After 4-1 homestand and statement win, have Rockets turned a corner?
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What recent changes have contributed to the Rockets' success?
Rockets fans, welcome to the Rockets LaunchPod, an exclusive podcast from the home of the Rockets. Sports Talk 790. Red Nation, get ready. The Rockets LaunchPod starts now. Welcome aboard.
Welcome back to another new episode of the Rockets LaunchPod presented by Clutch Fans and with support from Sports Talk 790, the official flagship radio station of your Houston Rockets. As always, we're your host. I'm Ben DuBose. He's Paolo Alves. It's our first episode in a couple of weeks. So as far as the full show goes, there's a lot to catch up on. We do repurpose the Clutch Fans Live post games that I do with Dave Hardesty and some special guests on this podcast channel. So... Our listeners have heard from me.
How has Alperen Sengun's defensive performance affected the team?
They have not heard from Paolo since the Rockets have at least to an extent turned their season around. When we last recorded, Paolo and I, that is, back during the road trip when the Rockets went 0-3 in Portland and Sacramento, it felt like that was them bottoming out. And at one point, they were 10-10 in their last 20 games. Well, now the Rockets are at the halfway point of the year. They're 26-15. They're back on that 52-win pace that they finished at a year ago. And so I'm sure we'll talk about whether that's a good thing as the episode progresses. But certainly the level of play since the road trip has been much better. The Rockets just completed a five-game homestand. They went 4-1. And now, starting tonight, we're recording on Thursday, the 22nd of January, the Rockets have a challenging back-to-back in Philadelphia and Detroit, made even more difficult by the fact that you won't have Steven Adams for either of those games against fairly physical and imposing frontcourts.
What impact does Steven Adams' injury have on the Rockets?
Steven is out indefinitely with a severe sprain of his left ankle, which we'll definitely talk about today as well. But because it's been a couple of weeks since Paolo and I have recorded, and I've been doing the Clutch Fans post-game shows, you guys have heard from me. You haven't heard from Paolo. So I'm going to kick it to him for the opening monologue, if you will. Paolo, how differently are you feeling about this team now, coming off that 4-1 homestand, where you did have a loss to the Thunder, in which you had a terrible fourth quarter. But other than that, I mean, you win 80% of your games. It's hard to complain about it. The most recent one was nationally televised Tuesday night. Reed Shepard looked fantastic.
You came back from 16 down to beat a very good Spurs team that... At the moment is number two in the West, but is only one game ahead of the Rockets in the loss column.
How are Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. developing as players?
Rockets back in the four seed. So as things stand, they would have home court advantage in at least one round of the Western Conference playoffs. I guess, Paolo, my question for you, how differently do you feel about this team after the 4-1 homestand? Do you have a sense of relief relative to when we last recorded on that 0-3 road trip?
Well, actually, the timelines for me work a little bit differently. And what do I mean by this? We recorded prior to the Kings game, and you can go and check last fall, and I was pretty chill about it. I thought as long as we're within striking distance of the three seed, we'll be fine, right? I had the whole thing about how what really matters is docking the Thunder in round two. And then we lost to the Kings. And all of my optimism just went away. We lost to the Kings and I was like, well, we might just not be that great or not be good at all. Because, I mean, that's just how the NBA works.
What do the Rockets' home versus road performance splits indicate?
If there is one thing that you can, I guess, fall back on. Not really followed by how much you can... Something that you can apply to basically any time in NBA history is that if you're losing to the Kings, you might be duped. And so when we lost to the Kings, I was like, well... This doesn't look good at all. And it's not like it was close. Like they pulled away middle of the fourth quarter and just never looked back. It just seemed to be another one of those games where the Rockets seem to hang in there and then don't close it out in the end.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What recent changes have contributed to the Rockets' success?
0:03–1:20
2
How has Alperen Sengun's defensive performance affected the team?
1:20–2:22
3
What impact does Steven Adams' injury have on the Rockets?
2:22–3:12
4
How are Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. developing as players?
3:12–4:14
5
What do the Rockets' home versus road performance splits indicate?
4:14–5:10
6
Are the Rockets legitimate contenders in the Western Conference?
5:10–6:02
7
What strategies should the Rockets consider for the playoffs?
6:02–7:13
8
How important is home-court advantage for the Rockets' playoff success?
7:13–56:53
Speakers
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