How high can the Rockets reach this season?

How high can the Rockets reach this season?

[Applause] Good morning and welcome to the NBA daily for November 6, 2025. I’m Dave Defor here with Zena Kada. Coming up, the Thunder loses for the first time this season. We’re going to talk about that a little bit. The Lakers get a big win over the Spurs and Will Gillery is here to talk about the Rockets start to the season and what the heck is going on with Jaw in Memphis. Good morning everybody. Good morning Zena. Another busy Wednesday night in the NBA. Too much stuff to cover, Zena. I know. We’re not going to have time to talk about the ridiculous Donovan Mitchell game. Anthony Edwards was back. We don’t have time to get into that. We’re going to talk about that like probably next week. Uh because he had a loss. So, we’ll keep that to the side. It was a loss. But the reason is because the Thunder lost their first game of the season unexpectedly. You know, when we were looking at the schedule trying to figure out when are the Thunder going to lose, none of us thought, hey, second night of a backtoback. That’s my bad. I I just didn’t look at the schedule sharp enough. Um they also sat some guys. All right, so Chad was out, Alex Caruso was out, Lou Dort was out, but you know, the the Thunder were not just out of this game. They were up 21 to uh excuse me 41 to 21 at the end of one Zena. Like they looked like they were just going to blow them out. It was supposed to be business as usual. And I thought you were being funny there when you said we didn’t look as sharply at the schedule. Of course, Shaden Sharp did pretty well, but his teammate Denny Abdia, who’s been on a tear this season, just being a great offensive focal point for Portland, 26 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, just one off from that. And then particularly 15 of 16 from the free throw line. And then it was a bench conversation. You just talked about the fact that OKC didn’t have the depth that they typically have. Well, the depth for Portland is what really changed the game here. uh thinking about Jeremy Grant, 20 points off the bench. And then also uh a name that most people don’t think about, Dwreath coming off and scoring 12 as well for Portland. So they really uh surprised a lot of folks. Probably not them though. They’ve had this grit about themselves. Um in every game that they’ve played, it’s always been pretty competitive this season so far. And so I know OKC is going to go re recoil and get together and figure out what happened in this game. But really, second night of a backto-back, you can’t put too much weight on it. Yeah, they look tired. on the second night of a backto-back. Again, after that big jumping out to that big lead, they blow it and then down the stretch, the Blazers just hit more big shots than they did. So, um and then they the Blazers did get a little bit lucky uh that Aaron Wiggins toe was on the line and didn’t give up three free throws uh there at the end of regulation. Um the Lakers pick up a win over the Spurs who the Spurs have been, you know, one of the bright spots to start the season. Victor Wimmanyama though, this is back-to- back rough games for him. You know, we talked about the the Phoenix game the other night where he only had nine points. Uh this game, you know, a little bit better, had 19 points, but five of 14 from the field. And and Zena, I want to start with with Victor Women cuz he fouled out of this game. They could have they they maybe win the game if he’s in there down the stretch, but we don’t see him struggle very much. Like even in his rookie year, like he would struggle, but next game bounce back. We haven’t seen him put together two, you know, a bad game and a mediocre game like this. It’s been a minute. Um, what what do you think about how the Lakers uh approached uh Wemi? What I thought was that coaching staff’s pass tape around literally ever since we saw what Phoenix did against Victor Webbyama, making him uncomfortable, crowding his space, making it really tough for him to catch without an arm coming across him. Like I I did feel bad for Victor as I’m watching the game. like he’s getting hacked. Um as as anytime the ball went inside to him, but if you’re quick about it and it just looks like it’s just a flurry around him, you’re not going to get those calls and Victor just had to be a little bit stronger. Um but it was a it was a tough game. You could see the frustration that one dunk that is going to keep being played over and over and over again happened after a made basket. You saw Victor Webbyama almost had this like assertion of himself like no we just got scored on. I I refuse to come down again and not be a part of my team success. Sprints down the floor immediately seals in the middle of the paint. Tries to get open. Has to re relocate after he got bobble. He had to bobble the ball because he got pestered again. Gets to the corner. Does what he does. Assesses the situation. Pump fakes. Goes down baseline. Yams. But that was like the only time that we really saw him consistently assertive in this game versus what we saw on the opposite side of the ball from Maluca Donuch. So yeah, the the frustration is happening because he knows he’s getting pestered. He’s getting hacked, but now he’s going to have to find a way to fight through all of that because everyone’s got the tape. Yeah. Yeah. He made life hell for DeAndre Aiden when he was on the court, but Aiden wound up having a pretty nice game. Uh was really effective when when WBY wasn’t out there. Um, Luca was crazy. Um, Luca, Luca in this game, 35 points, had nine rebounds, 13 assists, five steals, which is a careerhigh, two blocks. Um, you know, just the guy continues to just be on a tear to start the season. The Lakers look great. They didn’t have Austin Reeves. Um, that team has some pretty good chemistry. I really especially like the way that Ruy Hachimura plays off Luca. Uh, it’s very interesting. And then one more note from this game, Zena. Uh before we go to break, there were 66 foul calls and 84 free throws. This is absurd. The season has started off the complete opposite of what we had going on last year. Bring back the physicality. Let these guys play. Victor Whimmanyama, no wonder he was frustrated. Yeah, all these guys should be frustrated. There was just too many fouls. It was a little bit tip for tat um all night long. There was I like I you know Sakus was busy all night long. Have you seen that meme where that guy has a cell phone to his head and he’s like mad and he’s like calling the authorities. That’s what I felt like the referees were the whole night just holding their ears waiting to see if the caucus what they thought of this player, what they thought of this call. It was just like h okay and it kind of ruined the rhythm of the game a little bit. And you also saw that for the Spurs, you know, this Spurs team that’s been going up and down the floor and most of their matchups coming into this one, it disrupted a little bit of their momentum and and you could see them getting a little bit frustrated. Yeah, it it was very much uh a game of calls. Uh but Luca Don, you know what, even with that, he still dominated and it was a phenomenal effort for uh the Lakers for sure. Yeah. Again, it’s just it gets to be a tough watch when it’s just a a parade to the free throw line, you know, and and again, to start the season off, it’s just kind of crazy. I mean, look, just put it in perspective. Harrison Barnes is not a guy that that commits a lot of fouls. He hasn’t fouled out of a basketball game since the 2015 2016 season. Since January 25th, 2016 when he played for the Golden State Warriors. State Warriors. Wow. And he fouled out of the game last night against the Lakers. Let’s clean this up, guys. Referees, please. Put the whistles away. Uh guys, stick around after the break. We got Will Gillery who was in the house for Houston and Memphis. We’re going to talk about Houston start to the season and what’s going on with the Memphis Grizzlies and why it’s not just about John Morant. [Applause] We’re only a couple weeks into the season, but our man Will Gillery finds himself in the middle of every interesting thing happening in the NBA. 2 and 0 Pelicans the the last two games, right? They’ve won two straight for the first time since February. That’s the team you used to cover. Uh you cover the Rockets for us now. And they played the Memphis Grizzlies who look like they didn’t want to be there last night. Will, how’s it going? Yeah. People who usually follow me on this podcast though, I I usually come on bringing the bad vibes with me. Whether it’s uh what’s going wrong with Zion Williamson, how bad the Pelicans are, who’s getting fired. Uh but now it’s nothing but good vibes. in the Will Gillery universe. The Pells are winning, the Rockets are winning, my UNO privateeers are getting dubs to start the year. So, it’s nothing but good vibes for me right now in Memphis. Uh, well, look, good vibes. Um, we’ll talk about the Grizzlies in a minute. I I want to talk about the Rockies because the vibes are good, right? They’re 5-2 to start the year in spite of desperately, in my opinion, missing Fred Van Vleet as their point guard. You know what I mean? That the plan was pretty clear that that he was going to be the starter. and you can see where they miss his organization. But a game like last night against the Grizzlies where KD doesn’t really have a great game that stands out to me when especially they win it handily. It didn’t really feel even when Memphis started to kind of creep back in the game. It it felt like the Rockets could always just put their foot back on the gas. And I I want to talk about that a little bit because we’ve focused so much of our time the last few months on Kevin Durant and then the lack of a point guard that we’ve sort of missed a little bit of the forest for the trees. They’ve got a bunch of other guys. I mean Amen Thompson and Alprren Shenon have been excellent to start the year. No, both of those guys have been playing at an all-star level. There’s no question. I mean Shenon was an all-star last year and I think he’s been even better this year uh with the way he’s kind of running the offense, scoring in the paint. uh he’s been effective when they go double big, when he’s the center and kind of the guy the the guy running the show. Uh it’s been extremely impressive. And also some of these other role guys around them, Jabari Smith has been really good. Uh Josh Kogi hit three threes uh in the game against Memphis. Um they Steven Adams has been fantastic this year. here. I think they’re getting contributions from everybody and and if and we’ve had some kind of, you know, a couple moments where we’ve seen KD, but KD through these first six or seven games hasn’t really been the full Kevin Durant that we expected in Houston. And I think that’s really the scary part because they’ve won five in a row. They’re playing extremely well. Could easily be six and one right now if they won that OKC game to start the year. Uh so that they’re figuring things out and getting wins along the way. Uh which is exactly what you would want if you’re a Rockets fan. It’s kind of crazy. There’s a few teams around the association that you would say are still trying to figure things out and Houston’s definitely one of those. And the fact that they haven’t even really clicked on all cylinders just yet is scary times. I mean, I’m looking at even Tar East starting this season, we were kind of like he’s forcing it a little bit, right? He wasn’t really clicking with the offense last night against the Memphis Grizzlies, four of eight from three. Um getting rebounds, all the above. I love Will that you wrote an article about Houston’s offense and just talked about the things you kind of just laid out. Albert Shangon being that hub, being a passing big, uh KD obviously being able to get to his spots. But we know we know that Houston was a great offense last year and they were capable of beating teams and the question was is this going to be enough when teams scout them and they can play really great defense against them. like is it going to be enough that KD is a great scoreer and Alpin Shenon can back folks down and get to his spot in the post. And so my question is looking at Amen Thompson putting up 26 shots last night. Is there more of an opportunity to carve something out for him to be more of a primary scorer? Um not just when you know KD’s not having a great night, but just having him be more of an primary option in the offense. No, I think that’s the really the fascinating part about KD being a part of this team now because you said they were a really good good offense last year and I would say they were really good in transition and they were really good after offensive rebounds, but when it came down to really slow down and execute, I think they struggled at times and we saw that against Golden State in the first round of the playoffs last year. And I think what you saw in that Grizzlies game in particular is yeah, KD missed a lot of shots, but even as he was missing shots, the Grizzlies were still sending two, three bodies at him every time he touched the ball. And that opened up stuff for everybody else. And if you go back and look at a lot of those Amen Thompson shots, they were shots directly at the rim coming off a swing swing, him getting wide open lobs, him getting wide open dump off passes in a dunker spot because KD draws so much attention when he’s on the court even when he’s not shooting the ball well. Teams have to send multiple bodies at him to slow him down. So I think that’s really a a weapon that this team didn’t have last year, right? or even with Shenon playing at an all-star level. Uh just to having that guy in half court situations who can not only score but can draw double teams consistently that can give you open shots for Tari East and give you open shots for Ahmed Thompson. And that’s been making them much more efficient in half court situations and frankly makes them really scary come playoff time because we know what KD can do uh come playoff time but in the past we’ve seen where teams force him off the ball. some of the guys around them haven’t necessarily come through. But now we’re seeing these guys getting more and more comfortable finding their shots, getting the right spacing. Uh, and this team can be really dangerous because it’s not just KD, but when you get the ball out of KD’s hands, Shenon is so dangerous as a passer, especially and he’s starting to draw double. Exactly. Exactly. Right. He’s starting to also draw the attention of the defense and that’s where things are the geometry of the floor is changing for everybody else. And that’s a men is going to benefit from that greatly. If if he can stick shots, great. But if he can continue to put rim pressure after those guys getting the ball, I I think that that’s where they’re really going to find a lot of success. Another place that they’ve been successful, I mean, we knew that they were coming in that their intention was to play big, be big, and and Kevin Durant, by the way, is is 71. And we don’t think about him as being big, but pretty big. All right, so they’re huge. I don’t think he wants you to think that he’s 71. Yeah, I know. You know, he’s 613. They’ve got Steven Adams. They’ve got Shingun. Clint Capella was giving them good minutes last night. And kind of a down night for them on the glass. They only grabbed about 31% of their misses. Um they’ve been grabbing like 40% of their offensive rebounds this season. And you know that is that would be far and away more than anyone in NBA history. That is a great game plan because taking more shots, having more possessions is huge. But is that sustainable? You know, where are the where are the easy buckets going to come from for this team? Yeah, it’s funny that you bring that up cuz if you go to the athletic.com, I got a story about that this morning about their offensive rebound. I appreciate the plug. Um, but no, I think you’re exactly right that this was the number one team in offensive rebounding last year, right? Uh, so they were really good at this last year and like you said, they’re even better this year. And I think a big part of it is that, you know, Steven Adams is fully healthy now. They’re just playing big all the time. Uh, they’re running double bigs. Clink Capella and Spot Bennett has been really good for them. Uh, and I think this is going to be their formula. They want to grab a whole bunch of offensive rebounds. They want to bully teams in the paint. uh they want to force you to size up against them where a lot of teams want to size down. They want to size up all the time. They want to have bigger guys on the court. And you’re right. I mean it and it’s kind of what we talked about before last year that wasn’t a formula for success because when we we get to playoff time and Katie kind of talked about this recently. You got to make shots, right? You got to have a guy out there who can make shots, who can in tough moments against tough defense put the ball in the basket. And they just didn’t have that last year. Not enough against the Steph Curry uh Warriors. and now that they’re hoping KD can kind of solve some of those problems and maybe a improved version of Amenops and an improved version of Alper and Shenon can get them across the finish line. But you’re right, they need some of these other guys to make shots and I think in particular three-point shots when you’re talking about the Tari East of the world, the Josha Kogis, where they’re going to eventually get Dorian Finny Smith back. They need those guys to knock down threes so you can create that space for your best guys because we’ve seen them figure it out with these double and triple teams, but it’s hard to live that way. Like you said, having your best players fight off two, three guys consistently. So, those other guys have got to make shots. Uh, but we’re going to continue to see this group attack the boards at a record pace. And I don’t know if other teams really just have the size to contend with them. I love the intentionality that the Houston Rockets have when it comes to offensive rebounding because it’s one thing to be able to get to the glass, but they’re also leading the league in offensive box outs and I think that that just goes to show just how much of a game plan it is for them to ensure that they’re getting those and grabbing those. There’s also a level to this and I wonder how much well this has come up. Like we’re talking about hitting shots, but let’s just be real. The reason why I asked that question about Amen and the, you know, 26 shots, his shots are coming off of him in open space, beating his defender one-on-one, it’s those are like the quote unquote easy buckets that we’re finding. It’s coming off of being athletic, right? Being crazy good on defense, turning the ball over, going the other way, being crazy good on the glass, jumping over people. I mean, that one shot we saw of Aman Thompson dunking the other night and his three teammates looking at him like he’s Jesus coming back to earth was insane. like this is what this is what they do. So it’s like how much have they talked about yeah our athleticism kind of outdoes the fact that or outpaces the fact that we’re not maybe offensively perfect just yet in terms of hitting shots. I look at these two teams and like Houston Dallas both teams have size but one team’s just a little bit more athletic and you’re seeing the outcome of that. How much can you rely on that aspect of it going throughout the season? Yeah, that Dallas thing. We could do a whole pot about that or what the what the heck is going on in Dallas right now. You need guards, will. It turns out dribbling is important. Dribbling is a key part of basketball. It turns out um but no, I think I was having this conversation with somebody in the media section last night at the Memphis game. I really do think Aman Thompson is one of the the the craziest athletes I’ve ever seen on a basketball court. Uh because we’ve seen guys who can jump, we’ve seen guys who are fast, we’ve seen guys who are quick. He’s got it all. Uh, I mean, the way he moves on the court is unlike what you see in a league where the most athletic people in the world play and he makes them look slow at times. Uh, the way he can just just move so quickly and get to his spots and just kind of soar through the air and kind of figure out what he’s going to do once he gets there. Uh, he’s having a really incredible past couple games. And I think, man, when you watch him, it still feels like he’s got so much more room to grow with the jump shot, with his handle, learning how to actually run a team and be a true point guard. Uh he’s so good right now. He he’s so impactful with the way he can, you know, do things on offense and defense, but he’s still got so much room to grow. Uh which is impressive. And I think uh I think you got to give EM Udoka a lot of credit for the way he’s figuring out how to put Amen in advantageous spots where some coaches will probably be like, “Hey, give him the ball and let him figure it out where now they’re like, “Hey, we can stash him in the dunker spot and let him take advantage of the doubles that Shang’s drawing. We can sometimes allow him to run the offense in transition or, you know, bring it up a little bit.” They they they put him in different spots where it doesn’t feel like he has to do things where he’s uncomfortable doing right. You don’t see him taking a whole bunch of jump shots or coming off a million pick and rolls throughout games. They’re putting him in spots where he’s comfortable, where he’s getting the shots that he wants to get. And I think that’s what makes him so dangerous. Uh because like you said, he had 28 against Memphis and I don’t think he took a tough shot the whole game. I mean, it was just easy. But 28 on his athleticism. That’s fair. The whole teams 26 shots. All right. Like we we got to bump the efficiency up a little bit. I will say it is wild that in 2025 a guy had 26 shots and only three threes. You know, the three-point volume for this team is going to be an issue at some point. Like basketball does become a math problem, especially when you get to the playoffs because those offensive rebounds that they’re relying on right now may not be there. You know, I I’m I’m worried about what they’re going to do uh in the half court when the shots don’t fall. And part of that is that they just don’t get up enough of them right from from deep. They shoot a lot of mid-range and that’s fine for now. Um, and that’s going to win them a bunch of games, I think, in the playoffs, too, because they’re ready to take those, but I do worry that three-point volume is going to kind of bite them uh once they get to the playoffs if they don’t figure out some shooting. All right, you you saw Memphis last night. I I want to talk to you about the Grizzlies because you’re in the building, right? You got eyes on them. It’s, you know, we’re on jaw watch basically. You know, we we’re breaking out the fake jaw trades. Josh said that he’s kind of lost his joy. Um in the postgame press conference, uh Tomas is easil, uh the Memphis Grizzlies, he was talking about how he feels like, you know, they’ve got three guys in the half court that are not moving at all times. They their energy is up and down. They just they’re inconsistent. That’s the way it looks in the eye test. What was it like in the building, you know? Did did you feel anything from from Jaw the Grizzlies? Like did you see anything? I it was really just stunning is the only word I can really think of cuz you know I was here last year you know when this team was making their run to the playoffs and during that first round series against Oklahoma City and you know the usual John experience is him roaring at the crowd you know running 100 miles per hours up the court talking trash to the other team and and in that Houston game it just felt like he was just kind of there like he wasn’t really into the game there wasn’t any point where it really felt like he tried to take over or inspire his teammates. It just kind of felt like he was going through the motions again, which, you know, this whole thing started because he was going through the motions against the Lakers and his coach called him out for it. Uh, and it feels like just whatever’s going on hasn’t been resolved. Uh, they still haven’t figured it out. And we can talk about the other guys, but let’s be real, they’re following the lead of their two best player. Their two best players are not engaged. They’re not aggressive. Uh, I mean, against Houston, Jiren Jackson had one shot attempt in the first half. one. I think he finished with five for the game. Six for the game. I mean, he just he just wasn’t there. And John Morant took way more, but he was much he his efficiency was in the drain. He was just taking a whole bunch of jumpers. It just It’s funny sitting in the arena. And what I love going about going to Memphis is that we actually sit courtside unlike, you know, 95% of other NBA arena. So, we’re actually able to hear stuff. And during the game, you hear Christmas man like, “Come on, y’ can do it. Come on. Pick it up.” And it’s like they’re trying to hype up J to kind of be the J that they’re used to and they like they just don’t recognize this guy who’s out there who’s in the past has put this franchise on his back. I mean, that’s why the people in Memphis love him so much because he’s carried this team and that’s he kind of took pride in being the guy who put this team on his back and right now he’s just kind of there and I don’t know what you do to fix it. I don’t know what the problem actually is. That’s kind of the weird thing. We don’t really know why he’s acting like this right now and why it’s kind of bled over to Jiren Jackson as well now. Um, but it’s a major problem and and I don’t know what you do to fix it. And I think it’s just like I said, it’s stunning to watch because what we’ve known this Memphis Grizzly team for, especially at home, is they just kill you with their energy and their pace and the way they attack the paint and it’s just gone now. It it just doesn’t exist with this team anymore. And I don’t know how they get it back. I’m going to take a sigh. I’m also going to take the devil’s advocate position here. Okay. Put my player cap on here. And this is for the both of you. Yep. After that Lakers game and you know, everyone saw the clip of Blake Griffin, you know, properly criticizing but also building up John Morant and how his body language was in that game. We all tal we talked about it. Dave, you and I broke it down. It did not look good. Absolutely. So, I immediately when I watched this game tonight, I had particular goggles on. I wanted to see number one is John Mar doing the little things, the things that you don’t necessarily get paid to do but will absolutely change the game. Are you engaging with your teammates when they do good things? Tapping them on the way back, get tell them good shot, etc. Are you rotating in help defense? Are you even trying to find out where you should be in help defense? When the shot goes up, are you turning to your man to touch him or check him before he goes to the glass? These little things I was paying attention to because he was not doing it against the Lakers, but I noticed, okay, he’s doing them. Not tremendously or not super like energetically, but he’s doing them. You just said, will this whole lack of energy on offense has happened to Jaw, but it’s also bled over to Jiren Jackson Jr. I would say it’s bled, it’s bled over to everyone. I started looking at that offense a little bit. The whole team looks Thank you, Dave. The whole team looks like they don’t know where they’re supposed to be the second that someone gets the ball at the top of the key. And I’ll give you I’ll give Jaw this. Another thing that we saw, yes, he had a lot of pushed and forced uh you know, jumpers in the mid-range, but in transition, he was looking for folks. We saw some pretty, you know, uh alleys that he threw to Jock and you know, getting things going on in transition, whatever, but he was looking. It just no one’s cutting. The only person that was cutting was Santi Alama. Cedric Coward would bleed out to the wing. Um, you saw Vince Williams Jr. doing that. You saw everyone kind of just being like, “Oop, someone’s in the middle of the paint. I I’m not sure. Let me not get in the way.” I’m starting to look at this and say, “Okay, we’ve been evaluating Jaw with this backdrop that might be bigger than Jaw, which is, do y’all know what y’all are doing on offense?” And I just want to know, is it unfair bias? Yes, we we saw that game. But is it now unfair bias that we’ve already got our eye on Jaw trained to see him not be energetic in an offense that I’m now taking a step back and being like this ain’t just jaw. I’m seeing everyone kind of looking like I don’t know raise hands. I’m not sure where I should be, where I should go, should I cut? And I think it’s ultimately impacting how we’re evaluating him in this moment. I think it’s that’s a good observation. I mean, you know, again, like we it’s not just Jaw. It’s just that we are used to seeing Jaw at 11 and when we we’re seeing Jaw at like three and four and it’s not even the primary action with Jaw, right? Like he he is still doing things. It’s that when he gives the ball up then what? But as you as you said, there’s a lot of that. It’s kind of it’s a bunch of guys on that team. starts to make you think, well, maybe they’re missing Desmond Bane. Maybe Desmond Bane was sort of the glue. Yeah. Now, I was going to say I remember Taylor Jenkins at the start of last year saying, “Hey, we’re too John Morant dependent. We need to have more movement, more ball movement, more spacing, more guys cutting off the ball, and we need to be less pick and roll every single time and dependent upon J.” And what happened was guys said, “No, we don’t want to do that. We want to be the Jarant team that we’ve been in the past. So, they’ve gone back to 100 pick and rolls, everything going through jaw, and now we’re saying the offense is stagnant. Guys are uninvolved. And I think Zena’s right. You got to be able to find a happy medium, but also I think this was the issue last year was that they didn’t want to be this team. They wanted to have more movement. They wanted to have more cutting and the guys kind of rejected it. Uh, so now we’re here with Tomas Isola. And I like I said, I don’t know how you kind of put the genie back in the bottle now where you you tried this experiment where they they revamped their offense. They had some success, but they eventually just collapsed at the end of last season and now they’re kind of doubling down on, hey, we’re a jamarant pick and roll team and it’s just not working. Uh, and I think you’re right that those others guys have to contribute. Uh, but we know this is the NBA, man. This is a star league and your your your role players follow the lead of your stars and the stars just aren’t doing enough right now. Yep. Well, you know what guys, maybe Zack Edy will fix all of this and we’ll just forget any of this ever happened. Uh guys, go and read Will Gillery over at the Athletic. He’s going to be covering the Rockets, but of course, good source of information all about the NBA. Thanks to Zita Kada. I’m Dave Defor. This has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for waking up with us. [Music] [Music]

Dave DuFour and Zena Keita breakdown the Thunder’s loss to the Trailblazers and Luka Doncic’s impressive night against Wemby and the Spurs. Then, Will Guillory joins the show from Memphis to discuss Houston’s start to the season, Kevin Durant’s struggles, and why there’s more to the problems in Memphis than Ja Morant.

Host: Dave DuFour
With: Zena Keita and Will Guillory
Executive Producer: Andrew Schlecht
Audio/Video Producer: Grayson Moody

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/

Full Episodes Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEuhZTLf0SW9N9etjaRh-KK7zRgKUOQ9l

Shorts Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEuhZTLf0SW8NBkdA2krD_sHQfI7Uhn4r

Timecodes:
00:00 – Intro
00:29 – Thunder lose a lot sooner than we were expecting
02:54 – Lakers beat Spurs, rough game for Wemby
05:10 – Luka continues great start to the season
05:51 – Bring back the physicality, too many foul calls!
08:11 – Missing VanVleet, KD’s start, others shining
11:29 – Rockets’ offense
14:17 – Continuing to be number 1 in offensive rebounds
16:57 – Athleticism is key
20:58 – The Grizzlies energy is gone

Thumbnail: Alex Slitz / Staff, Kenneth Richmond / Staff via Getty Images

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