Rockets Face MUST-WIN Game 6 | Can Jalen Green & Alperen Sengun FORCE A Game 7 Vs Warriors?

Rockets Face MUST-WIN Game 6 | Can Jalen Green & Alperen Sengun FORCE A Game 7 Vs Warriors?

On today’s show, have the Houston Rockets started to figure out the Golden State Warriors? What needs to happen in game six for the Rockets to extend the series to a seventh game back home in Houston? It’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets. This is mission now is your weekly co-host, the podfather himself, Rockets editor and host of the Logger Line podcast, Ben Dubose. You can track down on Blue Sky at Ben Dubo. He’s Blue Sky Ben now. Ben, the Rockets are not # Blue Sky Ben. There we go. Got to get that included in there. Look, Rockets are not dead yet, Ben. Uh, going down 3-1 doesn’t ever feel good, but they took care of business, protected home court in game five. Now, the series shifts back out to the Bay. We got a lot to get into on today’s episode, but just kind of how are you feeling about the, you know, where this series is at now down 3-2, shifting things back out to Golden State’s home turf. Cautiously optimistic. I think they’re underdogs for a reason to win three straight games against a team like Golden State that has big names like Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green. It’s going to be tough. But I think what gives me the most comfort, it’s not just that the Rockets won game five. It’s the way they want it convincingly because really ever since the midway point of game one when they went down 20 early in the third quarter and basically I think the Rockets falling behind by that much in the opening game was a lot to do with inexperience and a little bit to do with rust because we know they didn’t have anything to play for down the home stretch of the regular season with the two seed locked up. Ever since the midway point of the third quarter in game one, the Rockets have either been in control of these games or they’ve been very close. Even game one ended up being a coin flip. The Rockets were down three with six minutes left. In game three and game four in San Francisco, the Rockets had leads midway through the fourth quarter of both of those games. Now, they weren’t able to close the deal. And perhaps it’s fitting if that ends up being the reason they don’t win this series because the Warriors have at least two alphas and Steph and Jimmy. the Rockets don’t have the consistent alpha just yet. We’ve talked about it all season long. Perhaps it’s appropriate that that ends up biting the Rockets in the playoffs. But there’s also a counter in that, you know, Derl my former GM of the Rockets had that quote that good teams don’t win close games, they avoid them. Well, the Warriors aren’t able or haven’t been able at least to beat the Rockets convincingly. When Golden State has gotten wins in this series, it’s been close. All the coin flip games have gone their way. Maybe they’re due to lose one of them. Maybe with the schedule getting to where games are every other day now, your veterans like Steph, like Jimmy that have these nagging injuries, maybe that’s becoming more of a factor. Steph scoring below 20 points in back-to-back games, game four and game five. First time that’s happened since May of 2018. Certainly, the Rockets are doing some things well defensively. Amen Thompson as the head of the snake. Eudoka put it. But I just think when you look at the macro of the series and not just the micro, the Rockets have shown an ability, especially at home, and that’s why I like their chances, if it gets to a game seven, ever since the midway point of game one, the Rockets have dominated the games in Houston when Golden State has won those two games in San Francisco and then them holding on in game one, it’s been very close. It’s been a coin flip game that Steph just happened to land the plane or I guess Jimmy landed the plane in game four. And again, maybe that ends up being a difference in this series. It’s something that’s happened a lot in NBA history, but I don’t go into Friday night thinking the Rockets are overmatched or likely to be blown out. They’re likely to have a shot. There’s nothing from this series, by the way, through five games, even though the Rockets have just won two of the five. They have the better net rating for a reason. They have outplayed the Warriors in the aggregate. It’s just being able to close out the close games. They haven’t done it yet. Perhaps they’re due, but at a bare minimum, I think the Rockets will go into the fourth quarter Friday night with a chance if they somehow win it. I do like their chances in a home game seven. I mean, you consider where they were a couple of days ago, how we felt down 3-1. Having a chance feels pretty good. I was down bad 3-1. I’ll be completely honest with you. I was in I was in shambles. Uh and against this team, like 3-1 against any other team would have kind of been, yeah, this sucks, whatever. But 3-1 against the Warriors brought back some uh some dark days for I’m I’m guessing you, for me, for for many Rockets fans everywhere. We were like, you know, having those PTSD flashbacks. Um, you know, I I agree with your sentiment. I think my thing is here, I I feel like the biggest element at play for the Rockets is, you know, we’ve we’ve heard it from the players, we heard it from EA. Um, we’re literally seeing it on the floor is they are the younger team, they are the inexperienced team. It definitely feels like they are settling into the series. And for me, I I don’t want to say that they’ve I’m not gonna say they figured out the Warriors, but even just in game five, like their offensive approach just felt so much more polished than it had in any game prior. And maybe you chalk some of that up to the Warriors and kind of their indifference about ah well, we’ll fold this game, we’ll take it in six, and you know, go back to the Bay, finish it off on our home court, whatever. kind of that weird mentality that Kerr had. He talked about it before the game and then, you know, even after the game about like, you know, when he was going to pull his starters and all this stuff. Um, but just watching the way that the Rockets attacked, right? They they they attacked a lot quicker. Um, they got their actions started earlier in the shot clock, they were expecting the different things that the Warriors defense was throwing at them, right? like watching Jaylen and Fred navigate the pick and roll or watching how Alper and Chingon was going to attack when it was Draymond on him versus a switch with somebody else. Like they’re understanding when and where they can be effective on the offensive side of the floor. And that’s been their biggest issue is, you know, getting high quality offensive possessions and then converting on them, right? Like actually scoring because they it’s not like games one through four they just were, you know, a dumpster fire offensively. They had some open looks. they had some opportunities to convert that they just weren’t capitalizing on. And in game five, it’s like they opened the floodgates and just every shot went in. But it was also, I think, the quality of the shot and the process of of getting to those shots that looked significantly better. Watching Am Thompson get paint touches and kick it out to open shooters, watching guys make the extra pass from good shots to great shots, different things that across the board led to such a dominant game five performance. Yeah. Uh, and I thought it started in the fourth quarter of game four when Amen had that sequence where I think he had three or four buckets in a row going downhill. It felt like that he was starting to figure it out offensively. And really from a Houston perspective, that’s the story of this series. And if they ultimately ultimately lose, it may come back to the fact that it just took a men a little too long to get going. And because of that, they let some games, game one, game three, game four that were otherwise winnable slip away. It’s interesting to watch the national coverage because there’s so much focus on Jaylen Green and he is important, but for a lot of people that don’t watch the Rockets, they identify Jaylen more as the guy because he’s the leading scorer and because he’s been in the NBA longer, but if you watch the Rockets closely, and I think the Rockets themselves view the team this way, a men is more important than Jaylen is. They have viewed internally a men as a star level player already. We can talk about developing into a superstar and I hope he does. I think he can. But even in year two, the Rockets themselves inside the building at Toyota Center, they view him as a starle player already. They believe that’s what he did this season and what he’s capable of Friday night in game six in any of these games, even against highle opponents. And let’s just be blunt, Jackson, for the first three games of this season, uh, this series, he was bad. So, it’s very difficult to put together a formula to beat a really good team if a guy you view internally as a star player is not playing like a star. That’s just the cold hard truth. And nationally, it flew a little bit below the radar because, you know, Jaylen’s a little bit of a bigger name. He’s the leading scorer. There’s also this huge split between what he did in the game two win and scoring in single digits in the three losses. So, he sort of became the storyline for TNT and entities like that. But for the Rockets, it comes down to amen. He is their guy. They believe in him for a reason. And so when he turned it around and you know, I asked Emeoka postgame after game five how he was able to get going if there was a turning point. And you know, Eay pointed to better spacing, which to your point, I think they figured out as the series moved along what they need to do so that it’s not as vanilla when he attacks a big downhill. I think we’ve seen at times the Warriors turn more to Quinton Post types to try and not get out rebounded as much. Well, the trade-off there is that there’s more bigs for someone like a men to attack and he’s gotten more comfortable with that. But some of it’s just as simple as seeing the ball go through the bucket and I think especially early in game five when he had some drives that ended successfully. He also got to the free throw line, made eight of nine, that changes everything. I think they’re above 80% in their wins this series from the free throw line, below 60% in the losses. That’s a huge variable. But on top of a man giving them a boost offensively for a team that is fairly mid on the offensive end of the court to begin with, I think it also gives him a little more juice defensively. We saw what he did against Steph Curry, ripping him several times. And honestly, from a Warriors perspective, it’s Steph’s performance that’s been the big variable. In the three wins, he’s averaged 28 points and better than 50% shooting. In the two losses, he’s at 16% on below or 16 points on below 40% shooting. So, Amen as the primary guy on Curry, not only does his offense help the Rockets in their weakest area as a team, but I also think it gives him that extra competitive edge to go at Steph Curry on the other end. And so, it sort of chips away at Golden State’s biggest strength as well. And so, I think getting peak Amen Thompson, that’s what the Rockets did not have in the first three games of this series. They started getting it in game four, almost stole the game because of it. They got it in game five and if they have it again in game six, I think they’ll have a decent chance. Coming up, what do we need to see from the Rockets in game six? We’re going to get into some predictions and expectations for what is hopefully not the final game of this series between these two teams. We’re going to get there in just one moment. First, today’s episode is horizon here, um, you know, I kind of I think about, you know, what potential changes or adjustments or something that the Rockets could do, you know, going into game six. And I think back to something that Fred said post game after game five, and he was like, we didn’t change anything. We just did what we do better, right? Like, and I largely I think that’s I think that’s I think that’s true to an extent. I just I get I get like like flashbacks to like MDA saying like sometimes shots don’t go in and I hate that being the answer sometimes, but sometimes sometimes that is just the answer. Sometimes the shots do do just need to fall and once they start falling things just look completely different. I don’t think necessarily that there’s anything different or better that they could be or should be doing defensively. I think defensively they’ve been really solid through all five games and the largest variable has been offensively for them and unfortunately this has been kind of the talking point. And I know you just made the point in segment one, right, that Amin Thompson, you know, more important to the the team success maybe than than Jaylen Green, but Jaylen Green does feel like the biggest offensive variable, right, where if you get a game like game two, Jaylen Green, Rockets will coast and they will look fantastic. But if you get the games from Jaylen, like games one and four or even even game three where the defense was geared to take everything away from Jaylen and he did put his teammates in positions to be successful in those games. the four-on-ree power plays for Amen and for Shingun and those guys were just unable to kind of capitalize on those opportunities. If you don’t get, you know, a decent scoring game from Jaylen, I do think it puts a lot of pressure on other guys to step up and score the ball. And like thankfully in game five, right, Fred was sensational. Uh, you know, just on fire from beyond the arc, getting it done in a variety of ways, scoring the ball. Dylan was fantastic with his scoring outburst in that game. The Rockets can get their scoring from elsewhere, but you kind of almost expect that those guys aren’t going to necessarily deliver, you know, back-toback big scoring performances like that. Or maybe they will. Maybe Fred is just, you know, he settled into a groove, right? He really struggled, you know, first two or three games of the series and then games four and five, he’s literally outplayed Steph Curry in games four and five of this series. So, when we talk about game six, let’s address the elephant in the room off the top, which is what happens if Scott Foster makes a wrestling type appearance. Chase Center and comes in to save the day. He’s going to come into like Triple H’s music or something at at Chase Center. Oh my god. I mostly kid, but look, I do not think the Rockets are going to get a friendly whistle in this game. I think, say what you will, you can call a conspiracy theory if you want, but the Lakers losing to the Timberwolves, a Warriors Timberwolves series would be much better for business than Rockets Timberwolves. Let’s just be honest. And the Warriors have much higher level talent, identifiable stars than the Rockets do. Names like Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, those throughout the entire history of the NBA tend to get a friendlier whistle in tight spots, especially when they’re playing at home and you have 18,000 screaming fans who are going to be yelling at the Rockets for breathing Steph Curry in this game. So, call it a conspiracy theory if you want, but I am very wary of how that game in San Francisco is going to be officiated. So with that in mind, I think it’s especially important for at least one of your three perimeter creators, that’s Jaylen Green, Fred Benfleet, and Dylan Brooks to have a big night because while I love Alprin Shenon, and Amen Thompson, I am especially wary of whether the Rockets are going to get calls near the bucket. I think we saw this especially in game three, which turned very ragged in the second half. The Rockets were trying to attack downhill and they just were not getting calls near the rim. And even though Alpar and Shenon scored 31 points and nearly won that game in game four, it took him 28 shots. It wasn’t like he was just getting a friendly whistle throughout the game. And so because of that, I think it’s tough, especially when you look at how the Rockets are probably going to need to win this game. And I just think it’s doubtful that they’re going to be able to blow the Warriors out. I think the Warriors are going to look at game six as the one they need to win. I don’t think this is a situation like the Kings series two years ago. People love to throw that out as an analog and the Warriors actually lost to home game six, a chance to close it out before winning on the road in game seven. Steph Curry dropped 50. I don’t think that’s a good parallel for this series at all. Steph Curry is not going to drop 50 against a men Thompson in this Houston defense. Clip me, mean me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case. I think especially seeing how Houston has dominated this series really ever since the midway point of the third quarter in game one at home. I think everyone involved knows that if it goes back to Houston for a game seven while nothing is a given. You can have an O of 27 shooting stretch, crazy things can happen. The Rockets should win a home game seven. So the Warriors are going to lay it all on the line. They’re probably going to have a friendly whistle. And so because of that, I don’t think the Rockets are going to be able to win by, you know, 15 20 points. I love it if they do, but you take that as a pleasant surprise. The Rockets have shown an ability to do that in Houston. They have not shown an ability to do that in San Francisco. So, if the Rockets are going to win this game, they’re going to need to do it by executing in the final six, seven minutes the exact thing they have not been able to do in the three losses in this series. And as much as I love Shenon and Amen Thompson, it’s going to be tough for them to do it individually because of the fouling issue and because of the NBA’s propensity, except for Dylan Brooks against Jimmy Butler to let more contact go down the stretch of these games. And so because of that, I think you’re going to need at least one of your three perimeter guys, Fred, Jaylen, and Dylan to get going, have a strong night. That’s what worries me. Did the Rockets waste the big Fred game on the road the other night when he had, you know, eight threes and peak efficiency, almost 30 points? Did they need to win that game in order to get to four wins, get the road win that they need to overcome that game one home loss? That sort of nags at me in the back of my mind. Hopefully Fred has just figured it out. If not, maybe Dylan has another big game. Maybe Jaylen is due. I think, you know, one of the things Jaylen got off to a good start in game five, but he was limited by the knee. And so, we’ll see how he recovers. I’m sure he’s icing it on Thursday’s off day, but at least one of those trio of perimeter guys needs to have a big game and especially down the stretch because I just think the way the game’s going to be officiated and with Draymond in particular, I think he’s going to lay his body on the line in this game. perhaps go over the line in a few cases. It would not shock me. We know how Draymond is. Someone from the perimeter is going to have to land the plane for the Rockets. I don’t know if it’s going to be Fred, Jayen, or Dylan, but I suspect it needs to be one of them. Yeah. And I I think that, you know, you look back at especially like game three in Golden State, right? Dylan with all the foul trouble that he dealt with in that game. You know, he’s been such an I I’ve discussed this before. He he’s Dylan’s offense is more important than his defense is at this stage for this Rockets team. And so not having him out there on the floor for any extended period, any extended stretch in a game really hurts them offensively from a spacing perspective, from a scoring perspective. Dylan has been very reliable in the minutes he’s been on the floor this series. It’s just, you know, dealing with fouls and, you know, getting play not played off the court, but, you know, just being stuck on the bench because of those fouls has been problematic at times for Dylan. I will say I I I’m in full agreement with you. They need one of those three guys to show up and and generally and the part with Dylan though is he’s still not he’s not a primary ball handler like the other two. He’s his offense is still dependent largely at times on either a recognizing the mismatches right where he can go at Steph Curry or a smaller player uh on the Warriors get to some of those post ups like we saw in game five or playing over the top of the defense when he you know gets those passes from from Alpore and Shingun. that helps. But it’s, you know, again, his his shot diet is is fully reliant on somebody else generating like a drive and kick or a double team down low from Alp and then you get the kickout pass and then he starts knocking down those threes. It’s going to come down to Jaylen or Fred to me, right? You need one of those two guys to step up and have a big game. And I’m right there with you. I really hope that Fred didn’t empty too much of the clip in game five that he saved a little bit. I I need him to be like the Vince Carter like Bleacher Report graphic, right? Like I got one more in me. That’s what I That’s what I need from Fred Van Vleet or Jaylen Green honestly and that’s where like the only the only push back I would give you. I do think that Shenon and Amen can initiate more and they have initiated more as the series has progressed. So I see your point on Dylan not being a guy who for the most part is going to create offense on his own. But I do think that Shingun and Amen, especially if they get going early in game six, can do a little bit of the heavy lifting. It’s just going to come down to who can make tough shots outside of your top two. You’re right. No. And and I think for more or less, right, you look at the body of work in this series so far, Shingun has been good to like or great to excellent in four of the five games, right? And in the two games where he wasn’t doing the heavy lifting scoring wise, games two and games five, he was facilitating, he was rebounding, he was defending at a high level, he was doing a lot of other things besides just ball in hoop. Um, and so I, you know, you could get either version of Alper and Shingun. And in fact, I think the Rockets are a deadlier team when you get the versions of Shingun from games two and five because generally that means he’s facilitating. He’s getting other guys involved. We saw how fluid the Rockets offense looked in game five. And a large part of that was Alpin Shingun who had eight assists at halftime, right? Just getting everybody involved, getting great little kickouts for wideopen shots, little DHO actions to get shooters wide open. um when th and obviously some of it’s just the shots got to go in, right? But those opportunities are there and and when the Rockets are able to capitalize on them, things look really really good offensively. So I I think it’s going to come down to like this could be I’m not going to say it’s a Jaylen Green legacy game, but like this is going to be like like Jaylen, show us what you got, right? Like he he he balled out in game two. He was okay with what he was supposed to do in game three. He was he really struggled in games one and four. And then in game five, like to your point, right, and I talked about this in the recap pot, it looked like he was on his way to a good Jaylen Green game, right? It looked like he came out with the right intensity, the right aggression, the right mentality, um, and then bumped knees with Steph Curry and got sidelined. And then, you know, by the time he returned, everybody else was still rolling, you know, firing on all cylinders. And he didn’t really I I I appreciate that he didn’t like try to insert himself and and force the issue. He just kind of let the game progress naturally and the Rockets were, you know, were fine in the end. Yeah. Yeah. They were in front throughout the game so he didn’t really need to. But yeah, game six without that edge and I find it hard to believe they’re going to be leading by 20 30 points the way they were for most of game five. Yeah, you’re probably going to need him to do a little bit more of the uh heavy lifting when it comes to creation. Coming up, predictions and final expectations for Rockets Warriors game six. We’re going to get there in just one moment. And final segment here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast, home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. You know, Ben, we just talked about or I just brought up right like the importance of Dylan Brooks offensively for this team, but I can’t help but feel like, you know, things have been so heated between these two teams and there’s been, you know, these little fights and and altercations and all this and nobody would have thought Pat Spencer would have been the first guy ejected this series, right? Like if you could have gotten betting odds on that like plus,000 to one or Oh, my bad. Cam Spencer. I Yeah, I apologize. Cam Spencer. Um, but I there’s a part of me that just wonders like, you know, if if it comes to a point where Dylan Brooks and Draymond Green are getting into it and there’s an opportunity for Dylan to incite Draymond, even if he knows that they’re both going to get kicked out of the game, I think Dylan takes that opportunity 11 out of 10 times. And I I I don’t know. I’m not sitting here saying, “Oh, I think Dylan is going to like game plan to try and get Draymond Green kicked out.” But it also wouldn’t surprise me, right? Like if Draymond gets the first tech like early in the game complaining about a call or whatever, all it takes is one altercation with Dylan Brooks, if he can get things escalated enough to a point getting inside Draymond’s head that unfortunately for Dylan, right, Draymond is more important to what the Warriors do functionally across the board than Dylan is to what the Rockets do. There are other guys that can replicate some of what Dylan does up and down the roster. Whereas there is not a single player on Golden State’s roster that can do the things that Draymond Green does. So, in a total vacuum, if Dylan can somehow incite Draymond Green and get him kicked out of the game, get him thrown out, and he himself also gets thrown out, that is an that is an overwhelming win for the Rockets. And I’ve seen a lot of like Rockets fans on social media, they’re like painting the picture of like how the how the 3-1 comeback looks, right? Like blow him out in game five, protect home court. Game six, Draymond Green gets ejected, Rockets take the win, come back, close it out in game seven. Like I kind of I I’m not saying it’s gonna happen, but like I feel like we’re bound for maybe a Draymond Green blow up at some point. And maybe it happens here in game six. Maybe. And you’re right. I mean, he is way more important to the Warriors than Dylan is to the Rockets. And that’s not a shot at Dylan. It just speaks to especially in the wins and these games that are grinders, which is the Golden State formula. Houston has a little bit more upward mobility, which is crazy to say given that the Warriors have Steph and Jimmy. But with the depth the Rockets have and their ability to defend in waves, I think it’s the Rockets when they hit shots the way they did in game five. The Rockets have a gear that I don’t think the Warriors can hit. For the Warriors to win, they need to grind it out in this series, especially with Steph and Jimmy limited to some extent by injuries. And now Jaylen’s got one of his own. But I mean, join the club. That happens over a competitive sevengame series. It’s just a matter of who can play through it the most. And you know, I’m sure Jaylen’s taking time off and icing it and doing whatever he needs to do. Yeah. It really bothered me, by the way, after game three, the comment from Jaylen about, you know, Draymond’s talking because that’s all he can do or however he phrased it. No, he’s not just talking. Draymond’s been a phenomenal defender in this series. And if you take him out, then the entire calculus changes. When I said in the last segment talking about how difficult it will be for Alpine Shenon or Amen Thompson to land the plane in part because of the ify officiating but also the rim protection of the Warriors, it speaks to Draymond Green. His ability to defend multiple spots on the floor to go vertical without fouling. He is such a presence near the rim that it’s tough for that formula alone, especially in high leverage moments where they let more contact go to win you a game. So yeah, I’m right there with you. If you can get Draymond kicked out, uh, you do it because it would dramatically improve your chances of getting that road win that you need. The other guy in terms of key variables for game six that I’m going to be watching is Steven Adams. There’s going to be a lot made over the hours leading up to game six of the fact that the Warriors because of the blowout in game five got some rest for marquee players. Guys like Draymond and Steph and Jimmy only played, you know, low to mid 20s in minutes. Well, the counter to that I think Steven only played 18 for the Rockets and he might not even have played in the second half at all. If he did, it was very brief because of the score. The Rockets went to Jock Landel largely as their backup center and then of course they brought back the starters in the fourth quarter when the Warriors made that many run that cut it to, you know, 15 or whatever it was. A fresh Steven Adams is so important, especially on the road because with the difficulty in finishing near the rim against Draymond Green with a tough whistle, not getting the free throw edge, the Rockets got 38 free throws in game five to 22 for the Warriors. I think it’d be silly to expect an advantage that large in game six for a multitude of reasons. So, a lot of your ability to succeed is going to come down to the extra effort plays, the second, third possessions because you pound the offensive glass. The Warriors actually outrebounded the Rockets by a lot in game five. I think that’s largely an outlier because the Rockets just didn’t miss many shots, period. And so, they didn’t have to turn to the triedand-true offensive rebounding formula that’s been a big part of their half court offense this season. on the road in game six against a fully dialed in Warriors team that’s going to approach it like their season is on the line in my opinion you’re probably going to need those extra effort plays and so Stephen Adams being able to get you second and third chances that’s a big deal if you need to play in 30 minutes to get out of San Francisco with a win do it it’s going to be a physical chippy game and that’s made for Stephen Adams also when we talk about getting someone like Fred and Jaylen going it comes down to physicalities it comes down oftent times to setting the right screens that’s where Stephen Adams is so critical to the guard’s success as well. So, I think Steven’s going to be big for the Rockets in this game. But then the question that comes with that, if the Rockets need to close with Steven Adams to finally get over the hump in a tight game in the fourth quarter, who is he part of the closing lineup in place of? Who do they bench to facilitate that? I don’t know the answer to that. It could be Jaylen. It could be Dylan. I guess there’s a small chance it could be Fred, but probably not. I think, you know, Fred’s just one of those guys that’s in the innermost circle of the circle of trust. And so I think Eay will ride him no matter what. But I do think there’s a world where the Rockets need Stephen Adams. And even if they’re afraid of the Warriors hacking him, even if you know, you might hurt the feelings of someone like Jaylen or Dylan, whoever it may be to free up that spot in the closing five for Steven Adams, I think you may just have to bite the bullet and do it. Because in if game six plays out the way I expect it to, both from the standpoint of getting at least one of those guards going and in a chippy game getting multiple opportunities, crashing the offensive glass, I think this needs to be a Steven Adams game and Emma Udoka needs the courage to finish with him if that’s what the circumstances warrant. Yeah. Not only and not not even just the offensive side of things, right? But the defensive side, you know, Warriors really hurt the Rockets in games three and four um beating them in the second chance points department. And it was there were moments in both of those games where like Adams was on the floor doing everything he does around the glass both sides right offensively and but especially on the defensive side and Rockets get a you know good defensive possession they force a Warriors miss and then Adams is able to clean up the glass or he’s getting you know two or three you know one or two bodies focused on him and he’s able to you know just kind of delete those guys that are going after offensive rebounds that was a game one comeback as well. Yeah. and he he he come he comes out of the game and then suddenly the Rockets are unable to secure some of those defensive rebounds near the end of a game where everybody’s exhausted and tired and you know playing on dead legs and for Adams having him out there um he’s by far been the most singularly most impactful player in this series for either team which is kind of insane to think about. Here’s a couple um onoff numbers for Stephen Adams in this series. With Stephen Adams on the floor, Houston’s rebounds percentage is 61 a.5%. Uh, Golden State’s rebound percentage is 38.5% and Houston’s offensive rebound percentage is 46.8%. Those are all the numbers with Adams on the floor. Without Adams on the floor, the Rockets rebound percentage drops to 47.9%. So, about a 14% drop there. Uh, Golden State’s rebound percentage jumps up about 14 points, uh, 52.1%. And then the offensive rebound percentage drops about 15 almost 16 points down to 31.3%. Uh I I to your point about the closing lineup, I I feel like Adams and Shing have just been so dominant with each other in this series. Uh they have a plus 32.2 net rating in 40 or sorry, I apologize, 54 minutes played together so far this series. They’ve been incredible together and the Rockets defense, their offense, it’s all looked phenomenal when those two guys are on the floor. The only question has been, you know, how much further can you push them, right? Can you play them in some of the uh Steph Curry minutes, right? or is Steph going to kill you when they’re out there? Largely, they’ve been able to hold their own. I think they’ve figured things out with that zone defense. And to your point about the closing lineup, I think the closing lineup is almost like painfully obvious at this point where you go with Fred, Dylan, Shingun, Adams, and it’s that fifth guy who becomes the question mark for me. You can say it’s a Min Thompson because of how locked in he’s been, you know, on both sides of the basketball. If he’s having a good Amin Thompson game, right? He looks again like end of game four, all of game five, then then he absolutely should be the one on the floor. Um, but you could also make a case for potentially Jabari Smith Jr. for the floor spacing purposes, the extra length defensively. Um, I think that Dylan and Fred are a must. Alp is a must to have out there and Adams might be a must, right? Like that’s kind of the crazy thing. I was shocked to see Eay actually go fully away from Steven Adams in game four with the threat of, you know, the uh Hacka Adams strategy. I honestly with with how poor the Rockets offense was to close that game, they would have been better off just letting Stephen Adams shoot free throws. Agree. And you didn’t mention Jaylen Green, but hopefully if he has the type of game that he’s capable of, like he did in game two, then he forces way forces his way into that equation as well. And then the other part of playing with Stephen, you know, you leave yourself a little bit vulnerable. Sometimes role players shoot better at home. That’s an adage for a reason when it comes to NBA playoff basketball. And you know, if Pods or Buddy Heels, someone like that has a huge game, maybe Quinton Post, then they shoot their way out of it. But at this point, if that happens, I think you just sort of got to shrug your shoulders and say they deserve to win and we had our opportunities and we blew them. I think Steven Adams for the series as a whole has done has done enough. He is your guy. I mean, the numbers do not lie when you see the vast differential when he’s on the court and when he’s off more than any other player. I think you’ve got to ride him unless you know he’s just really struggling in that game. And if a non Curry shooter like Pods or Buddy Heel, someone like that sends you home, then it sucks. Hashtag Houston Sports. But it is what it is. I think too, you know, it one thing that felt maybe a little bit different in in game five, um not not anything like that they that was like a major noticeable shift, but a big part of, you know, the Warriors and their ball movement and trying to get the ball to their shooters, right? There’s only a handful of like actual shooters on the Warriors roster that you have to worry about, right? You you got to stay glued to Steph Curry. You can’t lose Buddy Heield. Pods is, you know, hit or miss here or there, but you know, you you treat him as as a shooter as well. everybody else outside of that like like gladly let them take the shots, right? Let I mean, well, Post is sort of in a middle ground. He’s a good shooter, but he does have a little bit of a slow release, so you can recover on him a little bit easier than you could heal. Post Yeah, sorry. Post Post is a weird one. Post should be one of the ones that close out, but he’s also not he he literally can’t do anything else other than shoot the three balls defensive viability. So, how much is he really going to play? And he’s also not not a guy really with any much of a, you know, threat to attack off the bounce, that kind of thing. But I I feel like the Rockets, especially when the Warriors had the trifecta of Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and GP2 out there at the same time in game five, those are three guys who are all very hesitant three-point shooters, guys who do not want to pull the trigger even when they’re wide open from three. And I feel like the Rockets did a good job in game five of making those guys be the ones to pull the trigger, making those guys be the ones to like h, you know, helping off of those guys, understanding, okay, I can sag off this guy and help in the paint or rotate over and make sure I’m I’m up to touch on this guy and and get back in time because this guy’s not going to he doesn’t want to shoot that three, right? Jimmy Butler um really struggled with his three ball in game five. Just of three from downtown, two of 10 overall shooting. And again, we don’t know how much that that um you know, injury is really plaguing him, but he didn’t he didn’t look like he was moving great in that game. Um Steph Curry as well struggling. Uh he had 11 points in the second quarter, but was really quiet outside of that. So, I don’t know. I’m I’m feeling pretty confident heading into game six based on how closely played the series has been up to this point. Um, and I do think that as you know, outside of maybe some officiating mischief here, um, like if the Rock if the Rockets get if the Rockets get a similar whistle to what they got in game five, it’s it’s over. But they’re they’re not going to get that whistle. They’re not going to get 38 free throws. They’ll be lucky to break 20 free throws in in game in game six, I think. Look, logically, I want to say the Rockets should win this game. I think if I was a third party fan, I might predict the Rockets to win simply because I do believe in the old Derl my adage of good teams don’t win close games, they avoid them. And the Warriors have played with fire in this series. They have won all the coin and flip games. They have not shown an ability to clearly outplay the Rockets. And so at some point they should lose a close game. The bounces should go Houston’s way. However, I’m going to be the resident pessimist because at this point it feels like, you know, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The Rockets have had so many opportunities. The first three losses all basically had the same formula. They’re right there for the taking midway through the fourth quarter and especially the latter two, the Rockets had leads in San Francisco. They just did not have anyone that could land the plane. Golden State has at least one. And now that Jimmy Butler is back, two guys that are capable of doing that. I would love to be wrong. No one will be happier in the world than me if the Rockets can finally do it, but it just feels like a game that again, the Rockets should be competitive. I don’t see any scenario short of just a crazy outlier shooting night in either direction where the Rockets aren’t competitive. But I also don’t really see realistic scenarios where they win convincingly. I think it’s a game that’s there for the taking in the last 6 minutes. And as much as I hate it, there’s a reason why we’ve talked about the Rockets not having that A1 all season long, that being a problem. The Warriors have two future Hall of Fame A1 type scoring options in Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler. I just have a hard time not picking the Warriors. Perhaps it’s the hashtag Houston sports guy in me, but I just have a tough time seeing Steph and Jimmy not be able to figure out a way to get the game to the finish line. The one positive note I will end on though, I do think if it comes back to Houston for a game seven, this is not a Sacramento situation from two years ago. If it comes back to a home game seven, I firmly believe the Rockets will win it. Who will emerge as the Rockets A1 steak sauce in game six on the road in the Bay Area? We want your thoughts ahead of game six. Let us know your thoughts, feelings, worries, concerns, hopes, dreams, all of that in the YouTube comments. Let us know. Ben, let everybody know where to track you down at. Yep. #blue skyben. But all of my coverage rocketswire ustoday.com that has not changed. We also got some video coverage on Twitter at therocketswire. That’s going to do it for another edition of Locked on Rockets. As always, thanks so much for checking out the show. Remember, the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing. Like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. The comments help us out a ton. 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.

Rockets Face MUST-WIN Game 6 | Can Jalen Green & Alperen Sengun FORCE A Game 7 Vs Warriors?

Can the Houston Rockets defy the odds against the Golden State Warriors? With the series at 3-2, the Rockets are poised for a thrilling showdown in Game 6. Key players like Amen Thompson and Steven Adams are stepping up, reshaping the dynamics of this intense playoff battle.

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by weekly cohost Rockets Wire Editor Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) to discuss the Rockets Game 5 performance, highlighting Amen Thompson’s defensive prowess against Steph Curry and Steven Adams’ crucial role in the paint. They explore strategic adjustments and the potential impact of Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet’s perimeter scoring. The hosts also speculate on the challenges of winning on the road and the importance of a strong closing lineup.

Will the Rockets evolving strategy be enough to secure victory? Tune in for expert analysis and predictions that could redefine the Rockets’ playoff journey.

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