Jalen Green Scores 34 & Alperen Sengun EJECTED In Houston Rockets Close Loss To Phoenix Suns

Jalen Green Scores 34 & Alperen Sengun EJECTED In Houston Rockets Close Loss To Phoenix Suns

On today’s show the Houston Rockets lose a very physical chippy game with the Phoenix Suns on the road Jaylen green the only rocket who showed up offensively in the first half of this game Alper and shinon struggling with foul trouble all night and gets ejected for the first time in his career the

Rockets losing their composure late with multiple chances to win this game it’s all coming up right here at locked on Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence start throw it up to Jaylen green shenon here in the short row oh my that’s the no look Jabari for three and the

Win look at T at 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 here as well 6 5 4 3 2 1 what’s up and welcome to another edition

Of lockdown Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin native eonian and credential media member I’m also the host of locked on NBA Mondays be sure to follow along on Twitter at JT Gatlin the show of course at lockon Rockets free

And available wherever you listen to your podcast including YouTube now today’s episode is brought to you by fandu will make every moment more with FanDuel right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks if your bet wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started

And as always thank you so much for making locked on 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 joining us now to recap one of the most painful games in recent memory for

Houston Rockets of course your weekly co-host the ex’s noos man himself alyon bani who contra back down on Twitter at Rockets Insider alyon 110 105 Rockets loss to the Phoenix Suns an incredibly physical game a a chippy game tempers flaring between cam Whitmore and Devin Booker Alper and shenon gets ejected for

The first time in his career a game that was so ugly to start Devin Booker by himself score outscored the Houston rockets in the first quarter Deon Booker had 20 first quarter points the Rockets themselves had 17 first quarter points the Suns 33 points in that first frame

3317 Edge for the Suns early on this was like this was such an ugly game and it felt like it was a miracle that the Rockets weren’t down by like 20 25 30 at halftime and and they were slowly able to just kind of keep chipping away and

And after that really ugly first quarter they actually found themselves in a position to be able to win this game late like they were they were in this game with a couple minutes left to go despite Against All Odds of how this game had gone early they were there down

10600 final few minutes of this game final couple minutes of this game after a tip in from Jabari SM junr this was I I’m scratching my head because there’s a lot of reasons that the Rockets probably should have been down a lot more than they were in this game and

There’s also some some reasons for why they probably could have won this game in the end that I know we’re going to tackle unpacker give give me your immediate takeaway your immediate thought just as we’re trying to unpack what happened in this one well the listeners are going to get frustrated

All Eon today um I just I’m sick and tired of it man um and it’s just the same thing on repeat on repeat and for a young team you’re going to see this young teams are used to playing from behind and so it takes them being down double digits

Which by the way after today’s game they are five of 27 this season when they’re losing by 10 or more points at any point in the game five and 27 it’s like they get used to playing from behind and then wanting to come back and it’s um it’s frustrating I can

Only imagine Rockets fans how they feel watching this and investing their time and it just so happens to be Jackson it’s always on the road they started off like you said they lost the first quarter 3317 or excuse me should I say 2017 because Deon Booker outscored the

Rockets and then they won or tied the rest of the game every quarter 36 31 second quarter Rockets won 22 all in the third quarter tied fourth quarter 30 to 24 Rockets won and it’s just the the poor starts and at some point Jackson on the road you have to do

Something and Jaylen to his credit has been has been playing well I think a lot of people have been talk about jaylen’s game over overall you need to see him score the basketball more and we saw that today especially most of his shots granted they were some of them were

Transition early on but most of his shots in the first half in the half court early on came off of movement where he came off a screen or came off the catch and did something and so you know I I I’m hoping that can carry over for him into Saturday’s game or just

Moving forward but Jackson you know something needs to happen for this offense you can go eight minutes I think was it a one of 15 stretch the Rockets had to close that first quarter or something like that you can’t have those spells you have to stay consistent and

Have a consistent offense and even your defense is trying to keep up when you still allow a 140 run towards the end of the first quarter that’s that’s hard for any team to come back from you know this was overall frustration honestly um watching that first quarter man that the

Scoreboard was stuck on 12 for like it was over like I think it was six or seven minutes of actual ingame time before uh what was it I think Jabar yeah he got to the free throw line hit the free throws like that watching that first quarter was so rough because

Nobody showed up offensively aside from Jaylen green who had a who had a you know a quick start to the to the game had uh eight points in that first quarter was the only rocket who wanted to show up offensively to start the game and then and then that Trend continued

In the second quarter where Jaylen green continued his kind of first half scoring Supernova we where he he then had 13 points in the second quarter so 21 first half points overall he cooled off quite a bit considerably in in the second half unfortunately only 10 points scored

Total in the second half and and three of those were that that three-pointer literally at the buzzer at the end once the game was was completely decided um to push the Rockets from being from what would have been a 110 102 loss to a 110

105 loss so so the last three it is what it is Jaylen green though in that second quarter was kind of single-handedly keeping the Rockets afloat and in this game offensively so I want to give him a lot of credit for that the flip side of

The coin here though is you know 31 points9 of 26 shooting it took a lot of shots to be able to get the buckets that he got but I think the main takeaway from here from from just from jaylen’s game is that he’s the one guy on this roster that can actually consistently

Just get his shot because we’re what we’re seeing consistently is you know Fred is not a guy who can get his shot from anywhere on the floor he’s not a guy that can get his shot whenever he wants to when defenses really start to clamp up on him when they put a bigger

Defender on him he really kind of struggles Dylan isn’t exactly a guy that can get you know he’s not a he’s not a self-c Creator he’s not a guy that should be trying to facilitate his own shots we’ve seen some moments from Jabari where when put in the right

Positions or you know coming off motion inside the three-point line catching and shooting on the perimeter whatever he is a guy that can kind of manufacture act in his his own offense at times but he still requires being given the ball in the right spot to be able to do that

Jaylen is I think the one guy on the roster that you can just give the ball to and say go get your own shot and he can and and to his credit even though the efficiency was straight up awful in this game six of 16 from downtown nine

Of 26 overall he was the only guy on this roster in this game against the Suns that you could rely on to try and go generate some offense in a game where nobody else brought it offensively you know one thing that concerned me Jackson and I think this

Was also a big story the Rockets had 22 possessions in transition according to Synergy and they only scored 86 points per possession in transition it’s pretty awful you want that as close to 1.5 or two obviously twos like would be amazing but you want that like 1 1.5 or higher

As much as possible the fact that they’re hovering below one and around 8 that’s pretty awful they missed so many chances they they had so many times where they had numbers they couldn’t execute or just overall a lot of people will pick on Jaylen for this and Jaylen

Does struggle in traffic especially once he’s kind of dribbles in between two Defenders he’s he’s usually unable sometimes to kind of get away from that or the ball will get knocked away but the rest of his teammates also struggle in traffic and when when you have those

Opportunities to go up and finish strong or Draw contact you have to be able to do that and you have to score more efficiently in transition to make up for half court positions where you’re unable to score coming up what went wrong late for the Houston Rockets in this game

Despite the ugly start to this one they had chances to win this game late what went wrong with their late game execution the Rockets losing their composure at multiple points throughout this game we’re going to talk about alperin shenon his foul trouble and then his ultimate ejection from this one as

Well as some of the moments in the final couple minutes of this game that needed to be play out a little bit differently for the Rockets to have a chance to win we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel get buckets with your

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NBA and continuing on here at lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball all right alyon this was uh let’s just be blunt about it this was an awful game for Alper and shenon uh eight points three of seven shooting uh not effective on the glass only three

Rebounds had four assists had a turnover and was in foul trouble all game long now I’ll preface that by saying that some of these fouls were awful some of them especially the the sixth and final foul I I I will say was one of the worst

Calls that I’ve seen right he goes he’s straight up and down trying to guard nurkic and nurkic knows he’s playing with five fouls so he’s going at him he nurkic does this move you know backs him down throws the ball up you know it’s it’s not even really a basketball move

He’s just trying to draw the foul and albr had his arms straight up and down referee Blows the Whistle and Alper and shingun absolutely lost his cool there in that moment when I mean I don’t I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him that like unhinged

That upset going in an official he was like yelling I’m sure he was yelling all sorts of swear words uh at the lead official and gets himself well he fouled out obviously with the sixth foul but then get himself ejected just right out of the right out of the gate and I

Didn’t I I can understand the frustration for alpie it was a rough night he not one of his better games this season in fact it was one of his worst games this season but then to to lose your composure in that moment and cost your team two points in a game

Where you’re trying to fight your way back in and Claw your way back in this game I really didn’t enjoy that display from Al I get the frustration but you’ve got to be more composed in a moment like that when your team is trying to get themselves back into the

Game and there was a moment early in the game where the double team came right and he’s talked about this post game uh in previous games how it’s important you know when he’s double he he can read it and he can make a pass to one of his

Open teammates and when he got doubled his teammates tried to move a little bit maybe not as effective as much and didn’t communicate with him or W on the same page in regards to where to cut or a 45 cut kind of going down the middle

Of the floor and he attended to pass it to Jabari Smith Jr Jabari was in the corner had lifted alpie thought he would kind of cut back to the corner and so Jabari kept lifting towards the middle of the floor the ball went out of bounds

And Alp kind of like visibly clapped or showed frustration this was just a frustrating game for Alp overall and it happened from the beginning of the first quarter when he wasn’t able to back down nurkic and get his way to defensively all the way through you saw moments and

Even uh you know Rockets media members who were there had talked about how imay yoka had you know been been communicating with Alp throughout the game I I I think it’s I I I think this is a good Learning lesson for Alp that hey you know what you if you are going

To be the number one guy and you are the number one option on this team you have to find different ways to make an impact if your scoring is not there that’s fine if your assists are not there that’s fine if you’re able to get yourself going because somebody else has more

Rhythm right now that’s fine find other ways to be successful you can’t have him play all those even 22 minutes and only come up with two rebounds and only drawing two fouls meanwhile he gave up six fouls himself you have to stay disciplined and committed through

Through the game all over the game you can’t just get frustrated and let that seep into what’s going on so I think this is a good learning moment for a young player like alarin changu that hey if I’m going to be the best player and

The team is the the def the def defense is going to scheme based off what I do well that I have to make sure that I can still make an impact in other areas of Florida I think this will be a good Learning lesson for him and you got to

Do I think you do have to give a lot of credit to uh Yousef nurkic and to a lesser extent uh Drew Eubanks you know those guys matching up with Alp in this game uh gave him some problems right he wasn’t able to part some of it was just

You know and this has been the weirdest thing for Alp is I feel like you know over this last you know few weeks probably almost to a month it’s just he has been not himself right and missing some shots that are normally like easy money shots for him um you know missing

Some bunnies at The Rim that kind of thing so you know I we’ve alluded to this before but maybe he it looks like he’s dealing with some kind of a lingering back issue or something so not to sit here and make excuses for his play whatever but you know he’s he flat

Out has to be better you know if if you if if if Nika yic rolls out there and has a game uh like like this or you know then the nuggets have zero chance of winning that game if LeBron goes out and has you know D you know has has an awful

Game then you have to critique that the the team’s best player if the team’s best player has a game like this you’re not going to win many games um so you’re being held you know alpie is being held to a high standard because he has consistently been this team’s best

Player um and so like you said this is a great learning experience for him to try and sit down see what went wrong and try to come back the good news is right he can come back and they get to play this team again on Saturday so he can

Hopefully come back with counters and see okay what went wrong you know in this game how do I adjust how do we change and come back and have a big game uh on Saturday and he he did just that in the recent Meetup with the OKC

Thunder where he was not great in the first Meetup and then he was a lot better in the second Meetup so uh it’s it’s very rare that we get backto back bad games from Alper and shingun especially the way that this one ended with his his temper kind of you know

Boiling over and getting frustrated at the end getting ejected uh again for the first time in his career then uh I I fully expect expect him to come back and have a really good bounce back game next timeout but this wasn’t the only part of the game where the tempers kind of you

Know flared a little bit we saw a little bit of Cam Whitmore Devon Booker going back and forth with one another cam is not somebody who takes who who takes anything from anybody and he’s not afraid to you know go at somebody if he feels like he’s being disrespected and

So Devin Booker a little a little you know jawing back and forth some sh back and forth absolutely right Cam’s got that dog in him he’s not going to back down from anybody um where where I’m a little frustrated with alyon in this game the Rockets had cut this game to a

Two possession game 1061 100 late uh off of a tip in from Jabari Smith Jr and in the just under two minutes at that point left just under two minutes to play and I really felt like the late game execution was some of the worst we’ve seen all season from this Rockets team

Now I I will say credit to credit to em odoko for trusting cam Whitmore and for cam having earned I guess those minutes to be out there in the closing in the closing moments of this game uh over a Dylan Brooks because Dylan Brooks was just was not it this game Dylan Brooks

Had a had a pretty pretty rough outing unfortunately um but there were just some moments late in this one uh some rushed shots um some poor decisionmaking and individually right there were some there was there was a three from cam Whitmore that was not great there was a

Three from Jaylen green that was not great uh um but I I I put a lot of that I put a lot of the blame for the late game execution on Fred Van vet actually because the Rockets went out and got Fred Van vet and and are paying him 40

Million plus this year to to be the guy to run the ship to to be the point guard to be the floor General in those closing moments and that especially that play where where Fred pitched the ball back to cam Whitmore on the wing and then cam wound up settling for that contested

Three-pointer over bullbull like that possession drove me insane because if you’re Fred you can’t trust the rookie in that moment to to try and generate a high quality look when you’re down just two possessions and you know you need a bucket that’s just not the right play so

I I was really frustrated with with uh Fred in those closing moments I he that’s the moment where you need to step up as the leader of this team and deliver a high quality possession so so just just to give a you know a visual to

Our listeners in that play Fred Van fley brings the ball up he gets a screen gets switched onto bull bow at that point Fred really doesn’t have kind of a lot of options right jock set the screen he switches who gets Deon Booker on him

Bull bows on on Fred Fred then sees cam right there because he can’t do much gives it a cam and then Fred trying to set like a little go screen to do something at that point Fred is by the logo the Big L Val Valley logo that the

Phoenix have on the court if Cam had passed it out because it was it was going to be hard for him to drive the only way he could drive was go Baseline honestly but if even he had passed it to Fred you had basically a two-on-one situation where Jaylen and Jabari were

On the weak side and Jaylen was wide open to into a step in three and so I I I I really do think that you’re absolutely right that this is is going to be something when they go on the go at the film on Friday and they take a

Look at they’re going to see hey there was a better play on the floor we still had 10 seconds on the shot clock when cam started squaring up and trying to find a way to attack so I I I I do think this is this is a part of the growing

Pains but and I do think this is going to be beneficial now what happens the last two years Jackson whenever United a postgame recap we talked about especially when they play the same team again are they going to make adjust ments now you’re playing a playoff team

Who is feeling good about the things that they did they still probably could do things better because they shot so poorly especially in that fourth but can you learn from those mistakes and try to have better at least fourth quarter execution in case it get get goes into a

Clutch game situation I’m looking at em udoka to see the adjustments being made and like you said I’m looking at the Players what counters what adjustments in the game in terms of the flee free flow offense are they going to make now there were some there were some look

We’ve been a little Doom and Gloom about this game it was it was a brutal game to watch but there were some positives from this one uh we’re going to get to some of some of the defense being played um some good jock landale minutes uh for in

This game surprisingly uh we’re going to talk about um some positive takeaways and final thoughts from this one here in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by prize picks prize pick is America’s number one fantasy sports app with over 3 million members that the EAS

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Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball now one thing that has been kind of a consistent theme this season is the Rockets have been able to hang their hats on on their defense and that’s been the turnaround from from last year from the silus era Rockets to this this

Year’s version of the Rockets is emok has led this team to a top 10 defense it looks like they’re still on Pace to finish the year as a top 10 defense and a game like this where you’re going up against two legitimate Bonafide Alpha level scorers and Devin Booker and Kevin

Durant yes Booker dropped 20 in the first quarter and and outscored the rockets by himself but I think as a when you when you zoom out and look from a Mac macro viw of how this game went Devon Booker finished the game yes he had 35 points but it took 27 shots for

Him to get there 13 of 27 shooting Uh Kevin Durant limiting him to 24 points eight of 19 shooting um that’s a subpar evening for Kevin Durant I think you’ve got to walk away incredibly encouraged by those numbers and then by and large you look down the line at the rest of

The role players nurkic only four of 10 shooting Royce O’Neal three of 10 uh Grayson Allen one of the best three-point Shooters in the entire the best sorry the best three-point shooter in the entire NBA only two of nine three-point shooting from outside so some of that yeah maybe the Rockets

Caught a lucky break or two on some of those shots but at the same time I do think defensively the Rockets were more than good enough to win this game it was just the lack of offense the lack of you know outside shooting Rockets only shot 24.4% from behind the three-point line

Only 33.7% overall had that had their offense even been just a little bit better than I think we’re talking about a win instead of a loss the one silver lining to the offense for the Rockets they were actually incredible at the free throw line uh shot 28 of 31 90.3%

From the free throw line I can’t remember alyon the last time the rocket shot plus you know above 90% from the charity stripe can you off the top of your head no the fact that they shot better the fact that they shot better then Phoenix and Kevin Durant missed three

Free throws I’ve never seen that before in my life yeah I I I I do want to piggy back on on your comment on the defense and when they were double team double teaming or sending a double from Devin Brooker or to Kevin Durant it wasn’t

Your you know let me just send the double or the the man who’s right next to that Defender and kind of do that they were sending random doubles so sometimes it would come from the weak side corner sometimes it would come from the strongside corner sometimes it would

Just be the the player Defender next next to the other uh the on ball Defender so it it was it was pretty interesting to kind of see eay vary it up and it it did kind of put Phoenix in a possession uh in a situation where those possessions were trap ball into

The hands of somebody else and those somebody else’s ended up with turnovers or having other Shooters wide open who the Rockets wanted to shoot the ball and they would miss it those long rebounds would lead to transition opportunities and so the Rockets were not able to convert those like we talked about

Earlier but it was a recipe for success in terms of getting Phoenix out of rhythm the thing is if you can’t get Kevin Durant away from his spots one-on-one the next best thing is just get the ball out of his hands right uh the Rockets with early on in that first

Quarter when Phoenix got going they were just switching not taking the ball away from KD’s hands and letting him go oneon-one and get to his spots what adjustment did em Oka make okay I’m gonna double you Katie I’m gonna double you Devin and I’m gonna Force everybody

Else to beat me but behind the scenes they did a good job despite being smaller than Phoenix obviously with Fred Van Fleet and Jaylen as kind of backline Defenders at times they did a good enough job and I I can imagine Jackson I think about it a lot that the Rockets

Struggle sometimes on their backline defense because they have a smaller starting lineup or smaller defensive lineups at times imagine if they had bigger players at all their positions yeah imag what do you mean at times they’re they’re undersized at four of their five starting positions like that’s the problem is is

They’re all the time no they’re undersized all the time it’s ridiculous so e does deserve a lot of credit for getting the most yeah absolutely and let’s see if he can replicate on Saturday and the the one guy who isn’t undersized at his position

Uh who we do have to give some credit to in this game did not have a great offensive performance uh for Jabari Smith Jr but he continues to just and I love the the terminology eat glass um from Kraig Akerman on the broadcast but that’s exactly what Jabari Smith is

Doing he’s he’s eating glass for breakfast lunch and oh no we’ve got Al bust out the jokes that’s kind that’s that it’s that time in the podcast when Aly kon’s breaking out the humor no look Jabari Smith Jr 16 rebounds this has become kind of look this was an area

That he had really improved in pre-injury came back from the ankle injury did not quite look like himself right out of the gate um was probably still trying to work himself back into you know game shape maybe working through some residual uh pain or discomfort in that in that ankle but

He’s back to a place where he is routinely you know walking away with you know 12 plus 15 plus kind of you know rebounding performances and that’s huge especially when you have a game where again Alper and shun was was largely ineffective on the glass in this game

Especially against a team like the Phoenix Suns who at one point trotted out a lineup that featured Kevin Durant bullbull and Yousef nurkic right three legit seven-footers all on the floor at the exact same time you need guys who can attack the glass you need rebounding

And so for the Rockets to be able to still walk away A Plus in the rebounding Department this one 58 to 51 rebounds for the Suns um is again I think an encouraging thing that we’re seeing Jabari finding that way to again attack the glass be effective um and and really

Kind of hang his hat on his rebounding here yeah absolutely and the thing about Jabari is also offensively even when his shots not falling teams are respecting him and he is one of those few floor spacers the rocket the Rockets have that can create some spacing there were times

Where Jaylen was trying to attack and he would search out where is Jabari so I can drive in that direction so he has a little bit of space and breathing room on that initial descent towards the rim it’s like the whole alignment conversation we used to have when James

Harden played for the Rockets what is the best alignment for that initial dribble drive to give James enough space to get to the rim same with Jaylen Jaylen likes it when there’s less traffic on his path so he’s always looking at where’s Jabari so I can make

Sure I can go in that direction Jabari does so many great things for this team that just go unnoticed absolutely yeah he’s he he plays his role very well and again you know the offense has been you know a little inconsistent and and you know uh hit or miss at times um shout

Out to my my camera that has been on the fritz as of late and I keep having to like refresh it mid podcast which is slightly annoying but um last guy that we got to talk about here and again we’re we’re trying to end things on a

Bit of a positive note after a rough game and hopefully things are a little bit different when these two teams meet up again on Saturday night uh but Jo land making his uh I guess much anticipated return to Phoenix uh the the land that uh what’s that how do you say

It the the what’s the I’m trying to remember the phrase um the house that jock landale built there we go no um oh my God he eat glass two and make a house out of it Jackson I mean oh my goodness no look hey these are the there were

Some positive Jack landale minutes in this game surprisingly um I don’t know if it’s just because Jack landale can only play effective basketball in the desert but but uh he was actually really good in this game for the rocket so Off the Bench he got 10 minutes all in the

Fourth quarter um all coming as a direct result of the foul trouble for Alper and shenon uh and J jock landale in this game eight points uh six rebounds had a block in there two of four shooting he was four five at the free throw line this I think with without even being

Hyperbolic or anything I think it’s the best game of jock lale’s uh Rockets career already like in this this one game which is like it’s not saying a lot but that that also is kind of saying a lot because that’s been you know unfortunate that that jock just hasn’t

Had a great season with the Rockets um but this this game and what those 10 minutes that you saw from jock landale in this game that’s kind of the version of Jack landale that the Rockets thought they were going to get right they thought they were getting a serviceable

Backup big somebody who could deal with kind of the physicality of a game like this one um somebody who could spell Alper and shingon situationally either if he’s having a bad game or if he’s struggling with a specific matchup or something so so I just want to give jock

A lot of credit because I thought he came in he kind of helped change the flow of this game he was a plus 11 in in the minutes that he wound up playing there in the fourth quarter uh cam Whitmore is also a plus 11 off the

Rockets bench and a a bench High 26 minutes again he got the uh the nod to close this one out instead of Dylan Brooks out there in the in the closing moments of this game but yeah I I don’t and maybe this is a thing where look

Jock mentioned it you know in an interview like a month ago or something where he’s finally back at a place physically where he feels a 100% um where it’s unfortunate that he kind of missed his window earlier in the season to kind of carve out a spot in the

Rotation but maybe if if we’re going to leave here with something positive maybe it’s hate maybe there’s a world where you know jock landale could at least situationally in certain matchups be used again against a team like the Suns with a lot of size a lot of physicality

Then maybe you do give jock a chance to kind of show hey like I can be I can be serviceable for these final 20 25 games or so um and you don’t only have to to rely on on Jeff Green as your backup five Off the

Bench you know um e udoka had Daniel Ty um in Boston and I would like for um jock Longdale to be used like Daniel Ty was in in Boston and what I mean by that is defensive presence like you said but don’t just roll to the rim or be you

Know try to get a switch and you know you’re not going to dump it down to him to get some low low low block scoring create driving Lanes Shield a Defender away you know put your put your butt out there and create a driving lane for Fred

Or for Jaylen or for others that’s what I want to see from jock Longdale and maybe like you said this can be a building block for him to get that confidence get more playing time and we’ll see him in that Daniel Ty Boston role where he was doing those small

Things to create driving lanes for uh the perimeter players otherwise this was uh it was it was a rough game to watch the despite the ugliness of this game the Rockets were right there up until the very end with with multiple chances to win it again the Phoenix Suns one of the worst

Performing fourth quarter teams in the entire NBA they gave the Rockets multiple chances to Come Away with the win late in this one they did not ultimately get it done but they get another crack at them Saturday evening uh hopefully we’ll see some adjustments by em OD DOA and Company hopefully we

Get a strong bounceback performance from Alper and shenon but alyon you know the drill let everybody know where to track you down at you can follow me on Twitter Rockets Insider and stay tuned with us here at locked on Rockets that’s going to do it for another edition of locked

On Rockets as always thank you so much for checking out the show if you haven’t done so yet please consider subscribing wherever you’re listening to your podcast or on YouTube just search locked on Rockets be sure to like comment and subscribe 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 locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for every Houston Rockets basketball

Jalen Green Scores 34 & Alperen Sengun EJECTED In Houston Rockets Close Loss To Phoenix Suns

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by weekly cohost Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) to discuss the Houston Rockets 110-105 loss to Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns. Why Houston got off to a slow start and allowed Booker to score 20 first quarter points, Jalen Green singlehandedly keeping the Rockets in the game with 21 first half points, Alperen Sengun struggling with foul trouble and ultimately getting ejected for the first time in his career, defensive adjustments after the rough first quarter to slow down Booker and Kevin Durant, how Rockets lost their composure late, needing better leadership from Fred VanVleet and more.

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