The Josh Innes Show - Rockets Lose Game 4 and Probably The Series

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

The Rockets lost to the Warriors and their season is more than likely over. They lost because they can't make free throws. It's truly astounding when professional players shoot 63% from the line. Is Jalen Green a star? It's debatable. Ime made a major 4th quarter coaching blunder that I believe cost them mightily. I've got an NBA bet for Tuesday night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. The following was recorded from inside an ice plunge. Ah! Woo! Okay.

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It did. The over in the game hit. So I hit a couple of things last night. That's good. I did not hit with Jalen Green, who I said I thought would bounce back because he did in game two. Game one, he was terrible.

Game two, he was magnificent. Game three, he was terrible. I thought game four, you'd get a better showing. Instead, three of the four games in this playoff, he has scored fewer than 10 points. And for the second time, at least in this series that I've seen, he's not on the floor with the game on the line.

Fourth quarter, you got 10, 20, 15 seconds to go, two minutes to go, three minutes to go, four minutes to go. Crunch time, clutch time, winning time. And a guy who is supposed to be the Rocket superstar, their best player, face of the franchise, can't see the floor because he can't be trusted because he's played like shit in three of the four games in this series. So Rockets have bigger issues moving forward.

Now it's just good to see them back in the playoffs. That's cool. Bigger picture moving forward is they need to find another player to play with Jalen Green and they need to figure out if Jalen Green is their player anyway like I'd argue as a franchise you're not even married to this guy at this point but just looking at the game overall you look at how that game played out and you should have won it because everything if you are like you could argue that things should have worked out for you based on, well, I mean, let's think about it this way. They outshot you from three by seven three-pointers.

That's a 21-point swing. You missed 12 free throws. That's another big swing. Your best player missed almost every shot he took and scored, what, eight, nine points in the game when the guy averages 20 points a game. All of those things going against you, yet you're still in that game. In the first half, Shingun didn't do much of anything, couldn't throw it in the ocean. On the other side of things, you finally got a good game, finally got one out of Van Vliet,

who had like seven threes in the game last night so that kind of balanced things out a little bit for you with the poor scoring of jaylen green and then shangoon took over in the second half van vliet couldn't miss from three and all that but didn't hit free throws and your best player was a no-show that's a recipe to lose like you like as i said last uh going into the game, you know that Golden State's going to make somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 to 18 threes. That's just what they do.

You're rarely going to hold them down to 10, 11, 12 threes. They're at home, and they were smoking last night. 17 threes, right? So they were balling. You knew that was going to happen. What you needed to have happen, if you're the Rockets is you needed to hit somewhere in that neighborhood of 11 to 14 threes. Like you couldn't have a six three-pointer game like you had in game one. You needed 10, 11, 12, 13.

You need to be double digits in threes. You don't need to hit 20 threes, but you need to be in a position where you are doing decent from the three-point line. You were fine there. You could have used another one or two, but you were fine. You're not a team that's going to hit a bunch of threes. That's not who you are because you're not built with perimeter basketball players that are volume three-point shooters. Van Vliet was nuts. Jalen Green was a no-show. Dylan does what Dylan does, but you weren't going to get a ton of threes from everybody else. That's the other big criticism is, yes, you were able to knock down in that neighborhood of threes I said you needed

to knock down but basically one fucking guy was doing it so everybody else kind of a no-show but you expect that because you don't expect the Rockets to be a team that's going to hit 15 threes and you don't have a lot of perimeter help out there and if Jalen Green's not hitting three or four threes then you're more than likely not getting to 15, 16 threes. You can live with hitting 10 or 11 threes in a game if you're the Rockets, because that's not your game. And you can live with Golden State hitting 15 to 18 threes, because that is their game, right? So you can deal with that. What you cannot deal with is missing 12 free throws. Like, I know that this is obvious. I'm telling you obvious shit right now. What you cannot live with is missing 12 free throws.

That's the game. You lose by a handful of points in that game. You lose by three points in that game, right? You miss 12 free throws. That's the game. Even with Jalen Green being terrible and people now questioning whether or not Jalen Green is actually a star or not, and those are fair questions. Even with that, you miss 12 free throws. If you hit half of the free throws, you miss.

If you don't shoot 62% from the free throw line, if you shoot 70% from the free throw line, if you shoot 71% from the free throw line, you win the game. That was the difference in the game it's oversimplifying I get it but it's reality the reality is if you make your free throws you win the game if you make half of the free throws you miss you win the game but you couldn't do it and they're not ready for prime time it also does show you just how obsolete and irrelevant the NBA regular season is. And we talk about that all the time, but let's play some commercials and we'll continue. All right. If you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check

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the regular season and you go, all right, well, we pretty much know in the West, the 10 teams are going to be vying for the playoff spots. In the East, we know who is going to be there. You already kind of know who's fighting for the spots and where they're more than likely going to be. Teams check out. Teams rest players. That's why don't get caught up in seeding when it comes to the NBA. You have to look at point spreads, lines, and everything else.

I took the bait on the Rockets because I don't believe that Golden State is that good. If Golden State plays a team that can go tit for tat with them from the perimeter, they will struggle more. If Golden State has to play in Oklahoma City, who by the way, I'm not totally sold on them either. Same with Cleveland. I know it's great to sit here and fall in love with these teams because they want a shitload of regular season games I don't believe that Cleveland's a long haul great team and I don't know that Oklahoma City is either they ran through the regular season you give them the right matchup and kick them in the mouth a little bit who knows look the Grizzlies who are an undermanned team relative to Oklahoma City went pound for

pound with them in game three and game four of that series got the shit kicked out of them in games one and two but they went pound for pound with those guys and that's a Memphis team that fell off a cliff in the last two months of the season so take that for what it is but like I don't think Golden State is particularly good either and the Rockets even with minimal three-point shooting minimal perimeter threats best player doing dog shit and and 12 missed free throws, the Rockets are tied with a minute to go in that game. So I'm not sitting here telling you that Golden State is some sort of juggernaut.

They are clearly better with Jimmy Butler, but they're not a juggernaut. All that said, that series is over. Regular season, though, it gives you false hope. The Rockets are not the second best basketball team in the West, but they were the number two seed. The Grizzlies a month ago were the number two seed in the West, then they fell down to the play-in. This shit happens. But you got to look at talent on the floor, right? That's why a lot of people were all over the Lakers to beat the Wolves in that series series because the Lakers have LeBron and the Lakers have Luka and you're like well hell LeBron and Luka hell even Luka alone gives you a shot to

beat Minnesota and now they're down three games to one in their series so take it for what it is but the regular season isn't that special it doesn't really tell you a lot and the Rockets need I mean I know I'm writing them off and saying the series is over the series is over I've seen the Rockets rally from 3-1 before in the past I don't believe it's going to happen here I don't think they have the scoring uh you know again the over under in this series the games over unders are like 201-202 these are low scoring games the Rockets lack firepower they lack a second star and. And debatably, they lack an actual star. So to look at what they were able to do this year is actually kind of remarkable being that it's not

a team loaded with veteran star talent. Also, playoffs in the NBA are where it's very beneficial to be a veteran type of team. Now you look at the Rockets and you go, there's Steven Adams, veteran guy. There's Dylan Brooks. There's a veteran guy. There's Van Vliet. That's a veteran guy. And for the most part, I think those guys have been pretty steady and consistent. Although Van Vliet was out of his mind in game four, for the most part, Van Vliet is going to do what he's going to do. Dylan Brooks is going to do what he's going to do. Steven Adams, by the way, is a difference maker, and they shouldn't have taken him off the floor with about four and a half minutes to go. The Warriors went on a little spurt when he came off the floor, and they took him off the floor because the Warriors started the hack-a-shack deal on him.

And I think that the Rockets panicked there that spot because they didn't even give Steven Adams a chance to keep getting fouled and at least attempt a couple of free throws guy's not a dreadful free throw shooter it's not like he's a career 35% free throw shooter the guy can hit 65% of his free throws which by the way the rest of your team's fucking terrible at free throws too you're the worst free throw shooting team in the league and you missed 12 free throws yesterday. But if they're going to keep going at Steven Adams, at least let them get to a point where they foul, get into the bonus and take him to the free throw line and see what he does for you because he's that important to you defensively. Guy had like four block shots and it seemed like every one of those started happening in the last

handful of minutes of that game when he was in the game in the fourth quarter making big defensive stops great rebounder great offensive rebounder particularly and he was a force defensively protecting the rim then you take him out of the game and you lose that presence and then I think that's when the Warriors kind of started getting a little bit more of a groove back there again and you obviously didn't want Steven to come out because you put him back in under two when they couldn't intentionally foul you. Which, by the way, why even have intentional foul penalties

if when a team is literally intentionally fouling someone with five minutes to go in the game, it's not called an intentional foul? Like, this is just one of those little things that I find fucking annoying. I find it annoying that that like, if you go up and like you whack somebody on the arm, you'll call that's, you know, you'll put up the X, say that's an intentional foul, right? There's an intentional foul. These fouls are all intentional

fouls. When there's a guy that gets the ball across mid court and you fouled him to try to force him to shoot a free throw or late in the game, when you have to foul to extend the game, those are all intentional fouls by definition they are intentional fouls yet we don't call those as intentional fouls it's preposterous another thing that's preposterous is that Draymond Green and Dylan Brooks they each had one technical they end up calling Draymond for a flagrant foul later in the first half. Why is a flagrant foul not the same as a technical foul? Like, why is it like a technical foul? Like some guy says, fuck, let's just say a guy says, man, fuck that. And the ref tees him up. Like that's

inappropriate. A guy slams the basketball. That's a technical foul. That's not right. Or you yell at the ref technical foul. All all right so if you get one more of those you're tossed out of the game how is it that a flagrant foul which in theory is actually more dangerous in the situation could hurt somebody how is that not something that goes towards ejection like I'm not rooting for the guy to get ejected I don't want like bad games to happen because good players get tossed. But that was a loophole and they found the fucking loophole in that scrum and they gave him a flagrant instead of giving him a technical. They could have given him a technical and had he be out,

they knew that they kept him on the floor, which I'm fine with. But how is it that a flagrant doesn't go towards ejection? So do two flagrants equal an ejection? Or can you just flagrant foul people as often as you want? But I think the Rockets panicked when they took Steven Adams out. You should have at least let them keep fouling him and see if Steven could make them pay for it. You didn't even give him an opportunity to make them pay. Let's say he goes to the line once and misses both of them.

Tough shit. There's four and a half minutes to go in the game you can make up for that but at least let him go to the line and see if he can make a couple of free throws if he doesn't take him out but by taking him out when it was clear like before we can even see if he's going to make because earlier he made a think one or two free throws even if he splits the free throws each time he goes you're getting a point every time you go down the floor and they can only do that until uh two minutes anyway so in that situation I'm at least letting him have the opportunity to shoot let him foul because they fouled him twice and you're like oh we gotta get him out foul him one more time send him to the line. He's a pro. He's an 11 year veteran. Let him go to the line.

He shoots 65% from the line. Like the rest of your shitty team. Let him go shoot two free throws and see how it goes. You're not going to lose the game based on that possession. And he just may hit him. And then all of a sudden you've got two points and your best defender in the paint is still on the floor. Taking him off the floor for two and a half minutes at the end of the game was a bad decision. Do I think it's the main reason they lost? No, the main reason they lost, they can't hit fucking free throws and their best player didn't show up. That said, I was reading some story about the NBA and streaming and how they feel like online stuff is better for them maybe than over the air. And I don't know how

things work in your place, but the local channels here are so bad when it comes to watching games in high definition, like basketball looks terrible. NCAA tournament looks terrible. TNT looks terrible. And I know that there's something to do with like the way the shit's compressed when it comes through. Like I don't fully understand all the shit that happens in television and broadcast and what happens to the picture but i know that when i watch these games on streaming sites they look fantastic like i've got a high sense tv it's one of the newer ones um you know it's not like you know high-end tv it's like one of the better low-end mid-end type of HD TVs. But we were watching the game last night on HBO Max, and it looks fantastic.

If I was watching that same game on the local cable affiliates, TNT, it would look like shit, and it's unwatchable. And I know that there's some official reason for that. There's some technical reason for that that I don't fully understand because it's not something I follow, but it looked fantastic on TNT. I want more options to stream sporting events. We have the NBA League Pass, and you watch those games on the League Pass, which is on the NBA app on there, it looks crystal clear. You watch those same games on the league pass which is on the NBA app on there it looks crystal clear you watch those same games on NBA TV it looks like shit it looks like like whenever you try to plug in a Nintendo 64 on a TV now and it just looks terrible like it looks like that like it does not look good and it's I find it difficult to watch I don't want to watch it because it looks so bad like if we watch our

local ballet sports here, carries, it's strange because we're in a weird area. But if the Indiana Pacers are playing, we get the Indiana Pacers. If the Grizzlies are playing, we get the Grizzlies. If the Cardinals are playing, it overtakes all that. Then there's like an alternative ballets channel or the blues or whatever. But if you watch hockey on the ESPN plus app, the hockey looks amazing. You turn hockey on, on NHL TV, it looks like shit.

So I am a proponent of more digital shit, more options. I say digital, but more streaming shit. I'm a big proponent of that. That'd been, I just, I want to watch sports that look good on TV. It's 2025. I don't want to have to be bitching about the picture quality. And that happens on everything, man. Anyway, is there anything worth betting on tonight? Let's take a quick look at the NBA for some bets here. Last night was pretty good, other than the terrible job we got out of Jalen Green, who was dog shit last night. Let's see, we got four games tonight. I think the Celtics close it out tonight,

and I think there's value in taking their team total. They've been very low because of the Orlando one, because Orlando can D up. The total for the Celtics is 104 and a half. I think Orlando's done. I don't think this is going to be like last night's Miami game, by the way, because Miami got beat by 50. I think they got beaten by like 122 points in the series, which is an all-time record. They got their dicks knocked off last night from the jump. That's what I thought would happen. Not that they lose by 50, but that Cleveland would crush. Cleveland's team total last night was 109.5.

I had that in a parlay. Cleveland's team total hit in the third quarter. Ty Jerome hit a half court three at the end of the quarter, the over hit on that. So it was done after three quarters. The Celtics can score 130 on any given night. They went on the road and they took the best shot from these guys. I mean, they've lost a game, obviously. They took the two best shots you're going to get, which are home games for the underdog. They play scrappy. They're physical. They foul you. They scratch you. I think tonight the Celtics come out and put up like 115, 120

points to just close this fucker out. I think Orlando had their shot. They cut it to two to one, had their shot, kept it close in game four, lost that one. I think we go back to Boston and this is a route tonight. I think Boston finally shows up and just kicks ass, mostly because I think once you fall down three, one and have to travel again, like it's one thing if you're down three, one, and you're coming off a win to stave off elimination. It's another, if you were down to one, then lost at home, going back to the other place.

I think Boston does not want to go back to Orlando. That's the last thing these guys want to fucking do. They want to take care of business. It's one thing. I was hearing people say this about the Thunder when they were up 3-0 on the Grizzlies. Game four mattered to them, but they were going back to Oklahoma City

whether or not they won or lost. Well, Boston doesn't have to go back to Orlando if they win. So I think Boston's going to kick ass tonight. Their team total is 104 and a half. I take that. I think tonight's probably also the end of the Pistons. I think the two games that they played in Detroit that they lost narrowly, I think they're kind of like the Rockets in that they're missing other pieces, particularly perimeter pieces. They can get days that they can get Tim Hardaway Jr. to hit a bunch of threes, but that's not consistent. Malik Beasley hadn't done a fucking thing really in this series. And Kate Cunningham, who's a solid player, who is a solid budding superstar, is fine.

But I think tonight the Knicks, they're in in a similar situation the Knicks do not want to go back to Detroit all Detroit wants to do is get it back to Detroit because they have to go there anyway but I think the Knicks are going to win this what's their team total on this one Knicks team total 109 and a half that's not bad either uh Pacers and Bucks I think this is one where the Pacers all these are all very similar 3-1 series for the home team. I think all of these, although not the Denver, the Denver Clippers series has been great, but Bucs and Pacers, I seriously doubt that Giannis wants to keep playing basketball. He doesn't have his, his, his wingman with him because Dame ripped his Achilles. So he's out. This feels like a day that the Pacers are just going to beat the shit out of these guys. And

that's all she wrote. So I think we're going going to see four we're going to see three closeouts tonight so there you go uh all right we will do some more