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Jalen Green’s 30 & Amen Thompson Clutch Defense Not Enough As Houston Rockets Lose To Indiana Pacers



Jalen Green’s 30 & Amen Thompson Clutch Defense Not Enough As Houston Rockets Lose To Indiana Pacers

On today’s show the Houston Rockets losing their track meet with the andiana Pacers despite a pair of incredible games from Jaylen green and amen Thompson we’re going to discuss the problems with some of eeme oka’s lineups as well as the lack of offensive hierarchy for this team it’s all 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 a short row oh my that’s the no look Javari for three I’m the win look at T of 15 seconds guidance is internal the Houston Rockets 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 here as well 6 5 4 3 2 1 what’s up and welcome to another of lockedown Rockets who daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host

Jackson Gatlin native houstonian and 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 at lockon Rockets also free and available wherever you listen to your podcast including YouTube where I want your thoughts on this

Rockets Pacers game this absolute track meet this high octane Affair in Indiana let me know your thoughts in the YouTube comments now today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on for $20 off of your first

Purchase and as always thank you so much for making lockdown Rockets part of your day every single day whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you for being an everyday and making the show part of your day every single day 132 129

Loss in Indiana this game was insane this was one of the most like fast-paced highest scoring no defense being played games that I’ve seen in a minute AR possibly the most high powerered game we’ve seen all season from the Rockets easily one of their best offensive performances All

Season uh I I did the math on this and I didn’t write it down because I’m an idiot five there one 2 three four five six 11 players scored in double figures in this game five for the Rockets six for the Pacers I I don’t remember the

Last time I saw that happen um multiple 20o games across the board uh it was it was an insane offensive showcase between these two teams and the rockets were right there man they they they were so close to being able to win this game shout out to Jaylen green for his Uber efficient

Offensive performance in this game a 30 piece on 12 of 21 shooting uh had the clutch three-pointer late in regulation in this one to give the Rockets uh to pull the Rockets within three uh make it a single possession game Jaylen was fantastic in this one want to talk about

His performance later as well as a Min Thompson who also had some incredibly clutch moments defensively late in this game to keep the Rockets alive and giving them a chance to try and win this one to try and steal this one on the road I definitely want to spend a little

Bit of time talking about jayin and Amin later in the show but I want to start with with why I think the Rockets lost this game and it comes down to uh eem Oka and his lineup decisions over the course of this game but especially on that final possession the final defensive

Possession uh where he elected to have Jeff Green out there uh Aaron holiday Jeff Green Dylan Brooks Jabari Smith Jr and amen Thompson was the the final defensive lineup That Oka opted to go with and that was the lineup where or that was The Possession I should say

Where Tyrese halberton was able to take Jeff Green off the dribble on a switch and score on a drive pushing the lead up to five and giving the Indiana Pacers plenty of breathing room and on the subsequent possession the Rockets got not one not two but three good looks at

A three-pointer to try and close the gap first Jabari then two back toback from Dylan Brooks and they were unable to sink any of them so then they settled on what was I believe the third or fourth offensive rebound on that very possession where Alp was able to tip the

Ball in uh and and that was the final field goal for the Houston Rockets unfortunately and at that point it was kind of game over um they needed a three and they really needed a three and they needed a stop on The Possession prior and it was that lineup that I you know

It wasn’t just that lineup it’s the lineups over the course of the whole game and we’re going to unpack that here in a moment but to me one maybe it had something to do with the fact that Jan Tate has had you know his issues with

Foul trouble in the past but I don’t understand how you don’t have Jan Tate out there in the closing moments where you need when you’re going with your you know your defensive Specialists lineup whatever you want to call it right where you’re subbing out shenon you’re subbing out Jaylen you’re going with your

Strongest Defenders I don’t know how you don’t have J Shante in that lineup at the end of the game and in that moment Jeff Green looked every bit his age in that moment guarding Tyrese Halbert and he didn’t look like he could stay with him he got completely burned at the end of

Regulation and I have been incredibly impressed by what Jeff Green has done this season as a member of the Rockets the role that he has played but he was never supposed to be in this role where he is a full-time backup five that was not the role that the Rockets envisioned

For him I’m sure that’s not the role that he envisioned for himself he has risen to the task and he’s done I think a pretty solid job through most of the season but especially over these last few weeks this last month or so Jeff has really struggled he’s not shooting the

Ball well he’s just not really defending well he’s getting like brutalized on the boards because he’s just not a legitimate five and so when you have to match him up against other bigger legitimate fives the Rockets take a hit in the rebounding Department um and I think that him being

Tasked with playing these minutes against legitimate bigs is taking a toll on him so I don’t want to blame Jeff Green because that seems unfair but at the same time again again I’m I’m not even I’m not going to blame Jeff Green it’s a lack of roster flexibility that has led

The Rockets to this right it’s the fact that Jack landale is unplayable that has led the Rockets to having to lean on Jeff Green so heavily um but the larger issue here and then when you look at more of the big picture issue here is em oka’s proclivity to run lineups that

Feature so many non-shooters at the same time and when I talk about the non-shooters I’m talking about Alper and shenon I’m talking about Amin Thompson I’m talking about Jan Tate I’m talking about Jeff Green uh and to a lesser degre uh Jaylen green and Dylan Brooks now

That’s a weird one right because you’re like well Jaylen green and Dylan Brooks are Shooters right but Jaylen green doesn’t shoot well from three and Dylan Brooks even though he’s shooting well from three has a really slow release and is not the most he can be a willing

Shooter but he’s also at time he just slow release a lot to do with you know that’s why I’m putting those guys in their kind of own category off to the side but the four guys that I mentioned first the legitimate non-shooters on the roster

If you play if you play two of those guys at the same time it’s already a bit of a struggle right when you have two non-shooters on the floor things start to get a little Mucky if the other three guys are also struggling or if any of

The other three guys are struggling you know to shoot the basketball in this game specifically em odoko ran so many different lineups that featured three or more non-shooters at the same time that the Rockets offense struggled to get past those points and Pacers defense even though it was non-existent from

Large portions of this game it allowed them to key in on certain guys and to help off the guys that were non-shooters when you have am Min Thompson and J Shan Tate and Jeff Green all out there at the same time then guys are going to help off those three guys

They’re going to help and and get to you know cut off driving lanes and they’re going to help on the guys that are actual Shooters like Aaron holiday and cam Whitmore and there’s not enough shooting in those line LS to justify Oka playing them and there’s not enough

Defense being supplied by those lineups to justify Oka playing them so unfortunately there’s not really a big alternative right now because Fred Van vet was injured you’ve got tar een still out due to injury there’s not many Alternatives which is why this trade deadline is so

Important and we need to see Rafel Stone do something make a couple small moves to improve this roster because right now there’s just not enough complimentary pieces to be able to make this roster work and so when eay has to go to his bench he’s kind of screwed like there’s

Really the only alternative on this roster right now is Reggie Bullock but at least with Reggie Bullock you’re able to keep things opened up to where guys like Alper and shenon can still go to work or am Min Thompson can still have the proper driving Lanes to work with offensively

Versus having two or three different guys out there that the defense doesn’t have to worry about shooting the basketball and and then they’re able to crowd or double team or creep in it’s a mess offensively and the numbers back that up in this game against the Pacers

The Rockets worst lineup was the holiday Tate Amin Thompson cam Whitmore Jeff Green lineup they were a minus eight in three minutes played their next worst lineup uh alperin shingon J Shante jabarus M junr Amin Thompson cam Whitmore so three non-shooters out there with Amin uh shenon and Tate and in

Three minutes played they were a minus 6 so two different lineups leading to aus4 in a game that you lost by three because they just don’t have the offensive spacing to really function properly so I think that in addition to the final defensive lineup of the game

That allowed Jeff Green to be matched up with Tyrese Halton which I think was a huge mistake as well as the lineups over the course of the game that have a clear lack of floor spacing and ability to function offensively I think that’s why the Rockets lost this game so how do you

Improve that if you’re eay you got to stop relying on the guys that are non-shooters you got to be able to stagger your rotations and only ever have at most two of those guys out on the floor at the same time I’m not going to sit here and do a huge lineup

Exercise how could you possibly reshuffle the Rockets rotation that’s not my job that’s eem’s job but he’s got to find a way to figure it out maybe it involves playing Reggie Bullock some more um I know that Reggie really struggled defensively but there was no defense being played in this game so you

Might as well go for it and put another shooter out there on the floor somebody that can actually make the Pacers pay for the Times where they helped off guys cut off driving lanes were doubling Alper and shingon or you know sending a second man to stop him in Thompson on

His drives whatever it was right so that’s something that absolutely has to change for the rockets and it’s got to change by Oka changing the way that he runs his lineups as well as Rafel Stone getting this Rockets roster some help be it a legitimate backup big man so that

Jeff Green’s minutes can be trimmed down uh or some additional shooting for this roster which is probably the Rocket’s biggest need heading into the trade deadline but coming up I also want to talk about the clear lack of offensive hierarchy in this game we’ll get into

Some of the game Flow some of the individual performances definitely want to spend a little bit of time talking about Jaylen Green and A Min Thompson their fantastic performances in this game we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and

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First deposit match up to 100 bucks prize picks is daily fantasy sports Made Easy and continuing on here at locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball now little bit of the game Flow from this one the Rockets lost 132 129 they

Were very much in this game right they were in fact leading at halftime uh and it wasn’t until that third quarter where it looked like the Pacers offense was was going to stay supercharged and the rockets offense was starting to Teeter a little bit um Pacers dropping a 38 to 24

Quarter there in the third uh and a big part of that was Tyrese Halton had a big second half after being I wouldn’t say a non-factor in the first half but just not quite himself also Tyrese halberton was questionable to play this game in the first place he was on a minutes

Restriction uh only played 29 minutes in this one so also I just want to give a quick shout out to the I love the Pacers as a team I I don’t so much love them in having to talk about them beating the Rockets right now but they’re just a fun

Team to watch like this was a this was a fun basketball game like it was so high paac so so much insane scoring on both ends the displays of talent were off the charts the oh my God the quite possibly the play of the game uh for the rockets

At least was the cam Whitmore to Jaylen green alleyoop lob in the first quarter holy crap I first off uh shout out to cam for actually passing the basketball second it was a bad pass I thought it was heading like into the fifth row uh of the stadium and somehow Jaylen green

Like go go gadget extendo legs you know whatever uh jumped and was able to like stretch like freaking Mr Fantastic and grabbed the and managed to you know send it home through the rim still no idea how Jaylen actually managed to catch that pass and and send it home but that

Was it was just it was an insane game it was a fun game but within this game even though the Rockets had five different players scoring in double figures they had four different guys score 20 or more points in this game uh it felt disjointed offensively and and here’s why the

Rockets had no semblance of an offensive hierarchy in this game and you might say well Jackson why does that matter like they they they scored plenty they had you know it worked just fine I’ll I’ll argue that it didn’t and here’s why um there were multiple points in this game

Where first off Alper and shenon who is your best player and has been your best player All Season only attempted four shots in the first half that’s unacceptable right that’s like saying LeBron James only attempted four shots in the first half or Donovan Mitchell only attempted four shots in the first

Half or Giannis or who Pi pick any best player on any other team in the NBA and there’s no reason why your best player should only attempt four shots especially because the Pacers were switching so many of these actions and Alp had so many opportunities to post up

And post up with a mismatch on him and go to town on the Pacer on the Pacers and yet there were there were moments where like Dylan Brooks waved off Alper and shenon when he had a mismatch on on NIMH hard at one point in the game it

That to me is unacceptable that that is an extension of em odok and the coaching staff so not only were the lineups a problem and have been a problem throughout this season in part because of the roster construction but also in part because eay for whatever reason chooses to run multiple non-shooters at

The same time there’s this lack of being able to identify and say hey like he’s our best player let’s go to him he’s our most efficient player let’s go to him especially when he has a mismatch against a Pacers team that is not a good defensive team and is willingly putting

Mismatches against Alper and Shon right and he’s going to either go one-on-one against that mismatch and score or he’s going to collapse the defense and kick out and get an get a wide open Shot Generator for somebody it was a lot of one-on-one play a lot of you know your

Turn my turn in this game there were some moments where the Rockets did a decent job of sharing the basketball but you know 50 buckets on 26 assist assists not a great job really sharing the ball um and I think the biggest evidence here of of of this issue of not

Recognizing you know no offensive hierarchy not recognizing the hot hand Jabari Smith Jr was on fire in this game Jabari Smith Jr had 18 points in the first half on eight of 10 shooting he was two of two from downtown and then he went ice cold in the second half 0 of

Five in the second half complete non-factor offensively in the second half now is that jabari’s fault a little bit for sure a little bit but here’s the reason why I think he went cold in the second half he didn’t attempt his first shot in the second half until four minutes into the third

Quarter how in the hell do you go eight of 10 shooting in the first half score 18 points and then you don’t attempt your first shot in the third quarter until four minutes in he had a couple free throws before for that first shot but first shot four minutes in his

Second shot and his only he only attempted two shots in the third quarter and he had three shots in the fourth quarter again 05 in the second half his second shot in the third quarter was three minutes later so around the five minute Mark of the third quarter ballpark give or

Take that to me is just unacceptable you cannot first off you cannot not highlight your best player in the first half Alper and shingun who only had four shots I believe it was three of four in the first half so even though the Rockets had other guys scoring the

Ball it’s going to take you out of your Rhythm if you’re just not involved in the offense and unfortunately for the Rockets Alper and shingun is definitely a guy whose motivation and ability to play defense at a at a passable or even high level I definitely think hinges on

His involvement in the offense this was one of alp’s worst defensive performances of the season and I’m sure there’s going to be some fans who are upset at hearing that um the the the Alp stands out there I’m sorry but it was this was a bad defensive performance

From Alper and shenon it was argu it was a bad defensive performance from the whole team there was very little defense being played in this game unless your name was a Min Thompson but still you cannot allow your involvement offensively to dictate how much energy or how much effort you

Provide on the defensive side of the ball and I think Alp definitely let that happen in this game but conversely you also as the best play on the team shouldn’t be uninvolved in the offense and that was a big part of not having Fred Van vit out there on the floor

Nobody could throw alpie and entry pass in the post when he had mismatches nobody could hit alpie with his little pocket pass on the roll to get to the rim and finish around the basket so not having Fred Van v out there to like spoon feed alpie his touches definitely

Hurt his ability to be impactful in this game and that’s why you you saw what it meant the difference in having you know Fred vany out there when Fred is out there alpie gets fed and those buckets come clean and easy and it looks really really good and that’s the benefit of

Having a legitimate floor General out there who can get the ball to your big man whether it be post-ups whether it be you know on the short roll whether it be in full-blown pick and rolls it doesn’t matter so not having Fred out there really hurt Alper and shenon and again I

Think it’s frustrating that eay didn’t step in and and and force the team to acknowledge hey jabari’s cooking he’s on fire in the first half let’s go back to him more to start the third quarter or hey Alber and shinon is has been our best guy our most efficient player all

Season long he’s our he’s our star player let’s maybe get him more involved in the offense it wasn’t like the Pacers were doing anything you know magical to take him out of the offense it was really just the rockets doing a piss poor job of getting him involved in the

Offense and the times where he was involved in the offense where he was kind of forcing the issue in the second half didn’t really look great because they were only getting the ball like out on the perimeter at the top of the key where he had to attack the defense you know

Completely squared up against him where it’s you know kind of like a one4 flat but again with the non-shooters in the lineup and certain guys on the floor the spacing was abysmal to where guys were cheating off and they were able to you know dig and help on Alp so it was a

Really rough game overall Alp has to be better defensively and I I can kind of get where some of the frustrations probably came from and why his effort wasn’t where it needed to be on the defensive side of the ball but that also can’t be the case it’s just it

It was messy all over the place and that’s why I wanted to highlight that lack of offensive hierarchy because I believe if Fred had been playing I think we wouldn’t have seen alpie struggle to be involved in the offense as much and we probably also would have seen Jabari

Continue to be spoonfed his touches in the second half of this game rather than the offense going literally everywhere else and him cooling off by the time he got his first attempts in in the third quarter coming up want to discuss Jaylen green and Amin Thompson because they

Both had fantastic games in this one as well as final thoughts from this Rockets Pacers game we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by game time look you shouldn’t have to worry when you’re buying tickets to your next big event you’re trying to

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Guaranteed and final segment here at lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball now bit of a self-plug here uh we’re I’m going to be doing uh I was reached out to by Bleacher Report and they asked me if I wanted to host a

Couple live streams on their app on their platform so I’m going to be doing a couple of those uh trade deadline Centric streams uh there will be one Wednesday at noon Central Time and then there will be another one Friday at 2:30 p.m. central Time so if you would be so

Inclined to tap in and check me out over there it’d be a ton of fun uh first time doing anything any kind of content with them so it should be uh a fun experience hopefully hopefully not a train wreck knock on W uh but yeah so we’ll be talking a little trade

Deadline expectations trade deadline preview and then reacting to what happens uh at the trade deadline over there but that also we’re also going to be doing that right here at locked on Rockets our very next episode with none other than the podfather himself bendu Bose will be our L trade deadline

Preview so be on the lookout for that one uh coming out either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning but let’s talk a little jayen green in a minut Thompson because out of this game right they were you know highlighting the struggles the issues with the lineups all that stuff there were some

Silver Linings in this one and that comes in the in the form of Jaylen green who had yet another really Stellar offensive performance really allaround game from him scoring wise 30 points 12 of 21 shooting he was three of five from long distance including that clutch three-pointer uh late in the fourth

Quarter to pull the Rockets within three to give them a chance to try and win this game before uh before tyres halberton said not today three of four from the free throw line three rebounds one assist two steals zero blocks did have four turnovers in this game so for Jaylen one of the

Things that I was kind of hoping to see and and I’m not sure if we will now that it’s you know in our last episode I talked about you know will eay start a Min Thompson or is he gonna go with one of Aaron holiday or Cam Whitmore in the

Starting lineup instead and he opted to go with a Min Thompson and a Min had a fantastic game we’ll talk about him in a second but what this does though is it takes away the ability for Jaylen green to be the lead guard um or exclusively the

Lead guard uh you know I was hoping for maybe a stretch of games a stretch of four or five games where we could see Jaylen just operate uninhibited with no Fred Van vet to just see what he has right just let him run the show let him

Be the lead guard and see how he handles it and in this game his scoring numbers were solid he was great um he he had some really impressive drives some really impressive finishes the dude can’t buy a foul call it’s it’s the most egregious thing like he drives and gets

Hit and receives contact and never gets a whistle it’s the it’s the actual worst um and this was like this would have been the perfect Jaylen green game if he had his floor General like also setting up the offense now he did have a Min Thompson and a Min had six assists and

The rockets collectively as a team I think did a decent job of you know moving the basketball around a little bit during stretches of this game but without a real without Fred out there to be the floor General I would have liked to see Jaylen step up a little bit more

As a playmaker in this game now that seems that’s probably going to seem a little unfair he had 30 points right why are you asking him to do more but that’s kind of the expectation is you want to be a lead guard you want to be a star

Player one day or at least that’s the hope for Jaylen green you’ve got to be able to step up you’re going to hold him to a higher standard and we’ve seen him have G just against just against the Timberwolves he had seven dimes and he looked really good as a playmaker in

That game but he also really struggled offensively in that one so for Jaylen I was thoroughly impressed with his game I would have liked to see him take on a bit more of the responsibility to kind of steer the offense to guide the offense to get shenon involved to make

Sure that Jabari stayed getting his touches in the third quarter because amen is still a rookie and even though am men was the point guard on the floor you know I think Jaylen he’s in year three now he’s got the chemistry with these guys he one he’s the consistent

Starter of the bunch Jaylen could have taken that upon himself to make sure that the other guys stayed involved um but I’m not going to harp on him too much for that that seems It’s you know it’s just it’s what I would have liked to see from him and hopefully we’ll

Still see you know he’ll still get more chances to see jayen kind of embrace the lead guard role over these next few games I also wonder if it says anything about uh eem’s trust in Jaylen to be that lead guard that he went with Amin Thompson as the Fred vanet replacement

Instead of Aaron holiday or Cam Whitmore um that’s probably reading way too much into it but it’s it’s at least a thought that crossed my mind as we were watching this game uh in Rockets watch uh and I was like you know what does it you know

Maybe maybe he you know or or maybe it’s maybe it just speaks to the confidence that emoa has in a Min Thompson that he went with him as the starting guard instead of say the veteran in Aaron holiday uh who would be a bit more of a

Complimentary fit with the rest of the starters but I digress uh Jaylen was awesome in this game he was absolutely fantastic had the lob early had the clutch three late had so many nice buckets in this one uh really found a way to get himself going and be

Really efficient in this game he was a plus 12 in his 33 minutes played um and am Min Thompson am Min was watching A Min Thompson play defense is one of the craziest things ever because he’s such an impactful Defender and he has so many like highlight real moments

Defensively so late in this game he it was like what two minutes left in the game three minutes left in the game it was late in in in the clutch when he forced an over and back call on Andrew NIMH hard uh forcing the turnover and giving the Rockets an extra possession

Late in this game as they were clawing back in because this game was this game was 129 119 with 3 minutes left to play and the rockets managed to hold the Pacers scoreless up up until it was what was it like they hit a free throw and then Halle Burton hit his

Bucket to end the game um and Jaylen had a chance Jaylen pulled them to like one what was it 127 130 I think it was uh or 126 129 I I forget where the free throw took place but uh the Rockets held the Pacers scoreless for a for a short

Period at the end of regulation while they were trying to claw their way back into this game and amen Thompson’s defense was a huge part of that his defense on Tyrese halberton when he was able to stick to him and not get Switched Off to another another player

Was absurd he was a big part of why tyres halberton I think in the first half really struggled to get going um he also had that there was one play where where halberton drove the ball in and he looked like he had a Min Thompson beat

And a Min recovered and managed to block halberton and the ball like kind of Ricochet and it knocked off it bounced off I don’t know if it bounced off Halton or another Pacers player but it bounced off the Pacers somehow and that was yet another possession late that

Amin Thompson was able to manufacture you know an extra possession for the rockets and that’s not all that he was doing out there uh Amin Thompson in this game his second career start second career uh well I don’t know second career double double but he had another

Double double in his second career start he had 13 points 13 rebounds six assists and three blocks in his 34 minutes run he was six of 12 from the floor he was 0 of two from three-point land and only one of four at the free throw line so

The shooting is a concern I already highlighted the non-shooting players earlier in the you know in the podcast the shooting is a concern with a men but he also had these insane offensive putbacks uh tapouts for extra possessions Amin Thompson had seven seven seven offensive rebounds in this

Game his ability to find ways to be effective when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands is going to be so key to his development as as a player because again if he was just willing and there there were points unfortunately in this game where he was just stuck at the

Three-point line and a Defender was able to help out like there was one instance where Dylan Brooks or no I I apologize where Jabari drove the ball in from the wing and Amin Thompson was at the top of the key and a men’s Defender just completely ignored a men and went and

Helped and and and cut off jabari’s drive right there with the nail help and Javari had no choice but to kick the ball out to the only open man and that was a Min and a Min had to settle for taking wide open three so those moments need to be cut down on

And unfortunately for a Min he’s going to have to find a way to become at least a semi-reliable three-point shooter because otherwise he’s going to be a guy that’s only effective when the ball is in his hands or he’s going to be an offensive liability when the ball isn’t

In his hands because then defenses are going to game plan around just hey whoever’s guarding him in you’re free safety go blow up all the other plays and the rockets have worked around that by having a in play play around the Baseline in the dunker spot he’s able to

Attack the offensive glass he’s able to cut and be in position to score around the basket and that works when you have other complimentary floor spacers around him but when you have alperin shenon who’s not a floor spacer and at times you know Jeff Green or Jan Tate out

There as well then it becomes Mucky offensively to where then too many guys are able to cheat and help off their player off of their assignments and you don’t have those same opportunities for a Min Thompson so I loved what we saw out of him in this game uh the first

Half was definitely better than the second half uh first half he had four assists only one turnover second half two assists uh and three turnovers oh no they edited the box score sorry um it was four turnovers they must have changed that must have retracted one of them but he

Was definitely a little bit better in the first half when it came to facilitating and getting you know getting guys involved he had some nice passes um he had one very early like a quick like touch pass to the corner to Dylan Brooks just some great kind of

Spatial awareness from am Min Thompson loving what we’re seeing out of him uh so a couple Silver Linings from this Rockets loss to the Pacers a loss that could have and maybe should have been a win if a few things had gone differently if eay had trusted some different

Lineups out there on the court but with that I want your thoughts from this Rockets Pacers game let me know how you feel about this one uh give me your thoughts whether you’re listening via podcast watching on YouTube drop your thoughts in the YouTube comments but as

Always thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening we look forward to having you back right here at lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets Basketball

Jalen Green’s 30 & Amen Thompson Clutch Defense Not Enough As Houston Rockets Lose To Indiana Pacers

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) reacts to and discusses the Houston Rockets 132-129 loss to the Indiana Pacers despite 30 points from Jalen Green and some insane defense from Amen Thompson. How Ime Udoka’s lineup choices lost this game, lack of offensive hierarchy without Fred VanVleet steering the ship, Jalen with another well-rounded scoring performance, Amen making a HUGE impact in his second career start and more.

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18 Comments

  1. Ime running that damn drop coverage with Alpi in the pick and roll is the problem. You can't do that against a good shooting team. Alpi should be blitzing the ball handler and let the weak side help. Too many easy buckets. Reminds me of what Silas was doing. They never made adjustments on defense so everything was predictable. What is Ime doing?

  2. There were some amazing moments. The team looked so much better in this game. Amen provides a different dynamic with his size and athleticism and in moments the potential show shining brightly.

  3. The hardest part of the journey will be stomaching the losses and growing pains of this young men. I just hope the find a way to keep this group together.

  4. Honest question – does Jokic need to be “spoon fed” the same way? If not, maybe need to think about whether Sengun can actually be the centerpiece of a contender. That level of dependency is dangerous to lean on in the post season

  5. Amen is going to be a hybrid of Russell Westbrook's energy and attack 'em mentality/Ben Simmons's defensive instincts/Ja Morant's dynamic explosiveness. Hopefully he can develop a few go-to and counters like a midrange shot or something to not take him out of the offensive flow when needing to force it which should be rare but needed.

  6. This roster is so bad this game was loss really by the third quarter when Ime put Tate and Holiday in. He has to know putting those guys in is going to kill our momentum.

    At the same time I can’t blame Ime completely because he wants to rest his starters a bit and has to play guys like Tate and Holiday. We have no depth and we have below average guys on our bench.

    But Ime needs to be better with the rotations man and he going to have to stagger the starters. Jalen or Al P needs to be with the bench units.

    It’s not looking good we are getting further behind the play in standings and most of our games are going to be on the road. We can’t be a good team if you can’t win road games.

    Despite this team falling apart there are some good signs Jalen is continuing his hot stretch. Amen it looks like he starting to put it together he going to be special. If he can just have a decent jump shot he going to be a very good player in the league for a long time.

    Great video Jackson

  7. 5:20 because Tate has shown many times he will pick up the worst fouls contesting a 3 or a jumper in general at the most important moments. He has rightfully lost the trust of IME in big moments.

  8. First train to Negative Town, anyone? The Rockets looked great, they lost the thread in Q3 and then missed a BUNCH of critical FTs, which lead to the loss. The Rocket's biggest issue is that we don't have single "true shooter" on the entire team and Landale looks like he warms-up by dipping his hands in WD-40. Make no mistake, Indiana is the better team and the Rockets were right there in the mix. I think early success has created unrealistic expectations for this team. To me, the Steven Adams deal has signaled that Rockets management is happy with current progress and is looking to next year to be true contenders, staying the course with the rebuild. And I think this is the correct decision. Enjoy your team, watch their development, the Rockets' future is bright! P.S. – Amen is so amazing, he is literally a swiss-army-knife out there and Cam might be the best player on the team soon. Fun times!

  9. There was a time that Cam, Holiday , Jeff ,Tate etc were playing same time. Ime ? Hello ?? Why are you keep making stupid lineups and rotations when things going well ? Its becoming habit. There is no scapegoat like jalen in that match who you gonna blame now by the way? Its on you , and you know it.Stop messing up with teams chemistry , weve seen enough for last 2 years. Invest to Alpy more , be smart

  10. Work on free throws. Show time Lakers won “close” games making their free throws. Patience… Amen taking over for Fred.

  11. We all knew we gonna start loosing soon as Fred was out with an injury but I rather take loosing games to let Amen grow as ball handler and let other rise up. However I fear that this void of missing Fred could revert Jalen back to playing AAU/Silas style basketball, there was couple time Jalen made dumb mistakes passing the ball without thinking thus giving turnovers. It’s like Jalen only turns on his brain when he has the ball and trying to go for the basket but turns right away soon as he get close to the basket

  12. So much selfishness in this team. You are right on the spot. Thanks for pointing out the problem with Rockets' playing style. I did not understand what Ime was doing. Alpi never got the passes he needed to get even in mismatch situations. That is nonsense. You will never win games with that style of a game. If Alpi gets unmotivated in the offense, he will not be efficient in the defense either. He gets his defensive energy from his offense.

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