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Coming up, the Knicks suffer an embarrassing loss. Wemby goes nuts and Kelly Eco is here to talk about the Rockets. Good morning, everybody. What's up, S? Thankful for Wemby and the Spurs giving us a little bit of an earlier night. Yeah. Blowing out the Lakers. Yeah, nobody played for the Lakers. Yeah. But Wemby just decided to make it his playground. It was nuts. Yeah. We'll get to that in a second. Before we get there, let's go negative. man the Knicks lost to the Pacers 137 134 in overtime and this is a stinker for the Knicks who've been pretty good 9-1 in their last 10 coming into the game it's just one of those it felt like a game that was the week of the all-star break for the Knicks like they just felt like they just didn't have enough steam yeah to finish them off and then we saw in overtime They went scoreless the first four minutes. I didn't think they were going to score a point before their little hectic comeback. I mean, honestly, it was, it was bizarre that they even forced it into overtime because it felt like the game was out of reach. Pascal Siakam missed the free throw. There was an opportunity. I think it was a two point game. Landry Shammett missed the shot. Then Carl Anthony Towns got filed on an offensive rebound, knocked down two free throws. They force overtime, but it was, it was bizarre that they even got to overtime because of how, to your point, lackadaisical, the offense looked, I mean, they shot 30% from three last night. No G and an OB, no Mitchell Robinson, which is important to note here. Like they were clearly missing some depth, which matters for them, but yeah, it was a tough game for the Knicks. And more, more than that was Aaron Neesmith locked up Jalen Brunson in that overtime. Like, don't get me wrong. Jalen Brunson still ended up with 40 points, but locked up is, is relative here. I would I would say the last like eight minutes of the game, Aaron Neesmith really, really like dominated that matchup to a certain degree. You know, again, Brunson looked like he was out of gas. Carl Anthony Towns, you know, look, you look at the stat sheet, you see 20, 22, 14. OK, had a decent game, but the defense wasn't there for him, right? Yeah, he got fouled out in this game, too. Yeah, fouled out, you know, Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier, not very happy with the way Kat's been playing. They were openly that was surprising because, you know, obviously it's a home broadcast. Yeah. And to me, that's always telling when the home broadcast is talking about a specific player. And it was, you know, Mike Breen saying that cat should really stop with the complaining to the foul, complaining on the foul calls. And then Clyde was talking about how he messed up on the offensive foul that forced him to get fouled out. A little bit of a bad call, I would say, by the referee. But I at least understand the sentiment. Like, you know, you don't want to stick your leg out. Yes. You know, on the screen. But, you know, the Knicks and they've got this is the first game of a back to back. And so they've got the Sixers tonight. You you lost the easy one. Yeah. You know, now you I don't know how you can you rest guys on the second night of a back to back now? Probably not. I don't know if that was their plan, you know, obviously. But now you like you need to pick up this win. No, of course. And these are the type of losses that are deflating if you're a Knicks fan, right? All of this momentum buildup, you just mentioned they were 9-1. They were looking good. Maybe they had turned a corner. And a loss like this kind of reminds you of some of the flaws of this team in terms of the shot quality down the stretch. It looked like it was, hey, Jalen Brunson, please save us. Hey, Carl Anthony Towns, please save us. And some of the same offensive issues that we saw last year were rearing its head tonight. and it was against a familiar foe. Right. Well, the Pacers in MSG is just something else. But the Knicks are also on this sort of tightrope when it comes to their depth because when they lose OG and Mitchell Robinson, they lose their defense. Like it is done. Their rear protection is gone. Obviously what Mitchell Robinson does as a rebounder is hugely important for them. So, you know, we can throw this one out, but it is, again, And they have struggled to keep these guys on the court, especially Mitchell Robinson. You know, they got to hope that they can stay healthy. Speaking of healthy, Wemby looked good last night. Looked very healthy. He only played 26 minutes, though. Sadly. This was an absurd game because you texted me and said, go see what Wemby was doing. Because we weren't going to cover the game. The Lakers sat everybody. Nobody's playing for the Lakers. LeBron James is no longer eligible for any awards, by the way. Yeah, that's right. He misses 18th game last night. So for the first time in 21 seasons, he's not going to make all NBA. Yeah, which is crazy. Crazy. I mean, it's basically for as long as every day, every step we say about LeBron. Now we just we add that little. Oh, it's crazy. That's just drop that. We'll make a drop out of that. It's absurd. 21 years. S, where were you 21 years ago? I honestly think the last time he wasn't an all NBA player, I didn't know what basketball was. You were in elementary school for sure. Yeah. I came into, I came into basketball at the same time LeBron James came into the NBA, you know, the NBA draft when he was drafted was maybe one of my first basketball memories So that how you know the all NBA it crazy It insane to think of Let go back to Wemby So we weren going to cover the game because the Lakers just didn play anybody, but Wemby kind of forced our hand here. Yeah. The guy is absurd. I mean, he had a great, great run in this game. 26 minutes, puts up 40 points, 12 rebounds, two steals, had a block, had a couple of assists. The Spurs look good against nobody. Yeah. No, to be honest with you, 40 on 20 shots in 26 minutes is impressive but you know what's even more impressive to me dave 25 points in eight minutes that's what he did in that first quarter yeah 25 points in eight minutes it doesn't make sense uh he was a man on the mission on nine shots he did that uh and clearly it was against again not the same lakers team i just wish we i just wish he stayed in the game because I would have loved to see him go for 60. I would have loved to see him go for 70. And we never see that anymore, man. It would be fun. I will say this with how many times he's been banged up this year and the fact that he really hasn't – I don't think he's looked totally right since he had that little knee hyperextension thing over the holidays. I'm okay with it. No, I get it. You're being pragmatic. I get it. I understand. It would be more fun, though, if Wemby put up like 90 points. Yeah. You know, I would love that. I need someone to break the record. Because I don't know if we can trust that 100 point game. Jason Tatum. A little bit more Jason Tatum news. We told you yesterday that he got assigned to the main Celtics for practice. Well, he scrimmaged five on five. Full contact scrimmage. And the reports out of the gym are that Jason Tatum looks pretty good. Yeah. Now, S, after, he said this doesn't mean he's coming back. I don't know, man. I feel like we're going to have a Gatorade commercial or something to set this up. Jordan brand is cooking. Listen, March 19th, 1995, when Michael Jordan came back against the Indiana Pacers, like I remember that day. Yeah. And I'm not going to compare Jason Tatum here to that. I mean, that's a whole different thing. But I mean, it feels like we might be building up to a big coming back moment. I don't know. Yeah, I'm hopeful. I like the fact that he might be making it a surprise because if he's playing five on five with contact, it feels like he's pretty close. Right. I mean, if that's where he's at at this point, I was looking at this a couple of weeks ago, but Dominique Wilkins came back after 10 months. Right. Yeah. And Jason Tatum is basically reaching that 10 month threshold. Now, Dominique Wilkins, by the way, was an MVP candidate after he came back from his Achilles injury and all NBA player, all star player. I don't know if that's the version to Tatum we get back if he comes back this season for the playoffs for the Celtics. But just the timeline of return would be remarkable and unprecedented. So, yeah, hopefully he comes back this season, man. Be pretty awesome. OK, guys, stick around after the break. Speaking of coming back, Kelly Eco returns to the show. You're not going to want to miss it. hey the rockets got a win against a well i would say not quite the same clippers but they were doing pretty well there for a little bit s our man kelly eco national reporter for yahoo sports the ecosystem back in the house. What's up, buddy? Hey, well, I miss y'all guys, man. How y'all doing, brothers? Miss you too, buddy. Good to have you here. You were at the game. Kawhi has been a monster recently. And the Rockets, they figured out a way to pull out a win. You know, look, they're down a couple of guys. What does a win like this look like for the Rockets in your book? Like, do you feel like this is a measuring stick game for them when they've been struggling a little bit? I think yes and no. You know, if you're in Houston's position at this point, given your team's up and down, you know, in terms of consistency, any win at this point, especially going to the break, which is going to be the pivotal evaluation period, is important. Now, granted, this is a very different Clippers team than the one you faced previously, where they were one of the hottest NBA teams coming into the game. Now everything is going to be channeled into Kawhi. You can easily put two on the ball. and forced them to play four and three. This is a much different looking Clippers team. As you saw tonight, they're having to, you know, look for offense from, you know, John Collins. They have to be more aggressive. They're trying to incorporate Ben Matherin, you know, now starting Brooke Lopez, who's a shell of himself. This is not a, frankly, this is not a good Clippers team on paper right now. So in terms of a measuring stick, I wouldn't say that this game really moves the needle for Houston, but a win is a win in the Western Conference. So I don't think there'll be any complaints for them, you know, after tonight. Kelly, we've talked so much, Dave and I, about the three-point attempts for this Rockets team and the volume in general. And they took 28 threes tonight. They made 14 of them, right? And that helped them in a massive way offensively. But is there any hope that they change or maybe update their offensive system to shoot more threes? I don't think so. And I think that's one of the biggest, that's one of the telling signs of this team. I think coming into the year, if you look at them on paper, there were, I wouldn't call them dreams that were sold, but there was this idea that if Alperen Shingun shot more threes, if Dorian Finney-Smith Jr. came in off the ankle injury and was an effective floor spacer, then you could kind of see the three-point rate go up. But as you've seen, you know, Alperen, he's more, he doesn't want to take those threes unless he really has to. He's more of a in the paint, around the elbows kind of guy. Dorian hasn't really found a rhythm since coming back from the injury. And, you know, for so long until Steven Adams went down, this team played to the identity of their double big lineup. So everything's going to be in the paint. Everything's going to be in the mid-range. They're also going to adhere to how Kevin Durant plays the game as well, which is he'll shoot threes, but he's more of a mid-range operator. So in terms of what the math problem suggests, which is why I think it could be a problem in the playoffs, A low volume three point shooting team, typically you have to be exceptional at everything else if you're not going to shoot a turn to threes. This is a math game now. And I think for tonight, you hit what was it? 14 threes, I think you said? Yeah, 14 to 28. 14 for 28 yeah Which is good But in terms of consistency you have to play a system where you getting Jabari shots early You getting Reed shots early You're getting Tari shots early. And that can oftentimes take away from what your best attributes as a team are. So I think the tricky thing for Emei and this group over the break is to figure out can we raise that level, that three-point rate, while also keeping our identity as a basketball team. So I think obviously if you look at options on the market, the buyout market, maybe some more things come in in the next couple of weeks. But frankly, this is the group that's going to be there, you know, in April. Yeah, they're not making any changes. Yeah, buyout also. Come on, Kelly. How often do a buyout guys come in and help? Right, like it's never. It's going to be like Tracy. Is Tracy McGrady going to get, you know, come and sign for the Rockets again? Look, I will say this about the three-point volume. And with Shingun, especially, like he can be like a release valve guy. And I just think what his ability to drive and then and then kick. I'm not as concerned about him being low volume. I think everyone else, though, they got to get the shots up because I know it's tough to play, you know, four round one or even like five out with KD. and ideally what they had with Steven Adams and Shingun worked well because KD has all that room to operate and you were getting kickouts to open shooters, right? Like on a KD miss, which, you know, is pretty rare. But with Shingun, you know, and we saw it a few times in the game against the Clippers, right? Almost always if he's guarded by the opposing big, he's got a foot speed advantage. He can get by him and get to the paint. Like we saw him get a couple of dunks. and I so I don't think that his volume needs to go up everybody else I mean even Reed Shepard like he only took six threes in the game I right he needs to just be gunning because he is the the guy that outside of KD is is really going to be drawing the attention out there so okay I want to swing it back and stay with this offensive thing because their identity was we were going to we were going to crush you in the mid-range and we were going to crush you on the glass and so they They were just going to win. They were going to win the math problem on twos, which is tricky. So what's the pivot since they don't have Steven Adams? Because I'm sorry, but Clint Capella and Alperin Jungun, that's not going to get it done. Yeah. So I actually talked to Kevin about this a couple of days ago, but if you go back and look at Kevin's history, the last couple of years, he's always been a proficient pick and roll player. And I talked to him about putting the ball more in his hands and allowing him to be an initiative. He talked about how everyone understands why he's on this team to make shots. But sometimes, as opposed to being a play finisher, you can be a play initiator. Put him in the ball, let him run pick and roll with Alperin, let him run maybe inverted pick and roll with a smaller guard. They've done that with Reed. Reed runs that little ghost flare screen. I mean, he just, you know. He's open for three. So they're a bottom 10 in terms of pick and roll frequency, which is, you know, in terms of high octane, you know, up to modern offenses, which is one of the Rockets calling, the things against them that's been over the last couple of years is that they've had an outdated offense, right? If you want to speed things up, get them a little bit more modern, you need a high picker rule. And put the ball in Kevin's hands. I think what would happen is that this is a Rockets team that's I think the 25th in time to shot. They take a lot of time off the shot clock. They're very patient with it. But if you put the ball in his hands, maybe you can speed things up. Maybe you can get Reed or Dorian or Jabari more looks early to open things up. And then you can go to your two-man game with Alpern and have that high-low balance. So I think if you want to pivot and you want to find another branch of your identity, I think it's a smart idea to lean on one of the greatest scorers of all time and say, hey, let's put the ball in your hands and allow you to create and see what happens after that. yeah i saw that he's got a thousand twenty plus point games now it could be a million and i would believe you um yeah he's four fourth on the all-time list i mean it's yeah no kevin durant's incredible you know what's funny about kd and and i i watch a guy in toronto and brandon ingram who tries to replicate what kevin durant does and both of those guys there's a quality that's that's difficult to get the ball to them which is they're both skinny dudes and it takes a while for both of them to fight through screens and get into the post and the post entry pass itself it feels like it's a lost art to actually get the ball into their hands quickly sure um and i think that's something the rocket struggle with it's like the timing of getting the ball into katie's hands a lot quicker compared to having him be the trigger guy in certain actions should reed shepherd start for what this team needs no i think um it's he's more effective as a change of pace guard Now, if you're looking at a situation where, and this has been something that's very confusing to me, since Steven Adams went down, they've only played, like their small ball group, the most minutes they've played is like 35 or 36. And I thought that, because Eme had said that he was going to lean more on small ball, you know, in the wake of Steven Adams' season-ending ankle injury. You haven't really seen that much small ball from this group since then. I mean, there was a couple games early on after Stephen got hurt where you kind of saw, you know, KD and Jabari at the 4-5 and Josh and the man and Tari and the ball's moving, but we haven't really seen that much since then. So going back to your earlier point about another way to pivot or another wrinkle in their offense potentially, I think going back to small ball could be an option. It's always there. I know Jabari's always talked about why he can be effective as a stretch five. He can handle the ball a bit, shot create a bit. you pair that with a KD and a smart player in the backcourt, like in the man or Reed and Tartt, now you might have optionality, versatility on both ends of the floor. So for Reed, he's more effective coming off the bench, being aggressive, going back to what Dave said. If he's taking six threes a game, that's not really why you're there. That needs to be close to the 10, the double digits, to at least force the defense to have to react. Like if defenses know that you're going to be passive and you're going to try and defer to Alper and Akady, that's not why they drafted you, brother. Like, they brought you in to shoot the liver off the ball. So I think just him being more aggressive and confident is what can be a real bench weapon, and that can be really effective in the playoffs. Yeah, it's tricky with his height, but sometimes he might need to take some bad ones. Do you know what I mean? And it's beyond just like, yeah, exactly, just to keep him honest. Con Caneple has been really good at this as a rookie already. I mean, you watch him, and he's just gunning. And I think that Reid could probably learn a lot from that Also that small ball lineup with the men that gives you another screen roll guy I mean you know that more vertical spacing Also another way to get a men going downhill which is when he a little bit more dangerous They do have options. So I'm really curious to see after they've got some time out of the break, you know, what this looks like when they kind of reassemble. Where do you where do you see that they stack up in the West? You know, do they have a shot, in your opinion, to come out and make it to the finals? To come out of the Western Conference? No. I mean, I have them in like that. They say I'm hating on the Rockets. You hear that? Dave's ears because Dave has been a Rocket skeptic for the last month. Yeah, and it's a hard – they're on a tightrope. Yeah, and I think the reason for that is not – it's just the way they operate as a unit offensively. They're 25th, I think, in offense over the last two weeks. And I'm seeing kind of similar things to last season where, you know, if you struggle in the half court and you struggle from the three, once teams understand that, have that data on you and that film, we'll see what the Warriors did last year, which was they're just going to go zone and they're going to say you have to shoot 45 threes to beat us. And if you can't, it's going to be a very long series. So, yes, I think in the playoff series, you could see Kevin Durant raise the ceiling of this team. But you could also see the weaknesses of this team be, you know, magnified in terms of like shot creation, you know, control, pace. Those slow playing teams in the playoffs, everything slows down. So it's not as if you can just rely on or a patient, you know, team that's going to probe the defense and get the best shot. you have to have a plan B, a plan C, a plan D. So do I see the Rockets as real contenders right now? No, but I think they're a very strong tier two. And in the playoffs, anything can happen. That momentum swing, if you steal a game on the road, you come out, anything can happen. But as currently constructed right now, I think they're a good second round out. I think one of the biggest questions I have for them in the postseason in general is like their fourth quarter execution, which is exactly what it was last year. like the clutch time offense starts to bog down again. And it's, it's a lot of one-on-one ISO and it's, you're not generating a ton of good looks. And Fred Van Vliet plays a huge part in that. I think getting him back would be massive. Is there any hope that Fred comes back for the postseason? I think they're hanging on to any thread, even if it's like a 2% chance, like Fred, you know, he has these personal benchmarks that you have to clear. I know you're seeing a kind of similar thing with Jason Tatum in terms of, So you want to see how your body feels. Obviously, your brain is telling you one thing, but physically you might be somewhere else. So getting to those benchmarks will give you a better sign of where you're feeling in March, April, you know, like that, if you're trying to come back because he doesn't compare to it. Fred is the toughest as nails, and he understands that this team needs him. I know you heard Alpern talk about the difference between last year and this year was Fred, and he's the organizer. Late games, he can get guys in those shots. I know he was, it's killing him to not be out there being able to play with Kevin because of all the things that they discussed in terms of schematics and get guys open and then inverted pick and roll with him as a screener and, and just being a, being a veteran presence on the floor. So is there a chance? I guess like if you want to put it on a number, maybe like a five percent chance. But as long as it's not zero, I think they'll always operate with that in their back pocket. Hey, we might get Fred back for a second. You know, if we make the first round, we come back in May or late April and give us the boost that we need. So that's kind of how they're they're moving with things right now. You feel like that played a part in them not making any moves at the deadline to go out and get a guard. OK. Yeah. Yeah. One percent. Because if you think about it, bringing in a guard is like a shiny new toy and that would have helped things a lot. But if you're where the Rockets are, you're you have to find the balance of bringing in someone that's not going to hurt the development of Reed in the men. While also is understanding that once Fred comes back, you might be on the out. So it's like, how do you find that right player? Like Kobe, why wasn't that? Because he's expecting to play. That's right. And he's expecting a contract. And I'm assuming that whoever they were bringing in, they're looking for something short term. Then they're back to the buyout market. Maybe Chris Paul, you know, if they work something out. There are players, there are these guards. And I think what they need most is, if you were to go bring somebody in, is just someone that's an organizer. I think their biggest issue sometimes is a ton of the reason why they take so many shots late in the shot clock is because they're looking for the right shot. And it takes them a while to process things in the half court when defenses are rotating and you're trying to look from Alpi to Kevin, Tari. It's a lot of stuff going on. And if you have someone that can come in to give those guys a break, a breather or two, and get guys quick shots, I think that would be a help. Now going back to the whole, do bio guys actually help? That's, you know. What you're describing is Chris Paul, though. Like if there's one thing that dude can do is organize an offense. Yeah. But, man, I just am not sure if you can have that personality come into that locker room. I don't know. I mean, maybe with E-Mail. That's a lot of personality in that locker room. That's a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot. You never know. I mean, I will say at least, you know, you look at the Houston Rockets, it seems to be everybody's pretty serious. And I think that the issues that Chris Paul had with the Clippers, that was a pretty unserious time in their season. So I don't know. I, I'm not sure who, who they can get that can actually help, but I'm certainly interested to find out. Chris Paul would be fun. Chris Paul. Cole Anthony would be Cole Anthony. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, we're going to see where that goes guys go and follow Kelly eco. he's not with us anymore he's with Yahoo Sports one of the best the ecosystem thanks for hanging out with us yeah I love you too man really glad you could hang out with us tonight and I'll see you out at All Star this weekend for Kelly Eco and S. Barahenny I'm Dave DeFore and this has been the NBA Daily thanks for waking up with us You
