Dave Hardisty

So my guess is that the Rockets play this conservatively.

You give them a month off.

Because at this point, this is not a season where you're going to chase down the one seed.

We've talked about it.

This is one where you just want to get the best matchup you can and be in the best health you can getting to the playoffs.

And even if you win, say...

50 games instead of 55.

If you're healthy and you're in peak form come April, you'll happily take that tradeoff with this particular Rockets team.

So I think they'll be conservative.

And because they'll be conservative with Steven, that's why you need Jabari and also Dorian Finney-Smith.

I want to hit that home again.

Dorian taking a step forward is really big.

Hopefully they get Tari back very soon.

He's been listed as questionable the last two games.

That's going to be all the more important now that there's no Steven Adams for a while.

Well, I think he was also hurt by the decision to start Steven Adams, because I do think that Reed's a guy who benefits disproportionately from having Steven out there.

Like, everybody benefits from Steven because generally he wins his minutes, but Reed specifically because of the screen setting and the Rockets opting to start the double big for the first time in a while.

I think that was a change up that...

It's a situation where without Tari, the Rockets, I think, just wanted to play their five best guys and figure out everything else later.

And if Tari isn't available, Steven is clearly one of your five best.