In The Loop gives takeaways from the Rockets' 95-85 loss to the Golden State Warriors in game one.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00All right, Rockets down 0-1 in a first-round series.
00:03It's just getting going, but it started on Easter night last night.
00:07And a 95-85 victory for the Warriors at Toyota Center.
00:12What did Game 1 reveal to you about this series?
00:157-1-3, 5-7-2.
00:16The bunnies was out, man.
00:17The bunnies were out.
00:19Oh, it was some people at the – oh, you met the shots.
00:22Yeah, the bunnies.
00:22I thought you were talking about people showing up.
00:24That's one thing I do love about the playoffs is that, you know,
00:27the playoffs makes the arena, no matter where the arena is, a place to be,
00:31which means that courtside look, that lower bowl look,
00:34people be out there showing up, trying to be seen, right, to see and be seen.
00:38The baddies.
00:39The baddies.
00:40The snow bunnies.
00:41That's where I thought you were going, to be completely honest.
00:43But, no, shout-out to the city of Houston, getting out to the building,
00:46but then also getting into the Rockets vibe of things,
00:49not just going to be seen and be seen, but going to be a part of the game.
00:54And, like, the energy in the building.
00:56B. Scott was out there.
00:57We'll talk to him tomorrow, obviously, as we always do,
00:59but he was in the building for the game.
01:01He said that the energy was incredible to start,
01:03that people were putting on shirts and, like, getting in on the Rockets vibe
01:06as opposed to just being there to be spectators.
01:08They were part of the energy, which I appreciate.
01:10That was about as great an environment as the Rockets.
01:13In fact, Fred Van Vliet kind of took, like, a backhanded shot at him afterwards,
01:18and I'm going to have to paraphrase because I don't have it in front of me,
01:20but something along the lines of, yeah, we've been waiting for that, you know,
01:24and it showed up tonight, so it was a compliment, you know, question mark.
01:28Okay, but what did this game reveal, right?
01:31What did this game reveal?
01:32Let me put it very, very succinctly.
01:35There's a lot of things that we've talked about that we will talk about
01:38before Wednesday's game that might change.
01:41Maybe they'll make more free throws.
01:42Maybe they'll have fewer turnovers.
01:44Maybe the rebounding edge will ultimately make the difference.
01:47Maybe they'll figure something out on the defensive side.
01:50But ultimately, it comes down to one thing for me in this matchup
01:55between the Rockets and the Warriors, and I'll put it this way.
01:58The Rockets have guys who can score, but they don't have an effective offense.
02:04Yeah.
02:05Like, they have guys that can score.
02:06No, for sure.
02:07They have guys that will score.
02:08Alperin.
02:09Yeah, they have guys that can finish.
02:11They have guys that can score in transition.
02:12They have guys that can knock down threes.
02:14But you can have all that and still not have an effective offense.
02:18And that would be, we were talking earlier, you know,
02:21were you more encouraged or discouraged?
02:23That was discouraging to me.
02:24Yeah.
02:25I think one of the questions that you can ask,
02:27and I saw various NBA analysts asking,
02:31who is the player on the Rockets that, I mean,
02:34you can get to this different ways, that can draw a double team
02:37or basically can dictate to the defense what they have to show you?
02:40Yeah.
02:41And you don't have that.
02:42The closest, I think, to that, that you might have to that is Alperin.
02:45And then when he is playing at his best, maybe Jalen Green.
02:48And even in those instances, I mean,
02:50you definitely didn't get that last night from him.
02:53And so the tough is that immediately starts,
02:55and I know the fellas in the morning show we're talking about,
02:56this immediately starts you thinking towards,
02:58that's what the Kevin Durant or that's what whatever the star is, is for.
03:02And I think what it reveals is that you're going to have to be a lot more clean
03:06around the edges because in the half court,
03:08you're not going to be able to dictate in the same way
03:10as other playoff series what happens.
03:13So you've got to be really clean with what you do,
03:15including, like, I still think that you can run through Alperin,
03:17but I think there's going to have to be better off-ball movement.
03:20There's going to have to be other things that forces the Golden State Warriors
03:24to give you certain things or be able to get you some buckets
03:27as opposed to just kind of get into your offense.
03:30Well, one of them is go quicker.
03:31Like, move through your offense quicker
03:33and not allow the Golden State Warriors to just sit back
03:36and scope out what you're doing from a model.
03:38I mean, we talked about it Thursday when, you know,
03:41we were kind of talking about the seven-point plan, you know,
03:44to being able to contend for a championship.
03:46You know, one of them that we did not check off the box
03:49was you have to have a true superstar,
03:52like an absolute true top five, top ten player.
03:54Well, we know they don't have that.
03:55They have guys that can maybe show some, you know,
03:57show some tendencies to that, but they don't have that.
04:01And then the other thing you just touched on it, you know,
04:03in a half-court set, you know, not having an effective offense
04:08despite having some scores, that is magnified and amplified
04:12when they are confusing you with their defense,
04:15specifically the zone defense that they were having,
04:17that they played against the Rockets.
04:20It just made those passing lanes that much more difficult.
04:23You know, immediately, Shen Goon, who was the best thing this offense had,
04:27especially early, well, actually the whole first half,
04:30you know, they were already double-teamed
04:34because they were running that zone.
04:35Yeah.
04:36So there were two men right on him.
04:37Some other things, somebody said,
04:38nothing, the Rockets are who we thought they were.
04:40I will say that it did reveal that, you know,
04:42some of the things that it felt like they had gotten entirely over
04:45in that last stretch of the season can still be there,
04:48like missing bunnies, like that's something that we'd seen
04:50this Rockets team deal with at times.
04:51Obviously, free throws is another thing.
04:54Turnovers at times.
04:54And, you know, sometimes the inconsistent play of certain players can show up,
04:59namely, I think, Jalen Green in this instance where, you know,
05:02getting to your good shots is going to matter a good amount.
05:06Now, someone was speaking to, people I've seen, various people ask,
05:11well, why not go to, especially if you need offense,
05:13a couple of players who are more offensively inclined
05:15in either Reed Shepard or Cam Whitmore.
05:18Like, what did you think, what would you think about like that, right?
05:21If you're looking at, if you want to turn it into,
05:23what did this series reveal?
05:25Maybe that you need to be more offensively inclined in some ways.
05:29Is that a way that you think that you could get to it?
05:31Maybe seeing some Cam Whitmore or some Reed Shepard minutes.
05:34Look, I'm not going to sit here and say, hey, play these guys more.
05:37What I am going to say is, I think when you're facing a defense like this,
05:41and the Warriors play really good defense.
05:42It's not just the Rockets out there playing defense.
05:45It's going to be harder for those guys, you know, to find the minutes.
05:48I was surprised that Imei only had an eight-man rotation.
05:52That was pretty tight.
05:53Yeah, that was an interesting revelation that a man who typically runs
05:57like nine, ten players in a game,
05:59he went right down to the starters that you're used to
06:02plus Steven Adams, Jabari, and Tari.
06:06Like, that was the rotation.
06:08And I do think that that's interesting that they'll,
06:10it seems like they'll stick to that to some degree.
06:13But, yeah, I'm more in Reed Shepard.
06:16I actually don't think that that's where you turn to.
06:18I think that you just, and I think Imei kind of spoke to that.
06:21Like, he feels like they got offensive looks,
06:23that they just did not, you know, capitalize on them,
06:26and that he's not going to make too many shifts.
06:28But I do think that one of the revelations was that the defense is
06:31absolutely good enough to get you to where you need to go.
06:35Like, it's 100% good enough to get you to where you need to go.
06:38And part of the reason I say that they have guys that can score
06:40but not an effective offense is how do you start that offense?
06:43You know, where does it start?
06:44Transition.
06:45Well, okay, but you're not going to get transition on every possession.
06:48Like, when you're running an offense, you know, Fred Van Vliet,
06:51who we all love and has been effective for this team,
06:53especially, you know, just his leadership and such,
06:55he had a hard time effectively starting this offense.
06:59Jalen Green, again, not to be harsh, but he just, he crumbled.
07:02You know, he wasn't up for the moment.
07:04Maybe he will be on Wednesday night, but he wasn't last night.
07:08So where do you, Sengun?
07:09Well, we just talked about, like, they've effectively said not Sengun.
07:15It's not going to run through him.
07:17And you mentioned this last night as well.
07:20You know, he's a baby Jokic for a reason.
07:22But, you know, he doesn't have that whole bag, you know, that Jokic has.
07:26Especially passing over and out of doubles and clogged tall trees and such.
07:32Somebody said, how can Reid not play Pajemski sucks and he can guard him?
07:36Okay, he starts guarding him.
07:37But one thing that you're going to get in the playoffs is people are always
07:39going to attack your weak links.
07:41And that's just going to turn into, hey, Reid, come up here and guard.
07:44Or you're going to be fighting to make sure that you don't give up a switch
07:48of him onto Steph Curry.
07:50And if you want more Steph Curry open looks, more power to you.
07:53I don't think you can abide by that in a series like this.
07:56Especially because, I mean, he was, you playing pretty well.
07:59You leaned on him.
08:00I thought that that was a good thing that was revelatory.
08:01I think that'll pay dividends in later games in the series,
08:05especially if you could push it longer and longer.
08:07But, yeah, Reid on the floor, that's going to, he's going to get eaten up
08:10defensively in a way that he was already getting eaten up pretty much when you're
08:14in the regular season.
08:15How much more when you have teams that game over game are actively scheming
08:20towards getting to your weak points?
08:21Well, let me ask you this, though.
08:22You're down 0-1 at home.
08:25You've lost that advantage.
08:26If you go down 0-2, the series is over.
08:29I mean, it's effectively over.
08:31You know, I don't think anybody would argue against that.
08:34So I'm not going to say desperate.
08:36But do you get a little more daring, you know, in game two because it is that
08:39important a game?
08:40I think that you have to trust the strategy that you have.
08:43I think the situation that you have, the strategy that you have is the one
08:46that's available to you.
08:47Because, I mean, if you're asking the question, how do you get into half-court
08:51offense, and you don't have a great answer, so then, like, throw the entire
08:54playbook out the window and just, you know, scramble in an 0-1 series,
08:59I feel like that's too far-fetched to get to.
09:03Now, one thing that people asked, in fact, someone asked Eme Odoka after this game,
09:08would you consider starting Jabari Smith Jr.?
09:10Because he had a very good game, at least when it came to, well, he had a good
09:14game scoring the basketball, and he was in that lineup that was on the floor
09:17when you really were able to make a run.
09:19He looked pretty good in that way.
09:21And so Eme was asked, would you consider maybe starting Jabari Smith Jr.?
09:24I mean, it was, some guys did struggle offensively.
09:28You know, you're not going to overreact to one game, but if guys do play better,
09:32we have a chance there.
09:32You know, 10-point loss, I said, on summer day in 95, it wasn't offensively poor showing.
09:39The defense was good enough, but not going to overreact to that game.
09:42Like I said, it's some of the guys' first time, and we had our chances.
09:45Well, the thing is, they're not going to overreact.
09:47He just said it.
09:48But they need to react.
09:50You know, you posed the question, you know, or made the point, you know,
09:53this is your offense, essentially.
09:55You know, are you going to be desperate or at least daring in some of the changes you make?
09:59I think you have to do something.
10:01You know, I think you have to do something, whether it's, I mean, you know,
10:04we talk about, like, you know, Fred Van Vliet and Jalen Green.
10:08It might just be as simple as running, you know, some old-school high pick-and-rolls
10:14that you just try to rely on your best score to get a bucket.
10:17I mean, that's what the Warriors were doing.
10:20I mean, you know, when Steph, when they were rushing Steph,
10:23they let him make the decision whether it was a pick or not to be able to penetrate or not.
10:28I mean, put the ball in somebody's hands to at least initiate something aggressively.
10:32Yeah, I mean, some high pick-and-roll would be interesting
10:34if you can get them to pick you up that high, right?
10:36I think that that's going to be the interesting thing.
10:38And I don't disagree.
10:39Like, Jalen, if Jalen doesn't produce the series, it's going to be a problem.
10:42Yeah.
10:42But I think that what you have to do is just trust that you're not going to shoot 20% from three again
10:46and that you're not going to miss a whole bunch of bunnies
10:48and that hopefully you're not going to turn the ball over to that same degree
10:51and give yourself an opportunity to win.
10:54So, yeah, that's where I'm at ultimately with that portion of it.
10:57One thing that I also found was insightful was, oh, so this whistle is going to be light, huh?
11:01And, of course, that changes game to game.
11:02It was all day.
11:02It was all weekend.
11:03That whistle was incredibly, incredibly light, which I did not love,
11:07especially for the physicality of the Rockets.
11:09So that was a little concerning.
11:11And maybe that also leans into a situation where you go,
11:14if you don't have this type of whistle, do the Rockets flourish a little bit more?
11:17Yeah.
11:18We'll see what that looks like come Wednesday when Game 2 happens.
11:20But excited as the series continues.