- 12 minutes ago
In The Loop breaks down the Rockets' win over the Boston Celtics earlier in the week.
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00:00You can say that you cover the team with the best record in the National Basketball Association.
00:05As the Houston Rockets last night got a, I think a pretty decisive 109-93 victory over the Boston Celtics.
00:11And it's funny because in watching this basketball game, John, I stopped and thought to myself,
00:17one, just in this moment, how am I going to pay back Sean for taking the candy that I clearly
00:21put dibs on?
00:22But two, I asked you before this game, what would be more impressive or what would hold more weight with
00:30you?
00:30Would it be this team coming out and blowing out the Celtics?
00:33Or would it be this team late in the game having to have a tough one to get over?
00:37And you said what?
00:38I want to see how they play.
00:39And they kind of did both of them.
00:41They kind of did both.
00:42But how they played stood out to me.
00:45I can't remember the last time.
00:48Like, even if you want to go back to the Harden years, it was beautiful watching his scoring ability.
00:56But when was the last time you said what I'm really feeling about this Rockets team?
01:01This is a fun team to watch.
01:04That's such a good, like, before we get to how good they are, they really are fun to watch.
01:09Was it really fun watching James Harden teams?
01:12It was like, it was not the team overall.
01:15It was fun at times watching James Harden.
01:17Watching him.
01:18But everybody else around, I wouldn't say it was fun.
01:22Yeah.
01:23And last year, I didn't realize how brutal a watch last year was until I saw this year's team.
01:30Like, this is a fun basketball team to watch.
01:34It just flat out, the way they share the ball, the dynamic.
01:38To me, what really stood out, and this is why I said I want to see how they play, what
01:40we're looking at.
01:41Now, the Fred Van Vliet-Api-Shangun dynamic is, I don't want to get too crazy here.
01:48No, go ahead.
01:49I don't.
01:49I really don't want to.
01:50No, please do.
01:51But it's about as good.
01:52Better than 94-95 Rockets.
01:54No, no, no.
01:54It's about as good.
01:54Go ahead and say it.
01:55No.
01:56This team's going to three-peat.
01:57I hear you, John.
01:58I see what you're saying.
01:59I wouldn't go in there.
01:59This is better than anything I watched from a king.
02:02In seven Heismans.
02:02I don't know.
02:04No, what I was going to say is, it's about as fun a post-point guard situation, chemistry, relationship, as
02:14there is in the NBA right now.
02:15It's fun to watch how they work with each other.
02:17They had 18.
02:18Those two guys had 18 of the 34 assists in this game.
02:22Yeah.
02:22I mean, the dynamic, there you go, that's the word, the dynamic between Shingun and Fred Van Vliet leads to
02:30everything.
02:31And it's fun to watch the back cuts because Shingun gets the ball and somebody cheats off their guy.
02:37Or Van Vliet penetrates and kicks at Shingun for a little mid-ranger or lane shot or whatever you want
02:42to call it.
02:42It's just, this is a fun team to watch.
02:45It really is.
02:45And you know what's funny?
02:46I think that you're right in talking about that 1-5 kind of tandem between Fred Van Vliet and Alfred
02:53Shingun.
02:53I would like to really focus this back to Fred Van Vliet.
02:58And yes, now we are just doing the thing.
03:00We were continually on the other side of the coin from the, clearly Fred Van Vliet can't change all these
03:06things.
03:06Yes, he can.
03:07Well, he has so far.
03:08One of the things in watching this game, one of the things that made this fun,
03:11and I was a conscious point to think about this in the course of watching the basketball game,
03:16was last year a team that was so aggressive on the perimeter like the Boston Celtics would have ground this
03:22whole thing to a halt.
03:23And we saw it in moments, right?
03:24The very first possession, Kevin Durant basically kind of, I don't know if he, it counted as a turnover for
03:29him,
03:29but there was a turnover as you're trying to get him the ball.
03:31There was other instances where teams, where they were like pressed up on ball handlers
03:36or the person who you were trying to get the ball to on the perimeter to establish your offense.
03:40When Fred Van Vliet had the ball, there was none of that, right?
03:43He was just very calm.
03:44He got to his spots.
03:45He executed the offense.
03:46And they were still able to get the defense in rotation, create open looks continually.
03:52And I was like, last year, the Rockets might have won that basketball game,
03:55but it would have been so much more, you know, work uphill in the way that they got to offense.
04:01It would have been Kevin Durant shooting over top of a contested shot.
04:04It would have been, you know, grinding until there's three seconds on the clock to get a shot.
04:08Even when they ground it to three seconds on the clock,
04:10it was usually because they got to multiple actions and the ball was swing, swinging, swinging around,
04:14passing up okay shots for good shots for great shots that ultimately scored them baskets.
04:18Like, that was also a huge fun part of it is it's very clear that not just when Fred Van
04:22Vliet,
04:22when Marcus Smart is on the floor, both defensively, offensively, dark arts, everything,
04:27it's just so much more cohesive.
04:29It's so much more intense.
04:31And there's so much more intent with how they get to things as opposed to kind of just stumbling into
04:35offense.
04:35Yeah, it was work watching this team last year, and it's easy watching them this year.
04:40And, of course, it leads to a better, smoother, more flowing game.
04:45You say they won convincingly.
04:47It was a pretty good game for about two and a half, almost three quarters.
04:50And it was back and forth, and there was some tough moments.
04:53And I thought the other thing that made it fun to watch is they actually have an entire second unit
04:58that can play.
05:00That was another problem last year that made it tough to watch.
05:02Oh, boy.
05:03Durant's on the bench, and there goes a man for a couple of minutes of rest.
05:07Oh, boy.
05:07What's going to happen?
05:08Well, you had last night, I mean, Smart, you mentioned him, which, by the way.
05:12Yeah, I was going to stop here soon.
05:13Don't worry about it.
05:15What are we doing?
05:15What do you mean, what are we doing?
05:17With the double birds.
05:18Oh, man, he's bringing that energy.
05:21He's bringing that feel.
05:22In the arena.
05:23Yeah.
05:24Figgy.
05:25Yeah.
05:25It's kids watching, man.
05:27I did think that for a moment.
05:28I was like, damn, I'm getting old.
05:30It's a family-friendly event, man.
05:32It's not even about the family-friendly.
05:34It's not even about, like, trying to, you know, be a prude or anything.
05:38It's like, why are you doing that?
05:39Because.
05:40Why are you doing that?
05:40Because.
05:41Kids are watching, man.
05:43It is a devil-may-a-care attitude that, honestly, and I know this is going to sound like here's
05:47Reggie doing a lot.
05:48I think this team needed it, right?
05:50Dylan Brooks gave you a taste of that, what I've called the dark arts.
05:54Because one thing about Marcus Smart, especially before he's on your team, and this is verified, is I looked at
05:59Celtics fans watching this game going, damn, it feels a lot different on the other side.
06:03Yeah.
06:03Is he is very much one of those players where he's out here kind of flopping, right?
06:09But he's out here engaging in contact, drawing charges, getting under people's skin.
06:13And those are things that.
06:14And I appreciate all of that.
06:15Those are things that are not.
06:17Come on.
06:18They're not going to show up in the box score.
06:19Those are things that you're not going to think of.
06:21Man, that's the stuff that gets the people going, man.
06:23You can do that without that.
06:24That's the thing that gets those dudes going.
06:26I think it's just one of those things that.
06:28You are being approved.
06:29No, I'm not.
06:30You are.
06:31You don't need that.
06:31Honestly.
06:32What would your mama say if you did that?
06:35She would say my middle name, which is your robot, and she would talk to me about it.
06:39But I imagine that Marcus Smart is not dealing with my mama.
06:42Anywho.
06:43Honestly, the thing that surprised me more was not that he did it, was that we went to commercial break,
06:48and the Space City Home Network was like, put the double our birds back up again.
06:51Put the double birds back up again.
06:53But, yeah, man, this team absolutely needed that edge, right?
06:56I think you could feel defensively last year the missing of that edge that Dylan Brooks had.
07:01And, obviously, I would still make that trade 10 times out of 10 that brings Kevin Durant and sends Dylan
07:06Brooks along with Jalen Green that way.
07:09But it is nice to have somebody that also is like a catalyst, right?
07:12Because I thought that you were talking about.
07:14I agree with all that.
07:15You were talking about the depth.
07:16I felt that on the defensive side of the basketball, really, where this is a Celtics team that likes getting
07:21up three-pointers, and you were just really good at rotation and constantly being in their face.
07:26And it felt like guys just always had energy because as soon as they get tired, we'll just stop somebody
07:30else and don't worry about it.
07:31Well, that's where I was going with it.
07:33It wasn't just Marcus Smart.
07:34It was Tar Eason, Reed Shepard.
07:37The second unit actually had time on the floor to be able to be a second unit, and there was
07:43no panic in having to get someone else back in there.
07:45In fact, their first big run was with the second unit, is how they made their first big run in
07:51the second half.
07:52And then the other thing, you mentioned defense.
07:54I thought, yeah, their defense was good, but I thought their transition defense won them the game, flat out.
07:59I mean, that's what kind of hurt them against the Mavericks, getting back and stopping the ball and all that.
08:04I think the Celtics just had two points in transition.
08:06That's a good point.
08:07Two points.
08:08Yes.
08:09I mean, and all of that is just like a buy-in that seems to be there.
08:12Alperin talked about this in the walk-off interview with Ryan Hollins on Space City Home Network, and he was
08:19like, hey, man, we're playing together.
08:21He said that they're having dinners, and I know that that typically sounds like one of those no-duh-you're
08:25-on-a-team.
08:26But, I mean, considering we did the burner account thing last year, there was reasons to maybe – and you
08:31could see frustrations pop up on the floor at times last year.
08:34This feels like a night and day turn on that.
08:37Like, they are playing together, and I think that shows up in the energy on defense.
08:39It shows up in the transition defense.
08:41But I feel like we have done a lot of things talking about how fun this was, and we have
08:45not talked about the most fun part of this, which is Alperin Shangoon looks like an All-NBA player again.
08:50Yeah, and that's where I was really landing with this is, you know, that whole Shangoon and Fred VanVleet dynamic
08:57– because it's not just because he's playing All-NBA.
09:00I mean, he is, but in part, he's playing like that because those – he could do three different things
09:06off of a screen and roll, off of a high screen, on three different possessions, on three straight possessions.
09:12You know, he can certainly take the screen.
09:14He can certainly bleed down.
09:17He can fake it.
09:18He can fake the screen, pop back out.
09:20Hey, shout out to Chip Englund for that.
09:21It's another three-pointer made by Alperin Shangoon.
09:23You see it?
09:24Yeah.
09:25He can slip the screen.
09:26All those things, so they just have a good chemistry and a good relationship with each other, and that's part
09:32of the reason he's playing so well.
09:33I think so, but also, like, you can see that he's just – he's committed to things.
09:37Like, with Biggs in the NBA, one of the things that I harp on, like an old basketball coach, is
09:42get the ball, go quick.
09:43Right?
09:43Be decisive.
09:44He's so decisive, which I think speaks to a confidence that he has, the confidence that shows up with all
09:49these dudes on the court.
09:50And that was a Celtics team that absolutely was going to come out and try and play you tough and
09:54try and knock you off your block.
09:55And the Rockets played their style of basketball the whole way, never giving up a lead.
09:59And these are the types of things that I get it.
10:02We're eight games in.
10:03That is a Celtics team that is admittedly coming off of – the second night of a back-to-back
10:07was what they were playing on,
10:07so you could see the legs kind of getting to them, not being able to knock down shots quite as
10:12much.
10:12But I think equally you could say, hey, they might have been tired, and also the Rockets dictated the way
10:17that game was going to go.
10:18And that's the type of thing that makes me feel good about a team with the best record in the
10:22NBA,
10:22a team that people are power-ranking, is that they are commanding the way the games work.
10:26And in sports generally, if you have somebody that is pushing the issue, generally that's the team that's going to
10:31come out with victories.
10:32Generally speaking, yes, especially when you can play with that kind of flow.
10:35No pun intended to what we were talking about earlier.
10:38But no, certainly they can.
10:40And I think they can beat you in different ways.
10:43And they can put different rotations out there.
10:46And they can play fast.
10:47And they can play half – I think, you know, they won the game.
10:50I didn't even mention this earlier.
10:51If you had to say, did they win the game in transition or in the half-court offense,
10:55they won it in the half-court offense.
10:57They got most of their big buckets on both their big runs in the second half in half-court offense.
11:02When was the last time you saw that happen?
11:04Transition, sure.
11:05You know, or maybe Kevin Durant in the half-court or somebody going nuts from three-point line.
11:10But it was actual half-court offense that won them the game.
11:13No, 100%.
11:14I mean, this was another impressive game.
11:17And what is, admittedly, early part of the season, a small sample.
11:20You could look at last year's Rockets and go, they started out hot last year as well.
11:24This feels different.
11:25And I'm in the midst of it.
11:26I recognize it is that, hey, man, there will be tough times.
11:29But I can also see with this team, when tough times come,
11:32there's still more opportunity for them to get more out of this.
11:36They didn't shoot well from three in this game.
11:37They got a lot of open looks, right?
11:39They got a lot of second-chance points.
11:41But ultimately, I am over the moon with the way the Rockets played.
11:45And I think that you hit the nail on the head.
11:47Maybe the most important thing is it's just really fun basketball,
11:49which is something that we need right now in the city of Houston.
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