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00:00The Rockets play Sunday against the Warriors in Game 1.
00:03The schedule for this series lays out very nicely for Houston sports fans.
00:08Here's why.
00:09They play Game 1 on Sunday.
00:13They play Game 2.
00:16And then Game 3 is on Saturday.
00:18So the first two days of the draft, there is no Rockets going on in the backdrop.
00:22Oh, nice.
00:23Yeah.
00:23Well, and also, you know, what we've talked about all season long,
00:28especially is that, man, this is a Rockets team that when it's playing its best version of basketball,
00:33they need energy.
00:35They need tenacity.
00:36They need to be creating turnovers and playing in the transition.
00:39And above all else, they're just a spectacularly good rebounding team that you need energy to do that.
00:46And they get two nights rest after all these first several games and at home for the first two.
00:53That bodes well for getting the best version of the Rockets.
00:56I don't know, man.
00:56I think I'd rather have staff and Jimmy Butler tool and Draymond, the old, the old heads have to play
01:01a little, a little tighter of us here.
01:04You know what I mean?
01:04Yeah, I know.
01:04That's enticing.
01:05Yeah.
01:06That's enticing.
01:06But remember,
01:07Talk me out of it, sir.
01:08Sometimes you get to, I, I thought about this every time this year when even Udoka himself would
01:14cite the back-to-back road games as being kind of tough to work through.
01:17It's the tendency of guys our age is to think, oh, they're young.
01:23They can run all day.
01:24But I always get these flashbacks to high school football when football coaches would say that.
01:29You guys shouldn't be tired.
01:31And you're like, you stupid old fat cigar smoking piece of crap.
01:34What the hell are you talking about?
01:36Right.
01:36Yeah.
01:36Meanwhile, I'm going to class all day long.
01:38Yes.
01:39And I actually pay attention, unlike you and your crap social studies teaching.
01:43And then, and then I got to go to practice.
01:46And then I got to go do chores at the farm.
01:48So it's not so simple that, oh, youth will take care of them.
01:51Because the one thing that, one thing that the older vet is exactly how to pace themselves,
01:57when to put out, how to rest and recover.
01:59The young guys, it's not always so simple.
02:01Just picturing Al-Prin Shingun yelling at somebody that has to go work on the farm after the game.
02:07I got to go work on the farm.
02:08I got to play this game.
02:11Steve Kerr is a pimple that needs popping.
02:13Just saying.
02:14That's the Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer text.
02:16Oh, yeah.
02:17And it would feel so good.
02:18It would be so, it would be one of those things.
02:20This should be disgusting.
02:21But I'm enjoying, I'm enjoying watching his brains ooze out his ears.
02:24Yes.
02:25Yeah.
02:25Yeah.
02:26Text in 713-572-4610 if you're up early with us.
02:29What's your emotion level on this thing?
02:32Man, watching that game last night, and I thought it was early on.
02:35I'm like, all right, well, it's going to be the Warriors.
02:36We can go to bed.
02:37And you're going to get a good version of the Warriors.
02:39And they just let the Grizzlies kind of creep back in.
02:42My big takeaway from that game is the Rockets are, they are a cut above both of these teams
02:47that were playing last night.
02:48Like the Rockets, and I think the Warriors, I have to check.
02:51If I had to guess, I would think the Warriors are going to be favored in this series.
02:54They were beforehand.
02:55Yeah, well, they're 14-1 to win the title, and the Rockets are 45-1 to win the title.
03:00So they're going to be favored in this series.
03:02But the predicted odds were that the Warriors were going to be a favorite.
03:06Golden State, a heavy favorite.
03:07Yeah, a heavy favorite.
03:09Yeah, so that's what the headline says.
03:11Okay.
03:12Warriors minus 250.
03:14Against the, wow.
03:15Yeah.
03:16That is a heavy favorite, man.
03:17Mm-hmm.
03:18That is disrespect right there.
03:20And I'm not even being funny about it in the way you and I use the word disrespect.
03:23I mean, the Rockets, the Rockets are the two-seed, and if people have been watching them, they're
03:28not a phony two-seed.
03:29No, they're not a phony two-seed.
03:31But again, the matchup matters, and the game on to the Warriors, the Warriors have been
03:38one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.
03:40So it's a, there's a little bit of a strength versus strength dynamic.
03:43If you just look at it from 35,000 feet, all right, the Warriors are a really good defensive
03:49team, the Rockets are a good defensive team.
03:53Yeah.
03:53When they're at their best, they're very, very good.
03:55Yeah.
03:56And yet, the Warriors just simply have more scoring ability.
04:00Well, with those two guys, I mean, the rest of the lineup is, I mean, look at the box score
04:04last night.
04:04Like, who the hell are these guys?
04:05Other than Steph, Steph had 37 and Jimmy Butler had 38.
04:09Like, that's, I think, and against the Rockets, I think that's who they are.
04:12And I agree with everything you just said, but minus 250 for the team that doesn't have
04:17the home court advantage, you know what, that's disrespect.
04:20That's disrespect.
04:21You talk about people getting out early to Toyota Center.
04:25That's disrespect to you, the Rocket fan.
04:27Like, the odds makers are completely ignoring home court advantage, and maybe it's because
04:31the odds makers are only watching the first 15 minutes of Rockets games when people aren't
04:35in their seats yet.
04:36But minus 250 for what I think top to bottom is the less talented team, I think the Rockets
04:44are the more talented basketball team, and I don't think it's even, I don't think that's
04:47even a debate, like top to bottom.
04:49I mean, Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler are future Hall of Famers, no doubt about that.
04:54But, you know, and you're exactly right.
04:56I shouldn't have said scoring.
04:57I should have said shooting or shooters.
04:59I guess that's the big difference.
05:00But I think that you're right.
05:02The name brand appeal is probably having the public drive that line a lot.
05:06So, I think the handicap, that's interesting.
05:09I bet the line comes down.
05:11I think the handicap has anticipated the public sentiment by the Sharps.
05:16Dude, if it's minus 250, and I'll go look during the break and see what it, because since
05:20that article, it might have come down.
05:21Like, if they're Sharps that look at the Rockets, they're going to, I mean, if it's
05:25minus 250, and by the way, for those who don't speak fluent gambling, that means you
05:29got to risk 250 to win 100.
05:31That means the Rockets are probably plus 200 coming back, two to one.
05:35Two to one on the two, if you can get two to one on the two seed, who has the home court
05:40advantage, who just beat these guys two weeks ago like a drum in a game where the Warriors
05:45were trying, because they wanted to stay out of the situation they were in last night,
05:50the play-in game.
05:51You look like you're about to say something.
05:53No, I was just looking at the various.
05:55For the first, for game one, it's Rockets minus one.
05:59Okay, so that makes sense.
06:00I mean, so the home games for the Rockets.
06:02For the series, it was the, so I don't know.
06:04Like, that line that I was looking at was from eight hours ago.
06:08Okay.
06:08Yeah.
06:08The original one.
06:09That's, yeah.
06:10I mean, so the home games are all going to be coin flips in the eyes of the odds makers,
06:13and when it goes back to Golden State, the Warriors will be favored by four or five points,
06:17probably, whatever it is.
06:19Amen Thompson, speaking of favorites, Amen Thompson, not even on the board to win Defensive
06:23Player of the Year, but he's getting some love from people who I think are in the voting
06:28constituency, or at least are influential voices in the basketball community.
06:34Here's Kevin O'Connor, I believe of the ringer, if I'm not mistaken, saying that Amen
06:40Thompson will get his Hall of Fame, or his Defensive Player of the Year vote.
06:43I'm picking Amen Thompson for Defensive Player of the Year.
06:46I'm doing it, man.
06:47On shots less than six feet from the basket, opponents shoot 9.7% worse when Amen Thompson
06:52is defending.
06:53Less than 10 feet.
06:56Greater than 15 feet.
06:57They shoot 5.5% worse, and that's because the dude is near the top of the league in block
07:02jumpers, altered shots.
07:03We've seen what he can do at blocking SGA, contesting Stephen Curry on the half court.
07:1094th percentile on matchup difficulty, according to B-Ball Index.
07:13He always defends the opponent's best player.
07:15He's defending guards, John Morant, Donovan Mitchell, SGA, Curry, bigger wings, Anthony
07:22Edwards, LeBron James.
07:23He's even defended guys like Evan Mobley and Nas Reed, bigs, and he does it at an elite
07:29level.
07:30All of those things.
07:32Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo, by the way.
07:34Used to be with the ringer.
07:35He's with Yahoo now.
07:36All of those things.
07:38John Hollinger with The Athletic, who used to be in the front office for Memphis, used
07:45to write for ESPN for a long time.
07:48Same thing with him.
07:50There's some pretty influential voices saying, Amen, could win defensive player of the year.
07:55And he's so unique in that he's not just a guy who gets by with athleticism.
08:00He's super smart.
08:01He can cover point guards.
08:04He can cover bigs.
08:05He's a shot blocker.
08:07He's a guy who gets his hands in the passing lanes.
08:11He, in my opinion, he's the most, to me, he's the most valuable Rocket.
08:14I heard Clint and Ron having a debate yesterday.
08:16It was a good discussion on the drive yesterday.
08:18And they were discussing who's actually the best player on the Rockets right now.
08:23And their discussion centered around Shen Goon and Jalen Green.
08:26And meanwhile, while I'm on my walk listening to them, I'm like waving.
08:29I'm like, no, their best player is Ahmed Thompson on this team.
08:33I think if you asked, if they were going away and the league got to draft their players,
08:40I think Ahmed Thompson would be the first pick out of the Rocket players.
08:44Based on his, just based on elite defensively and still good off, like has some tools offensively
08:51with a whole lot of room for growth.
08:53Yeah, no, and the thing that makes him unique as a defender is that he can do it out on the
08:57perimeter and at the rim.
08:58He's like, when you look at the, when you look at the, um, the, the rim defense, like
09:05it's him and a bunch of centers by and large.
09:08Um, but then he can go out on the perimeter and do a whole bunch of stuff that big men can't
09:12do.
09:12So there's a, there's a versatility there that just opens things wide open for them and
09:18how they can defend.
09:19Uh, and it's, and it's, it's unique.
09:21It's really good to have.
09:22It's one of the things that make the Rockets more unique and better than all of the traditional
09:28stuff that people look at.
09:29And that's where they look at when you, when you look at, Hey, what does a team that does
09:33well in the playoffs look like?
09:35There's a certain template of different things that work and the Rockets ain't that.
09:39Yeah.
09:39So people don't, they don't give it as much credit as they should because they don't know
09:43what to make of it.
09:44Well, it's like when you see a woman that you're like, I think she's really pretty, but not
09:47in a conventional way.
09:49Yeah.
09:49There's something about her.
09:50Her eyes are really wide apart, but it's kind of, I'm into it.
09:54Yeah.
09:54There's something about her.
09:56Yeah.
09:56Yeah.
09:57Um, well, what it does, at least in the short term in the playoffs, like watching the game
10:01last night, I'm going, okay, well, I can't wait to watch I'm in Thompson versus John Morant
10:06for seven games.
10:07You know, in this series, I can't wait to watch I'm in Thompson smother Steph Curry.
10:12You know, if they get through this series, it's going to be okay.
10:16Just against the Lakers with LeBron and Luca.
10:18Like, how does that get deployed?
10:19You know, or if the, if Minnesota beats the Lakers, you know, I'm in Thompson against
10:23Anthony Edwards for seven games.
10:25Like that's, that's really, really fun.
10:28Uh, a lot of people weighing in on the text page, uh, Steph, chef Curry, McFlurry, Nick
10:34Fury, rockets in five.
10:36I don't even know what that means, uh, uh, but I'll take rockets in five, hate the warriors,
10:41but hate the West coast games even more.
10:43Yeah.
10:43You got to get your sleep.
10:44These next, this next week or so people, you just got to feel like we're feels like we're
10:48entering the AL West all over again.
10:50It does.
10:51Oh, oh crap.
10:52I got to show.
10:53Okay.
10:53I guess I got to get ready to stay up really, really late for some of this.
10:56We play in the Mariners in the first round of the playoffs.
10:59Yeah.
11:00Uh, fat Kendrick Perkins has the warriors in this series.
11:03That's a text.
11:04That's not me perk.
11:05I didn't just call you fat.
11:06Um, the, the, every national, every find me.
11:11That's, that's my request to rocket fans listening right now.
11:14Find me the national people that are picking the rockets in this series.
11:17You won't find any.
11:18I was listening on the way into, uh, to the show before hours on CBS sports radio.
11:22And of course they're all over the warriors.
11:24You know, the rockets are completely getting ignored.
11:26The rockets are viewed by the nation as a phony two seed right now.
11:30Yeah.
11:31I think that's that, that, if there's a narrative around this series, that we're the biggest
11:35disconnect in this series, we're going to talk to Vanessa Richardson at nine o'clock
11:39today.
11:39She's going to join us.
11:40So we'll talk some rockets at nine o'clock with Vanessa.
11:42Um, that's, that to me is the, the biggest disconnect in this series from local to national
11:48is that they are the, the rockets, I think are getting completely disrespected by national
11:53and the whole thing is, uh, you know, what's good for them should a hate the warriors already.
11:59And B, uh, Jimmy Butler did exactly the James Harden technique of quiet quitting on the job
12:07and just flat out Miami.
12:10You're talking about, yeah, yeah, no, in Miami, it just, he quiet quit and forced his way out.
12:15And now all of a sudden, Oh, it's playoff.
12:17Jimmy, Ooh, watch out, watch out for Jimmy.
12:20He's going to come get you.
12:21You should despise that.
12:23He's everything that you don't want in the NBA.
12:25He's just, he's a, he's a perpetual free agent.
12:28Oh, and now he's everything you want in a basketball player because he got his way.
12:32And now he's in with the warriors.
12:34Yeah, right.
12:34You're right about our five reasons for this Friday.
12:36It's going to be, well, it's going to be a lot of reasons, man.
12:40Uh, someone says feels a lot like the Texans versus the chargers.
12:44I get what you're saying.
12:45Okay.
12:46I mean, the chargers are obviously not the warriors of the NFL, but I get what you're saying,
12:51which is, okay.
12:52The Texans were, were a decent team in the regular season.
12:56The chargers were not a great team.
12:57Why are the chargers favored on the chart?
13:00The chargers, a team who's never done anything in the post season.
13:02Yeah.
13:03Why are they favored against the Texans?
13:06And I hope the outcome is in Houston.
13:08Yes.
13:08Yeah.
13:08Yeah.
13:09That was weird.
13:09Wasn't it?
13:10Yes.
13:10Yeah.
13:11That's, that was, I'll give you this.
13:13That was more weird to me than this, uh, than the warriors being favored.
13:18I understand the warriors being favored based on narrative and experience and all that.
13:21I disagree with it.
13:22And I think minus two 50 is absurd as, as far as being a favorite.
13:26Well, you know what though, much like that game, much like this, this Rockets team, I
13:31think what people underestimated was the Texans defense and how they'd, they'd made so many
13:38good quarterbacks shrivel up into a shell of themselves and that's what they did with
13:43Justin Herbert.
13:43They turned him into a raisin.
13:45Yep.
13:45He's a playoff raisin.
13:46He is exactly what you would have expected.
13:48He's a shriveling prune.
13:49Yes.
13:49The Rockets have a whole bunch of grapes out there.
13:51That's right.
13:52Big gigantic grapes dangling between their legs.
13:55That's right, man.
13:56Come on in.
13:56You have the SOB pretenders, the old men, you know, worthless frauds.
14:01Sets of grapes is what they are.
14:03That's right.