Strong Games From Fred VanVleet & Alperen Sengun Not Enough As Houston Rockets Lose To Miami Heat

Strong Games From Fred VanVleet & Alperen Sengun Not Enough As Houston Rockets Lose To Miami Heat

On today’s show the Houston Rockets lose the first game on this very long road trip 120 113 against the Miami Heat why did they lose this game what changed in the second half after things were tied up at halftime Alper and shingun and Fred Van with a pair of monster games

But it wasn’t enough to get it done a silver lining here from this one though Oka continuing to trust and give Cam Whitmore more and more minutes with each passing game and cam was fantastic in this one we’re going to break it all down for you coming up right here at locked on

Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence start throw it up to jayen Green shenon here in his short row oh my that’s the no look Javari for three and the win look at tar 15 seconds guidance is internal the Houston Rocket select amen Thompson and

Cam Whitmore one thing I have never done is not made the playoffs and so we want to take that step upu here as well 6 5 4 3 2 1 what’s up and welcome to another edition of lock on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your

Host Jackson Gatlin native houstonian a credential media member I’m also the host of locked on NBA Mondays be sure to follow along on Twitter at JT Gatlin and the show of course locked on Rock it’s free and available wherever you listen to your podcasts including YouTube now

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Much for making L part of your day every single day thank you for being in every day or whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you for making the show part of your day every single single day Rockets not

Getting off to a great start on this East Coast road trip I guess it’s really not a Coast Road Trip Eastern Conference road trip whatever six games slate on the road first of which here in South Beach they dropped the game 120 to3 we’ve got a lot to unpack from this

Game we’ll get into the reasons why the Rockets lost this game the strong performances from Fred Van vet and alperin shenon although there were still some you know know some issues with their games respectively uh as well as I think what has to be the biggest story

Here and this is what I I’m going to lead with this one we’ll get to the game Flow we’ll get to why the Rockets lost cam Whitmore is the guy that I want to talk about here from the jump because cam Whitmore is a guy that excites a lot

Of rockets fans I’m excited by cam Whitmore right and you watch him play you see him play and there’s a reason to be excited this dude is already a comfortable three-level scorer understands his spots on the floor understands how to be effective he is basically Craig arrian has dubbed him

Mr per 36 because his per 36 numbers are through the freaking roof he goes out there and he scores basically almost like a point per minute in the time that he’s out there on the floor and in this game we saw eem Oka give Cam Whitmore some extended run we saw cam Whitmore

Get extra minutes in the second half based on how well he was playing in the first half we saw cam close the first half for the Rockets because Alper and shenon was in foul trouble these are things that I would not have dreamed of saying even just a week ago because it

Seems like cam was the the entire plan with him was to bring him along slowly right they weren’t necessarily pressured or or you know feeling pressured to to get him run to get him minutes and at least with a Min Thompson you know that he can impact the game on the defensive

Side of the basketball as well and that’s still an area of growth for cam an area that he’s going to have to work on and continue to focus and get better at but what we’ve seen from him in a very short small sample size as far as how effective he can be offensively

Understanding hey if I’m open I’m going to catch the ball I’m going to shoot it if somebody closes out hard on me I’m going to drive it in and I’m going to try and dunk he’s got this he’s already got so many moves in his bag right little counters little crossovers the

Spins he can post up he is a really effective scorer already like that’s what he was drafted to do that’s what he’s capable of doing and we’re actually seeing him do it whenever he’s given the minutes now I I I will say what what this means right for eeme trusting him

And and where the Rockets are at right now still know Dylan Brooks and he could be you know still probably going to be gone for a couple weeks tar een is now not even they’re not even getting up to like game time to seeing if he’s like

You know a game time decision anymore they’re just flat out ruling him out of certain games now which is concerning because that’s going in the opposite direction of where they were sorry still a little sick so for cam this is one of those Silver Lining opportunities where

Hey the Rockets have a couple injuries Cool Cam Whitmore has been entrusted with these minutes and he is absolutely making the most out of these minutes to where I think there’s a really difficult question Oka is going to have to face down the line which is how do you still

Cam wh more minutes even when those guys come back because I think he has shown that he deserves those minutes he’s really effective with those minutes and this rocket team is a team that desperately needs guys who can just score the basketball and who can shoot the basketball and right now cam

Whitmore can do both of those things at a really solid level now is this just a flash in the pan success story where he’s just gotten lucky a little bit in the early going of his rookie career is he going to level back out and he’ll start looking like a rookie start

Missing some shot I don’t think so like cam is a Bonafide scorer he’s a three-level scorer already at this stage of his NBA career and he is what it feels like this Rockets team is missing at times on the floor so what happens what choices does

Em Oda have to make whose minutes does he ultimately have to reduce once Dylan Brooks and tar een are back in the lineup because cam Whitmore deserves to play and when he’s out there good things happen cam Whitmore was a plus eight in this game in a seven-point loss cam

Mmore was a plus eight in the minutes that he was on the floor the Rockets won the cam Whitmore minutes pretty easily out there and a big part again a big part of this his skill set is so complimentary of all the other guys that he’s playing he his skill set

Compliments alperin shagon it compliments Fred vanfleet it compliments the other star like it makes so much sense and seeing camore get that extended run seeing him have the continued trust from from Oka is a really big thing moving forward now it wasn’t all it wasn’t all sunshine and roses for

Cam Whitmore there’s definitely some moments where you see okay like you know some defensive miscommunication some offensive miscues he had uh the one he had the one three-pointer that he pulled up and he had a one he had a hand in his face and then two he had I believe it

Was Fred Van v wide open on the on the on the opposite wing and Fred was wide open and Fred was killing it in this game Fred was on fire in this game and you even had like I believe it was alperin shenon who was like pointing out

At Fred Van vet like pass him the ball and cam still missed that read and then they had another one where he drove the ball in and he missed the read for Aaron holiday who was open on the wing so there’s still moments that cam is

Going to have to grow from and learn from but I do think there were still also some moments where he hey he would have the ball in transition and he would just kind of full head of steam drive into the paint against the Heat and

Realize that he drew a second or even a third Defender and whip it out to an open shooter right it wasn’t exactly pretty when he did the drive and kick and transition kind of stuff but it’s it was effective so I do think for cam he

Still got a long way to go but the fact that you’re already seeing this level of play from him as a rookie this dude has future Superstar written all over him I’m sorry it’s I the fact that the Rockets got him at pick 20 and that however many other teams

Pass him because I guess you the Rockets could have taken a pick number four probably wasn’t going to happen right but from picks five through 19 shout out to every single team that passed on cam Whitmore along the way because this dude is good and the rockets have him and am

Min Thompson for a very very long time and that’s that’s really exciting stuff to think about so I wanted to talk about cam Whitmore I wanted to Hype him up because I felt like his presence in this game was much needed uh I I feel like the minutes

That he’s getting are much deserved he probably should have played more minutes in this game he Pro I mean the Rockets were a better team with Cam Whitmore on the floor because they needed scoring they needed shot making and nobody El very few outside of Fred vanet and Alper

Shingon nobody else was providing that to this team in this game against the Miami Heat so cam wh probably should have gotten you know the trust from emoa to close this one out unfortunately he did not hopefully we see that trust continue to grow over these next coming games over this

Over this road trip and as the season ultimately progresses coming up want to get into some of the reasons for this Rocket’s loss as well as the performances from Fred Van vet alperin shingun a lot to cover from this one we’re going to get there in just one

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Against Miami Heat 120 113 when they were tied up 59 all at halftime uh and look you know I I saw a couple some excuses from rockets and I call them excuses because I didn’t really agree with these takes you know I put the postgame graphic out almost every game

Hey you know why did they lose why did they win whatever and I saw some people saying the reason that they lost was they lost to a better more experienced team team or a better more veteran team or a smarter team because they had veteran players like I saw a few

Different variations of that answer which made me kind of scratch my head a little bit because the Miami Heat uh nikol yovic is a second-year player guys uh haime hawz Jr is a rookie uh they they aren’t exact like they yes they’ve got some veterans up and down the lineup sure but they’ve

Also got some young guys out there that were executing at a really high level so I I don’t really bu that as the excuse I am frustrated I think with some of the Rockets execution or lack thereof in this game uh in in in two areas one part

Was the offensive execution and two and second part was uh specifically how the Rockets cover teams defensively like the Miami Heat they struggle against teams that move and relocate the basketball as well as the Miami Heat do the Miami Heat do a really great job of setting screen moving without the basketball slipping

Screens and and sharing the ball and moving the basketball and they did a great job of that in this game leading to some ridiculously wide openen buckets so you pair that with the fact that Miami Heat were also on fire from long distance shot 15 of 36

41.7% that’s a recipe for a disaster for the Rockets they couldn’t stop they they couldn’t shut down like Tyler Harrow had 28 points on 10 of 20 shooting he shot five of 10 Off the Bench Duncan Robinson had 14 points on four of 12 shooting not an efficient night for Duncan Robinson

But still knocking down some shots Duncan Robinson had seven assists off the Miami Heat bench they had 30 assists on their 41 made shots that’s how well the Miami Heat move the basketball they constantly are passing screening relocating finding the open man and it leads to the offense that we saw against

The Rockets even though at at various points uh what bam atab bio had foul trouble at one point uh and had to sit down for a little bit like you know the the Rockets I felt like also didn’t take advantage of the windows that they had when certain guys were in foul

Trouble when they had certain lineups out there uh there were points where you know and this kind of swings things back towards the offensive end of things for the Rockets because again defensively they there’s something about these teams that that move and that H that are high I don’t want to say high

Motion offenses but just teams that move well without the basketball again the Miami Heat are one of them the Atlanta Hawks are one of them the Warriors are one of them uh the Spurs to a lesser degree of those teams are one of them right teams that really do a good job of

Moving well without the basketball versus a team like say the bucks or the Mavericks or the Nuggets where so much even the Nuggets move without the basketball a little bit but so much of it is still heliocentric based off so many of those players right whether it’s

Nik yic or jannis and Lillard or Luka like it’s a lot easier to just pinpoint hey we’re going to let this one guy cook and we’re just going to stop everybody else right stay home don’t let him get other guys involved and if he gets 50 we don’t care because we shut everybody

Else down it’s a lot harder to do when you can’t just key in on one player on the team and say hey we’re just going to let this one guy Dominate and beat us and we’re going to stay home on everybody else especially when a team is

Moving as well without the basketball as the heat do so that was problem area number one was the defense because even though their offense kind of fell out from under them in the second half uh they went they hit 10 threes in the first half of this game and they only

Hit four of them in the second half so they finished the game 34.1% shooting the Rockets did from three-point land and Fred vanle was three of those four in the second half the the Rockets just could not buy a three-pointer in this game and credit to Eric spoler and the

Miami Heat right credit to what they do offensively their offensive game plan their ability to share the basketball and then defensively they challenge you to make those threes they give up Wing three-pointers they are they are content with teams taking those shots and the rockets did a good job of making them

Pay in the first half for giving up those shots the rockets in the first half of this game were double check the numbers here 10 of 20 from three 50% three-point shooting in the first half and again they went in a halftime all tied up 59 points a piece un fortunately

That wasn’t exactly sustainable and so as the Rockets shooting regressed back to the norm and the Miami Heat just kind of stayed you know stayed hot on top of that the Rockets not being able to get stops that it was just your recipe for the loss here unfortunately in this game

Um I do think again this Rockets team needed to do a better job of taking advantage of certain uh matchups especially like when uh Alper shingu was out there without bam adabo being on the floor or just or even just collectively as a team attacking the Miami Heat more

When bam adab bio wasn’t out there on the floor he had foul trouble in this game he was missing you know he he was he wasn’t out there for for stretches of this game or even just when he was getting his rest on the bench when bam

Is in there it’s almost impossible to attack the Miami Heat they give up so few shots at The Rim they are they are a great defensive team when it comes to forcing you to take bad shots forcing you to take again those those Wing three-pointers that are the hardest

Three-pointer to hit in the NBA so there were stretches where you had like Kevin Love guarding Alper and Sh and Kevin Love is not like a slouch you know he’s a high IQ guy he’s a smart you know smart Defender but at the same time like attack right attack that mismatch

Um and I really felt like the Rockets didn’t do a good enough job of of kind of capitalizing on those moments where bam wasn’t in the game and that that extends to not just that’s not just an Al and shingon problem even though I think that that was more just a game

Plan issue like hey Bam is out of the out of the game Let’s post up Alp let’s get the ball to Alp let’s let him go to work that would have been great it’s an issue for the entire roster it’s an issue for Jaylen green it’s an issue for

J shant T it’s an issue for Jabar sminor all these other guys in the starting lineup who did not show up offensively in this game Jabar Smith Jr just three of 13 shooting only 10 points uh he had an awful offensive performance J Shante three of eight shooting nine points

Subpar performance from J Shante t Jaylen green two of 10 shooting only 11 points subpar performance from him as well two of eight shooting from three-point range now these guys were doing other things like Jabari was defending at a good level jant Tate solid defense hustle plays the usual

That he provides Jaylen green facilitating thought he was playing some decent defense in this game although again the entire Rockets team got burned on some of these uh slips and and you know movements that the Miami Heat had so it was wasn’t any One Singular guy that was the issue with the Rockets

Defense it was a collective defensive scheme as a whole and at times even just lack of effort there was one possession where uh Fred Van and Jaylen green were chasing down a couple Heat players in transition and Fred actually got the stop in transition but because nobody

Else ran back with them bam adabo was able to just clean it up and get the easy putb dunk at the rim and Fred was pissed because Fred and Jaylen actually ran their asses back back in transition to try and get the Stop and none of the

Other three players on the court for the Rockets decided to run back so that’s an effort issue like that’s an attention to detail issue that’s a are you locked in are you trying to win this game and that’s problematic like the Rockets you know it felt like they weren’t playing

Their best game already uh and you can’t do that against Miami Heat team that’s as well coached as they are they’re the premier plug-and-play team in the NBA it doesn’t matter if they’re missing Jimmy Butler doesn’t matter if they’re missing kayb Barton it’s next man up into ality

And that’s how Eric spoler has run that team for years that’s why he’s widely regarded as the best coach in the entire NBA so maybe it was just a matter of hey the Rockets got outplayed by a better team the issue was I thought they were good enough to win this game especially

When the way that they played in the first half but even with the shooting regressing a little bit there in the second half they could have tried to open up some more opportunities they could have made some different decisions down the line again cam Whitmore probably should have gotten more run in

This game because he was one of the few along with alpie and Fred he was one of the few consistent shot makers in this game a guy who could actually put the ball in the bucket and that’s what the Rockets needed to try and be able to at

Least keep up with the Miami Heat late in this one coming up final thoughts from this Rockets Heat game as well as uh some really devastating news for the Memphis Grizzlies johnar out for the season with a torn laborum I believe having season ending season ending surgery and what that means for the

Houston Rockets going forward as far as their playoff aspirations we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel the NFL regular season is wrapping up but there’s still time to get in on the action with FanDuel America’s number one sports book because

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Fanduel.com lockon to get in on the action again that’s fanduel.com / lockon FanDuel official partner of the NFL and final segment here at lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball couple things that I wanted to highlight here elsewhere from from this game specifically just a couple little

Anecdotes some things from my notes um the Rockets had some very uncharacteristic kind of like sloppy turnovers in this game I felt like uh especially on like entry passes to Alper and shingun it happened a couple times this game where they tried to get the ball into shingon uh there was one to

Like Jeff Green where he was like going to set a screen and somebody there’s some just some miscommunication some stuff that you know is is very self-inflicted mistakes that can be ironed out um and again when you’re trying to play high Lev basketball those self-inflicted mistakes uh are back

Breakers right because they add up over the course of a game uh Alper shenon in this game he has six fouls uh he fouled out technically at the very tail end of this one but alpie being in foul trouble was definitely an issue in this game because there were stretches defensively

Where he couldn’t be as aggressive or couldn’t be as upfront uh on some contests as he normally would be uh because of the foul issue so Alper and shingun again getting into foul trouble in this game he has been really really good this season and as of late as to

You know not getting into foul trouble but it’s just something to monitor it’s something to to you know take note of that his teams are going to go out of their way to try and attack him what can the Rockets come up with or what can what can Alp do differently or

What can the coaching staff do differently to try and keep Alper and shenon out of foul trouble right very early in this game we saw that Alper and shingon was not guarding bam atab bio in this game because they wanted to keep Alper and shingon out of the pick and

Roll defensively they’ve done that a lot this season and then sometimes over the course of a game like this one they switch up the defensive coverages right kind of depends on how other guys look when alp’s guarding them but what other creative ways can Oka come up with to

Keep Alper and shinon out of foul trouble especially a team like the Miami Heat as aggressive as they are uh you know in trying to they they were trying to attack shenon right and it was it was problematic at times now eay did trust him which I thought was a big thing uh

When alpie did pick up his fourth foul e trusted him to stay in the game uh and it wasn’t until later in the game that he picked up his fifth foul late in the Fifth Fifth Quarter fourth quarter that he picked up his fifth foul and then

Ultimately fouled out when the game was basically over but uh I think that’s that that says a lot that eeme can trust LP to be out there with the four fouls uh and not you know immediately knee-jerk okay well you got your fourth foul you got to check out now that kind

Of thing um for Jabari you know I need to see him go back to knocking down shots you know it really felt like he was uh had a really impressive stretch there offensively where he was knocking things down where the offense was coming easy to him and

It’s since kind of completely gone away um now I don’t know if big part of that is the is the Rhythm aspect of it I would like to see again it felt like he was made a focal point in the offense especially there with the second unit at

Times where he was getting plays and sets designed for him to get the basketball in the mid post and get to his sweet spots on the floor and knock down those shots whereas now it kind of feels like his shots have been kind of a little bit more random where they show

Up within the given context of a game and there I think he’s kind of gone back to a little bit of some of that uh rookie I don’t want to say mentality but just like some of the threes he took in this game I thought were so ill advised where

You know he’s pulling up with a three with like time left on the shot clock or you know they the Rockets haven’t really moved the ball around and he’s just you now I get it Jabari could pull up for a three and there might be a hand in his

Face but like a hand in jabari’s face is not like a hand in say jaylen’s face because Jabari is just taller than everybody else on the floor so it’s not even really a fully contested shot but it’s also not a wide open look right it’s not a good high quality shot so I

Didn’t like a lot of the offense from Jabari in this game there were some you know moments where he got to you know got to the free throw line drove pull up the mid-range I just like to see him just get the ball Triple Threat free

Throw line face up do your thing right or get him the ball on the post you know when he’s with the second unit that kind of thing um I I just I feel like I want I want to see the Rockets get back to using Jabari

How they were when he was on fire offensively because it feels like they’ve kind of shifted how they’ve been using him uh and that’s why I think he’s he’s struggling a bit more from the floor because he’s a rhythm guy you right not he gets F he knocks down a few

Shots he’s on fire then the three ball starts falling then the rest of his game is unlocked and he looks unguardable so I’d like to see the Rockets get back to more of that um alpie and Fred were awesome in this game talked about them already a little

Bit but just Fred wanted to Fred was doing everything he could to try and win this game for the Rockets 32 points 10 of 22 shooting seven of 14 from three five boards seven assists two blocks only one turnover that one really uncharacteristic entry pass that he

Missed five of five from the free throw line Fred Van B is your locked on Rockets player of the game he was absolutely phenomenal in this one doing almost everything in his power to try and win this game uh just couldn’t get it done uh and then am Min Thompson I want

To talk about a men for a second here before we wrap this one up uh am Min Thompson off the Rockets bench Five Points only one of two shooting he was three of three from the free throw line though two rebounds had an assist had a steal had a block uh

Amen continues to just kind of look like he’s he’s still settling in he’s understanding though how he can attack defenses right and you’re seeing when a Min is out there the Rockets generally have a full five out spacing when am Min Thompson is out there he had that one

And one drive where he drove the ball in finished through contact right there at the rim took the slaps on the arm and was able to take the you know the onew step out afterwards Elevate and drop the ball in not quite a full-blown dunk but

Just kind of laying the ball into the rim and for aen his speed is such a weapon that I think he’s still learning how to be effective with it uh within the structure of an NBA system you know OT was a lot more loose and Reckless and highflying and

Transition and all this and that’s where you see a man when he takes off when he gets a rebound off of a good defensive possession or get a steal in transition he’s gone he had the lob to cam Whitmore in this game oh my God that lob was

Absolutely insane uh I want to say arguably the play of the game from this one uh but you see how effective he is in transition right when he gets to be loose and play free and just play you know at full speed but he also like amen Thompson also understands Tempo he

Understands that it can’t be 0 to 100 all the time and that’s something that Jaylen green is still kind of struggling with right and we saw jayen for stretches in this game uh shout out to Jaylen who got to the free throw line six time hit six times hit five of them

Jaylen’s starting to understand hey if I if I slow down if I use if I if I’m using Tempo if I you know slow down then speed up or speed up then slow down then I can catch Defenders by surprise and get some easy buckets he had that one

Little like hang dribble where he drew the foul and Bam out of Bio like it’s such a simple concept but at the same time it’s it’s also not simple because it’s you know players have played one way their whole career and then they have to adjust and learn how to play

Differently so am Min Thompson understands Tempo and he understands hey if I walk the ball up and then turn on the Jets all of a sudden or if I’m going fast and then if I slow it down when I’m getting ready to pull up for my shot

Then you know Defenders aren’t going to know how to guard me so I I like what we’re seeing you know continued uh work out of a Min Thompson the defense looks solid uh in this game he just didn’t get the extended run because the Rockets needed shot making they needed shooting

Because of the way that the Miami Heat regard guarding them and so that’s why cam Whitmore got the extended minutes out of the reserves in this one versus say A Min Thompson uh those were final thoughts from this one I want your I want your thoughts

Though give me you know wh why did the Rockets lose this game I think you know I covered the two main reasons pretty adequately but if there’s something that I missed from this one as to why the Rockets lost anything that stands out to you let me know in the YouTube comments

Let me know how you feel about cam Whitmore about his play so far about his role on this team what should his role on this team be once everybody is healthy ultimately let me know but do want to talk here briefly about uh the really disappointing upsetting news

Coming out of Memphis uh John Morant season ending surgery will be shut down now it’s like he’s you know he missed the first start of the season because of his suspension he comes back for a handful of games and now he’s gone again just terrible news for the Grizzlies a

Team that I really do enjoy and like a lot you know and I love jaw as a player so that’s just a lot of tough news to to stomach but what it means for the Houston Rockets is their chances at a playin spot just got that much better

Because they’re the Rockets are going to be jostling with a handful of teams you know for the playing spot out west but now I think we can safely look at the San Antonio Spurs the Portland Trailblazers the Memphis Grizzlies and arguably the Utah Jazz I still don’t

Know what Utah is doing man like are is does Utah want to be bad do they want to be some middling 5 on our team they don’t EXA they they have some youth but they’ve also got like a weird I don’t know it’s they’re Utah is a weird team

Right they’re in a weird spot so I don’t know if Utah wants to be bad or if they or if Danny a still wants to tear that thing down eventually and you know sell off different parts and and Bot him out for another top pick who knows but I I

Think I’m going to safely pencil Utah out of the play in tournament race although they could be a sleeper to make it into the playin but safely I think you can say San Antonio Blazers Grizzlies and arguably the Jazz are probably going to be out of the play in

Picture even though the Jazz are technically ahead of the Golden State Warriors right now that just means that if you pencil those four teams out of the playin the Rockets only have to beat one other team in the west to make it into the playin tournament this season

Again they’ve already got three that are guaranteed probably out with the Grizzlies Blazers and Spurs Jazz kind of waning whatever they’ve got going on the Warriors are like all kinds of discombobulated right Steve Kerr may have lost that locker room Draymond Green thinking about retirement because

Of all the struggles of I’m not allowed to hit people anymore like whatever Draymond greed playing the victim in this whole situation is absolutely ridiculous I just another side note here but it means that the Rocket’s path to the playoffs just got a little bit easier because that’s one

Less opponent in the west they’re going to have to worry about if you’re the Memphis Grizzlies that makes a lot of sense to just hey you’re going to bottom out you’re going to be bad The Season’s a wash right you you miss jaw for the first chunk of the the season now you

Don’t have them for the rest of the Year this Grizzlies team is maybe if if things start clicking maybe they can be like a scrappy like you know ninth 10th seed playin team you know if all their parts come together and they get fully healthy outside of jaw obviously is that

Worth it though if you’re the Grizzlies or do you just say hey all right this season is a loss we’re already over onethird of the way into the year let’s just bottom out get a top asset make sure everybody’s healthy and we’ll reset and come back next year and either trade

That pick for more support for jaw or draft another young player to add to an exciting young core already I don’t know I think bottoming up makes sense if you’re the Grizzlies but we’ll see how they decide to navigate it I think it just means easier

Uh an easier in to the playoffs if you the Houston Rockets currently sitting at 18 and 17 they’re ahead of the Suns the Lakers the Warriors and the Jazz uh sitting at the eighth seed in the Western Conference couple games back from that seventh seed some uh separation between the rockets and pel

But that’s going to do it for today’s episode as always thank you so much for checking out the show if you haven’t done so yet please consider subscribing whever you listen to your podcast or on YouTube just search locked on Rockets like comment subscribe share your thoughts from this Rockets game share

Your thoughts on cam Whitmore share your thoughts on the uh playoff race out west I’m curious to hear and see all of your thoughts in the YouTube comments but as always thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening and we look forward to having you back right

Here at lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets Basketball

Strong Games From Fred VanVleet & Alperen Sengun Not Enough As Houston Rockets Lose To Miami Heat

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) reacts to and discusses the Houston Rockets 120-113 loss to the Miami Heat, their first game on a 6-game Eastern Conference road trip. The two main reasons why the Rockets lost this game after playing the Heat even through the first 24 minutes of action, Fred VanVleet and Alperen Sengun not getting enough help offensively, Ime Udoka trusting Cam Whitmore with more minutes and Cam looking REALLY GOOD in those minutes (+8 in a 7-point loss), Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. have to be better offensively, what happens to the rotation once Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason are healthy and more.

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