Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor and Tom Haberstroh break down why the season has gone sideways for the Houston Rockets .Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
View more
Advertisement
Video Transcript
Tom, with Houston because they lose both games against LA.
They’re 0 and 4 in the West ever since the All-Star break, 0 and 4 against the top six in the West.
They’ve lost against the Spurs, the Nuggets, and twice against the Lakers by an average score of 125 to 105.
They’re getting roasted- by the best in the Western Conference.
Is this recent Rockets skid a big deal?
yeah.
It’s a huge deal.
I never thought So I wrote on “Tom the Finder” about how important Steven Adams, he was the most important player on this team when he went out with his injury.
And I had no idea it would be this important.
Advertisement
Like, they’ve lo- completely lost their identity.
They used to play bully ball, and now it’s, it’s not nearly that.
I don’t wanna I- it’s a different word, that I would describe how they’ve been playing defensively.
and just their identity has not been nearly, to the extent of what their identity was.
I- or they’re searching.
They’re absolutely searching.
And Tari Eason, dude, he’s 0 for his last 21 from three, right?
This team was already starved for three-point production, and it’s just the Kevin Durant show every time down the floor.
They have no other reliable scorers.
And really, it shouldn’t be that Reed Shepherd, a second-year guy, 21-year-old Reed Shepherd, is the swing factor for this Houston Rockets team.
Advertisement
But Amen Thompson has- can’t create, Jabari Smith can’t create, and they are looking completely overmatched against these teams.
It’s a huge problem.
And look, it’s, it’s a team that I think when Luka Doni is just way more e-energized and locked in defensively than your team, it’s a statement.
Like, when Luka missed that three late in the game and then ran down and stepped in for a charge that was deemed, a blocking foul ’cause he didn’t get there in time on Alperen engn.
Hell of a play.
I was like- Hell of a play Luka doing that?
How many guys on the Rockets are doing something like that?
And it’s Luka, the guy we’ve been dogging on all season for not giving those kinda efforts defensively.
And for me, it just looks like this Houston Rockets team is going by way of the other Kevin Durant-led teams, where it’s just they don’t look like they like each other right now