CONCERN: Houston Rockets Need Kevin Durant MASTERCLASS To EDGE Timberwolves WITHOUT Anthony Edwards
CONCERN: Houston Rockets Need Kevin Durant MASTERCLASS To EDGE Timberwolves WITHOUT Anthony Edwards
Houston Rockets squeak past the Minnesota Timberwolves as Kevin Durant delivers a 39-point offensive masterclass, but is Houston leaning too heavily on KD’s brilliance? With Anthony Edwards out, the Rockets still needed every point from their superstar to overcome a Wolves squad powered by Julius Randle and scorching threes from Naz Reid. Is this sustainable for the Rockets’ playoff hopes?
Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by weekly cohost SportsRadio 610’s Brandon Scott (@brandonkscott) break down Durant’s big night, Reed Shepherd’s spark off the bench, and Alperen Şengün’s aggressive double-double against Rudy Gobert. Discussions include Houston’s ongoing offensive struggles, defensive adjustments, and the challenges of balancing minutes to avoid running KD into the ground. Plus, the hosts spotlight Jabari Smith Jr.’s recent slump, the importance of spreading the scoring load, and debate whether the Rockets’ current formula is enough for a playoff push. Can Houston fix their offensive woes before it’s too late?
#Rockets #NBA #KevinDurant
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#HoustonRockets #Rockets #NBA #KevinDurant #AlperenSengun #AmenThompson #JabariSmithJr #TariEason #ReedSheppard #FredVanVleet #DorianFinneySmith #StevenAdams #AaronHoliday #JaeSeanTate #JeffGreen #ClintCapela #JoshOkogie
50 Comments
👏🏾CONGRATS!
*Rockets win, Rockets WIN (yet, I'm not impressed)!
*Note: TeamRockets must be BETTER!!
#🫵🏾Who's-NEXT?!
#The-BALL-doesn't-LIE!
🚀🏀💥💯
hlf uwon2
If Sengun made more FTs and Bari made a few more shots score wouldn’t have been this close.. main culprit this game is Bari again for sure. Ime needs to stop this yanking Reed for one mistake crap and let him play. 20:38 please say it to Ime’s face he doesn’t seem to realize it.
Stop it .. I will trade Reed right now .. his a liability .. we lost most game because of Reed
Anyone who says that the trade was a bad choice and this is because we don't have Dillon Brooks are true casuals.
KD delivers even above expectations. The issues are:
-no Fred and therefore, no Amen to play what he playes best.
-Tari (as a huge part of the rotation and starter calliber player) – non stop injured
-Jabari in a major shooting slump
-DFS looking worse than the G-leaguer.
-Alperen rushing in the offense and has become slower. But he will deliver what's his, I have no doubts.
With available Fred, Tari and at least average DFS, no one would even remember Brooks.
P.s. I do believe Ime is losing patience with Tari's unavailability, so I expect we trade him. I would hate that, but what's the use of a great player who cannot play?
We're gonna take KD's retirement tour from him by running him fully into the ground this season
The FT regression is trying to give me a stroke.
I was flipping around league pass before the game and it was incredible how much more movement EVERY offense had relative to Houston's. How many years are we going to accept this?
Please do not polish up Reed! It is not fair. He is the biggest liability defensively in the team. He does not always deliver in the offense either. He should only come on the court when you are stagnant in offense in parts of the game. He is so inconsistent as well.Jalen was sent from this team even though he was way much better than Reed defensively and offensively. When Reed is on court Rockets play with 4.4 players on the court.
Okogie and Jabari showed up with great defense! KD the man! Glad we won but I agree we gotta be better. I think we play at level of our opponents… even vs okc we were neck and neck till the end of the game… Go Rockets!
I do not understand how you watch these games bruh. Reed Sheppard is not a good defender, yes. We all know that. He has good hands. We all know that, too. At this point, you accept that you have to hide him on the defensive end. It is the offense that is the problem with Reed and it is not his shooting. He cuts his dribble against even softer defenders and cant get past this defender without a screen. If the Rockets have any resemblence of a coach, you do not play him at the point. Instead you use him as a shooting threat to create space. And that aint gonna happen with him waiting in the corner. Reed needs to be moving constantly on the offensive end, receiving off ball screen some of which can be slips. Our offense is just iso ball every single time. Neither Sengun nor Reed can flourish in this stagnant offense which looked way better than it was at the beginning of the season due to offensive rebounding and we have been saying it even when the Rockets were winning. This team needs sets with off ball movement and they must be the core of the offensive actions of the Rockets against every opposing defense.
I think It's very hard to score when on the defensive side your guarding the 1st or 2nd best scorer of the opposing team.
I get Jackson saying he would think Ime could find better schemes for Reed on defense but to be honest if a team is determined to pick on Reed, they’ll scheme to get him in isolation. He just has to provide better resistance. I’m not tripping over him getting lost on some possessions because he’s still learning where to be but it’s hard to live with him constantly getting blown by. I think they’ll find a balance eventually.
As far as KD, if you would’ve told he would miss no time for half the season, get you 26+ on auto-pilot with some 30+ games here and there, I would take that and imagine this team would be a solid 3-4 seed. The issue is, the other starters are playing below expectations. Sengun is ineffective offensively beyond 10 ft and leaves some many points at the FT line. Amen shot has gotten worse and he creates issues with his lack of spacing. Jabari is supposed to be the pressure relief and take advantage of his opportunities but he can’t make a shot from anywhere on the court rn. Young guys just have to be better.
How is our offence this bad I just don’t get it 😂😂😂 Everybody on that wolves could shoot the 3 ball other than Rudy and we had only one guy who could shoot when reed is on the bench.. horrendous roster construction.. DFS is so trash man
I'm tired of hearing these overrated lies about Reed, who is undoubtedly the worst wasted draft pick in Rockets franchise. And they still don't admit that picking him instead of Stephon Castle was a historic mistake!
He was the main reason for the worst three-point percentage in NBA history and all the losses in the last 7 games stretch!
And because they had to cover his all weaknesses both side of the floor, it's clear that this will also cause injuries to Jabari and KD too!
Tbf naz reid and Randle had legacy games. Wolves might’ve played better team wise than they would with AE playing.
I know this is wild but they can use Eason as a trade asset rather than lose him for nothing on summer. The management can also move Reed if needed, as good as he is offensively, he's more of a combo guard and the weak link in defense. You can see many lapses from him in the rotation. DFS can go too.
GET A STABILIZER/ FACILITATOR PG like a mike conley, you can clearly see his impact on the Wolves.
The rockets should not waste Durant's remaining 1-2 years of greatness. Also KD can't sustain this high minutes, the number 1 thing they should assure is a fresh and healthy KD entering the playoffs.
We need MPJ
I saw the game Live and Yes, The Rockets neeeeeeeeeds a PG!
Force it. KD needs to be off ball most of the time. Force Reed JD and Amen to run the show with Alpi filling in to help. Need more movement. Everyone is KD ball watching.
Them timberwolves had won 2 straight without Ant so this was a good team they were playing and a great win 🏆
I don’t know what the coaches are telling Reed to do on defense, but it’s not working. He over plays. He just needs to backup a bit and make people shoot jump shots. Running up on a dude all crazy doesn’t really work for anyone. Your opponent will dribble right around you.
Reed Sheppard ends the first half on fire, then the coach doesn't put him until under 3 minutes left in the third. Completely putting his fire out. Why? I've seen him do that to several hot hands throughout the season. Also I get nervous when Jabari shoots the ball, I used to get excited.
So number 20 played more than 15
On one hand, it’s said that KD should have the ball more; on the other hand, people are questioning why the team needs KD this much. 😂
For me this was not a basketball game but a slugfest, at least in the second half. Lots of bodies lying on the floor, lots of contact. It's also the first time, I've seen both teams miss that much FT.
Regarding the concerns, well…(I'm not gonna repeat myself every time)
The Rockets will continue to struggle throughout the season without a true point guard on the floor while Fred is out. If you're talking about anything else or blaming any other player for the Rockets problems, you don't know basketball.
The turnovers would be less with a point guard on the floor, Amen could play his game with a point guard on the floor, Segun wouldn't have the ball that long and could play his game with a point guard on the floor, Jabari is in a shooting slump so he's going to fine, they wouldn't have to rely so heavily on KD, especially when it comes to ball handling and play making if a real point guard was out there (that's not KD's game nor why he was brought here anyway), the offense would look more polished with a point guard on the floor.
And Reed needs to continue to work on his defense and develop his game OFF the bench, it's his 2nd season, he's not ready to be in the starting lineup. The Rockets getting a point guard would solve alot of their problems.
Glad they got the win though, the Timberwolves are a good team and are a slept on team, this Timberwolves team has been in the WCF for the last 2 seasons, so they're not some mediocre team.
Reed Sheppard:
37 GP | 25.4 MPG | 12.9 PPG | 2.6 RPG | 3.2 APG | 1.4 SPG | 0.6 BPG | 44.4 FG% | 40.4 3P% | 77.3 FT% | 1.2 TO
Sheppard is a high-impact defensive playmaker, not just a “tries hard” defender:
He consistently creates extra possessions. At 1.4 steals + 0.6 blocks per game in 25.4 minutes, that’s 2.0 “stocks” per game (~2.8 per 36 minutes)—rare production for a guard and a strong proxy for anticipation, timing, and active hands.
The on-court results back it up. StatMuse lists his defensive rating at 112.9 this season, versus a shooting-guard positional average of 116.7 (lower is better), implying materially stronger defensive outcomes when he’s on the floor.
He has game-level proof of disruption. He’s already posted a 5-steal game vs. Cleveland and a 3-block game vs. Brooklyn—impact plays that swing possessions and momentum.
This is consistent with his track record. At Kentucky he averaged 2.5 steals per game and reached 80 steals in a season—elite “reads + reaction” defense that has translated.
What more do you want from a second year player who is 21 years old, only played one year of college ball (and came off the bench during that one year) and continues to improve despite erratic lineups and minutes being thrown at him from the coach? Reed kept the Rockets in the game last night and then Udoka doesn't put him back in the game until 3 minutes left in Q3. That is just terrible terrible coaching by Ime, I am sorry. The bad defense narrative just doesn't hold up when you look at the stats. I think Rox fans just need someone to hate, anyone.
I worked in corporate America for over twenty years and I built and led high performing teams. Many times, leaders of other teams asked me to fire resources on my team because maybe they were hard to work with or they were technical introverts that had a hard time dealing with internal and external clients. I feel like a large part of our success was due to my ability to look past those narratives by using the two "obs", observation and objectivity. Advanced metrics and statistics can help in that area. In other words, are we better with this resource or worse, as a team? If so, it was then my job to develop that talent and to shield/protect them from their weaknesses until they eventually grow into that space. Additionally, you don't "bench them" by taking away projects, you give them more projects and demand excellence. Quite simply, you create a culture of excellence and you demand no less. It is no different with this Rockets team, specifically the Ime/Reed situation. We are a better team with Reed, Jackson said it quite well. Reed does the one thing we need, he shoots the lights out of the ball. Ime just needs to embrace that, what I saw last night was not acceptable, it was just bad coaching. If Ime is such a defensive mastermind, why can't he create a defensive scheme that helps Reed out in that area while still allowing him to contribute? Kerr did it for Steph, we can do the same here. Last night, reed literally kept us in the game and then Ime sat him until 3 minutes left in Q3. That is unacceptable and I would liked to have been a reporter, I would have asked him that question. It's time for some accountability from Ime, not just the tired old, "we got punked" comment he makes that takes no accountability or responsibility. I lost a lot of respect for Ime after the bad Janari game, he should have projected Bari after the game, he should have said it is my fault as coach (even if he didn't mean it); instead he threw Bari to the wolves. Bari, being a class act, took the responsibility for the loss but that is not how it should have gone down.
KD 2 games 40 minutes where is Dory Infinity Smith supposed to be the star 9:21 Eason is the key to the rockets winning Reed Shepherd and still not ready
I think the team should fully lean in on strong defensive line ups
Since defense is very bad , HR can only win with scoring meaning every win will be close like this.
Alpii have mercy on Goebert’s soul maan
Alpi s kind of overweight at the moment
I disagree with the whole running KD into the ground. I served 14 years in the Marines and we would typically run 3-5 miles (sometimes longer distances) every other day on top of combat conditioning. This vigorous way of training optimizes your physical performance when done correctly alongside rest and nutrition. And as a Marine, you're expected to perform well at a physical, mental, and combat fitness test. These games where KD is playing 38 plus minutes could increase his durability and stamina before the playoffs.
Look at it this way; If I want to increase my 3 miles from 21 minutes to 18 minutes, me running 2 miles every other day won't increase this because I'm conditioned to running 2 miles, but If I run 3 miles every other day and mix it up with 100% effort, I will logically improve overtime. I knew Marines and service members that served 20 to 30 years and as they've gotten older, they've increased their performaces. The whole notion that players minutes needs to be reduced to perform optimally is inconclusive. If you're used to playing on average 32 minutes a game, but come playoff time, your trying to play 40 plus minutes, most people would be winded because they're not conditioned to play 40 plus minutes.
Bruh. Reed cannot guard! If Jabari stops bricking Reed will get more minutes. When the game is tight and Reed isn’t hitting we’re giving up 10-0 runs. I understand what Ime is doing
At least 1 year of playing and knowing each other's strengths smh. Fred going down, what are you expecting????
this Reed S thing is crazy. he is not a starter nor near the hype
I feel like I personally jinxed Bari’s slump into existence by telling everyone within ear shot of me how he’s been the most consistent player on the team this season 🤦♂️
the reed stuff makes me not want to listen to some takes. waste a season to develop reed???????
With KD, we have the original unicorn. 7 footer that plays like a guard that is one of the cleanest shooters of all time. Still playing at a high level. We want him for the next 3-4 years, but Ime is going run him into the ground. Not fair to KD.
So we still glazing reed huh. Smh Jackson please stop
.please just be honest about how bad he is. We saw a dude win the half court shot out the bleachers the other day. Just kuz he hit some shots he does not deserve all this hype.
Go Rockets ❤🎉❤
I bet opponent coaches smiles when Ime bench Reed. I can honestly imagine Ime would’ve benched CP3, AI, Curry, Nash if they were in Reeds stage of their career due to being undersized and getting abused on defense. None of our guys took any forward step on offensive side of their game ever since Ime became our coach. Segun, Amen, Jabari and Tari are basically who they were three years ago, Amen improved from FT but I don’t want to jinx him and make him go full Sengun at the line.
I miss cam witmore i wish him speedy recovery from the blood clots ❤
Reed isn’t involved enough. Not saying he the answer… But if he was utilized properly and had more PT you could wipe away 4-5 of the losses this season.
Rockets bench points are bottom 3 in NBA. That is unacceptable. Churn the bottom of this roster ASAP.
Jabari cannot dribble, shoot middie, 3P shot, FT or finish at rim in traffic. And gave up 39 to Randle. Udoka cannot keep letting Bari shoot at will during his recent shooting slump while yanking Reed when he is actually hot.
We were destroying Boston, Toronto, Cavs, Denver, LAL….on the road. Some of them was with half an effort and scoring absurd amount of points. So this is a slump, not a factual state of our offense.
Just have to get this off my chest. That foul they called on Reed when he blocked the shot was a terrible call and should have been challenged. It was an awesome block and he deserved the credit.
Sengun should not be shooting threes at the rate that he does. To much dribbling from the Durant and Sengun which is leading to turnovers. This offense lack ball movement.