Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets are Heading in Opposite Directions w/Play-In On the Line

Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets are Heading in Opposite Directions w/Play-In On the Line

This wild wacky NBA season is not over and what we got left is a battle for the 10th and final play in seed and I thought with the Rockets creeping into it I called up my buddy Jackson Gatlin we’re doing a crossover locked on Rockets locked on Warriors let’s

Go thank you for making locked on Warriors your first listen every day we’re free and available and locked on Rockets I apologize we’re free and available wherever you get Podcast and of course on YouTube we’re part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today’s episode is brought to

You by prize picks the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon NBA and use the code all lowercase locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 Jackson gatlin’s available on Twitter you can follow him there at JT

Gatlin you can follow me Cyrus saas over on threads at dog wild Jackson super stoked we’re doing this together how the hell are you doing brother and the way this going to work is I’m handling the host Reigns for the first segment you take over the second one

We’ll Free Will throughout this thing um but first things first man besides the fact that it’s great to see you how the hell are you doing and how are you like in your opinion are the Rockets gonna overtake the the Warriors let’s start right off there man how how are you

Feeling and how are the Rockets fans feeling and maybe how’s the team feeling about these final this final stretch you know Osirus I’ll be completely honest right it it really it was Doom and Gloom for for a couple days there because the Rockets you know they came out of the

All-Star break and they had a bit of a rough stretch they went kind of one and four for a few those first handful of games out of the All-Star break really competitive um they looked good in some of these games just couldn’t quite get

Over the hump in a few of them and then they kind of found something right they started playing this this new found level with new new level of pace really trying to kind of modify their offensive approach um they brought themselves back into the 21st century of NBA basketball

By actually shooting more threes than their opponents in a number of games after playing this like old school like 90 era basketball for two-thirds of the season and then albr shenon went down right a really uh what looked like a very scary injury at first against the Sacramento Kings and shingun has been

Their best player all season long and obviously when your best player goes down due to injury and what looked like a really bad injury thankfully he avoided any Serious injury he’s you know reportedly only going to be out for about a month so he could potentially be

Back for a a postseason run if the Rockets do make it into the actual playoffs but soon as he went down it was kind of like it took all the wind out of the rocket sales right where it was like oh man they they finally found something

They were locking in they had a little wind streak going and then your best player gets hurt and I I’ve kind of likened it to way back when the Rockets went on their 22 game win streak back in the trace McGrady uh Yao Ming era Yao Ming went down about halfway through

That 22 game win streak and everybody rode off the Rockets everybody’s like oh well there goes the rocket season here’s another Yao Ming injury here it is again and the rockets tapped into something great G than themselves right like sometimes you have these like unexplainable phenomena that take place

In sports and that’s kind of what happened with this team where you lost your Best Player and it’s like they it galvanized them right where they all came together and now they’re playing some of the best basketball of this season right the dynamic has changed considerably moving Jabari Smith Jr to

That five spot and at the core of all of this has been Jaylen Green’s Sensational play Jaylen green was arguably one of the worst players in basketball for about two-thirds of this season and he went through the fire he went through all the bumps and bruises along the road

Oka talked a lot about kind of tearing him down and building him back up as a player and now we’re seeing the fruits of that labor start to take hold start to take effect where jaylen’s been one of the best players in the NBA for this

Stretch that the Rockets are on now nine straight wins uh above 500 for the first time since all the way back in January longest win strength since the uh you’ll be very familiar obviously with the James Harden Chris Paul Le Houston Rockets uh and yeah man it’s uh it’s

Been really miraculous to see this team kind of come together and play some of the best basketball of the Season here at the end and make a push for the playin and you know you brought up eme udoka who I I respect tremendously as a head coach I mean he gets results right

I mean it’s really just one objective in in competitive Sports and that’s to win the dude wins he gets the best out of his players um the job he’s done in Houston is miraculous and then mean meanwhile on the other side you have Steve Kerr these are two coaches and

Teams going in complete opposite directions um the Rockets are rising you mentioned the big winning streak meanwhile the warriors uh I believe they they’ve lost six of their last 10 if I’m not mistaken uh yes correct um you know from your perspective and and that’s a

Huge reason why I love doing these these crossovers uh what’s going on with the Warriors from your perspective man like like what do you see as an outsider because I I you know I any locked on warriors uh every dayer knows what I’ve been saying for a long time which is

That Steve Kerr is playing favorites he routinely is playing the wrong players instead of the the best players I just posted this stat on my threads account again you can follow me there at dog wild listing all the team leaders for the Warriors in terms of net rating the

Top three players for the Warriors pmy plus 220 plus 221 Draymond Green Plus 121 Jonathan kaminga plus 108 the other side of that the bottom three kabon Looney minus 37 Klay Thompson minus 71 Andrew Wiggins minus 103 what is your perspective about the Warriors man are they cooked are they

Done what are you seeing that maybe I’m missing it’s hard to say that the Warriors are going to be done right there’s still such an an absurd level of Talent on that roster and you have to almost give them the benefit of the doubt when they’ve been so dominant for

Such a very very long time right all it takes is maybe the the switch flips right and then you you lock in and the the the big three start playing like they used to know how to play together and and I I will say it does at least

Feel like Steve cerr is kind of leaning on the guys he thinks are supposed to be the the the guys that are able to produce at a high level right leaning on the veterans leaning on the guys who have who have been proven Commodities in

The past but that has kind of I think in a way blinded him to some of the success of some of the younger guys right Pinsky uh kaminga and not not really leaning into and highlighting hey these are guys that can help us win basketball games I think one kind of interesting uh

Kind of when you compare the two coaches right between between Steve Kerr and between em udoka udoka is not afraid to ride the hot hand he doesn’t care who’s he will go with the best Five Guys on the court doesn’t matter if it means he’s benching you know two three all

Five of his starters whatever it is he’s going to roll with whoever he thinks gives him the best chance to win a basketball game whether it’s in a quarter a half an entire game crunch time whatever we’ve seen Jaylen green benched we’ve seen shingon benched we’ve seen Jabari benched doesn’t matter

You’re not going to get a just because of your name brand recognition or whatever and it kind of sounds like that’s what’s happening with cerr where he’s leaning on certain guys even though they’re not producing or even though they’re struggling if if usban guba was coaching

The Warriors just to play off what you said where where guba is all about the hot hand and rightfully so right I mean I mean that’s why why wouldn’t you do that um what do you think usma what I’m sorry I just I’m looking at the chat and

Usman grba’s name popped up rocket uh who who has not seen any playing time with the Warriors this year much to myin uh What uh what do you think if if e Oka was the head coach of the Warriors what do you think he’s doing differently versus Steve Kerr if

Anything I think that one thing that eeme has really done is first off he’s he’s leaned into his you know he’s a very defense defensive minded coach he’s leaned into that defensive philosophy in a way he had to it’s hard to say what he would do with this Warriors team

Specifically because with the Rockets he needed to kind of establish an identity and a culture because they didn’t have that under stepen Silas so he really tore things down to the nuts and bolts and tried to build it back up because a lot of these guys you know Jaylen shenon

For the first two years under Silas uh Jabari and tari last year their rookie Seasons they didn’t have structure they didn’t have an identity and the way that it was always conveyed to me is you know talking to you know other assistant coaches agents you know Scouts around

The league is that this Rockets team was craving an identity they were like a blank canvas and e may got to come in with his paintbrush and really establish what he wanted and that was a defensive identity right and then as they kind of created that Foundation early in the

Season that’s when they started to really expand post Allstar break and start to you know lean into some of the I guess the gifts of the players on their roster right they’ve got some incredible athletes on this team Jaylen green Amin Thompson to name a couple of

Them but they weren’t playing with much Pace if at all earlier this season right they were slowing things down they were playing heavy in the half court all those things so it’s hard to say what he would necessarily do differently with this Warriors roster because they they are an established veteran in group

Right they’ve had success in the past and maybe that’s some of what Steve cerr is kind of clinging to is just some of the success that he’s had in the past with these guys trying to keep things the same rather than being Innovative and leaning into some of these newer

Younger names I’m totally with you man um we’re gonna flip the script and you’re going to take over the hosting chair uh when we come back because we got a lot more to talk about and I imagine you have a lot of questions to ask as well um but first up Jackson

You’re going to give us some uh some insight some information about the folks who help pay pay the bills for lock on absolutely because we got to tell you guys about prize picks prize picks is America’s number one fantasy sports app with over three million members that the

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To $100 again that’s prix.com loock on NBA and promo code locked on NBA all lowercase for a first deposit match up to $100 prize pick Pi pick more pick less it’s that easy are you watching Fox Sports or ESP on inter TV all day Jackson I try not

To do you have to turn down the volume with all that shouting thankfully no because I I have I have a great alternative to Fox Sports uh and that is our lockdown sports today channel it’s so good absolutely make the switch to lock on sports today a free

247 sports streaming Channel PR for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming locked on sports today brings you can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast nwork your team every day sorry

To take that I wasn’t we didn’t really script that part of it and again Jackson Gatlin is available on Twitter at JT Gatlin you can follow me on threads at dog wild Jackson take it away sir all right Cyrus so here we are we’re at the

Tail end of the season we’ve got 12 games left for the Warriors 11 games left for the rockets and right now we have a half game separating these two for the final play in spot in the Western Conference for a little bit there it looked like there was going to

Be kind of a three-way race for the final two spots with the Lakers kind of in that mix as well however the Lakers kind of separating themselves from that 101 pack a little bit it looks like they’re kind of solidifying their spot right there as the ninth seed in the

Western Conference it doesn’t look like they’re goingon to be able to get much Headway north or south from that position so I think the Lakers are pretty much locked into that ninth spot but as we said again Rockets just a half game back right now the Warriors riding

A nine game win streak the warriors with a two- game losing streak as it stands and they’ve got a couple of tough games coming up here against the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic a little Florida road trip and things are about to pick up for the Rockets they had a really

Easy slate for these past couple weeks uh which is one of the reasons they’ve been able to have this AME win streak but Cyrus when we look at the standings as they are right now for this just kind of when you take kind of a 10,000 foot

View on this Warrior season is it is it like a crazy disappointment that you see them all the way down here at the 10 seat and and trying to hold on for deer life to just make the play in tournament as like a bottom of the barrel team is

That a complete disappointment from the expectations coming to this season how do you view where the Warriors are right now I I I say this whole season is a colossal disappointment I even go back to the draft uh look this is no disrespect to Brandon pky I do think

That was a a a a positive draft pick I don’t think that was a bad pick but um going back all the way to last summer when I saw cam Whitmore just falling this is a player who is projected to be a top five pick and all of a sudden he’s

Available to teams in the late teens approaching 20 I was just completely flabbergasted that the Golden State Warriors just didn’t even bother uh taking a look and your team snagged him he’s having a phenomenal rookie season especially given he’s only 19 years old um so for me it’s like this this whole

Season I mean this is the post Bob Meers era it’s been a colossal disappointment thankfully Brandon pky has at least proven himself to be a player in this game um his shooting still leaves a lot to be desired but the the tenacity he’s one of those irritants um that that you

Usually if you’re on the other side you can you can see it I always try to take the perspective of the opposing player and opposing team and and every time I do that looking at psky I see myself getting annoyed and I’m so thankful he’s

On my team but with that said the team just from the get-go like this is Steve Kerr’s Vision right and Steve Kerr admitted two weeks ago in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle with Sam Gordon that he makes tough decisions based on his gut and I’m not a fan of

That I’m all about logic and reasoning I’m all about if something makes sense you do it uh you know speaking of the hot hand you mentioned with Oka that makes sense if someone is is on fire you play them but that’s not Steve K’s mentality he’s all about his gut he’s

All about playing you know the guys that he has has has proven themselves to be winners as opposed to young players who might get there someday but haven’t proven anything yet but look you got to play to prove yourself and and so I think looking at it right now especially

When you look at the the rhetoric of Steve Kerr he said this was a championship team this is a team that could win the title he’s ton down down that rhetoric a little bit uh a month or two ago he said for example that uh you

Know in regards to the playin that the Warriors are a team that could that could follow the Lakers model of last year because they were a playing team who reached the Western Conference finals and so now you’re now you’re talking about the Western Conference finals championship is suddenly out of

The vernacular the point is for this Warriors team to be where they are and for this Warriors team to be stifling the growth of Moses Moody who is a plus 50 this year net rating the team wins when he plays for this team to still at

This stage this late in the season when you know with near certainty and and correct me if I’m wrong I’d love to know what your thoughts are on kaminga because to me there is no doubt he’s the second best player on this roster yet Steve cerr will not finish games with

Him he’s still finishing games with Andrew Wiggins who on the season is a minus 103 he’s still finishing games with Klay Thompson a minus 71 who’s already like been been who had a starter role revoked but he’s still finishing games with these guys over the players who are better both in terms of

Measurable I think they passed the ey test so this season as a whole where you’ve you’ve stunted the development of your young players you’re winning with your veterans you’re still playing your veterans even though you’re no longer a championship team which makes no sense I’m just I’m fustrated I’m I’m just I’m

I’m completely just bewildered by all this and yeah I would say this is a colossal disappointment but if you look at at Steve Ker’s messaging he still thinks there’s hope he still thinks like just like I feel like his whole mentality is just get into the postseason and then Anything Could

Happen um you I feel like if you’re I feel like if you were Eric spoler in the Miami heat with you know Jimmy Butler and Bam atab bio and kind of that group which the Heat have shown time and time again that when they get into the

Postseason they do have like a switch that they can flip and just become a different team in the postseason so I do think there is some Merit to the idea of the regular season is what it is we’re not worried about it we just want to get

There and then we’ll be able to play our best basketball I don’t know if that necessarily applies to this Warriors team and it definitely feels like from an Outsiders perspective that this year feels like a huge indictment on Steve Kerr specifically as a coach because I I

Kind of thought that this Warriors team had kind of the ingredients to age out of the big three era to age out of the Warriors Dynasty area with a lot of Grace and actually transition into the next area of Warriors basketball pretty seamlessly right with a lot of young

Talent a lot of exciting young players um and and it really feels like Steve G has been just so adamantly like opposed to doing that where you know I really thought that this Warriors team was going to be very similar to the of Dynasty San Antonio Spurs right think

About the big three think about the the end of that era and how Greg papovich embraced and leaned into some of the young guys namely obviously kawh Leonard right and really transitioned into that next era of Spurs basketball then now obviously kawhai and his time in San Antonio ended you know with fireworks

And it was not fun and it was a mess but I do think that transition was incredibly seamless where the Spurs did not have a drop off in play in fact they became a better team in the in the post like Big Three era where suddenly they had kawhai they had LaMarcus Aldridge

They were leaning to this new identity they had the right pieces and that was the sign of an organization that understood how to maintain greatness over an extended period of time and the Warriors have been a dominant team they’ve had this dynasty because in large part of the big three and

Obviously Steph Curry’s greatness clay Dre they’ve all been so such important pieces but it really feels like Steve Curry’s clinging on to that old identity and hasn’t embraced a new version of this Warriors team and that’s where a lot of these struggles have come from you’re absolutely right and just to add

To that first of all that Spurs team in 2016 no 2017 almost any other year they are by far the best team in the NBA they just happen to be competing in the same season as the Kevin Durant Warriors I mean that yeah that that Spurs team was

A juggernaut um it’s incredible they didn’t win a title you’re absolutely right um and and yeah regarding this Warriors team here’s the thing you’re you’re absolutely right that the warriors with with all the successful years the championship years they they had the the core three they had other

Pieces right I mean Wiggins for six months turned into an All-Star for one of those title teams you had Kevin Durant for two of those years but the common theme for all of their title teams except for maybe 2018 but they were so top heavy was depth they had a

Team that their bench you could go 101 deep and they often would um defying the norm of NBA teams that normally go8 n maybe right like the Warriors would go 10 11 12 deep in a lot of these years including 2022 and Steve Kerr would rely

On the on the on his bench I I saw the recipe this season as following that and the Warriors currently right now are third in the NBA in bench scoring in net rating they have a fantastic bench but it’s just oftentimes the Warriors are also the worst clutch team in the NBA

They’re the worst fourth quarter team in the NBA and I think the huge reason for that we covered this a lot on lockdown Warriors is Steve Kerr ultimately in these closing moments and in these pivotal moments keeps relying on his veterans who just they’re they’re cooked

And the why of that can be a myriad of reasons whether it’s age the Wiggins thing I mean he’s only 29 so that’s a whole other story but that that core is just not delivering anymore and and Steve ker has had a hard time letting go

I keep bringing this argument up and I’d love to to maybe we could tease this when we come back uh before we lead into the April 4th game but but the to me the the sign of Steve Kerr and why in my opinion he’s overrated and I and I hate

Bashing him I don’t take joy in this but it’s just you know you got you gotta you got to critique based on what’s in front of us if Steve Kerr I’d love to get your answer to this when we come back if Steve Kerr was the head coach of the

Houston Rockets what’s the record how are they doing this year Jackson’s gonna answer that when we come back after we give some love to our next sponsor and it just occurred to me I did not do the banner for for our previous sponsor I sincerely apologize for that

That was just a brain fart on my end but speaking of brain farts if there’s a way to possibly cure that or at least help with that it’s our next sponsor and that’s betterhelp today’s episode is brought to you by betterhelp give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com loock on

NBA and get on your way to being your best self and Jackson you and I have actually had conversations off the air about the value of therapy how this your brain is your most important organ and it’s there’s nothing wrong with seeking help for that right I mean is there

Anything anything you want to add no i’ I’ve done therapy in the past we’ve talked about this before and it’s an incredibly you know Artic experience to have somebody who’s unbiased when it comes to your life kind of help you know Point some things out to you share some

Things right and give you an unbiased opinion on some of the stuff that you’re going through absolutely giving you a fresh perspective um you know going through therapeutic uh methods and Pathways to make yourself the best version that you can be and it’s again it’s it’s it’s okay to seek help this is

A hard world there’s a lot of variables they cause anxiety they cause depression it’s okay to seek help and better help is a fantastic resource for that and they also save you time and money which is possibly the two most important Commodities that we have in this world

You save time because you don’t have to drive to an office and you save money because you don’t have to spend gas to go to that office better help is available virtually at home so and on top of everything else you could also cycle through therapist to make sure you

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NBA thank you for making locked on Warriors and locked on Rockets your first listen every day for the everydays Jackson when are you rub next uh for the everydays our next episode we’re gonna have this on our Channel but our next episode should be our recap of the

Rockets on the road against the OKC Thunder that’s going to be their first really big uh barometer for the success that they’ve had as of late nine game win winning streak but against a lot of easier opponents so we’ll see how they perform against one of the Western Conference Elite teams absolutely and

We’ll be back at this again we’re recording this on Tuesday at approximately 1:30 right now we’re back at this in a few hours it’s it’s post game of Warriors and heat a huge game for the Warriors um but I posed a question Jackson I’d love to get your

Answer if Steve Kerr was your head coach for the Houston Rockets instead of em OD DOA are the Rockets a half game out of the playin are they better are they worse your thoughts I don’t think so but part of that is I think it’s twofold I

Don’t know what Kerr would look like with this team because I honestly don’t know if you ask me to sit here and and describe what is Kerr’s identity as an NBA head coach we haven’t seen Steve cerr without a a future Hall of Fame cast as as you know that at his disposal

Right we haven’t seen Steve cerr without Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and and Kevin Durant for the couple years that he was in Golden State we haven’t seen that version of Steve Curry yet so I really don’t know what he would like I feel like the medal

Of a head coach is really tested when you have a team that isn’t you know chalk full of star players right when you have a team that really needs Elite coaching to be able to get them somewhere and when you look at this Rockets team they don’t have any

Bonafide Stars right shingon had a breakout season OB obviously he could have been a super you know an All-Star this season didn’t make the cut but he was playing at an All-Star level Jaylen green was really rough for most of the season their Marquee Acquisitions were

Fred Van blet and Dylan Brooks and yet Oka has this team a half game out of the play like that speaks volumes about who he is as a head coach and what he was able to achieve and get out of this group of guys so yeah I I feel pretty

Confident saying that I don’t think the Rockets would be where they are right now if Steve cerr was the head coach especially with like his just unwillingness to play young guys maybe that’s just a golden state thing maybe if he was with a different team it would

Look a little bit different but uh different expectations and whatnot but yeah I I don’t know man uh I’m gonna do I’m doing an episode coming up soon where I’m going to dedicate it entirely to Steve K’s gut and I’m going to go through every decision he’s made since

20 because I go I go back to 2016 when uh and and more specifically the first item I’m going to bring up on that episode is were the adjustments the Warriors made up 3-1 against the Cavaliers when Draymond Green was suspended um I mean my my critique of

Him I’ve never I’ve never critiqued him publicly until last season the four titles I feel like earned him that right um but when I started seeing you know and paying attention to to the Nuance of his decision- making last year it’s just a lot of stuff started to just stick out

And stink and you know so I’m I’m going to dedicate that episode soon to Steve Ker’s gut and and where it has not necessarily LED them in the right direction but you look our teams have a big game coming up April 4th and a huge

Reason why um I I feel like logically it would make sense to have this crossover between us right before that game but the reason why I thought we should do it now is because only half game separates our two teams and more importantly that game even though it’s just a week

Away represents five games between now and then for the Warriors four games between now and then for the Rockets and the way this season has gone you cannot predict where things are going to go man like every time the the Warriors for example look like they’re on the right

Track and you’re thinking big picture like they could do anything then they go through this slide where they lose six of 10 and your team first of all and backtracking real fast you do have a star even though it’s not technically a star yet Jaylen green is on the cusp my

Friend like he’s playing like a star now and again mentioned it in the in the open in our first segment he’s playing like a star level player now he’s been one of the best players in the NBA for about the last three weeks or so um but that’s that’s a new development right

And again credit to Oka for not for having the patience for not abandoning ship when nobody would have blamed him for benching Jaylen green earlier this season we saw Jaylen green benched in a number of games at the end of fourth quarters because em just couldn’t rely

On him right he was struggling he wasn’t you know where he needed to be on the defensive side of the floor offensively he couldn’t couldn’t find a rhythm it was really tough for him to adjust to playing winning basketball but now that he has now that he’s gone through that

Fire and come out on the other end he is a significantly better player for that and so you have to give em odoko a lot of credit for not losing sight of the long-term vision of what he wanted to achieve with Jaylen green but when we do

Look at the importance of this final game Cyrus you know F first off this game could be for it’s going to feel like a playoff game because I don’t think the rockets and words I don’t think either team is going to create a separation over these next four or five

Games before ultimately the Warriors come to visit the rockets in Houston I will say though one benefit for the Warriors is they’ve already won the season series regardless so the Warriors won the first two meetups between these teams they only play three times total this season this is the final Meetup

Between these two teams so there’s not a chance for the Rockets to tie the season series or win the season series which absolutely plays into the favor of the Golden State Warriors here because if the two teams wind up with identical records at the end Warriors have the

Tiebreaker they’re going to earn that play in absolutely the Warriors play the Heat the the magic the Hornets the Spurs all on the road and then they play a home game against the Mavericks before they travel again to Houston to take on your squad meanwhile the Rockets are at OKC

At Utah then they’re at home against the Mavericks and then they’re on the road against the Timberwolves before that that Warriors game where do you see them where do you see them in the standings are they going to be as tight now as they were then what are you projecting

You know I I think with the way that this team has been playing and the way that they’ve kind of all come together as a unit I I wouldn’t be shocked if they’re able to at least go two and two over this next stretch of four games they’ve got some really tough opponents

In there but they’ve also played OKC surprisingly well this season even though OKC has been a really dominant team in the NBA this year now again a lot of this you have to say with the caveat of we haven’t seen a lot of these teams play the Rockets without Alper and

Shingon so all the games they played against OKC previously they had shenon in the lineup and shingon versus CH hren has been largely in favor of the Rockets up until this most recent meeting between the two teams where chat holgren played out of his mind but in the first

Two meetups alpr shingun got the better of Chet hren so I think that it’s it’s actually a benefit for the Rockets because a lot of teams they don’t have enough tape on the Rockets and the way that they’re playing right now with Jabari Smith Jr at the five with a Min

Thompson inserted into the starting lineup That kind of gives them a little bit of a sneaky advantage against certain teams because other coaches they’re looking at film and they’re like we don’t know how this team is going to play against us now they’re playing at a much faster Pace they’re getting out in

Transition a lot more they’re playing a lot they’re running a lot of their offense through Jaylen green and Fred Van B they’ve become a much more perimeter oriented offense uh in the absence of alarin shingon so I think that helps the Rockets considerably but over these next four

Games you know if they could go two and two and at least go 500 over these next four before that Warriors game happens then I think they’re going to be in a really good spot how do you feel about the Warriors five games before they get to uh their their faded little little

Date with in Houston they’re their borderline unpredictable at this point I mean I don’t feel good about either these next two Road games at Miami at Orlando I I don’t feel good about that at all the Hornets is the only opponent I feel I do feel confident with that I

Mean even the Spurs don’t feel like a gimme because the Spurs I think beat the Warriors last time they played and we’re now seeing uh uh you know one of the future of the NBA Rising for that Squad and he’s playing much better than he was earlier in the season I’m I’m really

Worried about this Warriors team man I mean I feel like if if you believe in in God intuition I guess if you just believe that pieces fall where they may the Warriors will get the 10 seed but you know if things were scripted I guess

Is the best way I can describe it I I feel like that if if the NBA was scripting this whole thing they’d put the Warriors in but it’s not scripted and on paper that your team looks so dangerous um do you I know we only have

A a couple seconds here but um I’m sure you’ve heard of the Ying Theory which which implies that sometimes when the team’s best player is injured or removed the team actually is better yeah have you discussed that with with the rockets and soun like is uh do you think they’re

A better team without them because they’re faster I think no so they they already started picking up the pace with shingun in the lineup post Allstar break that was an emphasis of Oka coming out of the All-Star break and we saw them playing with more Pace we’ve also seen

Them anchor down a top 10 defense they I think they they drifted off to about seventh or eighth in defensive rating but shingon has been a part of a top 10 defense all year long so the argument that this team is somehow magically better without their best player they’re

Not they they’ve leaned into they’ve leaned into a different identity absolutely and that helps when you replace one really good player with Jaylen green who suddenly started playing like a superstar player and has been averaging you know 30 plus a game over this little recent winning streak

That the Rockets are on so that’s been incredible to see but no this is not a better team without Alper and shingun and that’s that’s a narrative that I’ve had to debunk multiple times over at lock on Rockets but Cyrus when we look at this game right you know I don’t

Think either team is going to create a mountain of Separation I think they’re actually still I I would wager that they’re still going to be within I’d say at least a game with of each other uh either way whether the Rockets Leap Frog the Warriors and they’re holding that 10

Seed for a little bit or maybe they they they’re still hovering right behind the Warriors I think they’re still going to be within about a game of each other by the time their matchup ultimately happens on April 4th in Houston the way that I’m feeling though man is and I’ve

I’ve said this before over my show is something about it screams right you want to talk about like like you know karmic retri F whatever something about it streams like poetry to me where if the young Houston Rockets were able to like Usher in this new age of basketball

By knocking out like the Warriors at the end of their big three Dynasty and Steve Kerr and all that something about it is is a little poetic right when you think about the way that the warriors were the direct roadblock and preventing the James Harden Le Rockets from winning

Titles for a few years there I know you you Ro I need my retribution man you’re still thinking of that I get it that’s sports right I mean some of my most painful memories going back to her sponsor better help just a few moments ago some of the most painful

Memories are sports related man so it’s I I feel you I get it um you know a different sport but the 49ers I mean I don’t think they’re ever gonna be Patrick Mahomes and that sucks so so the so the Niner fans always look at the

Chiefs I think the same way the Rockets fans look at the Warriors but I will say this man the Warriors are facing an existential crisis right now because if your Rockets surpass them um and this does become a reality where the Rockets are in and the Warriors are out I mean I

Don’t see what do you do if you’re the Warriors yeah what do you do at that point blow up you I think you have to blow it up I don’t I mean how do you come back when you would can’t when like injuries are not the cause of this right

It’s just your best players are cooked and and you know and you have some Rising young players who should be playing right now but they’re not getting these important reps which is needed for development so um finishing up predictions wait we we’ll do the predictions and I’ve got one final

Question for you because I’m so curious so we’ll do predictions and I’ve got one final so perfect perfect so predictions for the game I’m GNA I’m going to say it’s going to be a nailbiter and I’m gonna be the Homer here I think the Rockets come out on top

I I’m not I I I’m I’m tempt I’m not gonna put a final score on it yet because this these the Rockets have been playing at an insane Pace as of late so it could be something where we see you know a final score in like 120s range or

Whatever um but if Jaylen green can keep up his current level of play I don’t see a way that this team loses because they been one of the best defenses in the NBA they’ve switched with Jabari at the five they’re a switch everything scheme one through five I think they match up

Incredibly well with the Warriors so that’s gonna be my prediction for this game and and Jabari Smith is rising your I’m so envious of your team because on on one hand the Warriors do have have great young pieces themselves but you’re the potential level for the Rockets with

Jaylen green with with one of the Thompson Twins uh Jabari Smith who is really coming into his own I’m envious man I I will say this I you you’re I’ll I’ll roll with you in your prediction for the for the Warriors Rockets I think Houston wins that game at home but I

Think the Warriors will hang on and get into the playoffs only because of that tiebreaker that tiebreaker to me is gonna you think they finish with the identical record and the tie bre finish identical records because because right now the Warriors lead by one in the Lost column I think they’ll finish with

Identical records but I also think that the Warriors will sneak in however speaking of of of it being poetic the Rockets are going to be regard of what happens your offseason is is roses it’s the Rockets already look they’ve already won right regardless of how the season

Finishes whether they make the play in or not this season has been a Monumental success to go from 22 wins to fighting for the final playin spot in the western conference is a huge W no matter what way you slice it the Rockets are looking

Like they’re going to hit 40 wins at a minimum it feels like at this point and going from 22 wins to 40 wins is a huge Improvement eem odok I think has to be in the conversation for Coach of the Year not that he’s GNA win the award win

You should win I don’t know I I I think that honor probably Falls with Mark dagal or Chris Finch with the Timberwolves and thunder personally uh I’m not going to be too much of a homer here but I think eay should at least be in the conversation it should be a

Finalist for the award but when it comes to coaching and this is the final question that I want to leave you with that I’m sure you’re gonna have to unpack this on a future show you talked about if the Warriors do get bounced right if they if they don’t make it to

The play in tournament if they finish the 11 seat in the Western Conference do you blow it up or do you simply try changing head coaches and seeing what happens because I think that you know when you look on paper at this Warriors team they shouldn’t be where they are

And I think a lot of the frustrations from this year can be account you can point to and attribute them to Steve Kerr so if you’re the Warriors do you maybe try changing up the head coaching Department to see if you can still be a competitive team next year with this

Current core maybe a coach that leans into some of the younger identities a little bit more or do you just straight up blow it up and see what you can get for all the pieces although I’m assuming you want Steph Curry to retire a warrior

You want him to be a life e easily I I don’t I don’t I mind the aspiration of of the big three retiring together but you they’re clearly not going to carry this thing moving forward yeah look if you’re asking me what I would do if I

Was the GM yes I would I would get rid of Kerr I would have gotten rid of Kerr last year um but you know pragmatism has to come into play and that includes Joe lob’s relationship with Steve Kerr and the whole dynamic one of the huge reasons why Steve Kerr got the extension

And why he’s not going anywhere I don’t think at least not this off season and and near the start of next season is because of Dre green Draymond Green is a very difficult player to manage and coach and that’s almost single-handedly the reason why Steve cerr is still here

Because him him and Steph right Steph loves him as well um so his wishes are taken into consideration also but I think that’s overblown like Steph’s love for Steve Kerr I do think people overblow that in terms of Steve Kerr’s job security like Kerr is not safe just

Because of Steph like like they will make a change if things continue in this trajectory but I also think Steve ker will get most likely one more year um my guess is he’ll make the argument and they’ll have he’ll have a discussion with Joe lob Joe lob loves to win and

I’m eternally grateful that the Warriors have an owner like him um who doesn’t like to just sit on his Laurels when the team is not successful he he wants to win and he’s got that in his blood and I love that so much so he can’t be happy

With all this like he cannot be and and and it was very um it was very evident at in the fact that he attended a Steve ker press conference earlier this year following the game where lost to the Nuggets they blew this huge leads Jonathan kaminga didn’t play the final

18 minutes of that game and Joe lobs showed up in the postgame press conference interview room to hear Steve Kerr’s answer that Regarding why kaminga didn’t play those final 18 minutes kaminga is Joe lobs boy so when he doesn’t play it it definitely raises antennas on Joe lob’s head um but with

That said uh I do think Kerr gets one more year um if they don’t make the playoffs again that’s I I just haven’t put enough thought into what happens there but I logically speaking you have to blow it up I don’t know how you keep it together Klay Thompson’s an

Unrestricted free agent you got to deal with that um you know but we we’ve got a lot of ground to cover between now and then though there’s still there’s still you know 11 12 games left of the season so whether or not the Warriors are going

To have to blow it up that’s a convers that’s definitely some offseason content that I know you’re going to cover what the Rockets are going to do regardless of whether or not they make the play and I’m going to have you guys covered for all the Rockets musings over at locked

On Rockets but Cyrus this is we’re on your channel your PR you take us away man both both we’re on both man lock Rockets is live too I the Crossovers are fun man I I I love doing this thank you so much for saying yes to this um again

This is a delight and congrats on your team man if in case people were hoping for more of a a a you know more tension between us a more conflicted uh uh program with Two Hosts battling it out I have too much respect for Jackson but also Rockets Warriors are Rivals your

Team looks good man I don’t have much to hate on only weakness I feel like you guys have is inexperience that’s it and and once you get that part down you’re going to be dangerous so congrats Rockets fans you have my respect because um your team looks good and for warriors

Fans I’m with you we’re we’re anxious we’re an anxious Bunch we’re a borderline freaked out Bunch we’ll see how it goes but Jackson thanks for doing this brother this was incredibly fun on my end as well thanks man absolutely all right

Jackson Gatling of Locked On Rockets and Cyrus Saatsaz of Locked On Warriors hosted a crossover episode to discuss the opposite directions their teams are going as the season winds down with the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors battling for the 10th and final Play-In Tournament position.

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