The Athletic NBA Daily
Sengun & Rockets stun Cavs | Is Jimmy Butler worth it for the Suns?
23 Jan 2025
The Houston Rockets handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their 7th loss of the season thanks to two late by Alperen Sengun. Dave DuFour and Es Baraheni react to the chaotic finish in Houston, the Pistons climb up the standings, and Jimmy Butler’s suspension. Then, the Athletic’s Fred Katz joins the show to talk about his interview with OG Anunoby, the Pistons (again), and whether Jimmy Butler moves the needle for the Suns.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Es Baraheni & Fred KatzExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson MoodySubmit your questions to The Athletic NBA Daily mailbag: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5939460/2024/11/25/nba-podcast-mailbag-athletic-daily/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full Episode
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for January 23rd, 2025. Coming up, Rockets Cavs had a crazy finish. We had Pistons making it into the top six. Hey, S, look at you. And we went long with Fred Katz on OG Ananobi and Jimmy Butler's fit in Phoenix. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, S. Morning. Fired up. Oh, my God. From Cavs Rockets. Yeah. What a finish. What a fun game.
I mean, listen, this is one of the times where, yes, the referees were involved in the finish. Yeah. But it made it very exciting, I think, like in a certain way, like it was chaotic. There was some theater to it. There was some theater. Yeah. Well, it was crazy. Break it down for us because there was a lot that happened. Sure. We had challenge calls. We had fouls that, I mean, I thought...
The foul against Jared Allen, I thought that was going to get reversed. So give me the rundown. Just break down the last minute and I think six seconds, right? Because that's when the chaos started.
Yeah, so obviously the Rockets went cold in that fourth quarter. That's what allowed the Cavs to storm back. I think they went like five minutes without scoring the ball. And so a couple of big Fred VanVleet threes got them into it. They kept the Cavs at bay. And it was like a minute six left. Shangoon finishes over Jared Allen, then pushes Jared Allen over. They challenged that call.
The refs determined nothing happened there. They're like, all right, no play, whatever. On the next possession down, Allen fouls Shangoon on a loose ball. Two free throws for the lead. Shangoon goes to knock down both free throws, makes them both cold-blooded, right? Up two. And then on the other end, the Rockets foul Darius Garland on a three. Tari Eason steps in his landing space.
They actually upgrade the foul to a flagrant foul. So three free throws plus the ball. But it should have been at that point. It's like Darius Garland. Great free throw shooter. This is the end of the game. But no, Garland misses two of his three free throws. Cavs try to win it, lose it. And the Rockets survive. Insane.
Tari Eason. Tari Eason running off the court. Like he stole something. Yeah.
Like the Eric Fisher game winner. Right.
It was amazing. Like, honestly, like this was one of these games where, and we've, we've talked about the rockets a lot. I mean, we've been really high on them. They're a lot of fun to watch. I mean, Thompson, by the way, makes a clutch steal at the end of this game and, and, and creates this win this team.
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