Ben DuBose

I'm just curious your thoughts on some of the narratives of the past week because certainly it does feel like there's some meat being left on the bone offensively and you can nitpick exactly how and when they're using Reed Shepard.

I get that the collapse against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden was very frustrating and if you make one or two plays different, one or two substitutions different, the whole thing can change.

Yet at the end of the day, like the Rockets have had all these injuries, and even with the loss today, they're 37-22, third in the Western Conference.

They still have a game buffer in the loss column, which is what matters, on the Denver Nuggets.

Rematch with the Nuggets coming up in a week and a half in Denver, that will be a big game.

And even with the loss today, look, they just wrapped up a 3-1 week.

I believe they're 14-7 in their last 21 games, so...

You know, we sort of, you know, hit the panic button when they went through a 21 game stretch right before that when they were 10 and 11.

Well, now they're 14 and 7 in the last 21.

I don't know that they look like a championship contender, but I mean, at some point you do have to look at the overall results and, you know, 37 and 22, number three in the West, three in one week.

I mean, it's tough to be.

As I see it, too despondent, especially when, you know, there's reasons to believe for all the criticisms of Ime Udoka over his young NBA coaching career.

Like he's a guy who has shown an ability to have his teams playing the best ball late in the year.

You know, two years ago, they had the 11 game winning streak when Jalen Green broke out in March.

Last year, they had the nine game winning streak and the double big took hold.

His one year in Boston, they started 25-25 in late January, and then they were 26-6 over the final 32 games of that regular season, February, March, and April, and then they went on to the NBA Finals.

So as frustrating as it is, it feels like after that Knicks game, a lot of people just sort of said, well, the narrative for this season, it's already set.

This team is what it is.

But historically, that hasn't been the case with Ime Udoka.

Historically, his teams have shown an ability to sort of find that extra gear in the second half of the season.