Alperen Sengun & Houston Rockets Outclassed By Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & OKC Thunder In Rematch

Alperen Sengun & Houston Rockets Outclassed By Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & OKC Thunder In Rematch

On today’s show the Houston Rockets unable to get their revenge against the OKC Thunder on national TV has the NBA completely figured out how to eliminate alperin shenon what adjustments do the rockets need to make to continue to have him be effective on the floor why Jaylen

Green and Fred Mite struggled so much in this game so much more it’s all coming up right here at lockdown Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence start throw it up to green shenon here in the short row oh my that’s the no look Jabari for three and the win look

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 Estonian a 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 lockon Rockets free and

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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 every day and making the show part of your day every

Single day joining us now is your weekly co-host NBA draft Enthusiast and die hard Houston Rockets fan Madison Moore you can track down on Twitter at madman leaks hopefully going to be joining us a little bit more often here on the program now doing some some more of

These these postgame Recaps but Madison you picked the worst time to to suddenly do an uptick in in uh you know be being a part of the show because this this is a bit of a look it was a it was a hardfought game for all of about what 22

Is minutes in this where I read the Rockets played a good 18 minutes against the thunder on Sunday and before they started unraveling claps in this game they played a really good like 20 two is minutes before they unraveled and kind of fell apart and they had that little

Bit of the surge there in the third quarter you know cut it to a three-point game before SGA closed out the third quarter big scored like nine of the next 11 points by the Thunder to close out the third quarter this was a game where it just felt like the Rockets were just

Completely outmatched where they the the thund the Thunder are a good team for a reason they have an MVP candidate they’ve got a hell of a lot of talent and that’s what makes it it makes it hurt even more that they own the Rockets pick this year yeah man uh it’s clear

It’s clear that tonight was just a Showcase of a better team um I do like I would like to commend the Rockets effort I mean that I think they competed as hard as they could on the defensive end they just W weren’t offensively talented enough to keep up with this uh OKC

Thunder team um you know is as well as they play defensively they’re still a young team so they still had some rotational collapses at The Rim Where guys didn’t rotate properly or were late to contest um and you can’t do that when you got this five out offense with Le

Led by SGA and um Jaylen Williams who who kind of got to their spots all night even though with resistance but time after time I think they just made tough shots or tough moves to really just convert and the rockets couldn’t match that greatness um I think alarin

Shom tried to match but they clearly were sending triple and quadruple teams and when you’re kick out when you’re kicking it out and I think the rockets in and you’re shooting with the rocket shot nine of 39 231 when when you’re kicking it out to a

One of six Jabari a one of six Dylan Brooks a one of seven Fred Van vet a two of six Jaylen green it’s uh it’s not going to look good yeah it’s not going to look good man and and and that’s just the that’s the tell of this story is

Like guys didn’t hit Shots tonight I mean they hustled hard we we we had an incredible lead in The Second Chance points because guys really were competing out there it’s just they did not have it tonight offensively and I think that’s just the name of this game

I mean we want more out of our players um but yeah tonight wasn’t an effort thing uh it was more so just a being outclass thing the the effort was absolutely there and and I I do think that this team has shown a level of resiliency to where

Even when they do feel like they’re getting uh you know up against better opponents whatever they they don’t they don’t give up and I do respect that about this team I don’t think for for you know any moment that em odok has like lost the locker room or any of that

Stuff you still see these guys out there they’re still fighting hard they’re still trying to uh you know claw their way back into this game even though you know things started to look really rough there at the end of the first half right and uh weren’t really going their way to

Start the third quarter they kind of found a little bit of a Groove there for a little bit kind of cut the lead back down to three um again before SGA just did SGA things and this is this is one of those things where like I I just got

To give props to the thunder man like they’re they’re such a good team and watching the watching the way that SGA makes it look so easy this is not this is not locked on thunder you can go listen to my my guy Ryland Styles over

At locked on Thunder if you want to hear uh him wax poetic about the thunder you know taking this dub on National TV against the Rockets first national TV game for the rockets in like 47 years and they they take an L uh against the Thunder unfortunately also what’s up

With the late tip off man like I appreciate the Rockets finally getting a national TV game but what is this with them playing at 9:00 P p.m. central Time this is ridiculous I don’t like having to do a West Coast game when it’s in the central time zone slot man I’m just

Grateful bro I’m grateful we got some national TV love man the halftime segment was a highlight on shenon it felt good to hear National pundits talk about this Rockets team uh show shenon a whole lot of love I mean I I enjoyed it I don’t care what time it came on I was

Gonna stay up for it but I feel you speaking of showing shingu some love even Shaq was like saying that uh what he reminds him of of a of a palga Sal type and then even shag was like I’d like to see him on a different team with some better talent and

Like how are you just going to put it out like that that was that was kind of funny from but you know Shaq he’s got no filter on him yeah no filter dog just disrespected us bro but yeah I mean honestly honest to God I mean I thought

Uh the I I really enjoyed hearing the the TNT people talk typically I don’t you know they typically they don’t really get into the x’s and those but it’s just been so long since we had got that kind of shine and it was nice to see it and and we really competed that

You know what the the first what is that 22 minutes 2 I’m like that’s no M that’s growth that’s progress right they they had a good 18 minutes on Sunday they had a good no I can’t I look we’re trying to we’re we’re trying to we’re grasping at

Straws here looking for some Silver Linings from this but but I genuinely do think before we get into some of the the the frustrating parts of this game right look I I I will say that I think that Alper and shingun responded in a big way

After kind of what what I think we would classify as as a really disappointing kind of a soft performance on Sunday against the thunder right where he just did not look like himself he didn’t look like like the aggressive Alp that we’ve come become accustomed to he was

Aggressive in this game right still plenty of mistakes plenty of things that need to be cleaned up we’re going to talk about some of the adjustments that we’d like to see out of him specifically the way that teams are game planning for him all so we’re going to get into that

A little bit later on but Alp you know a strong night you know spearheading the charge for the Rockets trying to at least 23 points 11 rebounds at six assists couple steals couple blocks did have plenty of turnovers in that in in that game five five TOS unfortunately um

It struggled at the foul line that’s been a consistent issue for Alp all season long he’s got to get better at the foul line only seven of 12 shooting there we’re going to you know kind of talk about the adjustments for him I think one at least positive trend that

We’re seeing as of late with the Rockets though is is they are even though they’re not a good three-point shooting team yet the the offensive identity seems to have shifted to where Oka is now placing an emphasis on generating those threes and that’s at least an encouraging thing moving forward because

Like you said right it’s I if some of these guys were just making some of their shots in this game the fabric of this game is very different right and I do think the process at times in this game was okay there were plenty of shots

That were maybe kind of so so threes but there were also lots that they were just missing like straight up wide open threes like I don’t know how many times the Rockets actually did all the hard work to generate a wide open look right getting the ball down to Al Peak ball

Movement cutting driving touching the paint kicking it out and generating an open look and then just Clank right just break and those were those are the tough pills to swallow because when you do all that hard work and then you can’t convert on the shot it just feels awful

Right and then the other team comes down scores and the deficit gets bigger and it’s just one of those where I do think that the process you can be kind of encouraged by uh and look this isn’t a game that the Rocket’s supposed to win

OKC’s a better team um and when you had some of the lackluster performances that the Rockets did have in this game makes it really hard to kind of overcome to ultimately try and pull out a win but we’re going to talk about some of those performances coming up here in just a

Moment what needs to happen moving forward we need to see you know just better overall play from guys like Jaylen and Fred who really struggled in this game going to talk about them we’ll get to some of the adjustments we want to see from Alp and additional thoughts

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Rockets your daily podcast C home for everything Houston Rockets basketball now Madison one of the things that we talked about on our last episode uh with Ben was just you know some of what we need to see from Alper and shingun right and how emo DOA has talked about what

He’s trying to do with shingun now is is you know baiting double teams and really trying to run the offense through him and and really again it’s changed kind of the fabric of what the Rockets are doing again earlier this season they’d have tons of games right where they were

Only attempting 20s something threes night right which is you just can’t do that in today’s modern NBA so seeing the Rockets actually get up 39 shots from from long distance is an encouraging sign uh even though they didn’t convert a large number of those I do think they

Generated a lot of wideopen looks it just H seemed to happen on a night where the Rockets couldn’t you know uh hit water if they fell out of a boat uh in this game but when it comes to Alp how did you feel about just how he

Handled the way the OKC defense was keying in on him yeah so tonight I think he handled it better than last game but there were still some issues for me uh number one he has to be stronger with the ball and make quicker decisions um sometimes it’s good to be patient but

Sometimes I feel like Alp ironically enough is kind of being overa at times uh really trying to to process and survey and maybe get guys an extra step in and I think he underestimates how quickly his passing windows in space can um disappear when you’re playing a really good defensive

Team especially OKC who is so active with their hands and deflections uh they can really get in there and bother you but all in all I thought he did a good job Distributing the ball he found he found some guys early but as the game go went on and guys weren’t making shots

You seen uh you seen OKC pack the paint even more um and then it makes it even harder with Chad hongren uh down low who honestly disrupted some made some incredible plays I mean the the the pass to Jabari on the cut that that um Jack

Got back to block was just that that’s just ridiculous do we do we have to talk about that you know we we gave OKC enough shine in the first second we can’t keep talking positively about them no I’m I’m just saying though it’s like those are the type of plays that I feel

Like when you’re the pain is packed and you know what I mean wrot guys are wrote ating and you’re supposed to convert that type of play and and a guy just makes an incredible play it kind of deflates the offense but yeah I think alarin shenon is learning how to deal

With this but ultimately number one he has to get his jump shot he has to get a jump shot because he has to be able he has to be a um a threat from three levels if he’s going to be this type of facilitator on this on this team well

Weird because we we we saw him it had been a while since we’ seen right but we saw him hit the the the jumper very early in the game the little he went away from the mid I don’t know where that went we saw like you know it was

His little like you know one-legged Flamingo jump shot whatever you want to call it we saw that a lot earlier in the season and it seemingly has completely disappeared now I I know that this is something that we’ve we’ve discussed in a few different episodes now and brought

Up and I know that Ben brought it up last episode uh alpie has been nursing you know a back issue right and back issues are tough right they linger they can be problematic um I can’t give uh full credit there was because I I think Ben or somebody shared it on Twitter

There was a Rockets fan uh in OKC attending the game took a picture of the Rockets during an early timeout in the game and and shared the fact that alpie had like you know wraps and like everything like on his back um every time that he was subbed out of the game

And so I I do genuinely think that there’s something going on with Alp where he’s not quite 100% I’m not going to make excuses for alpie Alp is not going to make excuses for himself right he’s not going to go out there and say oh I’m her or whatever um but it is

Curious that that he would you know suddenly just drop like this newfound part of his game that was so effective I feel like for him earlier this season kind of added that extra dimension for him and we haven’t seen it or we what’s crazy we actually saw it once earlier in

This game and then just never went back to it never got back to it it’s weird yeah no to me I think he’s getting less opportunities isos or not even opportunities but those windows guys are doubling early so he he doesn’t have the time to face up and just shoot right in

In uh in the Box basically you know he guys are sending double and triple teams as soon as he gets inside that box and soon as soon as he is a threat to score he’s getting a double and triple team and I wonder if that is why uh he’s just

Not having enough opportunities to actually take that midi but that’s why he has to add the three-point range because guys are not going to double him at the three-point line and that would allow him to to be able to attack out of the Triple Threat as well as facilitate

Out of there so it’s just this what this is what happens when you become number one un teamed Scouting Report like this is this is what happens and a lot of a lot of people talked about you know the different rockets on our team and their struggles and you

Know like jayen or other other players on this team when you’re number one on The Scouting Report it gets different and appar shagon is surprising no one you know nowadays and guys are game planning for him and it’s making it a lot harder for him to uh to to actually be effective

And be the scoring threat and and that that you say the back thing I I felt for a while that alaran shenon finishing around the rim just hasn’t been the same level as it was the first 30 40 games and I think that may be more due to the

Back issue he just probably isn’t that that little you know if it’s if it’s bothering any any little bit that can affect his touch around the and his focus and to your point about look you know alpie is the number one option right he’s he’s you know I don’t

Know how many times we have to say he’s the best guy on this team other team scouting reports right he’s he’s the number one two and three Scout on the opposing team scouting report right because this is the problem when you’re so wildly inconsistent with the other

Guys you know in that starting lineup and you look at this game in particular right Fred awful game two of 11 shooting Five Points that’s just terrible Jaylen green six of 17 16 points look I’ll give this credit he had a he had a that that little burst there in that third quarter

Nine-point third quarter he had that that stretch where he he had the the uh the tip in which was nice then next play he had a driving layup got goal tended you know that count the basket hit a three off a kick out from Alp it was a nice little you know seven-point

Sequence from Jaylen green there but by and large the rest of this game some some really awful play from him Dylan Brooks a really bad game in this one right struggled early you know had a couple fouls early on in this game that were you know not so great only seven

Points one of six outside shooting when when you don’t have the threat of of consistent you know consistent offense from The Other Guys in your lineup this is what happens right is the defense of the OKC Thunder were able to just completely key in on Alper and shenon

Because they they’re not worried about the other guys they know that they only have to stop one guy on the floor and so that’s why well I’m not going to sit here and say that you know know well I’m not going to sit here and make excuses

For like the the turnovers the M free throws yes those are areas of alp game that he has to clean up but and and look some of that is is I think schematic I I I I absolutely hate watching them like try to get Alp the ball at like the free

Throw line when when he’s you know got Defenders on his left on his right because then those those Defenders just cheat in and then the moment he puts the ball on the floor it’s just a quick dig and then it’s a turnover right it’s it

See I swear to God it happens like once a game where he has the ball at the free throw line starts to make a move and another Defender just digs and it’s a quick rip because he has no space to operate when he does that it’s got to be

Like empty out an entire side let him go to work down low or operate out of the pick and roll but you know I I I struggle to place you know a majority of the blame on on on Alp because he’s the best player player yeah no if there’s no

Blame what we’re talking about right now is the burden of being the best player and what and and what it means to succeed as a young player when you’re the best player on the team and the the ways you have to get better to continue to help your team and that’s and that’s

What we’re talking about we’re we’re by no means bashing alarin shenon but with with great power C comes great responsibility like as we quote Spider-Man big quote God this but this is true like this is what it means when you’re the best player on the team bro

Like we we’re not going to be talking about these other guys as much because we expect the most out of you and so in order to to be the best you can there’s some things you got to improve in but what I mean of course this is still a a

Very successful season and also a very good game from uh Alp he just has to I think he has to add a couple things to his game um just to make it more foolproof and you know come through in ways that I think he needs to rise to to

Occasions in some of these games and and I also want to highlight one more thing here before we move on to our to our final segment some final thoughts from this one we’ll definitely touch on on you know jayen Fred their struggles in this game but uh and got to talk about

Jabari Smith Jr as well who always plays with a chip on his shoulder against the Thunder but uh I did like you know we saw a few different plays uh with just off Ball action right off ball movement a lot and yeah and specifically there were multiple occurrences and I want to

Highlight three of them very quickly uh rapid fire here but uh there was one play that uh Dylan Brooks missed a three and then off the reset alpie got the board and then Dylan cut off that off that reset and and alpie found him for the cut easy layup right at The Rim

Right there was another play uh later in the second half where Jabari uh got you know they were running a little little screen action Jabari and Fred and then I I think Jabari kind of slipped and alpie hit him you know on a cut towards the

Basket and Jabari was able to you know one dribble and then immediately go up and and finish right there at the rim and then there was another play this one didn’t result in a buck but Jaylen kind of you know juked out like he was going towards the the three-point line and

Then cut back door and Alp got him the ball now Jaylen got stripped you know on the way to the basket more on that in a minute because that was frustrating as all hell but I just I do think the one the the one probably biggest way that

His teammates can help him is the movement and and I do think this is an issue probably for the coaching staff that that we’re still we’re at game what uh what game is this game 5050 7 now 5 58 57 whatever it is and we’re still not we’re we’re still seeing a

Team that hasn’t quite figured out that if you cut and if you move without the basketball good things happen and it opens things up rather than kind of the the stagnating offense that we see on occasion and so I do think that’s an area that can kind of open things up and

Prevent teams from keying in so heavily on Alper and shenon because if you’re just standing motionless at the three-point line and the double team comes and starts crowding Alp or if you’re sending a triple team at him whatever yeah it’s going to be really hard to find that outlet and make the

Right pass to the right guy but if you have Cutters flashing through the lane if you have guys moving without the ball then alpie will be able to find those guys and make things happen or even if you find the guy who’s cutting you know the defense rotates over great then that

Guy makes the next pass right so then you’ve got the hockey assist so it’s just one of those things that that I’m I’m surprised that it’s taken this team this long to be able to implement or get better at um and hopefully it’s something that the coaching staff

Continues to you know work on over these 20 30es or soing up before you move on I just like to push back on that no I think this team actually cuts a lot I think because of their poor shooting and because a lot of their players are poor Shooters like

They have no no choice but to cut and there is a lot of schemed cuts but I think this team has grown as a cutting team I just think The Scouting Report is to pack the paint and it’s hard to cut when everybody has a foot in the paint

There’s often times where I Shon is has a has the ball in the mid post and somebody’s cutting and bringing like a fourth play a third and fourth man yeah into the paint and I I just I think this team is actually cutting I just think

The lack of shooting is allowing for it not to be very effective and then when you go against such a good defensive team like like OKC there was often times in the first half where Aman would cut or somebody would cut and and they were

All over it they you know they were they were actually prepared for that because I do think this team cuts a lot and gets a lot of their buckets that way and now I think teams are just they know it’s on The Scouting Report and they’re now

Scheming for it so that’s how I just push a little bit back on that okay that’s you know and and that’s and that’s fair maybe I’m being maybe I’m being a little overly hard all right and and you know it Bo it does boil down to

The shooting a lot we’re talking about a very completely different game if the Rockets even shoot like a semi- resectable percentage from three here right 23.1% is just not good enough if they shoot even 30% from three then we’re talking about a team you know a

Game that’s a lot closer than the final score would ultimately dictate 11295 coming up though we’re going to get into our final segment here we got to talk a little bit about Jaylen green Fred Van jaari Smith Jr and you know any final thoughts that we come up with from

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Ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit available only to us customers and final segment here at locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball all right Madison I this was a hard this was a hard game to watch like for for a variety it was a really fun game because it was competitive right and it was you know even though the Rockets you know were were outclassed they didn’t give up they fought back they were they were

They were still kind very much in this game for a majority of before OKC kind of started to finally run away with it there especially in in the fourth quarter but seeing the the struggles from from Fred and from Jaylen in this game just screamed like the Rockets just need like

I at this point I I really just don’t know what what to say because Fred has been really good in his role this season but it it does kind of feel like at times he’s very much like a one-trick pony for this Rockets offense where he’s

Just he’s a he’s he’s really good at the one thing that he does which is he runs pick and roll with alpie he can hit that pocket pass and get him set up and but then outside of that man he can’t he can’t attack the basket he can’t finish

Anywhere in the paint um and if he’s not knocking down his threes he’s not bringing you like anything so so that’s the issues with Fred and then with jayen um I don’t know and you know what this doesn’t this is this isn’t even just a jayen this applies to the entire

Team I don’t know what Scouting Report they looked at but who in their right mind thinks it’s a good idea to challenge Chad hren at The Rim because jayen I don’t know how many times Jaylen drove into the hole thinking that he was going to finish over Chet homr and got

You know got stuffed or just denied or or couldn’t fin whatever and then like Amin Thompson had like a rebound at one point and tried to go back straight up for a you know a put back opportunity with right on top of him it was it was

One of those where it’s like you can’t you can’t challeng you can’t go over the top of Chad you have to go through chat hom right you have to you have to you have to overpower him with physicality right you have to go through his chest

And force him to you know init basically Force the contact and if he still is able to get you know a fingertip on the ball or if he’s still able to block your shot or if the ref’s not going to blow the whistle fine you live with that

Outcome but you cannot live with is just the idea that you’re going to just you know go up there and softly lay the ball up anywhere around the rim cuz Chad is going to swat it into the fifth row yeah no I think uh Jaylen learned that lesson

Early in the first quarter that he’s not gonna be finishing the way he’s trying to finish um but I will say um as far as Fred I’ll go Fred first so to me Fred Van I feel like people have figured Fred Van out like don’t don’t bite on

Anything uh run him hard off the off the-point line and just lead him into the paint okay everybody stay home and just lead him into the paint and then he comes he becomes a really ineffective offensive player then um and it’s funny we’re talking about Fred

And jayen although I think uh a lot of players uh struggle tonight all together but Fred and Jaylen are important in their struggles because we haven’t been able to find a secondary creator after shenon I think that’s been the biggest issue I think I think jayen has done the

Best job on the team as the secondary Creator um outside of Fred early in the season um like tonight even though Jaylen was struggling there was a lot of times where at least he got a paint touch and a kick you know what I mean

For for an open shot or a rotation or a hockey assist type shot even though nobody can make a shot but there’s just a real lack of shot creation on this team and that’s up to Fred and jayen to to address now I think for where Jaylen

Is in his development he’s he’s pretty good he just has to take care of the ball and be a little bit more consistent for Jaylen is it’s the inconsistency in taking care of the ball and the lack of understanding when and where to take his shots because even though he had Lane he

Had open lanes all night he uh in the middle of the floor open all night he didn’t take he only took one mid-range shot and if you compare that to the way Jaylen Williams and um and Sh yeah SGA scored a a a good bit of their points in

The mid-range and where they were targeting that spot on the floor but that loosens your that brings Chad out of the paint where you where now when you give him hesitation moves he gonna he’s going to bite on them and so there wasn’t a lot of there wasn’t enough

Setting up the m range to bring guys up out of the paint for me for Jaylen so he can get to the paint now with his speed and athleticism he still was able to get get into the paint and score in the second half and I I liked his second

Half aggression but I thought he wasn’t very he wasn’t aggressive enough in the first half but also he didn’t play that much in the first half I felt like after he got taken out he he came back like the four minute Mark he was he was

Benched for over I believe it was 13 I thought it was weird I mean I thought Miss shots but I didn’t think it was I thought I thought he also was was passing the ball well so I thought it was a bit weird his his first stint in

The game was was interesting because he was I think I think he checked out he was one of five or one of six he only hit a three he had the few drives to the rim he had he had he had the he had the

Few drives to the rim that got you know that did not end well um he had a couple like you know he had he had two assists I believe when he first checked out and a couple of were just like it was just like make the right extra pass right and

So for me I I think that’s almost kind of the bare minimum where I would expect that of anybody on the roster like I don’t think that’s anything like that jaylen’s doing that’s special it’s just I would expect Dylan to make the extra pass or Jabari to make the extra P

That’s just kind of the bare minimum stuff for me and so and there there were even there were some points where because of the Rockets and the way they were switching things and switching so many of the actions where the defense felt really susceptible when you got like Jaylen switched onto SGA right

Because jayen on SGA is that’s that’s a mismatch nightmare there was like for example there was one possession where jayen was switched on the SGA got beat early Dylan had to help the moment Jaylen got beat and then it led to a wide open kick out three so like to

Prevent that from happening I think e decided to roll with um other guys right a combination of other guys and eem ran some interesting lineups in this game like he I think the the the one that I thought that was the most interesting was where where he ran uh Jeff shingun

And Jabari all at the same time um and I thought that lineup had a lot of Versatility to it and I think especially defensively uh I thought Jeff actually did a pretty decent job guarding Chad right really staying really disciplined sticking with him on the perimeter not

Not giving him not I guess not sagging off of him and giving him those open threes but then also you know still being able to be physical enough with him when he did start to crash because that’s what Chad likes to do right he he’ll set the initial screen he’ll pop

And then if he doesn’t receive the ball for that for that wide open three after the screen you know in the pick and pop then he’ll crash the glass the moment like you know Jaylen Williams or SGA is trying to put a shot up or driving towards the basket Chad is looking to

Crash the glass um so I thought having that extra physicality in there was was important but I don’t know man like it’s just I you know I’m at a I I really don’t know with Jaylen It’s just tough because I I feel like he struggled I

Mean to to to me I think it’s for me so many people struggle in this game they like it’s but for me Jaylen to me the biggest issue is Jaylen has struggled to put the ball in the hoop and that’s just point Blake period I thought I I think he’s gotten better at

Everything else in his game except actually scoring I don’t think he’s a good shooter I don’t think he’s good at anything offensively that requires the ball to go in the basket you know what I mean he’s not going to draw in fouls he’s not good at finishing at The Rim

He’s not a good he’s not good shooter right but he he brings uh he’s he’s improved as a playmaker uh number one and I think I actually thought he was pretty good defensively in the second half and who they decided to hunt in the second half was Fred Van

Vet I mean there were so many times where a guy like a Cas Wallace or a random uh you know insert in random uh uh Thunder player who just got a kick out and just took him off the dribble he was too small and the rotation was too

Slow I mean it there was just there was a lot of issues with our back court tonight um but like more importantly though for me I expect more out of Fred VY he’s the guy we paying you know a million dollars he’s getting paid million something dollars right like and

And that that’s the issue is like I I think yeah Fred let this team down in this game I think he’ll be the first guy to say that um I think Dylan let them down a little bit right it’s just you know because there was I I I liked the

Rocket’s defensive approach on SGA in the first game even though he had 30 plus in that one as well this one it it felt like SGA got whatever he wanted it felt like he felt like he didn’t have to work for a lot of his baskets it felt like he was you

Know sneaking through the you know what slicing through the Rockets defense whatever you want to call it getting to his spots with relative ease not having to work for those buckets the same way that he had to work for them uh in the in the matchup on Sunday but uh I do

Want to give a couple couple other thoughts here on on some of these other guys just cuz you know it’s it’s it was a rough game we we’re just trying to get these thoughts out here um quick shout out to cam you know comes in Off the

Bench he had a quick five points um you know had some nice buckets but then there was just especially in the second half man it felt like especially when there was a point where OKC’s defense it felt like they dialed up and it felt like it really started to bother certain

Guys like I remember cam had that one play where he with like OKC was so dialed up on defense that it wound up being like cam like had to like dribble into like a back and forth like crossover and then a three that like I don’t even think he drew iron like it

Was just a backboard brick and it was not it was not a good looking shot but it’s because that’s that’s the kind of defense that OKC was playing in this game um but he had you know he had his points Off the Bench uh the guy that I’m

I’m a little sad we didn’t spend more time talking about this as far as one of the positives from this game Jabari Smith Jr um 18 points 13 rebounds another strong double double from him only one of six shooting from outside but that also means that inside the arc

He was six of 10 shooting and I do think one of the positives from this game right he had that cut that strong cut uh that he was fed by from Alper and shenon he had some movement kind of shots in this game right where he’s coming off

Movement inside the three-point line and I do think that’s an area of strength for Jabari where if he gets moving inside the three-point line and then can get a quick pass and like one dribble pull up whatever that’s an area of strength of his that he can really build

On um and I would like to see the Rockets kind of consistently go back to that especially when they have these these you know periods where they just go into like an offensive drought right they had a a an offensive drought from the end of the second quarter into the

Start of the third quarter where for a little over like five minutes of game time they didn’t have a single field goal and you know going having a guy like Jabari who can basically get his shot over anybody that he wants to right except for maybe Chad if if Chad’s the

Guy checking him um you know just let let him get the ball right run him off a quick screen you know and just quick pass at the elbow and let him pull up whatever I I feel like that’s easy money right there for Jabari um now unfortunately he hasn’t been super

Consistent with it this season so it’s not like us you know we we’ve seen games where he looks like he is Unstoppable from the mid-range and we’ve seen games where he really really struggles to put the ball in the hoop at all so that’s been an area that he has to get better

At yeah for me I thought Jabari had another strong game he rebounded well I thought he he was aggressive I thought he was really good switching on defense man there was there was some really good plays um one is when he switched on to Shay and then he actually played him so

Well off the dribble that Jeff Green got the block I thought that was just excellent Stellar uh defense from our from our fourman right um and uh I thought he was aggressive inside the arc I thought the same way I talk about jayen like knowing your spots that’s one

Thing Jabari knows he knows his spots on the floor and he understands them well and that’s why he often shoots a high percentage and even in his shot creation reps he knows his mid-range shots that are that are money and he made them the one mistake I thought tonight is why he

Had one the six I mean why he went one of six from the uh the three-point line is there was a lot of times where Fred Van vet would kind of survey uh and go through the paint but everybody stayed home and he just have to kick it out to

The guy who was available to catch the ball even though they weren’t necessarily open and that was Jabari Jabari because he’s taller than everybody else and then he’d fire a three with face that’s that’s not an open three and you could see it and affected his form every single time and

There there were bricks and it was just like hey bro like put the ball on the floor get get to your spot there you know what I mean so but that that’s that’s that was the only drawback and I think he would actually had a a lot

Better game if if he just didn’t take some of those threes that he did yeah look this was one of those it was even though even even though it was a loss I think it was competitive um it’s it’s one of those where you tip your cap to

The better team it was frustrating for a variety of reasons but I do think there were some Silver Linings in there we tried to get to some of the positives um over the course of the show hopefully it doesn’t walk hopefully you don’t walk away like super depressed cuz like I I

Actually feel even a little bit better like after this like I we were talking before we even hit the record button like coming into this I was like man I was like mad like coming into it because I felt like and part of it’s because I felt like the Rockets actually had

Played despite some of their struggles despite some of the offensive issues the the lack of shot making I thought they were were fighting and played well enough and again really like crashing the offensive glass trying to generate those and and third opportunities offensively I thought they they could

Have been in this game longer than they were right um and that says something you know as good as this OKC team is the fact that the Rockets didn’t just roll over and get blown out by like 20 30 points um I think that says something so

Uh Madison though you know the drill let everybody know where they can track you down at man yeah man follow me on Twitter or X madman leaks come talk Rockets basketball that’s going to do it for another edition of locked on Rockets as always thank you so much for check

Out the show if you haven’t done so yet please consider subscribing whether you’re listen to your podcast or on YouTube just search lock on Rockets like comment subscribe all that good stuff 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 lock on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets Basketball

Alperen Sengun & Houston Rockets Outclassed By Shai Gilgeous-Alexander & OKC Thunder In Rematch

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by weekly cohost and NBA Draft enthusiast Madison Moore (@MadManLeaks) to discuss the Houston Rockets 112-95 loss in their rematch against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the OKC Thunder. How the Rockets fought hard to stay in the game but were ultimately outclassed by the better team, offense running through Alperen Sengun leading to open looks but shooters were misfiring, what adjustments do Alpi and the coaching staff need to make as defenses continue to key in on him, how Houston NEEDS more from Fred VanVleet and Jalen Green in games like this and more.

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