Paulo Alves

Perhaps he's a playoff riser, just like Shingun theoretically could be.

But looking beyond the big names, further down the rotation, I'm curious your thoughts, Paolo, when the playoffs open for the Rockets on the 18th or 19th, and I'm going to confidently say that because there's four games of separation plus the tiebreaker between the Rockets and the Suns, and there's only eight games left to play, seven after tonight.

So no, I do not see, you know, it's not mathematically impossible, but the Suns would have to win out and the Rockets go three and five or worse.

That's...

extremely unlikely.

Not impossible, but that's just like Shingun in the three-point shot.

That's one of those we'll cross that bridge when we come to it situations.

I don't think it's something you should plan on.

So I think the Rockets are going to finish somewhere between three and six, probably four and six because they're three back in the loss column without the tiebreaker against the Lakers.

So when they open the playoffs on the 18th or 19th, I'm curious, Paolo, your thoughts.

Does Ime Udoka stick with Reed Shepard?

Does he go back to Tari Eason?

And also, does he stick with Aaron Holiday and Ja'Sean Tate in place of Josh Takogi and Dorian Finney-Smith?

What are your thoughts on those choices?

The logic I'm going to employ is a bit flawed, but obviously it's a small sample.

And I'll preface it by saying, yes, I know Tarisa had been struggling for a while before I say what I'm about to say.

But the truth is, since the swap, both are playing worse than they were playing before.

I think that's fair.

So it doesn't make it in from a logic standpoint, from a lineup standpoint.

Since before the change, I had always said that it didn't make that much sense for Reed to start because Reed and Shang-Goon defensively is rough.