Fred VanVleet & Jabari Smith Jr. CLUTCH Play As Houston Rockets Survive Detroit Pistons For Ugly Win

Fred VanVleet & Jabari Smith Jr. CLUTCH Play As Houston Rockets Survive Detroit Pistons For Ugly Win

On today’s show the Houston Rockets somehow survive a Detroit Pistons team that was missing two starters Fred vanet with some insanely clutch buckets late Jabari Smith Jr’s defense was out of this world in this game Jaden ivy with a shot that rimmed in and out at the end

Of the game we’re going to break it all down for you coming up right here at lock on Rockets this is Mission Control Houston ignition sequence start throw it up to jayen Green shenon here in his short row oh my that’s the no look Jabari for three and the

Win look at t e cook Here Comes T has 15 seconds guidance is internal the Houston Rockets select amen Thompson and cam Whitmore one thing I have never done is not made the playoffs and so we want to take that step here as well 6 5 4 3 2 1

A win is a win is a win it was an ugly win but a win is a win what’s up and welcome to another edition of locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin native houstonian and credential media

Member I’m also the host of locked on NBA Mondays be sure to follow along on Twitter at JT Gatlin and the show of course locked on Rockets free and avail wherever you listen to your podcasts including YouTube now today’s episode is brought to you by Jace medical Empower

Yourself when you purchase a Jace case providing you with a personal supply of five antibiotics that treat 50 plus different infections get yours today at JM medical.com and use code locked on to get $20 off your order that’s jal.com and as always thank you so much for making locked on Rockets part of

Your day every single day whether you’re on the way to work on your lunch break in the gym uh uh praying to whatever deity you believe in that the Rockets don’t ever come this close to losing a game to the Detroit Pistons ever again uh thank

You for being an everyday or thank you for making the show part of your day every single day Rockets scrape out the 112 110 win against a Detroit Pistons team that did not have Cade Cunningham that did not have buan bogdanovich and that did not have any reason to be in

This game and and leading the Pistons were in command of this game for most of the evening and somehow not somehow there were two main reasons that the Rockets were able to secure this win the number one reason was Fred Van vet who who led the charge late in this

Game number two reason was Jabari Smith Jr who’s defense saved the rockets on numerous occasions in this game the ending of this game was absolutely insane so let’s run it back because I gotta get I got to give so much credit to Fred Van and and Jabari Smith Jr who

Had zero interest in losing this basketball game Fred vanite is your locked on Rockets player of the game Jabari SMI you know and you know what co- locked on Rockets player of the game Fred and Jabari they both get it because they were the two guys who showed up

Jabari was consistent all game Jabari was awesome his defense was there and Fred showed up when it mattered most he was a bit of a non-factor in the first half but had a huge second half had 17 of his points there in the second half had 12 of them in the fourth quarter

Including a personal 80 run to give the Rockets the lead to take command of this game late uh it started I mean late late in the this game Rockets were Rockets were trailing uh 107 to 102 and jabarus SM junr and Jade Ivy had been cooking all game jabarus SM junr

Checks jadeen Ivy forces him into a really tough contested floater and that’s just power for the course jabari’s defense was so impressive on whoever he was guarding in this game so many important stops especially down the stretch of this game that we’re going to get into some of them here forces Ivy

Into a tough Miss Fred then comes down on the other and gets an and one bucket drives it in hits Kevin Knox gets the gets the contact finishes the play it’s 107 105 Rockets trailing by a bucket Ivy comes down gets fouled by Jaylen green misses two key

Free throws huge misses there by jadeen iy subsequent possession Rockets run some offense Jaylen green tries to drive it in and he’s a little indecisive on the drive not sure if he’s going to shoot he tries to get the ball back to shingon Pistons blow it up it’s a

Turnover comes back down on the other end Jaylen Duran goes up for a shot right at The Rim Jabari erases the shot from jayen durren and somehow gets the block and subsequently the rebound on the same possession which is really hard to do to block a shot and also be in

Position to like get the ball back so Jabari secures it gets fouled Rockets take the ball out of bounds Fred comes up gets a quick screen from alperin shingon drills a three-pointer that’s six of his eight points in quick succession Rockets are now leading at this point 108 107 they’re leading by a

Point Pistons come back down on the next possession Jaden Ivy turns the ball over and I credit Jaylen green was checking him on this possession I don’t know if it was just Ivy just dribbled it like off his leg if Jaylen you know tipped it however it the ball wound up in jabarus

SM Jr’s hand so he’s credited with the steel um he was cheating out of the corner off of Isaiah Stewart uh using his length to really kind of you know shut down that driving lane so jadeen Ivy was going to run into a wall even if

He didn’t lose the ball but he did Jabari recovers it uh and then Fred Van vet puts up a very quick long two to give the Rockets a three-point cushion at this point 110 107 and R you know Pistons call timeout Fred immediately goes to the bench and he is

In alpr face explaining to him hyping him up getting him to lock in and basically he we see it on the very next possession but he’s explaining to shingun hey they’re about to load up on me right I just scored eight points in a row they’re going to try and shut me

Down you’re going to have a free roll to the rim very next possession comes in Rockets run their play they they load up on Fred vanite basically they’re showing him like two three bodies almost on the perimeter because they don’t want him to hit another shot Fred dimes up alpie who

Rolls hard to the rim and slams it home and that’s the exclamation point giving the Rockets a 112 1110 advantage and the final play though of this game uh you know Fred had a chance to to hit another three after that Alp dunk missed

It uh and it’s 112 110 and I swear man the final possession of this game just Pistons run it up and Jaden Ivy gets a screen Jabari switches onto him and Jabari doesn’t want Ivy to blow by him so he’s a little bit lower than you’d probably want him

To be defensively Jaden Ivy gets a good look at a three soon as he releases it Ryan Holland is on the pr he goes oh no he go oh God off the glass rims in and out does a whole tour inside the basket and ultimately pops out and then Jaylen

Durren is right there Jaylen durren had the ball like in his hands and and could have put the ball back up and in and tied the game to force overtime and he fumbled the offensive putb and Fred Van vet was right there below him uh and secured the ball as soon as Duran

Bobbled it and and then dribbled out the clock so the Rockets escape this one in Detroit their first win of this road trip and they needed it man they needed this one a win is a win even if it’s even if it’s an ugly win even if it’s a mid-off

Whatever between two bad teams uh Alper and shingun was the walk-off interview and first thing he said is he he was like we didn’t we didn’t have good effort we didn’t play well we were bad you know paraphrasing but you know Al alpie calling it how he sees it the

Rockets were awful in this game they really were but they showed up when it mattered they got the contributions they needed throughout the game game um from you know from Jaylen Big Time second quarter we’ll talk about that in a second alperin shingun who had you know

A really strong offensive game but had his own struggles in this one Fred vanit showing up huge in the fourth quarter 12 of his points there in the fourth that 80 run to put the Rockets back in front Jabari Smith Jr with so many important defensive stops especially late in this

Game somehow the Rockets managed to win man and and look at the end of the day at the end of the season when you’re looking at the standings nobody’s going to care how you got your wins a win is a win and sometimes you got to have an

Ugly win and the rockets managed to wake up at just in time in this game uh after trailing by double digits at various points in this game they they managed to escape Detroit with a win a ton of credit to Fred Van vet he is that guy he

Showed up when it mattered most Jabari Smith Jr his defense I want to unpack some more specifics from this game talk a little bit about you know Fred’s late game execution his play talk about Jabari Smith Jr because it wasn’t just jabari’s defense in this game offensively he was driving finishing at

An elite level around the rim so much to be impressed with from jabarus m junr in this game we’ll talk about alp’s game jaylen’s game uh a lot more to break down from this one we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought

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Against the Detroit Pistons and that that end of the game was so crazy I I look I’m just glad I’m not I’m just glad I don’t have to talk about a Pistons loss man I was I was ready to do like I’ve got like a little like brown

Bag over here that I was going to like put on my head and just like I was going to do like the bag over the head I was going to like dim the lights in the room just embrace the darkness if the Rockets had lost to the Pistons because they

Would have been you know the punchline of a very terrible joke uh had that happened to losing the Pistons with no Kade Cunningham no Boon bonovich that would have been just awful thankfully we don’t have to talk about that the Rockets managed to show up when it mattered and

Again the the the guy who led the charge here was Fred Van vet and I know I I kind of recapped the end of the game but I just want to highlight here for a moment you know what it means to have a leader like Fred on the floor because

It’s one thing right to have the improved coaching staff and have Emo DOA and all that but you need a guy like that on the floor that can be a calming influence and that’s exactly what Fred is for this young group he is a calming influence you have confidence that he’s

Going to make the right play or the right decision late in games I know he missed that three-pointer late you know with a chance to give the Rockets a bit more of a buffer but at the end of the day like you live with that shot that’s

A that’s a shot you’re okay with Fred taking because up to that point he was on fire he was hitting everything right he showed up when it mattered most in this game so you live with his decisions because by and large Fred makes really good decisions over the course of a game

In this one not only did he have the 80 run to take control of the game Not only was he you know leading the charge there in the fourth quarter and and and spearheaded the comeback he had 12 dimes 12 times zero turnovers like fred is is so much better

Than advertised like I was excited about the Fred signing and he has been even better than I expected him to be as a Houston Rocket so I just want to give him a lot of credit for being the leader that this young group of of players

Needs and for showing up in moments like this late in games and for being the the condu inductor the orchestrator uh and getting everybody lined up you know getting Alp in the right position to to have that exclamation point dunk at the end the uh the Rockets final bucket in this game a

Lot of good stuff from Fred Van vet in this one even if he didn’t you know again he kind of slept walk a little bit there or was sleepwalking a little bit in the first half but the whole team was kind of sleepwalking in the first half

Um the whole team minus well it it was just kind of a weird game like the game Flow was super weird in the when it was choppy you know the Pistons were on fire early from three and then they cooled off offensively Jabari SM Jr started the

Game in a big way he had that big dunk early on had was like eight or nine points in the first quarter he was you know finishing well at The Rim getting a lot of looks on the inside uh shenon had it going early and then Jaylen took over the scoring burden

In the second quarter uh it was just it was a you know the Rockets just really didn’t have an answer defens defensively for the Pistons you know and it’s it’s frustrating it’s concerning because even though Jabari individually had a really great phenomenal defensive game and had a lot of really impressive

Defensive stops especially at Key crucial moments in this game the Rockets as a team their defense has been really suspect as of late and that’s just kind of the case when you’re missing your two best defenders in in Dylan Brooks and tar een and that’s just the reality of

The situation right now is when the Rockets are not focused and locked in which they really weren’t in this game Ryan Hollands talked about it keys to the game going in that Focus was a big part of it is you don’t walk in there and expect an easy win against the Detroit Pistons

Even though they’re missing two of their best players even though they’re missing uh you know even though they’ve you know they’re what three and they were three and 35 going into this game you you don’t play the record you play the team in front of you and the rockets didn’t

Do that they kind of they didn’t show up with the right energy the right intensity and Detroit took advantage of that that that’s why they LED and they were in command of most of this game until the Rockets really woke up there in the fourth quarter but for

Jabari the the defense and again he Jabari can’t you know he he can’t carry the Rockets defense by himself but he made enough important stops and important plays in this game that he gets a lot of credit and his defense is really just risen to a completely different level this season uh We’ve

Highlighted his defensive growth many different times this year but he he’s playing defense at arguably an all defensive caliber level at this point there’s still certain matchups where you know guys will get the better of him or you know he he sometimes struggles you know guarding true power forwards and

Centers because he’s just doesn’t he’s just not big enough yet but as Jabari continues to gain muscle gain size those matchups are going to become even easier for him but you see just how versatile he is right the moments where he was checking Jaden Ivy in this this game

Using his length moving his feet incredibly well that was a big issue for him last year is you know he was build as this incredibly switchable versatile Defender who could guard bigs and and smaller players and you know switch you know one through five whatever and he really kind of struggled on smaller

Faster players last year because he wasn’t moving his feet well defensively this year it’s not the case his the the technique is there he SW he moves his feet incredibly well he stays in front of Defenders he uses his length and the biggest thing for Jabari the the crazy

Thing is just his rebounding numbers his rebounding is off the charts this year he really has made it a focal point of his game to just focus on the rebounding focus on the defense and he lets the offense come to him and in this game specifically he was incredibly

Aggressive he was only one of three outside shooting in this one but he was six of 12 inside the arc everything coming inside the paint pretty much right at The Rim every shot that he got and for him to be able to finish at The

Rim at the level that he was in this game driving absorbing contact using his length to finish round Defenders that’s huge for Jabari because we know that when he’s got it going you know when he’s hitting his midi when he’s got the shot falling he’s basically unguardable from the perimeter because he can

Elevate and shoot over anybody but now if he’s got the ability and and we’ve seen it you know sporadically throughout his career but if he can put the ball on the deck and take you know one to two strong dribbles and then finish at the rim with consistency I don’t see how

Anybody’s ever really going to be able to guard him he doesn’t need a bag he doesn’t need to be able to like cross you up and you know break you down off the dribble to get to the rim because when you’re that much bigger and taller

And and down the line going to be stronger than a lot of the players that he’s playing against then you don’t need all that you just need a couple good you know effective dribbles and you need to be able to finish at the rim and that’s

Exactly what he did in this game so Not only was he you know incredible defensively in this one but offensively I thought we saw another another dimension to jabari’s game and if he can add you know the finishing at The Rim consistently to his game as well as you

Know the other elements of his game where we know that he can he can you know he’s money from the mid-range usually and the three ball has been a lot better this year again hovering around you know just under 40% threo shooting on the season then he really is

Turning into an effective three-level scorer and that’s huge for Jabari because he’s he’s a guy that down the line you’re looking at a guy who’s going to give you 20 and 10 on a consistent basis with Elite all NBA caliber defense that is a year in year out Allstar uh

And that’s easily you know possibly the best player on a contender maybe second best player whatever but that’s that’s an All-Star caliber player and that’s exactly who the Rockets thought they were getting when they drafted him and that’s what he’s turning into so wanted wanted to make sure that we highlighted

Jabari here because I thought he was just really good in this game so Fred and Jabari the two guys leading the Rockets to this win uh Fred with his offense late in this game uh and and you know orchestrating he he also had like

Four or five dimes I think uh in in that final frame if I’m not mistaken or maybe it was the maybe I’m mistaken it was the third quarter but uh Fred was just Fred was big right steering the ship Jabari the defensive stops highlighted all of those those key moments the final

Three-ish minutes of this one uh in that first segment uh I do want to talk about though Jaylen Green’s Performance as well as Alper and shanon’s performance in this one because they both had big Knights offensively in this game Alper and shenon with 29 Points Jaylen GRE

With 28 points but a bit of a mixed bag from both of them and for for different reasons that I want to highlight here in just one moment as well as final thoughts from this one we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought

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$100 prize pick is daily fantasy sports Made Easy and final segment here at locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball I almost forgot I I need to little Easter egg here for our YouTube viewers I don’t know what the hell this guy is but he’s

In my hotel room here in Boston he’s a little creepy looking uh but this is going to be my little buddy for the final segment can I prop him up here what ever I’ll just I’ll just hold them up here like this um yeah I don’t know

What this is apparently the hotel sells these so I’m just going to yeah actually no screw that just go over there anyways final segment uh want to talk about Jaylen alpie and couple of the other uh noteworthy things from this Rockets Pistons game Jeff Green getting hurt

That one that one feels really bad uh an already banged up Rockets team loses yet another key contributor uh no idea no update yet on how long Jeff might be out for but I think it’s a safe assumption he will more than likely not be available on the second night of the

Backtack here uh when the Rockets play the Celtics so that’s unfortunate so no tar for sure likely no Jeff maybe Dylan plays because he’s supposed to return at some point on this road trip but anyways uh let’s go Jaylen green first because Jaylen in this game he had 28 points he had 28

Points on 25 shot attempts now here’s the thing Jaylen had an incredible second quarter 16 points six of 10 shooting he was on fire he was unguardable in that second quarter pardon me I don’t have my cough button when I’m on the road uh he had a 55% usage rate in the

Second quarter that’s absurd to think about but and the rockets kept they they kept going to him they were feeding the hot hand he was aggressive he was driving he was getting to the free throw line he was he got to the free throw line nine times hit eight of them uh

Really impressive stuff from Jaylen in the second quarter but that nine of 25 shooting also means that outside of the second quarter he was three of 15 for the rest of the game so I I want to give Jaylen his credit because he was awesome in the second quarter and he dug the

Rockets out of the first early deficit that they faced with the Pistons uh they trailed you know by seven after the first quarter 30 to 23 they trailed by as many as 12 in the second quarter I believe and Jaylen dug them out of that 12-point deficit in the second quarter

He was that good um he was all of the Rockets offense basically in the second quarter so I want to give him credit for that but this is just kind of the issue where with with Jaylen I’m I’m not going to you know I look I I love the aggressiveness from

Him and that’s what he has to be he has to be aggressive he has to take those shots I didn’t really it’s not like he was taking bad shots throughout the game in fact I really felt like you know the shots that he was taking were good shots

He didn’t really make a ton of mistakes uh the one thing that I you know I noticed multiple times this game and this has been a recurring issue with Jaylen is you know he gets stripped a lot on drives to the rim like he’ll he’ll beat his Defender cuz he’s got

That insane first step and then you know either you know a second Defender comes over and digs at the ball or or you know somebody rotates over or even the defender that he beats gets a hand in there and I don’t know if it’s just a technique thing like the way that

Jaylen’s like protecting the ball on drives or if it’s like a strength thing we know that he’s got kind of like smaller is hands which could be a problem but I do Wonder right as Jaylen gets stronger as he gets bigger if that’ll just naturally get better

Because that’s something that he has to get better at is just protecting the ball on drives uh the number of times that he’ll he’ll break you know beat a Defender and then still loses the ball when he’s getting ready to go up because they strip him is a little maddening so

There’s elements of jaylen’s game that we know that we’ we’ve highlighted right that that he needs to get better at but by and large you know he was a part he he was a part of the Rockets win you know even though he struggled in the second half and the offense wasn’t there

And he he wasn’t hitting shots he was a big part of that second quarter that 16 points was important uh and again his 28 for the game even though it wasn’t an efficient 28 whatsoever uh they needed every single one of those 28 points to be able to eek

Out this win so he he did his thing it’s just it’s a little bit more of the same right as he has one maybe two good quarters in a game and then he has a couple quarters where they’re just not good and I don’t know what the solution

Is at this point whether you take the shots away from him when he starts missing or do you live with those shots and you’re just like no he’s cool because if you know if he hits you know four or five more shots then we’re talking about a very different game

Right now where like hey he had an efficient awesome game and he had like a a 30 piece or a 35 piece whatever against uh against the Pistons it’s also worth noting this was jaylen’s first time playing in Detroit ever since uh you know and he made those uh comments about the city

After he was drafted and after he didn’t get taken by the Detroit Pistons number one overall so uh this was definitely probably an opportunity for him where of course he wanted to show out and and make sure he got some buckets and you know played well against the city that

Passed over him um that he made sure to uh that he made sure to share some comments about so yeah look I’m I’m not going to harp on Jaylen too much it you know I didn’t I didn’t have an issue with the shots that he was taking it’s

Just a matter of you know he didn’t hit the shots you know in the second half so um by and large though I thought he had I thought he had a good game uh Alper and shenon 29 Points and he was he was cooking offensively in this one 29

Points 12 of 19 it was kind of weird though that the last time the Rockets played the Pistons in Houston um in the third quarter they realized hey maybe we shouldn’t let Alp play straight up against Jaylen Duran or we shouldn’t like just post him up because Jaylen Duran’s actually a pretty decent

One-on-one Defender and instead let’s carve him up in the pick and roll right get him in motion and then attack him with Alp you know out of those short little you know elbow pick and rolls uh and they didn’t really do that a ton in this game it was really weird like I

Don’t know I I felt like the Rockets found like the recipe for attacking the Pistons defensively or offensively whatever last game and then they just didn’t really do that this game uh and there it’s not that there were moments where alpi was like struggling but uh because again he was

Still he 29 Points 12 of 19 shooting he had it going uh so maybe they just didn’t feel the need to um but what really stood out from Alp in this game the offense was there we know what he’s good at offensively uh defensively he really struggled to contain The Bigs in

This game he struggled in the pick and roll at times he had a couple good moments where he you know broke up a lob play and you know had some good stops but uh it really felt like the interior was kind of just open in this game and a

Big part of that is the Rockets perimeter defense is was not great and I’ll get to that in a second here uh so their perimeter defense really struggled in this one which is also going to make the interior defense look worse but uh the biggest part and this was my my

Biggest frustration with alpie in this game is the rebounding um it really felt like he wasn’t doing a good enough job you know boxing out whether it was durren Isaiah Stewart uh you know baggley like you know not not that not that any one of them had like a massive

Rebound total like individually I mean you look up and down you know Isaiah Stewart only had seven boards Jaylen dur had eight of them you know it’s not like I don’t know it’s it’s not like they dominated the glass so much that you’re just like oh well he was a

Non-factor it’s just alpie is the big man it’s his responsibility to box out it’s his responsibility to be active on the boards and I felt like he really wasn’t in this game and you know you expect more from alpie than than what he gave you uh in the rebounding Department

In this one maybe he was a little gassed whatever it was again he talked about it after the game he said the effort wasn’t there so uh we know that he’s one of his own worst critics we know that you know he’s going to look back on this and and

And figure out and understand that he needs to be better moving forward but I I wanted to make sure I pointed that out because the Rockets as a team or not a big team and you look at Jabari who did his work on the boards he had 11

Rebounds six of them on the defensive glass five offensive boards uh only six rebounds for Alper shingun is is largely kind of unacceptable that needs to be better uh especially when you’re dealing with a team like the Pistons who have a lot of size right they’re basically

Running two centers in Jaylen durren and Isaiah Stewart Uh Kevin Knox has a lot of size and then you know Off the Bench they brought in you know baggley um not that he’s a big dude but uh and then when you’re not not when you’re not boxing out when you’re not doing the

Work on the glass then you are susceptible to other guys sneaking in for offensive rebounds like assar Thompson who got a couple offensive boards Jaden Ivy who was all over the offensive glass in this game had five offensive rebounds so the Pistons actually beating the rockets in the rebounding Department 46 to

41 um not a good recipe not something you want to see happen um but hey look Rockets got the win ugly win but they got it uh speak speaking about you know I mentioned the Rockets lack of perimeter defense a moment ago and that has been you know without Dylan without

Tar that’s been a recurring issue and it’s going to continue to be an issue until one if not both of those guys actually come back but it was interesting to see em Oka try and go a different route in this game lineup wise so uh instead you know last game against

The Bulls we saw cam Whitmore uh get the kn no to close out the game and to be you know a part of the rotation late this game we saw Reggie Bullock we saw his number called in this one and uh Reggie playing a majority of the minutes

There in the fourth quarter he had like nine and a half minutes played in the final frame uh on you know he had 21 minutes on the evening he was the minutes High man off the Rockets bench 21 minutes played off the Rockets bench in this one

And I just I don’t I I think it’s like a veteran thing because it’s like okay it’s he’s the safe pick he’s a veteran but Reggie’s lost a step man like there was a play late in this game where Jaden Ivy blew By Reggie Bullock and he looked

Like a Turn Style he was just he barely moved and jadeen Ivy was gone and already at The Rim before Reggie like even registered that he was driving um so Reggie is still you know serviceable against other Wing players but in the Rockets defensive scheme where they like

To switch all the actions I don’t like him out there because against smaller faster players he really really does struggle and that’s been an issue this season in the in the spot minutes that Reggie Bullock has played he really struggles guarding smaller quicker faster players and the reason Oka had

Him out there is because offensively the rockets need spacing so there’s just not a perfect answer right now because pardon me because right now Jan T gives you the defense but he does not give you the spacing that you need offensively for the other starters to drive cam Whitmore gives you the spacing

You want offensively but he also struggles defensively from a defensive you know situational awareness perspective he’ll make rookie mistakes he’ll have some bad fouls so you deal with your lumps there even though individually when cam is playing manto man defense he’s really solid it’s just from a team construct defensively he has

Issues at least right now because he’s young and then Reggie is Good from a team perspective he understands rotations he understands schemes he understands where he needs to be but but from a physical perspective he just doesn’t have the you know the the juice anymore to keep up with some of these

Players and gets burnt you know defensively and then he is also a spacing option so it’s like each one of them has their struggles so it’s like take your pick because you’re you’re giving up something with any one of those three guys and those are the three

Guys that you had as your options to plug in with the rest with the other four rocket starters with Fred Jaylen Jabari and alpie so it’s just it’s frustrating because and again you know I I saw some people you know saying oh well A Min would have

You know you could have plugged a men in and and let him play same issue as Jan Tate a men doesn’t provide the floor spacing so there you go um I don’t know the Rockets really don’t have a solid answer to it uh Jeff Green probably would have been a better answer even

Though Jeff Green is not exactly a floor spacer uh he’s a connective piece he’s a good passer so maybe Jeff would have been a better answer to have out there you know closing out this game but he got hurt so the Rockets really don’t have a great answer yet and Oka has to

Kind of just judge the game and decide okay is he going more defense oriented does he need the team defense does he need the individual defense because that’s the difference between Reggie Bullock and Jan Tate or does he need the offense of a cam Whitmore somebody who

Is you know a bit more reliable because Reggie unfortunately um even though defenses treat him like a floor spacer and a shooter he has not been good from from distance either he has not shooting the ball well so the Rockets are just struggling from a roster standpoint

They’ve got a lot of holes in this roster they’re dealing with the injuries but they got an ugly win and that’s all that matters it’s just oh god let’s just let’s just never talk about this game again I don’t want to have to talk about this game the

Rockets are done with the Pistons it was another Twin Night the Twins were not heavily featured in this game quiet Nights from both Amin and assar Thompson uh cam Whitmore a little rough Off the Bench one of seven shooting one of five from three-point land and weirdly Aaron

Holiday only three minutes played in this game I actually I don’t know if I missed it I don’t think Aaron got hurt did he like I I I caught myself wondering I was like where is Aaron holiday and I don’t remember them saying anything during the broadcast maybe I’m

Just completely spacing on it I mean I watched I watched the whole game um maybe I looked away for I don’t know uh I’ll I’ll find out what happened with Aaron uh when the Rockets get here to to Boston because that’s where I am currently at uh but it’s not looking

Great for the Celtics game unfortunately uh second night of a back toback and Rockets exerted a ton of effort against the Pistons and now they’re going to have to face a Celtics team that is undefeated at home that is coming off of a very embarrassing loss their worst

Loss of the season on the road against the Milwaukee Bucks and not only that it’s also oka’s return trip to Boston so you know they’re going to want to show off in front or you know show up their Old Coach all of that so the Rockets are

Basically headed for a schedule loss I would love to be wrong about that I would love for the Rockets to prove me wrong and I would love for the Rockets to somehow hand the Celtics their first home loss of the season do I think it’s going to happen more than likely not but

I would love to be wrong about that on that note give me your thoughts from this Rockets Pistons game just just whatever thoughts emotions feelings you had about the final sequence of events Jaden Ivy’s three ball that you know went down around in and out you know took a whole

Tour around the cylinder and decided to pop back out uh the Rockets you know snatching Victory from the jaws of defeat everything we talked about in this episode let me know in the YouTube comments give me your thoughts uh if you haven’t done so yet subscribe or have

You listen to your podcasts uh and search us up on YouTube search locked on Rockets like comment subscribe all that good stuff but as always thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening and we look forward to having you back right here at locked on Rockets

Your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball

Fred VanVleet & Jabari Smith Jr. CLUTCH Play As Houston Rockets Survive Detroit Pistons For Ugly Win

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) reacts to and discusses the Houston Rockets surviving the Detroit Pistons 112-110 and getting an ugly win behind some late-game heroics from Fred VanVleet on offense and Jabari Smith Jr. on defense. How Fred took over the game late offensively, Jabari’s key defensive plays, overall defensive growth, and his aggressiveness attacking the rim, Jaden Ivey’s attempted game-winner that rimmed in-and-out, Jalen Green’s huge second quarter, Alperen Sengun’s smooth 29 points, but lack of defense/rebounding in this one, Rockets still searching for a small-forward answer with Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason out and more.

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#HoustonRockets #Rockets #NBA #JalenGreen #AlperenSengun #JabariSmithJr #TariEason #AmenThompson #CamWhitmore #FredVanVleet #DillonBrooks #JeffGreen #JockLandale #ReggieBullock #BobanMarjanovic #AaronHoliday