Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Guten Morgen. Welcome to the NBA Daily presented by Amazon Prime. I'm Dave DeFore here with Espera Henne. Coming up, the NBA's in Berlin. Our man Joe Varden was there. We talked to him about the Magic-Grizzly game. The Thunder win another statement game over the Rockets. We got to talk about them. And the Bucs got embarrassed again by Wemby and the Spurs. Good morning, everybody.
How's it going, S?
Guten Morgen, Dave. I tried. I was going to jump the gun and do it ahead of you, but you got me, man.
You got me. I mean, listen, this is, again, why I get the medium bucks around here. Sure, sure. Listen, it was a pretty fun game in Berlin. The Magic wind up winning that game. I want to just talk about the Anthony Black dunk with you. We talked about this with Joe Varden, but... S, this is one of the best dunks I've ever seen.
Chapter 2: What were the highlights of the Thunder vs Rockets game?
Yeah, it really is. It dunked on four guys. It doesn't even make sense, man. It really doesn't make sense that he dunked that ball. Like, it should not have been possible, you know? We watched something that just was not supposed to be possible happen. And the crazy thing is, I think...
that was what helped the magic win the game it was all tied and he had a dunk in a clutch moment it's always a little bit extra when that clutch when that dunk happens at a big moment like that you know basketball is a momentum sport uh you know it's it has the wild swings for that reason you know this is why i hated when when the grizzlies were hot early on the magic switch into the zone i thought that was a mistake they were too hot you have to actually pressure them and get them to not shoot um anyway we we went deep on that game with joe after the break but
Hey, look, the Thunder and Rockets met up last night. This is back-to-back big games for the Thunder. And once again, they step up and they show how dominant they can be. They win this game 111-91. Shea gives us Alexander, another 20-point game. Where are we at now? How many points? Games is that in a row? 112 or 113 from what the broadcast was saying. So he's like that range.
Yeah, he's a little over like he's in double digits, I guess, like 12 or 13 away from the record. So obviously we'll be keeping an eye on that. But as I actually don't want to focus on the Thunder because the truth is the Thunder, they won playing Thunder basketball. I want to focus on the Rockets because you've been telling me for the last few weeks that the Rockets are elite. All right.
They're top 10 in offense, top 10 in defense. We know how good the rebounding is. But every time I watch the Rockets, which is pretty much, you know, I watch a lot of their games, I'll say like, you know, four out of five of their games. I am astounded by the rebounding. It's incredible.
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Chapter 3: How did Anthony Black's dunk impact the Magic's win?
But I am also astounded by the fact that they took 24 threes in the game last night. And all of their good offense seems predicated on getting an offensive rebound first. That's it. There are no plays being run. There's no easy buckets. There's no system buckets. It's go be the system. Please, Kevin Durant, get a shot. Amend Thompson, make something happen. What am I missing?
What's the eye test missing from this team?
Well, look, I think the offensive rebounding is crucial, but it's worth noting that it's the defense on the other side of the ball that also keeps them in games, like very much so in a different way to the Oklahoma City Thunder defense.
The Rockets are going to rely on the defense keeping them in the game, their offensive rebounding to match whatever the other team is doing on the offensive end so that they can kind of game the math battle. It's a little bit gimmicky. I won't deny that it's a little gimmicky. But what the Rockets thrive at is, hey, we are going to take more shots than you on any given night.
Tonight they took 15 more shots than the Thunder. They ended up still losing because to your point, they got destroyed in a three-point battle. Yeah, the volume is just not 16 to 7 in terms of made threes, 41 to 24 in terms of attempts. Jabari Smith Jr. tonight made half of the Rockets total threes. Yeah, that's just that's not sustainable. It's called a math problem.
It's a math. The math just isn't there. And this is where an offense matters. even if it's just high pick and roll, I mean, an offense matters, getting that penetration into the paint, getting a kick out, getting good looks. They just don't do that.
Well, but that's, that's why they need a guard. I mean, there's so much pressure on reach effort to be that guy for them. I know there was some hope that a man Thompson could eventually become that guy, but they just need a table setter, an organizer. And to your point about the, the shock creation, you could see it in the fourth quarter, the,
quality of the shots that OKC was getting versus the quality Houston was getting on every possession. It was night and day. And me and you, we've both had our gripes about OKC's half court offense. So you're not comparing special to bad.
You're comparing like a mediocre to good half court offense in OKC that can get stagnant sometimes to the Rockets where it feels very reliant on Kevin Durant isolation and Shangoon isolation. And if both of those guys aren't dominating, they're just not going to win. in a playoff series, right? It's shot making is what they actually rely on.
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Chapter 4: What challenges are the Rockets facing this season?
Well, you mentioned the offensive rebounding, the shot advantage. It was 23-7. The Rockets beat the Thunder in offensive rebounds. Again, it's their game, but no Isaiah Hartenstein out there for the Thunder, and you have to think that that would have helped a little bit. Great check game today, too.
Yeah, fantastic check game, which actually maybe we should talk about because we hammered Chet when he had a bad game the other night against the Spurs, and he was excellent in this game. He had 18 points. He had nine rebounds. His defense is... Yeah, he was great.
I feel like we focus so much on the flaws in his offense that we overlook the fact that this guy is a defensive player of the year caliber defender around the basket, four blocks in this game.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy because he's giving you prime Rudy Gobert defensive productivity. And yet all of our eyes are kind of glued to the offensive side of the ball and how much more he can tap into there. It goes to show you how special of a player he is, because if he ever does get to that point offensively, you're looking at a consistent all NBA type of player.
But I think he's an all star this year. I think just based on how much OKC is winning, he's been their second best player. And you look at what he provides on the defensive side of the ball. If Wemby misses games here, Chet is the defensive player of the year. Like, there's no question in my mind.
And yeah, that's that's I mean, he had six stocks tonight and it felt like he he had way more than that in terms of the deflections and just rim deterrence he had all throughout that game.
Another game for the Bucs and another blowout. The Spurs ended this game early. The final score didn't even matter. It was a 35-point game going into the fourth quarter. 37-point game, excuse me, going into the fourth quarter. It started out in a very weird way. Early in the first quarter, you had Giannis and Wemby kind of collide knee-to-knee.
Giannis missed the rest of the first quarter, came back, started the second quarter. Wemby missed the first quarter. Did I say Giannis? Yeah. It's fine, though. Whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm reading. Yeah. Excuse me for that. He came back. He was totally fine. Yeah. And beyond fine, actually.
Yeah.
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of the Rockets' rebounding strategy?
It's funny that we're just talking about Chet because I think it's a similar situation there, but we're more in awe of some of the ridiculous things that Wemby accomplishes on the offensive end. Maybe Chet needs to tap into some of that monk wisdom. Maybe if Chet follows Wemby's lead and shaves his head like the rest of the Kings in this world.
Shave that head, Chet, and maybe we'll find your game more offensively special.
Look, I will say everybody should go and read Jared Weiss's piece. on the Jackals and Wemby and the fandom in San Antonio. But there were two of the ultra fans that were getting interviewed in this game when it was a blowout. And they had shaved their head this morning. Yeah, it's pretty funny. Because of Wemby and Kelden Johnson. And it's just, it's so cool to see a team buy into them like that.
Yeah. And yeah, I mean, the actual basketball side of things, Wemby was regularly dominant. And the Spurs just destroyed a lifeless Bucs team. Like, we texted each other throughout this game. We're like, they look dead. They look like they have no interest in playing this game. And, man, what perfect timing in terms of the trade deadline coming up in a couple weeks.
I mean, if you look at their last three games, they lost to the Nuggets without Jokic. All right. Yeah. I mean, we talked about how tough they are. They got blown out by the Timberwolves, blown out by the Spurs. And, I mean, yeah, that's the Western Conference. But if you're Giannis and you're looking at this team, like this team is not going anywhere. Mm-hmm. I don't know what they should do.
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Chapter 6: Why are the Rockets struggling to create easy scoring opportunities?
That's a foregone conclusion, though. At this point, I think he knows that. I think Doc knows that. I think the rest of the team knows that. They're just kind of like on a dead pirate ship at this point. You know what I mean? Like a ghost ship sailing through the Atlantic trying to find ā Yeah, exactly. It's like, where are they leading this thing to? I don't know.
Do you think this means that we're we're accelerating a process towards a trade in the next?
I don't know. It's getting sad, though. I mean, watching watching Giannis get blown out is not fun. But also, I mean, this is not the first time I'm sure someone can tell us. Probably not the first time in his career he's been blown out a couple of nights in a row. But I don't think that this season there was the anticipation they were going to be this bad from from themselves.
I mean, I wasn't sold on everything they did. I thought they needed a point guard for sure. I don't know. It's just it hasn't worked out. And again, I'm going to swing back to this. You keep trying the same thing over and over again. Eventually, you're going to have to probably move Giannis.
The question now is, do you try to move him here at the deadline or do you hang on and do it in the summer when maybe you have more options?
Or do you dig yourself deeper and trade for Zach Levine and Joe Morant and Michael Porter Jr. and hope they solve the problem?
I don't know. Honestly, listen, if the Bucs were to do that... I can't blame them. Is it smart? No, but does it need to be smart?
Yeah.
Yeah. It's Giannis Antetokounmpo is the greatest player in your franchise's history. And if, if you have to act desperate to try to keep him fine, man, go out there and beg in the rain, do whatever you need to do. Right. Hold up the boom box. I don't care. Like I, I can completely understand wanting to keep Giannis and I fully support it. Double down, do something dumb, keep them.
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