Jalen Green Wins Player Of The Week Award + Houston Rockets NBA Play-In Tournament Chances

Jalen Green Wins Player Of The Week Award + Houston Rockets NBA Play-In Tournament Chances

On today’s show Jaylen green wins his first ever Western Conference player of the week award and why his post Allstar break Play Feels Like the real deal and something that he can build on moving forward plus we take a look at the Houston Rockets playin tournament

Chances can they beat out the LA Lakers for that final play in tournament spot all that and so much more coming up on today’s lock on Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence starts 6 5 4 3 2 2 1 what’s up and welcome to another

Edition of lock on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin naon and 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 at lockon Rocket free and

Available wherever you listen to your podcast including YouTube now today’s episode is brought to you by linked in LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candidates that you want to talk to faster post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon MBA that’s linkedin.com lockon NBA to post your job

For free terms and conditions apply and as always thank you so much for making lock on Rockets part of your day every single day thank you for being at every day or whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you

For making the show part of your day every single day and also shout out thank you to everybody who expressed uh their concerns when I said that I was sick and I missed that you know a couple shows at the end of last week I do really appreciate that feeling much much

Better now I was still a little bit under the weather and during our last episode uh recapping the Cavaliers game with Madison but I am right as raid now and I really did appreciate everybody uh reaching out and uh you know all the well wishes and everything that means a

Lot to me thank you joining us now is none other than your weekly co-host the podfather himself Rockets wire editor and host of the logger line podcast Bend Dubose you can track down on Twitter at Bend Duos and we’re here celebrating we’re rocking our Margarita Monday shirts in honor of jayen green winning

His first ever Western Conference player of the week award he helped lead the Houston Rockets to a 3-0 record after the unfortunate injury to Alper and shingu and this team has not missed a beat they continue to be one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now and

Jaylen green being recognized for his impressive level of play this past week B he’s only the second Houston Rockets player to win a western conference player of the week award since James Harden Alper and shagon won his Western confence player of the week award earlier this season back in January

Jaylen Green picking up his player of the week award from his play this past week and it’s just it’s a sign of how this team has really progressed and individually how Jaylen green has grown as the season has moved along yeah absolutely and consider that we’re not

Even a month from when many of us suspected that he might lose his starting job he may Oka hinted at changes going into the All-Star break and I went back and looked at the calendar it wasn’t until the Wednesday practice out of the All-Star break the 21st of February that we finally got

Confirmation that eay was going to stay the course and say what you will it’s a lot for for a young guy like Jaylen green to go through I think he’s been through the most changes of anyone when you look at the organization what happened the last couple of years to the

Way things are now and for him to take all the criticism we know what’s happened online and on social media we know even if eay wasn’t as direct with his criticism it did not take a genius figure out that Jaylen was at least someone whose spot was under evaluation

And for him to channel that in the right way and to not curl up at a ball but instead come out of the allstar break with something to prove I think that speaks well to Jaylen the player and I also think it speaks well to jayen the

Person that he takes this criticism this skepticism the right way and he seemingly has used it to channel it into a better version of himself and what’s interesting to be now he certainly deserves the player of the week in this current five-game winning streak he’s averaging more than 25 points per game

On strong efficiency overall and from three-point range but what’s actually stood out to me Jackson about this recent stretch is that he hasn’t had the bad games the truly Dreadful ones because that’s always been for me the real test with Jaylen the high points have been there going back to when he

Was a rookie the question is could he avoid the low lights that pretty much offset them and make it tough for a guy like e udoka to depend on him and the the last one I recall was that Memphis game before the allstar break when we

Had like four points two of 11 shooting and didn’t even play in the last 18 minutes of that game I think just had 20 minutes total a bad game for Jaylen sensey allar break is something like 16 points five rebounds maybe five of 12 five of 13 shooting and he’s still

Playing 30 minutes because he’s valuable defensively and that’s why I really liked one of the answers he gave after this recent home state I think it was the Washington game someone asked him postgame what he has really focused on since the allstar break since his spot

Was under review and he said defense and I thought that was a really great answer because that’s the one thing that’s going to keep Jaylen on the floor especially post alpr and shenon the rockets need his offensive creativity even if the shots aren’t going in just

Having Jaylen out there as a Creator as an athletic guy that can go out and get a bucket and put some pressure on the rim that has value he’s just got to make sure that he is not giving up whatever he scores on the other end because if

For one reason or another The Vibes aren’t right we’ve seen what’s happened in the past with him just sort of retreating into a shell defensively that hasn’t happened of late it’s why he stayed out there more and when he stays out there more at a bare minimum he’s going to give you

You know something like 16 points five or six boards and be respectable that to me has actually been the difference you know of course I’m excited for one player of the week but what’s really stood out to me is that he’s avoided the real low you know low floor games that

He’s had in the past the floor has been elevated and that to me is just a much better version of Jaylen green yeah absolutely Ely I think it was after the uh win against the Cavaliers where Fred vet just flat out said jaylen’s been playing his ass off um and we know that

You know work ethic wise and the you know desire to be great has always been there uh it’s been kind of just the issue of Translating that success to the court in a consistent manner that’s you know we’ve never had questions about the the insane highs with jaylen’s game

We’ve seen it all the way back like you said dating back to his rookie season his ability to you know when he’s playing at his best at at his peak level he’s Sensational right he looks like a future you know multi-time All-Star when he’s at his Peak it’s been the dangerous

Lows that have been problematic dating back to you know specifically even earlier this season which is where a lot of the discourse and discussion kind of came about with jaylen’s role being in question his role as a starter whether or not moving him to the bench was the

Right move or potentially even trading him would be the right move because there was a lot of concerns about can jayen get to a point where he is consistent on a game to game basis or at least like you said eliminating the complete lows you know and I I even

Argued at one point that if you could eliminate both the extreme highs and the extreme lows from jaylen’s game he would be a more valuable player just because you know you need somebody that you can rely on right consistency is the name of the game at this level especially when

You are trying to be a focal point of an offense right you can’t have an offense you know where you’re the number one option or even the secondary option where you have nights where you just completely don’t show up or where you can’t you know you can’t get anything

Going offensively so those have by and large been eliminated since since the you know second half of this well not second half of the Season post All-Star break stretch of the season and it’s nice for jayen to be able to get that recognition and to your point about him

Being valuable out there even when he is quote unquote having a bad game I think that’s been you know a very important development here where earlier this season there were very clear signs that em odoko was dedicating time to Jaylen green even when there were other players

On the roster that might have been better in that given moment maybe you make an argument that Aaron holiday would have been a better Defender better shooter situationally or other players on the roster Atari eent type might have deserved to close out some games over Jaylen green back when he was healthy

That kind of thing but now we’re seeing the results of that patience payoff to where eay gave Jaylen those chances kind of took the lumps that came with it but now we’re seeing a Jaylen green that is actually a plus Defender he’s become a great point of attack Defender the other

Day against the Cleveland Cavaliers right he had some great great possessions guarding Donovan Mitchell Darius Garland you know moments like that where those possessions wouldn’t have been there earlier this season right he’s become a much better Team Defender understanding his rotations understanding where he needs to be to

Help his teammates out and so for the Rockets especially now as their defensive identity has kind of shifted more so of this you know switch everything scheme one through five that’s become incredibly important now that Jaylen is not a liability on that and is arguably even a plus level player

On the defensive end of the Court most nights yeah and let’s give a hat tip to emay udoka because you could argue that eay staying the course with Jaylen green through the All-Star break could end up being the biggest decision he made this entire season and we talk well of eay

All the time he’s had a great year he’s played a enormous role in getting the Rockets from the 21 laughing stock they were the last couple of years to a team that now looks like they’re going to finish with 35 to 40 wins and at least be in play in consideration just a

Phenomenal coaching job by emay Oka all year but we all knew going into the all break 9 and 18 there were a number of directions that they could have gone there was pressure to change for the sake of change it’s not easy to lose that many games or to be that ugly the

Way it was right before the break so it it took some guts to stay the course and I’m sure tell others within the organization yeah I understand how bad this has been but I think it’s right just to play it out the way it was and then to get rewarded this quickly again

Not even a month I think it was already a good year for eeme Oka no matter what this might make it a great year to me staying the course with Jaylen and then unlocking this version perhaps by you know giving either maybe you know extending an olive branch look

At that as a sign of good faith or maybe it was something of a you know kick to the behind and you know Jaylen has played better ball because he felt threatened there’s multiple ways you can look at it but the bottom line is the Rockets have had a better version of

Jaylen green since everything went down over the All-Star break and I don’t see how it doesn’t reflect very well of he may udoka we’re going to take a 10,000 foot view on Jaylen Green’s play post Allstar break and whether or not this is the real deal version of Jaylen green

Hopefully one that we can get uh moving forward permanently not just in the back half of an NBA season we’re also going to take a look at the Houston Rockets remaining schedule and their chances to make the playin tournament this season we’re going to get there in just one

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Feel as good as you look get started today at stitchfix.com lockon that’s stitchfix.com lockon stitchfix.com lockon and continuing on here at lockedown Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball now Ben we’ve seen Jaylen green make these these kind of leaps every year so far in his NBA career

After the All-Star but he’s very much you know quote unquote a a second half player if you will and there are a lot of players like that in in the NBA where they just you know they pick up their play as it goes along or you know certain players like shout out to

Rockets Legend Eric Gordon who become you know basically Unstoppable in the month of March um what I’m curious though is are what are we seeing from Jaylen green and we can I’ve got thoughts on this I want to hear what you think about about his recent play as of

Late what are we seeing from Jaylen that gives us confidence that this is you know hope a version of him that is a more permanent version of Jaylen green things that he can carry forward in his career things that he can you know build upon and hopefully carry into next

Season to where we don’t get the same situation where you know it’s a promising back half or close to the season like what we saw at the end of his sophomore campaign and then you know he starts his you know junior year his third year in the NBA this season and

It’s kind of things look really rough again right to start so what are we seeing from Jaylen post All-Star break that you think he can carry forward you know as part of his game permanently yeah so first things first I think we should highlight that at least

Over the last five games which the Rockets are 5-0 his plus minus is plus 8.8 this is the first time that we’ve seen a run like this from Jaylen where all the under the hood numbers suggest that he is clearly contributing to winning so a lot of these stretches

Especially his first couple of years the Topline statistics may have been very impressive but there was something underneath that made you sort of uh question if it was contributing to winning now of course there’s you know an asteris you can put on that with the fact that the rosters the last two years

Were pretty much a joke so it’s hard to say how much is on Jaylen and how much is on the roster but this is the first time that we’ve seen at least that I recall a sustained showing like this from Jaylen that has also come with positive team-wide numbers and so that

Tells me that he’s doing it in a way that’s contributing to winning as far as what’s happened with this game another note that I want to throw out there so I think there’s going to be a lot of people fixating on the fact that he won player of the week immediately after

Alpr and shenon went out and that’s true but at the same time his uptick predates the shenon injury he was playing better before Alp went out so while I’m sure some will wonder we’ve made the case before on this pod that Jaylen is a rhythm player and can he get enough

Touches get enough shot attempts to stay in Rhythm when he’s playing alongside other usage guys like Fred Van fleed and alpr and shenon that may be better in a given game not going to say there’s nothing to that anymore but let’s not oversimplify it the way I’m sure some

Will and say well he just took off once Alp went out and now you know it’s because jaylen’s driving the bus no he made some substantive improvements before Alp went out that he was already introducing to his game and the numbers were already showing it it’s just gone

Up to you know another level the last three games since the shenon injury as far as what we’ve noticed I would say that the biggest thing that stood out to me and this is really simple it’s the finishing at the room he just looks so much more composed the footwork looks

Better I know he’s constantly looking at film with Ben Sullivan with his coaches to try and get better at his technique he doesn’t take the awkward angles he seems to be much more confident finishing through traffic I don’t know what he did over the All-Star break but

That to me is what’s really stood out the shooting he didn’t suddenly become an elite shooter overnight that’s going to have some es and flows but for me his ability I would I would say it’s a combination of two things certainly the finishing in general has gotten better

He’s able to finish through contact in ways that he hasn’t in the past but I also think the footwork has gotten better to where sometimes the angles aren’t quite as awkward as they’ve been in the past he’s not as out of control and because his balance is better then

He’s able to finish through that bit of contact for a three-point play for otherwise have been you know free throws if you’re lucky and so that to me has been the biggest thing for jayen it’s that when he goes to the bucket I’m confident it’s not even so much about

The fouls Ian yeah it would help if he draws more free throws and he’s done that a little bit of late it’s more when he gets to the bucket and he uses his speed I trust now that he is going to actually be able to finish and he’s done

It with both hands he’s done it with the right hand he’s also done it with the left hand uh when he’s you know going across the lane so that is what has really you know stood out to me and it’s been pretty consistent ever since the

Allra break I need to dig into the the data more but just by the eye test the finishing has gotten a ton better and once that happens that unlocks so much else for his game and for the team especially now that you have this five out offense with Jabari Smith Jr at

Center I’ll raise you one on the finishing of the rim because I think it’s it’s an extension of his ability to actually just read defenses a little bit better and and some of that comes from right e Oka has been harping you know all season on jaylen’s ability to make

The right reads and we’ve seen Jaylen grow a lot you know as a play maker that was one of the areas you know dating back to you know the past couple Seasons with Steven silus the playmaking was something right out of the gate that we weren’t expecting Jaylen to be actually

A decent playmaker kind of much he was a he was a better playmaker than I think anybody was ready to give him credit for early in his career just running pick and roll with Alper and shingon they developed a very you know solid two-man game very early on but I think it’s more

So playing naturally within the flow of the offense and reading how defenses are deciding to guard him right if they’re giving him the mid-range shot he’s snaking pick and rolls and then deciding okay cool they’re dropping low on me cool I’m not going to force it I’m not

Just going to take the pick and or take the pick and then immediately go 100 to zero and go dive at the rim and hope that I can create some contact and get to the free throw line we know that there’s at least you know probably two

Or three drives a game still where Jaylen green goes to the basket gets contact and unfortunately doesn’t receive a whistle it seemingly happens at least at least once or twice a game where there’s a pretty egregious no call where Jaylen green drives to the rim and doesn’t receive the benefit of the

Whistle but that being said I think he’s kind of eliminated some of those kind of we’ll say Reckless drives to the rim and he’s a little bit more calculated about how he does it right to your point about finishing through contact right absorbing contact Better Body Control all those things absolutely but I’ll

Raise you one even better than that is that I think he’s actually doing a much better job of avoiding contact but in smarter ways because previously we’ve seen him try to do you know try to utilize his speed and his his agility to get and he gets a little cute around the

Rim right he’ll do those finesse shots where he’ll he’ll try to get to the other side of the r like that cork screw layup on the opposite side of the glass and earlier this season a lot of those drives and a lot of those finishes around the rim resulted in misses but

Now what we’re seeing is Jaylen is doing a much better job of understanding tempo right he’s driving he’s using his speed but he’s freezing defenders in place right he’s either hesitating in the mid-range making them think that he’s going to pull up for a jumper and then

Immediately turning the Jets back on and getting to the rim past them he’s freezing them using his bigs he’s getting better at navigating screens to be able to open himself up or create opportunities for the role man in these in these moments either Alper and shenon or most recently right jack landale even

Jabari Smith Jr situationally as a screening presence and I think that level of just patience and understanding offensively has started to really open things up for him like you said the three-point shooting will come and go the you know the the the three ball is going to be something that he’s going to

Have to continue to work on for him to become a true threel scoring threat because when the three ball is falling he’s basically unguardable but the problem is is that three ball has been kind of of you know more so like the Achilles heel of his game where when

That three ball isn’t falling he’s even we’ve seen opposing teams really challenge him to hit that three ball where they’re sagging off of him where they willingly leave him open there is one statistic that got shared um on social media by Todd Whitehead the other day that I thought was really

Interesting uh numbers about when players go under uh the pick and roll on a Defender and Jaylen green is actually shooting over 38% on three-pointers where a Defender goes under a pick and roll and he actually elects to pull the trigger and shoot that shot he’s in the

Company of Steph Curry James Harden Trey young and Luca donic as far as percentage of the time that these players elect to shoot the ball when a Defender goes under the screen Steph Curry leads the pack he shoots the ball 46% of the time when a Defender goes

Under the screen Jaylen Green is right behind him at 42% and then James Harden at 40% Trey young 34% and LCA donic 32% now those aren’t the actual percentages from three those are the percentage of time that they shoot the ball when a Defender goes under the screen and I

Thought that was a really encouraging number because it kind of matches the eye test where a lot of Jaylen Green’s threes I think can be boiled down to some of the the the bad threes are the ones that he rushes into maybe early in transition or sometimes the ones that he

You know forces in isolation right where he gets a Defender by himself and he hits you know a couple dribble moves and then elects to you know pull up from three those are probably not the best looks for Jaylen but the ones that come within the flow of the offense that ones

That you know are generated by getting a good screen and Defender making a bad read and going under the screen those are perfectly good acceptable three-pointers and he’s actually shooting a respectable percentage on those yeah absolutely couple of things I want to point out you mentioned Pace I think that’s something that could

Disproportionately benefit Jaylen the faster Pace that the Rockets have emphasized since the All-Star break I asked em udoka about it at one of the games on the recent home stand and specifically in the context of Fred’s performance and he talked about how early in the year the emphasis was about

Lowering turnovers and halfcourt execution in terms of what the coaching staff was wanting Fred to do now as the season has progressed and defenses have changed how they’re covering all p and rookies that are super athletic like a man Thompson and cam Whitmore have taken on greater roles now you just have a

Greater proportion of elite athletes in your rotation they’ve asked Fred to Really Turn up the pace to turn up the heat if you will with that offense and I think it’s been you know some of it they made that emphasis during the allstar break some of it’s also that Fred us the

Allstar break to get healthy he had some nagging injuries before that but regardless I think the Rocket’s playing at a faster Pace that dispropor benefits Jaylen and that’s something that again I don’t think it’s as simple as well shenon out no he was already doing a lot

Of this stuff before shenon went out just in the three or four weeks since the All-Star breakf before the shinon injury so these are things that they did at a tactical level that are paying dividends for Jaylen in particular a macro point I want to get in as far as

The Tactical changes I teased to this earlier but people really need to remember Jaylen was asked to do more in this transition than any other player when you look at this roster the way it was constructed going into this year obviously guys like Fred Dylan um Jeff Green Jack landel they’re new rookies

Amen Thompson cam Whitmore they’re new a lot of the guys that were coming back from last year Jabari and tar number one they only had one year of Steven Silas and secondly they weren’t the focal points of the offense shenon as you’ve talked about plenty uh was not really

The focal point of the Steven silus era Rockets Kevin Porter Jr left in September and was never heard from again Jaylen green was the only guy reporting to camp this year with the new look eeme udoka serious about winning Rockets that had multiple years of Steven Silas and

Was the focal point during the Steven silus years so he had the biggest transition of anyone in terms of these bad habits all the things they’re trying to shake the rod of losing if you will the newcomers didn’t apply to them at all they weren’t here and then guys like

Jabari tar and shenon there’s some of that but honestly because they weren’t the focal points there was less to shake off jayen because of the role he was in and now losing kpj he was sort of out on an island when you look at the way this

Team was constructed and the guy who would be disproportionately harmed by some of the bad things that happened the last couple of years so to get to what I think is The $64,000 Question is this sustainable should you invest in jayen green you know not just keep him on the

Roster but potentially give him a contract extension so on and so forth how seriously do you take this run the case to be made that you should buy in on the current version of Jaylen green is that when you think about it from a macro perspective it makes sense that it

Took him a little bit longer than other guys to really get with the program because relative to other guys on this roster he had the most to shake off with regards to those bad habits the rod of losing however you want to phrase it so

That could be if you want to look at it from you know glass half empty view or glass half full I should say um it’s not just a random hot streak after the allstar break you could make a case that took Jaylen longer because he was asked

To go through the biggest transition I know I that’s an absolutely fantastic point just to add one more you know tidbit to it I think that you can seriously I think there is an argument made that the the pathways that each of these kind of younger players took to

Get to the NBA also play a factor right jayen going through the G League you know Jabari choosing to you know go to Auburn and then alurn and shingun who played professionally before coming to the NBA right I think you can make an argument that the situations that Alp

And Jabari were in and especially with jabari’s aniece rather but specifically with Al he played professional High basketball in arguably the you second or third best league in the world outside of the NBA and won an MVP at that level so he already played high stakes high level basketball before so transitioning back

To kind of a a winning style of play with good winning habits wasn’t necessarily much of you know the the culture shock for shingon whereas for Jaylen right you know having played AA ball predominantly throughout his career then through the g-league ignite which you know there’s still kind of the

Jury’s still out on whether the g-league ignite is actually a good program or not at this point I think there’s just a lot to be said for you know you’re right Jaylen had the biggest adjustment to make and and credit like you said in the first segment to em Oka for staying

Patient sticking with Jaylen and hopefully this is something that we continue to see moving forward as we round out this season and hopefully this is the new permanent version of jayen green that emoa has been able to tap into but coming up we want to get into

Some of the Rockets chances to make the playin tournament this season we’ll take a look at their remaining schedule the games that they would absolutely need to win and kind of maybe a little bit of a schedule prediction if you will for how we think they’ll round out this season

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Now Ben as we take a look at the Western Conference playoff standings the Rockets currently three games back of the LA Lakers in the Lost column at the very least um for that final playin tournament it was actually kind of a nice uh favor by uh our good friends the

Golden State Warriors to beat the Lakers the other night uh that was a game where you know I know some Rockets fans were hoping the Warriors would actually lose that one but I think it actually benefited the Rockets more so for for the Lakers to take that loss the big

Difference is because the Rockets have the tiebreaker against the Lakers they don’t against the Warriors exactly yeah so so that was a that was a big uh swing in the Rockets favorite now when you look at the remaining schedules for these two teams the Rockets actually have a slightly tougher strength of

Schedule for their remaining 15 games uh they clock in as the uh 20th or I guess yeah 20th hardest schedule uh remaining this NBA season the Lakers clock in at the 22nd most difficult schedule remaining this season but I think there’s something to be said for the fact that the Lakers currently even

Though the Rockets are dealing with their own like plethora of injuries you know no more Alper and changon it looks like cam Whitmore is likely going to be done for the rest of the season I would imagine maybe there’s a chance that he comes back I think he comes back the

Last week but Poss yeah at least for a couple more weeks yeah so I mean at this point you know I’m not going to I’m not going to bank on cam coming back obviously T already done for the season so the Rockets have their own set of injuries that they’re dealing with but

The Lakers you know their the way their team is structured right and how heavily they rely on LeBron James and Anthony Davis when those guys are day-to-day Anthony Davis has the eye injury that he’s currently dealing with and he’s been Leon had the ankle all year exactly

So with those two guys you know with with the the you know level of banged up injuries bruises knick-knacks whatever that they got going on I think there’s something to be said for when you look at these final 15 games that the Rockets have they actually have a pretty easy

Schedule I think to where realistically I could see them picking up anywhere from s to 10 wins across these final 15 games and that puts them comfortably in that 39 to 40 win range now whether that’s enough to actually secure them that final play in spot is kind of you

Know is the question that remains but I think that is a very realistic possibility and puts them in a great position to be at least in the running for that final that 10th seed in the Western Conference yeah to put some uh context to it from a math perspective if

The Lakers go seven and seven over the Final 14 games rockets need to go um 11- four to make up those three games that’s a lot to ask but it is doable I mean there’s seven- one in March uh crazier things have happened and one thing we

Should point out with regards to the schedule in the last two weeks when NBA season it’s not always as it looks on paper for example I would say the toughest game for the Rockets when you look at some of the statistical models and they try to forecast what’s going to

Happen on paper that game at the Clippers on April 14th the finale is probably the biggest long shot the Rockets have the rest of the way the only one that’s closed maybe the one at OKC in nine days but I would say one of those two Thunder or Clippers on the

Road yet the clippers because it’s the last game of the regular season and the week of the playoffs I would be stunned if the Clippers are playing kawhai Paul George and James Harden maybe at all and if they do play my guesses maybe for a half you know 20 minutes unless there is

Something major to play for like they might not get home court advantage if they lose that game and they would if they win it I would expect the Clippers on the week of the playoffs to be very conservative with their veterans and and it’s worth noting that with the Clippers

Specifically it kind of looks like we’re barreling towards a four five match up between the Clippers and the Pelicans now it still remains to be seen which of those teams is the four and which of those teams is the five you know for homecourt Advantage purposes but I do

Think that your your point there makes absolutely perfect sense now unfortunately the Lakers are kind of also in that same boat their final game of the season is on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans so maybe the Pelicans are in that position where they want to rest guys so possible but I’m

Just saying that on paper you can’t always assume in regards to you know these models that try and predict everything out the way you can throughout a year strength of schedule in general is not as predictive because not just the final game of the season

Even the last week or two teams that are fairly secure in their playoff spot are going to be a lot more conservative with their veterans anybody with nagging injuries because the playoffs are so close and they’re thinking bigger picture but generally speaking it’s a fairly favorable can I also include just

The flip side of that is is instead of playoff teams actually resting their players you also have tanking teams that might start egregiously tanking at the end of the season right so a game that you know might be you know Midway of the Season you know January February a game

That might be viewed as say a trap game against like the Portland Trailblazers or something at the end of the season the rocket second to last game of the season comes against the Blazers and that’s a game where if the Blazers are still are trying to get you know one leg

Up on another team in the tank ofon standings then they might be trotting out basically a g League team you know in that second second to last game of the season yeah that’s a perfect point because another thing I look at with regards to schedules is backto backs the

Rockets have two left one is at home the Warriors in the heat so that’s difficult from an opponent’s perspective or at least somewhat difficult but the back toback when both are at home is not nearly as challenging because you don’t have the travel in between the second

Back toback is the Jazz and Blazers on the 11th and the 12th which usually would be very difficult those are you know places a long way away you got a lot of travel in between yada yada but it’s likely to be upset by the fact that

Both of those teams are going to be tanking the last week of the year so from a back-to-back perspective I don’t think it’s that difficult for the Rockets when you look at their schedule coming up in general what I would say while I certainly don’t think it’s

Likely I do think most of the models there’s a couple that I look at uh ESPN’s basketball power index basketball reference have the rockets in the range of 5 or 6% I think that’s under selling it I don’t think it’s anywhere near 50/50 don’t get me wrong but I also

Think the five to six% that some of the models are pointing to is a little soft because when you look at a three-game gap with the tiebreaker and three games in the loss column is what’s most important because that’s what you you know control that’s how teams control

Their own destiny in a sample of 14 or 15 games that is not that much to overcome and so one thing I want to you know before I explain why I want to use an example if you were trying to determine if say the Boston Celtics could outplay the Detroit Pistons by

Three and a half games over a sample of 14 or 15 games it would not be that same number that number is calculated not just based on the games left to play and the current standings but also based on what these models view the teams in

Question as being if it was for example the Celtics and the Pistons the model would say well the Celtics are just a way better team than the Pistons so we have to take that into account when we’re looking at the probabilities when we’re talking about the Rockets and the

Lakers the Rockets do not have a sustained track record of success so models are I don’t want to say super bearish but they’re not super bullish on the rockets and obviously a team like the Lakers the Warriors has a lot of proven production LeBron James Anthony Davis Steph Curry Draymond Green but if

There are reasons to believe that the Rockets are better than what the data would suggest and certainly they played like it this month if you you believe Jaylen green has truly found something then the Rockets might not be properly accounted for in these models in terms of you know they’re just taking

Statistically the way the Rockets have looked to this point well what if the Rockets now are fundamentally a different team than they were even a month ago conversely you look at the Lakers situation you mentioned uh Lebron and AD they’ve got some nagging injuries with the Warriors Draymond Green had a

Situation with his back Steph Curry’s had a couple of injuries of his own it’s not as if these teams are necessarily what they look like on paper and so that’s why I think some of those models might be little soft in the Rockets not dramatically not saying I think it’s

Going to happen I don’t think it’s anywhere close to 50/50 I also don’t think it’s quite 595 I think the Rockets are a little bit better than what their season long data would suggest based on the form they’re in now and the way they seem to have figured something out in

The short term with the men starting in place ball per in shenon and this new look switch everything defense which as JB bicker staff said Saturday is sort of tough to adjust to so that’s another advantage to the Rockets uh trying some new things on the Fly that there’s not a

Ton of tape on that could give the Rockets you know a bump in the short term and conversely Lakers and War veteran teams that have a lot of naging injuries there’s some reasons to think that they might be a little bit worse than their season long numbers and the

Names on the back of those jerseys would typically suggest so I would just say those those models might be a little soft on the Rockets relative to the actual likelihood of what I think they’re going to do over the next couple of weeks I think my prediction as it

Stands for these final 15 games I’m going to say that the Rockets go nine and six over these final 15 I’m a little bullish on it I think there’s probably about seven games in there that you can make a very easy argument uh Washington the Bulls couple against the Utah Jazz

Couple against the uh Portland Trailblazers in there maybe you know the magic possibly uh you know there’s I magic have been actually really good this season the final game against the LA Clippers I think there’s about six or seven games that the rocket should be favorites in and if they can just take

You know two or three other ones in there while taking care of business against the teams that they should beat then I think nine and six is a very reasonable prediction and that has them finishing year with 41 wins which I think is you know a such a Monumental

Turnaround from where they were last season that Oka deserves an absolute metric ton of credit for what he’s done this year massive aside from the play in race just getting to 500 or better would be an incredible accomplishment in and of itself and you know we should also

Note with the play in race it’s not like you put up a banner saying oh we we made the playin tournament no it’s not about you I putting up a banner if they make the play in I’m putting that Banner directly next to the Southwest Division bubble Champion Banner okay that’s where it’s

Going which it’s still not been put up and I told the Rockets about that hopefully they take care of it soon but um when we really talk about the playing tournament it’s not just about those two games that middle week of April it’s about playing relevant basketball

Through the end of the season and helping to develop your young prospects by putting them on the floor in meaningful games and seeing how they respond and letting them learn from those experiences so even if the Rockets don’t get one of those playing tournament spots just being in the

Conversation until the the last week or so of the Season that would have benefits in and of itself I’m going to be boring I’ll pick 9 and six2 the one thing I’ll Spotlight though these next four games are absolutely massive because on paper the final 11 are difficult you have a couple of

Back-to-backs in there as well as I mentioned earlier these next four these are the ones where if you want to be serious I think you need to be at least nine and six to um have a chance if you’re nine and six the Lakers would need to go um five and nine that’s

Asking a little bit but it’s still within the realm of possibility I don’t think they going to go like four and 10 or Worse would just be like total collapse and I can’t say LeBron letting that happen Assuming he’s out there so nine and six I think is the well he’s

Also going to be very busy with his new podcast so maybe it is oh there you goj yeah yeah like nine and six and you probably need to go like 10 and five or 11 and four but n and six I would say is the worst case for the Rockets where

There could be any chance at all of the play in that wouldn’t require like the Lakers Warriors to just beyond self- imploded in a comical way so I’m going to be optimistic and say 9 and six I don’t want to be more aggressive than that because the schedule is difficult

What I will say these next four games so Washington on the road I know it’s on the road but the Rockets have won four straight on the road and the Wizards absolutely Dreadful as we saw last week and then the home stand Bulls who are mid and then the Jazz and Trailblazers

Who are not good and tanking I would say these next four games you’re going to be favored in all of them I’ll be conservative and say three and one but if you can go 4-0 and at that point you would be on a nine game winning streak

The momentum you would have at that point the confidence they would have if you’re on a nine game winning streak and my guess is the Lakers lose at least one or two between you know now and then that might be the kind of thing that even if on paper it doesn’t look like

There’s a big Delta between the rocket schedule and the Lakers schedule if the Rockets have won nine in a row and are charging that hard that might be the kind of thing that sort of tightens the collars a little bit in uh Laker lands where those guys are thinking about hey

We we might actually could miss the play in tournament and that’s the last point I’ll make keep in that the Rockets are playing with house money this is going to be a successful season for the Rockets almost no matter what I mean if they lose out the last 15 games

Obviously that’d be crazy but I don’t think that’s going to happen if the Rockets are in the conversation that’s good if the Lakers miss out on the playing tournament altogether that’s a disaster that’s a tire fire that is a joke in the prime of LeBron James and

Anthony Davis and with all the money they’ve spent on that team so if it’s close keep in mind the Rockets are playing with house money so that might allow them to play a little bit more loose put some pressure on the Lakers and maybe that makes them do some things

That they wouldn’t otherwise we see it’s a lot to ask for but I think step one these next four games are an opportunity if the Rockets are as good as they’ve looked of late these are all winnable games I’ll predict three and one just because I don’t think this team is such

A juggernaut that you can take anybody for granted but Wizards on the road Jazz Trailblazers and Bulls at home yeah you should get at least three in there and if you’re eight- one or have one nine straight that’s the kind of thing that who knows maybe that does start to put

Some real pressure on the Lakers and Warriors entering the last two weeks of the Season I’m bullish I’m saying 4 and0 on these next four games we’re going for a nine game win streak bin and then we’re going to cap it off with the 10th win on the road against the Oklahoma

City Thunder 10 and0 here we come all right on that note though we want to know your schedule predictions for these last 15 games for the Houston Rockets drop your predictions in the YouTube comments will the Rockets make the playin tournament that’s your bonus comment to add let us know in the

YouTube comments but Ben you know the drill let everybody know where to track you down at yep uh benjos on Twitter SLX the rocket sare on the same and rocket. usat today.com supp all your daily Houston Rockets news coverage 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 whether you’re listen 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 lockon Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets Basketball

Jalen Green Wins Player Of The Week Award + Houston Rockets NBA Play-In Tournament Chances

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by weekly cohost Rockets Wire Editor Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) to discuss Jalen Green winning the Western Conference Player of the Week award after leading the Houston Rockets to a 3-0 record averaging 26.3 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, how Jalen’s play post-All-Star break feels different than previous stretches of his career and has the makings of long-term success, and the Rockets NBA Play-In Tournament chances looking at their schedule for the final 15 games.

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