Michael Shapiro

And maybe they're starting to reap the rewards now.

That's how I'm looking at it.

And it might be that this is the key to unlocking the peak version of Reed Shepard because the conundrum all year has been, you know, how do you get the clear advantages on offense?

How he can sort of equal out the math game from three while surviving the struggles on defense, at least at times.

Well, then maybe the added physicality and versatility when you have all those wings is how you can bring out peak Reed Shepard.

And as far as this game, to transition beyond just individual players, because I think before we close out, we should highlight the team's performance overall.

This was such a big win.

I had talked to some people inside the organization.

I mean, certainly they're aware of the noise.

And so to sort of push back on the PR tidal wave in recent days, the last thing you want to do is lose a couple of games coming out of the All-Star break.

And they have a challenging one on Saturday night in New York.

And now it feels like it's a great opportunity

But it's not the end of the world if you lose it.

Whereas if you had lost this game and you're potentially steering a two-game, would have been a three-game losing streak in the face, sandwiched around all this burner stuff, then yeah, that's the kind of environment where it can spiral.

Now I feel like it gives the Rockets an opportunity to catch their breath.

And we know they have, you know, a two-game homestead next week against tanking teams.

So now all of a sudden it feels like the floor, those two games, Monday and Wednesday, neither is back to back against the Jazz and the Kings.

So it sort of feels like the floor coming out of the All-Star break is three and one in your first four games.

And then I think the five or six after that aren't that difficult either.

So they've got an opportunity to sort of stack some wins.