problem for Houston in this matchup. He's been fantastic in 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.120 both games. Bring several characteristics to the table. One he 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.520 scraps on the boards and like I know, Oklahoma City 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.320 got killed on the glass in this game overall statistically, 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.320 but if you watch the tape, Chet won a lot 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.360 of those battles too, and he was down there scrapping 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:48.480 and again like he's the only guy that has the 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.680 length in this lineup to actually hang with Houston. Everyone 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.120 else is given up two three inches in terms of 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.360 size trying to rebound underneath the basket. Chet actually won 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.640 a lot of those battles and several key rebounds and 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.680 tapouts during runs for Oklahoma City in this game that 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:10.760 helped them maintain control. Secondly, he gives them enormous defensive versatility. 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.000 He gives them quite a bit of strength to shanggun 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:15.000 every once in a while see Shangun bully him like 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:16.640 he did on that fourth quarter drive where he just 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.160 goes right around him. But overall, I think he holds 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.360 up pretty well there. And he gives them the ability 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.760 to switch on to Kevin Durant and ball screens, and 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.600 he can get great contests on those Kevin Durant pull 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.880 up jump shots that can forcemisses. And then lastly, he's 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.120 a garbage man at the rim as a vertical spacer. 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.920 What happens when Oklahoma City drives the Bigs have to help. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.400 He had three dunks in this game, either on putbacks 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.880 or dump offs, where he's just such a big target 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:44.720 and it's so easy for him to just drop the 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.360 ball through the loop even if he's in traffic. It's 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:49.840 a real release valve for this team. And again, I 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.280 just even without Isaiah Hartenstein, who's dealing with calf injury 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:57.320 right now, Chet just gives the Thunder a physical dynamic 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.720 on the front line that's really tough for Houston to 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.680 match up with. I thought he was great in both 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:05.800 of the games against Okay against Houston so far this season. Thirdly, 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.640 Reed Shepherd is completely physically overmatched in this matchup on 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.200 the perimeter. In both Oklahoma City games we've seen Reid 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.240 just look like a bad combination of small, skinny, and 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.280 slow against Oklahoma City's driving guards. And multiple of those 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.760 easy kickout threes for Oklahoma City in the fourth quarter 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.360 came on easy drives pass read. Jay dev went right 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.200 around him for a kickout. AJ Mitchell went right around 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.559 him for an easy layup. He had a rep against 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:33.240 aj Mitchell and pick and roll that I thought was 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.160 pretty embarrassing. That's more indicative of the larger issue that 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.240 goes beyond his physical limitation. So Aj comes off a 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:41.680 screen from chat at the top and Kd's in like 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:45.200 a deep drop coverage, right, So if you don't get like, 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:47.880 if you don't apply appropriate back pressure over the top, 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.120 the dude's just going to settle into whatever shot he wants. 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:54.000 And Reid just kind of slowly meandered over the chat 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.880 screen and let Aj Mitchell just easily settle into a 0:13:57.880 --> 0:13:59.839 pull up three on the right wing that he knocked down. 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:03.560 And that's the issue, is like you can't be small 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:07.920 in lack physicality and not overly athletic, like lack the 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.600 physical traits, but then also lack like the motor and 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:15.199 positioning traits. He had a really bad close out on Jduw. 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:16.440 It was one of the plays that led to an 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:18.560 open three. I think it was the second case in 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.280 Wallace three, where like he kind of just hopped out 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.960 really high to the high side and Jaydub just went 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.200 right around him. And I'm like, that's bad fundamentals, that's 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:31.080 bad footwork, and it's like you can't have bad physical 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.520 traits and bad fundamentals. That's a death sentence in the NBA. 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.560 And Reid just has looked really bad defensively in both 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:42.160 of these matchups against Oklahoma City. Fourthly, Oklahoma City lit 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:44.240 up the zone defense this time. That was a big story. 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.640 In the opening night game, the Rockets ran twenty eight 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.440 possessions of the zone in that game, held the Thunder 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.920 to zero point eight two points per possession in those sequences. 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.040 Eight possessions of zone last night one point one to 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.360 three points per possession, and a lot of really good 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.760 dribble penetration through the zone. And then once again guys 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.160 hitting threes to pay that off and beat that look. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.120 And then, lastly, our fifth takeaway, if we're going to 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.040 talk about and consider the potential for Oklahoma City to 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:12.560 go cold from the perimeter, we have to have that 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.640 same conversation with Houston. They are every bit as capable 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.760 of going cold. I'd even argue straight up that Oklahoma 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.880 City is a more talented jump shooting team than Houston is. 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:24.400 So if your take as a Rockets fan is we're 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.160 just missing shots, I'd argue that it's actually more likely 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.400 that that dynamic favors Oklahoma City over a larger sample. 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.120 And I didn't even think Houston moved the ball that 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.760 well to generate the types of quality shots that could 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.480 have flipped that dynamic. Again, we talked about the thunder 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:40.560 kind of overplaying the middle and Houston not moving the 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.119 ball through their defense very well. A lot of tougher 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.400 and rushed contested catch and shoot jump shots in this game. Again, 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.400 this is only our second look at this matchup. Key 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.840 players from both teams, including potential starters route like Isai 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.840 Hartenstein and Tari Easton, some important bench wings for Houston 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.600 out of the lineup, like Dorian Finney Smith, for example, 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.000 but this one didn't look too good for Houston. You 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.720 dominate in an area that's your clear advantage, the offensive glass, 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.560 You take away or at least limit one of Oklahoma 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.600 City's bigger defensive advantages, which just points off of turnovers. 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.720 You held them well below their season average and points 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.000 off of turnovers, and then you still basically managed to 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.520 never take control in the game and lose by twenty 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.000 on your home floor. So definitely a discouraging performance for 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.960 the Rockets. But they'll have another chance. They play on 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:32.520 February seventh down in Oklahoma City, and the Rockets will 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.640 have a chance to flip the dynamic at that point. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:36.400 But a lot of interesting kind of stuff to see 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.440 from a potential matchup in the playoffs later down the line. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:41.920 I'm super excited to tell you guys about our new 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.840 partnership with Viory. Those of you guys who are familiar 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.040 with VIORI have noticed that I've been wearing it on 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.080 the show almost every day now for several years. Today 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.960 I am wearing the Ponto Performance half Zip, one of 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.280 my favorites from them. 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Jylen Brunson ended up going down in 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.399 that Sacramento game with an ankle injury. The Knicks the 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.560 latest and a long line of teams that's been following 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.440 victim to a Sacramento Kings team that's just playing good basketball. 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.399 All their shot greadors are playing well. Demart Herosen is 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.560 hooping his ass off, Zach Lavine's hoop, and Russell Westbrooks soup, 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:57.760 and they got some athletes that are playing really good defense. 0:18:57.800 --> 0:18:59.680 Like the Kings are just playing really good basketball, and 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:01.480 they kind of chewed up and spit out the Knicks 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.440 just like they did to everyone else over the course 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.920 of the last week. But going into this game against 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.320 Golden State, it's a little bit of a trap. Jalen 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.800