00:00But then coming home last night, literally landing and the Rockets are, you know, winning
00:05by double digits in the third quarter, just swept the floor with the Celtics.
00:09And now are the, uh, the Western conference leaders and just in Elprin shangun looking
00:16pretty much like he's looked all year when he's been healthy.
00:19Um, this was, this is, this is an impressive, impressive start by the Rockets shot.
00:25I don't know.
00:25I know I don't need to tell you, but they've, you know, we're going over the, the, in the
00:29basketball power index yesterday, basically the Rockets had already beaten two of the
00:35top three teams.
00:36The Rockets were fourth.
00:37And now with the Celtics, they've, they've beaten all three of the teams that were above them
00:41in the power index.
00:42Um, that they, it's not like they've just been beaten up on, uh, a bunch of dullards early
00:49in this season.
00:50They're, they're checking off a lot of boxes.
00:51Well, they are.
00:52And the amazing thing is, and I, and w you know, I got to watch the second half, I got
00:56to watch all the fourth quarter.
00:58Um, but even if you just do the box score forensics on the game last night, yeah.
01:02I mean, Alper and shangun has been sensational this year.
01:04He had a near triple double last, last night, 26 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, one
01:09turnover.
01:10Um, but the, the amazing thing to me, and this has been a theme all year, Kevin Durant, Kevin
01:16Durant took the one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
01:22He took the eighth most shots on the team last night.
01:25Yeah.
01:25He's, he was five of six.
01:27Didn't take any three pointers.
01:29Um, you know, he was five of six for 12 points.
01:32I, and my guess is I haven't watched any of the post game last night.
01:35I'm sure Durant got talked to by the media, uh, as he always does.
01:38I, my guess is he does not give a rat's ass that he's only getting 12 points in these
01:42games.
01:42No, I think that's pretty much, you know, I think any of the frustration we've seen out
01:47of Kevin Durant, I think over the last year has been, now he expresses it differently than
01:54others, you know, with his alleged burner account or people who might be Durant, you
01:59know, some of the contentiousness on court last year, it was all stuff that was understandable
02:04when things aren't working right on the offense and you're trying to figure things
02:08out.
02:08I never got too worked up about any of that.
02:10If they, if they're, if it hadn't been for the alleged burner account, I genuinely wouldn't
02:15have thought anything about it, but I think that from when he first got here in terms
02:20of what he said and how he's operated, I think that he's a hundred percent cool with being
02:27the veteran guy on a team that is, he's never going to be the alpha dog necessarily in terms
02:32of personality, but just wants to be a, wants to be a resource, wants to be part of a good
02:39offense, you know, wants to, wants to just be part of a championship effort.
02:44And yeah, I don't, I like, I would be really surprised if this year's burner account allegations
02:50were something like him saying, I can't believe I'm only getting so many touches or I'm only
02:54getting so many shots or anything.
02:55I would, I wouldn't, I'd be very, very surprised by that.
02:58I saw, I saw some of this and I'm looking at the text page here.
03:02I saw some of this, the react to this last night, crazy people on Twitter arguing for
03:06KD to get out of here because he's not throwing up 20 shots a night.
03:09I like, I look, I don't, I don't understand how, like how you can watch this Rockets team
03:14and feel like they need to tweak a bunch of stuff with the way they're going about their
03:18business right now.
03:19What would you rather have?
03:21Would you rather have a situation where the Rockets have the luxury of playing Kevin Durant
03:28just as much as they need to while the other young guys are developing still in putting in
03:33performances like, well, you know what, like Alper and Shang-Goon, but also Marcus Smart
03:38or whomever else.
03:39Yeah.
03:40Or would you rather have it where James Harden has to go out and score 30 points a night because
03:44he's the only actual NBA player on the court.
03:47That was last year.
03:47That was last year with Durant.
03:49Yeah, that was.
03:49Well, no, no, no.
03:50But I'm going back to the James Harden.
03:51No, I know.
03:51Like the real extremes of it.
03:53Yeah.
03:53Because like Harden was, I mean, well, because Harden was at a different level in his career than,
03:57you know, where Kevin Smart or Kevin Durant is right now.
04:00Yeah.
04:00It's just like, uh, like I'd, I'd much prefer this than having to rely heavily on one guy
04:06to, to, to just be an ultimate scorer all the time.
04:09Agreed.
04:09Agreed.
04:10Yeah.
04:10I, I gotta go, I gotta go find this.
04:12Someone said on the text page that Durant's post game was lively.
04:16He got into it with a reporter who asked him about that very thing.
04:20I'm only taking six shots.
04:21What was it?
04:22What was it?
04:22Sterling?
04:23He said, are you, do you have a solo cam just following me?
04:26Like Jabari Smith had 30 last game.
04:27Then he scored 14.
04:28Why don't you ask him the same question?
04:30Like, cause you're the greatest scorer of all time.
04:33Like that, come on.
04:33That's a little, that's a little.
04:35That is humility, Sean.
04:37Yeah.
04:37That is a humility.
04:38That is an every man type of attitude.
04:42That's one way to look at it.
04:44He's talking about Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith jr.
04:47Is right over there.
04:48He's right over there, man.
04:48He, I didn't care about Jabari Smith jr.
04:51Has been, I think, I don't think he's gotten enough credit for some of the things he's done
04:55because Shane Goon's been playing so, so well, um, that I feel like Jabari Smith's jr.
05:02Jabari Smith jr.
05:03Is kind of basketball puberty that he hit in the off season is, uh, is, is a big, uh, an
05:09underreported or under discussed story.
05:11Well, what I, the, the thing with the Rockets that I don't want to have happen is for them
05:15to keep playing the way, obviously I want them to keep the, keep playing the way they're
05:18playing, but I, what I don't want it to do with me emotionally is get me retroactively
05:22angry about last year.
05:24Cause we, cause we sit here now and I, and we've, and we've beaten the Fred VanVleet.
05:28Like Fred VanVleet was only three of nine last night, but he's got nine assists and one
05:31turnover.
05:32And anybody with a working set of eyes watching the game can see how this team functions
05:37differently.
05:37And he only played 27 minutes last night.
05:39Marcus smart came in and give you, again, he was only two of 10 from the field, but
05:43he drew three charges in the third quarter.
05:45Um, he had a really, he, he had a great behind the back pass to shangun on a big bucket.
05:50Like Marcus smart, like, like he, the, both of these point guards, um, had games last night
05:56where you look at the box score, you go, okay, well, that wasn't great.
05:59They combined to be five of 19 from the field.
06:01Yeah.
06:02But their floor game was great.
06:03And Marcus smart was playing some great defense last night and all those things.
06:07The thing, the thing that, that gets me retroactively upset about last season is, is has to do with
06:15what you just said.
06:15Like Jabari Smith jr is much improved over last season.
06:19I think I'm an Thompson is an improved player over last season.
06:23And I think Tar Eason looks like he's figured some things out when it looked like his career
06:27might be cratering midway through last year.
06:29Yeah.
06:29Remember when he was like one for 20 something from three over a stretch of a bunch of games.
06:34And this is the step forward that we expected all of these guys to take last year.
06:40The problem was that they were being asked everybody on the team, not just these three
06:43guys, but they were being asked to do things that they're not normally accustomed to doing.
06:48Cause there was no point guard.
06:48Well, and I, and you look at, Hey, okay.
06:51Reed Shepard.
06:51I don't think he scored a point, a point in the first three quarters.
06:54Did he?
06:54Um, he was, he and Marcus smart were like over 12 going into the fourth quarter, but then
06:58he's part of this 10 Oh run in the fourth quarter.
07:01You know, Reed Shepard hits a three Marcus smart.
07:05Um, you know, giving a nice little reminder to the Celtics.
07:09So like, Hey, I have value to my friend.
07:11That's right.
07:11Um, this is, I was annoyed by this game though, by the, cause I, uh, I woke up and I'm
07:18like,
07:18okay, surely there'll be a bunch of like, like, you know, 2000 word articles about the
07:22Rockets now leading the West and beating the Celtics.
07:26Yeah.
07:26There were blurbs after blurbs, after blurbs.
07:29It's just cause it, what is it?
07:30It's a Monday night.
07:31Oh, is it too late to start at 7 30 PM central?
07:34Maybe there are very few long write-ups about this.
07:36And I, this is what you see.
07:38This is what you see.
07:40Well, Paul George was out in there on the second back to back.
07:43Oh, and you know, when one of the Rockets beat Oklahoma city, Chad Holmgren didn't play
07:47as if none of these other teams that haven't had similar situations early in the season.
07:53Right.
07:53Right.
07:53You take everything with a grain of salt, but the Rockets consistently night in and night
07:57out have been playing a very good brand of basketball.
08:00Uh, Rockets fan weighs in on the text page.
08:02I'm a rocket Homer.
08:03I love my Rockets.
08:04The NBA played as the NBA doesn't play defense until Christmas.
08:07Yeah.
08:08It's usually when you see Alpy's game drop off, I hope it's different.
08:11However, the rest of the team is much stronger than in the past.
08:14I'll take your word for it.
08:15I haven't looked at the analytics to see when the league starts playing defense.
08:19No, there, I mean, there is that early season.
08:21Like, Hey, we're just getting warmed up.
08:22I want to pull a hammy until, uh, until we get rolling.
08:25I, but listen though, even given that, I think that's where it's if the, if the Rockets
08:31right now we're winning because I under, I appreciate the either cynicism or realistic
08:37attitude about it all.
08:38If the Rockets were winning by just, you know, setting a record for offensive rebounds or
08:44something and just playing a nastier, grittier version of basketball when everybody else
08:48is just getting, getting warmed up, then I, I might be more skeptical.
08:52I definitely would be more skeptical.
08:54It's the fact that they're playing a complete basketball game.
08:58Um, and they're getting all these, all these contributions from guys that are, are showing
09:03exactly what you hope they might turn into.
09:05Uh, that part of it, I think is, is very, very encouraging.
09:09So yes, does the bad, does the NBA season not begin until Christmas, et cetera, et cetera.
09:14All of that.
09:14That's all valid, but like, uh, I just, I'm not gonna, I'm not going to turn my nose up
09:20at having the best record in the Western conference.
09:22God, no man.
09:23God, no.
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