The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Fall 3-1 To Golden State, Will There Be Hope For Houston? Astros Take the First Game Of The Series

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Rockets Fall 3-1 To Golden State Will There Be Hope For Houston? Astros Take the First Game Of The Series

10.02 in the a.m. here on Sports Talk 790. Hello. And welcome in to a somber, sad, depressed version, a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Hello, welcome in the Matt Thomas show. It is a Tuesday edition with Ross, by the way. That is me. I am the Ross. Matt Thomas is traveling with the rocket. is out today. I'll be joined by Chris Gordy at some point for segments. I would be joined by Adam Clanton as well later on in the show.

We'll get Joe Espada later on in the show. We could talk about the Astros who actually won a game and have us feeling good. Definitely want to talk about the Rockets, of course, as well, and anything you want to get to. Phone lines open. 713, 212, 5, 790. 713,

212 5, 790. I will preface everything that I'm about to about these Houston Rockets by saying I am a Houston Rockets fan through and through. I'm a Houstonian through and through. I love the Rockets. I want them to win. I think they're going to bounce back from this organizationally either

if not within the series in the next couple of years. They're a really good team with a really good coach and I trust their general manager to do the right things going forward. That being said, how do you shoot 62% from the free throw

line in an entire series. How do you shoot this poorly from the free throw line? How do you have these opportunities in front of you and squander them with no Jimmy Butler on Saturday? And in the game last night, if Jalen Green just shows up

a little bit, if Alpern Shingoon makes a few more of those shots, he scored 31, he had a great game, but he took 28 shots. He missed that push shot at the end of the game. And he wasn't a lot. He was lacking in efficiency all game. On a night where Fred Van Vleet was absolutely out of his mind, he goes eight of 12 from three. You have to capitalize on that game. You have to capitalize on Jimmy Butler being out on Saturday. You can't lose both of these games against

a Warriors team that is very good and has good players. And as I mentioned, Brandon Pajimski went off on the other side. Jimmy Butler was very good. He was a perfect 12 of 12 from the free throw line. but I think we can boil it down to a number of things, but let's start with the free throw line. They went 20 of 22. You went 19 of 31. 19 of 31. And you can't do that. You can't do that and expect to win a game.

You lose by three. You miss 12 free throws. Nobody assumes 100% efficiency from the free throw line, but you got to. to be better than the Rockets were last night. A little bit of it was, I mean, look, Shingoon went 7 of 10. That's a pretty good number for him. I'm not that sad about it. But I'm in Thompson missing a couple.

Jalen Green missing a couple, including one for a technical foul. And then you had some bench guys each miss one as well. You just added all up and you just can't, you cannot shoot what they did in this series and expect to win in the playoffs. And I understand they were the worst free throw shooting team in basketball, 30 out of 30 in the NBA in the regular season. But it wasn't this bad. It wasn't to this level because, yeah, I'm sorry, 63.2% they're shooting from the free throw line. They were horrible in the regular season and it wasn't even close. They were 30th and there was a big goal between 29.

But they were at 74%. You're at 63%. Four games in. four games in, you're still shooting this poorly from the free throw line. How can you do that? And what is going on with Jalen Green? I mean, I don't even know what to say anymore. I put this out on my Twitter account last night,

or actually in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep because I was on postgame until 1 a.m. And then I just am staring at the ceiling because the rocket squandered another opportunity. Jalen Green in the fourth quarter, seven minutes and two seconds played. Zero points, zero rebound. zero assists, zero blocks, zero steals, zero turnovers, one personal foul. You racked up just about as many stats as Jalen Green did last night, and he played seven minutes in the fourth quarter. Seriously.

He was pulled within three minutes of the third quarter starting when the Warriors went on a crazy 18 to one run, and he was a disaster in the first quarter when he was turning the first quarter. when he was turning the ball over like crazy. He racked up five turnovers in 25 minutes. Three of those came in the first quarter. A couple of them leading to transition buckets with the Golden State Warriors. I mean, you can't have that happen.

You can't have it to happen in the way that it did happen. When he's getting turned, when Jalen Green turns the ball over, when he's being aggressive and he's going to the basket and he loses it or he gets caught in traffic, it's like, you know what? I kind of understand that. It's not the way I wanted to go, but I understand. When he is just pulling the ball up to the half court lazily and Buddy healed is just poking the ball away and going the other way,

that is not acceptable. Or just dribbling lazily at the top of the key and just completely loses the ball out of nowhere with very little ball pressure. This is the NBA. This can't happen. And it did. And very clearly, Emilio Doka said,

I do not think he gives me the best chance to win tonight. And he didn't. And so he hardly. played. Of all the starters, every starter over 30 minutes on the floor, Jalen Green got 25. He finished with eight points, three rebounds, one assist. Now again, I will say, I like Jalen Green, I like the Rockets, I want them to win, but very clearly, if this continues, series in and over, but it's, look at close, Rockets have some decisions to make. And that decision is one of those big decisions in the offseason, although I don't even know

what kind of leverage they're going to have to trade or move on with Jalen Green because of the extension they sign him to is where is Jalen Green's ceiling and how close is he to it? He is 23 years old. In my mind

he's gotten better every season as an overall player. The points per game numbers haven't gotten better every season because he had 22 points per game in his second season and he was at 21 points last this past year. But he's gotten more efficient.

He's gotten stronger. He's gotten bigger. He's gotten more aggressive getting to the basket. I think his playmaking ability has improved as well. It has been incremental improvement from Jalen Green. I do want to make that clear. I do think he's a much better player than he was when he first came into the league. But it's been slow going.

We've been waiting for a leap in improvement. We've been waiting for a big jump to where he establishes himself as a superstar. are. And he does make plays that make you say, whoa, this kid can hoop. He's a hooper. He's a baller. And you look at his highlight film. Jalen Green's highlight film looks as good as anybody's in the NBA. But it's the lowlights. It's the inconsistency. It's not doing it night in, night out. That's what separates the good from the great. And that's what separates the great from the all-time great. It's how often can you turn in those performances? And very clearly, Right now, it's not happening for Jalen Green. So the question the Rockets have to ask themselves is, is this our superstar, one of our top two players on the team for championship success going forward? And I don't have the answer for you right now. You know, a recency bias, three of the four first playoff games he was in says no.

but we've seen guys come in through their first playoff experience and take some lumps and improve and get better from there. That's the glass half-glass-half-full approach I can give you if you'd like that, hey, it's going to get better. He can't be much worse. He played himself off the court. He's going to learn from this. He's still young. And four games, excuse me, four years into his NBA career, he's still just 23 years old. NBA players do not peak at age.

23 and you don't really peak around age like 27, 28, 29, even 30. So I understand patience is wearing thin for many of you. And I just wonder how they feel about it inside the building with the Rockets because last night was, I mean, it was abysmal. There's no other way to put it. Three times in this series, single digit scoring performances. the one time you won, he went off for 38. And that's been the Jalen Green experience.

And it was frustrating to see last night from him to, I honestly was shocked when I went back and looked at the box. I said, he played seven minutes of the fourth? I didn't even notice him. Then you look at the scoreline, you're like, oh, that's why I didn't notice him. He didn't rack up a stat. So he's got to be better. Albert Schengoon was very good, especially in that stretch when Draymond Green went out. But he's got to be better.

and you couldn't capitalize on Fred Van Vleet just completely going off. And tip of the cap to the other side, Draymond Green played great defense despite playing a lot of the fourth quarter with four fouls. Jimmy Butler was really good and perfect at the free throw line,

and then Brandon freaking Projemsky was going off, which was something that was a storyline coming into the series. This is not crazy for him to be dropping 26 points on 6 of 11 threes. So you add it all up, Rockets don't capitalize on the opportunities. Jalen Green doesn't play well.

They miss a lot of free throws. You're down 3-1 in the series. Coming back to Houston on Wednesday, 630 start here on Sports Talk 790. How are you feeling about the Rockets? Is Jalen Green, are you ready to move on? I know a lot of you feel that way. And I'm not going to blame you. How close is he to his ceiling?

And I just think it's foolish to say his career is over at 23, and this is as good he's ever going to get, but I also understand the frustration of watching him go through the growing pains and hoping for bigger leaps in projection rather than the small incremental improvements we have been seeing. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-790.

It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Matt Thomas is out. I am here. Chris Gordy will be hanging out. As I mentioned, Adam Clinton will be hanging out. Joe Espada. come by. We'll get some gut feelings and we'll get you at 713-212-5-790. You can also send tweets to at SportsRV. We'll be back after this very short break. Matt Thomas show with Ross continues.

Without Matt Thomas. Ross very out with you. Jonathan Allen hanging out. Chris Cordy, I don't know. Maybe he'll be here. Maybe he won't. Who knows? We shall see. You can get into the phone lines. 713, 212, 5, 790, 713, 212 5, 790. I just try to, as a fan, and especially as I get older, and I see more and more things, I see that as things happen in sports, it's not all at once. Things take time, players need time to develop, players get better, players improve, and then when the time is right, they either have reached their full potential or time to move on. And I'm going to be honest

with you. I don't even know. I don't know like, like I said, a lot of you are like, oh, Jalen Green it's over. It's done. His career is over. And I'm like, and maybe I'm just being Jedi mind-tricked by the highlights that he can make and how well he can play and even literally in this series,

dropping 38 points. We're talking after game two. We're talking about how great he is and how good of a job he did carrying the rockets with their backs against the wall, down one-0 in the series. leading to win to not head to Golden State in an O2 hole. But you collect more data and then you get a bigger sample size and you have more reason to make decisions or formulate opinions.

And these last two games, I mean, and adding it with game one, I mean, if we take game two out, which you can't, you cannot, is a 38 point game. It's huge. We're talking about seven points, nine points, eight points. And this is for a guy that's score. It's not like he's some great ball distributor. If Fred Van Vleet's scoring six points, he's probably got like 10 assists. So he can do that. He's not tasked with being the engine of the offense as much as Jalen Green is.

But you can't have these no-show performances. You can't have him just playing him. He played himself off the floor with the bad turnovers. I think at some point Coach Udoka was like, you know what, he's hurting us more than he's helping us. We can win without him. We're going to go and try to do it. And they're one shot away. But this team is better with Jalen Green on the floor at his best.

You're just not getting him on the floor at his best consistently enough for a coach Udoca to continue playing him. As is, he's averaging 15 points per game in the series, shooting 39% from the field, 31% from 3%. 60% from the free throw line. It's not good enough. It's not. 713-212-5-790. The phone number, if you'd like to get in 7-13-212-5-7-90. Cameron is on the phone lines.

What's up? Ross, I'm going crazy, man. I don't know. I feel like we are Ciccifis and the Warriors are that freaking rock. Oh, no, please don't say that, Cameron. you're probably right, but I wish you wouldn't say it. Jamie Butler's got a broken butt, and it goes perfect from the free throw line, man. Like, listen, I'm overweight, I'm functional fat.

I've got no business being on a court, but you know what I probably could do better than then right now? Shoot a free throw. It's insane. I'm going crazy, man. Props to Adams and props to Thompson because they were putting in a lot of effort and Van Fleet, too. But with Jalen Green, he's like following the James Harden Playbook, ball out in the regular season, be a bum in the playoffs, and then ball out.

at treasures. I'm out. Well, I don't know about that. I don't know if Jalen Green is heading to the strip club after the games a la James Hardin. But honestly, I'm going to tell you, that comparison's not fair because Jalen Green hasn't touched anywhere near to how great of a player James Hardin was. He just hasn't. James Hardin won an MVP. James Hardin is a multiple-time scoring champion. James Hardin is a multiple-time assist champion.

and whether you like it or not, he's going to the Hall of Fame. And deservedly so, if you ask me, he changed the game a lot with the way that he played. Clutch shots, game winners. No, he missed a lot of clutch shots, and he had a lot of dud performances for sure, so I understand that. But James Harden had a lot of big playoff moments.

Harden the good outweighed the bad. Jalen? I don't know. Well, you don't know, but Coach Udoka knows. Coach Udoka said, I do not want him near the floor in the last three minutes of this game. And he wasn't. So in that moment, in that game, Coachima Adoka, who is around him in every practice, every meeting, and has been around him now for two years, said, my team is better off having Jalen Green off this floor than on.

And that's problematic for the Rockets organization going forward. I didn't like the shot. I didn't like the Shingoon shot. I thought that was a kind of. And he had made some nice buckets all night, but I'm like, dude, game on the line. It was a little bit too far. You would like to be a couple of feet closer for that one-handed push shot. But also, he gets muscled up by Draymond Green. That's another thing. Look, Alper and Shingoon were giving him a pass because he had 31 points,

but he took 28 shots. It's not like he was 12 to 28. He's been shooting consistently all year. For somebody who takes no threes and is a 6 foot 11 big man, you should be shooting over 50% from the field. And he wasn't over. Now he's very close to over 50%, but early in his career is 55%.

He's gone down. and field goal percentage for three straight years. And one of the things we talked about with Alpi is him missing those easy bunnies at the rim. And that was happening last night. It was a big problem in game three. It was at least better to where when Draymond Green got into foul trouble, I mean, he feasted. He was just scoring on everybody and he was unstoppable.

Problem is, Draymond Green checks back into the game and he's largely ineffective because Draymond is just too smart and positions himself well and he's too strong. and exactly what happened on that last possession is what Draymond Green does to him. He keeps him out, those extra couple of feet out from the paint. That really limits his, I mean, it's like exponential. Every extra foot Alperin gets away from the basket, the least effective he's going to be all the way out to the three-point line where he's a very poor three-point shooter. I'm re-watching that last play. Don't do it.

When Chingoon misses. Dylan Brooks is just hanging on the wing and Jimmy Butler is his guy. And so Stephen Adams has good positioning under the rim, but Jimmy Butler comes over from the other side, and Dylan Brooks is like five feet away from. Like, you don't even give yourself a chance. It's basically like we were either going to win it with that shot or it's game over.

As Jimmy Butler goes and gets the rebound, that's it. Because he had missed a free throw all night. Like he was making everything. So you know as soon as he gets the rebound, you follow him, he's going to make the next two. It's going to be a three-point game. Like, it was 6.2 seconds left, too, when that ball kind of rims out.

I just I don't know man In hindsight it's like I'd rather you all crash the boards This is the game This is the game If Alpern does not make this bucket And they get the rebound it's over I mean you got Jabari and Adams in there

But they're getting boxed out I mean it was it was a good job by the Warriors And good defense by Draymond He puts his arm up He doesn't follow me They clearly were okay with the isolation With Alprin Shingoon working on him He scored on him before

But just not in that moment He came up short I mean, it is what it is. It's unfortunate, man. It's just, if that goes in, there's six seconds left. Warriors probably, they had a timeout left. So they're probably call the timeout. You're going to draw something up.

You're going to take Alpi off the court. You're going to switch everything. And then you're going to see what happens. I mean, in all honesty, Steph probably hits a game-winning three there. Oh, right. You're probably not wrong because he didn't do anything all game long. And then he would do that. He makes those miracle three.

I'm just like, you and I could try that a thousand times and that one would go in. Yeah, all right, we're going to take quick break. Well, he is the greatest shooter to ever walk the planet. We just have to remember that. Chris Gordy here hanging out. You guys on the phones, we'll get to you in a second. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number. Rockets are down 3-1.

We're talking about that. Astros get a win in the series opener against the Detroit Tigers 8 to 5. We can talk about that as well. Anything else you want to get to in the sports world. 7-1-2-5-790. The phone number 7-1-3-2-2-5-790. All right. Continuing along on, well, it is the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas, but now Matt Thomas is here? I don't know. Yes, he is here. On the phone lines, where are you currently right now, Mr. Thomas? I'm on Mission Street in the middle of downtown San Francisco, and we're leaving on our bus leaves in about 20 minutes. Oh, that's great. So we got a few minutes with you. How depressed are you right now, one to 10?

9.8. It's fine. Houston's come back from three or before. Yeah, I mean, 5% of the teams have done it. I mean, that's true. I'm exasperated, frankly. The sheer number of missed free throws,

which has plagued this team really all season long, especially in playoffs. I'm exasperated about Jalen Green's mind-boggling box score in this playoff series. I'm exasperated by the fact that Dremont Green got away with what he got away with yesterday for the uptint time.

And I don't even know if there's a term, Ross, it is beyond umpteenth. But whatever it is, I need you to create it. Because... Billions? Him getting called for a flagrant foul when he pulled Tari East New Jersey is the most ridiculous call

I've ever seen in my entire life. That was the epitome of a technical foul. That's a joke. It would have been his second and he would have been ejected. They're protecting him. I mean, they literally, it's like the call came in from Adam Silver or somebody said, do what you can to keep him in. Because this is the second time this happened this year,

where he got a tech early in the game, and then he had another one that should have been a tech that they called a flagrant to keep him in the game. Yeah. And I try to keep my emotions in check when I'm calling the game. But my son texted me in the second quarter when all that stuff was going down. And he's like, dad, are you okay? And I'm like, not really. I am, um, I'm beyond.

And again, it's not DreamOn, the reason why this team is down in the series. But I don't know what has happened to the NBA because I give it the benefit for the doubt a lot of times. I know that officiating is difficult. I know that you have to expect that sort of physicality and gamesmanship. But it's a travesty, the amount of leeway he has given and has been given since basically he left Michigan State. By way, Tom Isso was in the crowd last night. I saw him after the game. but that's not even the real i mean i'm just i'm so disappointed that the free throw numbers have been so

bad i'm so disappointed that jalen green is not stepped up um except for that game too uh and clearly he can come back and help help this team out but uh this this this is too close of a series where the little little details make a difference the sluggish starts open the first quarter the 18 to 1 start to start the third quarter the miss free throws and then jalen just I don't know if Golden State's defensively putting in the work against him, or Jaylen just looks like he's not involved in the offense. Because when Alping took over last night, it was fun to see. The mid-range shot, obviously towards the end notwithstanding.

Fred was hitting threes. Dylan was doing his thing. Jabari helped out in small doses as well. Golden State's a better team in the series. I mean, I can't argue that, but it's just so close. And every little detail matters. and the Rockets in the intangible factor are losing just about every one of the competitions. Yeah, that's another thing, Matt.

To me, I mean, Fred Van Vleet's what he just did in that game, he's not going to do again in this series, in all likelihood. Amin Thompson was knocking down his shots. You wasted those performances in a playoff series. Like, for example, on the flip side, the Warriors aren't going to get what they got from Brandon Pajinsky every single night. They capitalized on it. In a playoff series, you're going to have those scenarios where your role players or your lesser players go, off and you've got to capitalize and win those games. And Buddy Heald

is, we were kind of teasing with some folks here in the Golden State area about how up and down his time as a warrior has been. He helped you on offensively in game three and the defense of Kaibosh that he put on Jalen Green with all those first quarter turnovers and that was just Buddy Heel

poking the ball away. That was just the aggressiveness that they needed. And Steve Curry even said after the game, but not for Buddy Heald's defense, especially in the first half. It might have been a different basketball game. They're getting the intangibles. They're getting the role players. They're getting taking advantage of the home court.

And it's just, again, it's been, it's been tough. I normally go to bed and don't think about the game and don't have nightmares about the game. But all my dreams and nightmares last night were about the game because, A, I don't like the Warriors. B, I like, I have zero respect for Dremont Green and C, this is a building that, you know, the rockets have come in here and been close two different times. not to at least take one away. And oh, by the way, Jimmy Butler goes and makes his free throws. 11. 11. 11.

11 to the long. 12 of 12. 12. 12. I mean, I stopped counting after a while, I guess. That Dylan foul, that was questionable. It was like you knew he was going to make all three. And I felt like, Matt, game three, the fourth quarter that got away from him.

But this one, even when they had the ball with 13 seconds ago, I felt like they were going to win. It felt like they were playing so well, even despite the first. throw advantage, I thought they were going to hit the game winner and they were going on to win this one. Yeah, I mean, they had two looks at it. Alpi's men range has been up and down so far in this series, but he really played well in the second half last night. So if there was a time for him to be the hero, that would have been it. And Fred, I don't know how that play was run up per se, but, you know, he did get a look at the three-point shot. It was well short.

So there were some opportunities. I mean, this one really, really stings because, again, you played so poorly in the first five minutes. It came back. You played so poring the first three minutes of the third quarter. And you were resilient. And you didn't wave the white flag. You went and got back in the basketball game. A men was zero stepping his way, boys, as you watched throughout the course of the game, hitting every mid-range shot.

The Amend Thompson that we had been waiting for this entire series showed up. and the free throw line is just a bitter enemy. And again, this is a team that shot about 74% during the regular season, which is worst among the 30 NBA teams. But it's even taken a significant drop. And that includes Alpi, that includes them in. 63% in the series. I mean, against Golden State, who Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry could,

you could turn them around like a mascot, close their eyes and flip it over their shoulder, and still make 85%. You just, when you're going on the road and you're playing in a building, you haven't won in very much in your last five or six years, regardless of it's with James or with Ross or with Chris or this new group, you just can't lay points on the floor. No one's expecting to make 100%. But if this team shot, even their season average, Ross, there might be a victory among these last two. Yeah. And then before we get you out, Matt, I just thought it was extremely telling and disappointing that at the end of this game,

I mean O'Doka says, Jalen Green is not helping me win this game. He will be on the bench. This is a franchise cornerstone player. They took him number two overall. He has improved as he's gone along in his career. But with your backs against the wall, down to one on the road, your coach said, I do not need Jalen Green to win this game. He hardly played in the third quarter.

I think he played less than four minutes, and I don't know what the, I think he started the fourth quarter with a good stretch. But the fourth quarter box score, which they can give you individually, if you want to choose on the web. Yeah, I tweeted it. I mean, there was nothing but zeros, and that's hard to stomach. Because I'm a Jalen Green guy, and I've heard you before the show tonight before I came on talking about him. And, you know, there is progression in his story.

He has gotten better. But there were young men on that basketball floor. Blanton Projimski, second year player in the NBA. The lights weren't too big for him. And he came through on a night where, frankly, you helped Steph go to, what, 17 last night, boys? I mean, you're supposed to win games. when Curry is airballing three-point shots. He's going to get a couple,

that's how he was built, but you held him in check, and you let Pajemsky knocked them down. You didn't let Gary Payton become a difference maker. Buddy Heel was early effective on, but didn't do a whole lot after that. It was Pajemski and Jimmy Butler, attracting free throws,

doing what he's doing, hitting the mid-range, and that's why the game three loss perhaps even hurts even more, because you had a chance without Jimmy going to the free throw, like he does and making those mid-range to steal one away and, you know, now we're

coming back and unfortunately, Ross, it is a must-win Wednesday. It is a must win. While old hope feels lost though, Matt, I think if they can come back and find a way to win this one, you can remind yourselves, you were the two C in the West for a reason.

I don't think it's crazy. I mean, again, it's one game at a time, but win this one, you know you can win in that building. You've done it this year. So we'll visit game six when we get there But find a way to win this one tomorrow Yeah they haven't been blown out These last two games were very very very

Winnable basketball games I just the Yeah You have to you have to change a storyline And I think EMA on this long flight back to Houston Is going to be thinking about that lineup And we've seen Steve Kerr How many lines guys have said Steve Kerr thrown out

That we played four games And these put out four different lineups I think at some point I mean it's they're making adjustments And maybe it's time Maybe email is thinking about. Maybe I go to the same exact thing. Yeah. Something will keep an eye on.

Matthew. Thank you. And safe travels here to Houston. And any final words? I have no final words except I hate the Warriors. Well, don't we all here in Houston? Thank you, Matthew. Matt Thomas here with us.

He is traveling with the Rockets. He'll be back tomorrow in studio with us. Right now. Chris Gordy's hanging out. It's a Rockets Therapy Tuesday is what it sounds like here on a sports talk. 790. Those are you on hold. I promise we'll get to you next. We had to get Matt Thomas there. We got gut feelings coming up later on. We'll have Adam Clanton joining as well. Joe Espotted joining. We'll get to some Astro stuff as well. But right now we are hurting

Rockets down 3-1 in their first round series and it's the freaking Golden State Warriors again. You can talk about it at 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. Back in a moment here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Continuing along on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, game number five for the Rockets on Wednesday here on Sports Talk 790. It'll be Adam and or Adam or one of the Adams or some combination hitherto for the pregame. I'll be with you for the post game. A must win Wednesday at Toyota Center.

Rockets up to four and a half point favorites in that one. So for the love of God, just win. Just win, baby. That's what we need. and hopefully we can continue to get that as the series goes along. It's not feeling great. What was it?

5% I think of teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit and 1. Probably the majority of those have been the teams with home court advantage, so at least you have that. Yeah, you got that. I mean, it's literally, it's just got to be one-game mindset. I mean, we'll find a way to win Wednesday, and then the next game we can talk about how to go winning goals. I mean, that's just what it is.

One game in a time, folks. How much would it suck to go to a seven and lose here, though? Oh, don't even mention that, please. Didn't that happen? That was against the Utah Jazz. Like, I don't know, man. That had to be like 2002 or three or four or somewhere. It was the McGready era of Rockets.

Every team won every home game in that series, I think, except for Game 7, the Rockets lost at home to Carlos Boozer and Memo O'Corps in the Utah Jazz. Boozer before he was spray painting his head, right? I think it was around the spray paint era before he was putting shoe polish on his head, which I think feels like a cancer risk. Well, and of course the Western Conference Finals in 2018.

We don't have to talk about that. Trevor Reza We don't make a three. We don't have to talk about that one either. Come on, man. Disappointing. Freaking warriors. Marvin and Madagorda, what's up? Hey, guys. Y'all have hit on most of it. They hit on it this morning, too, on Sean's

show. It's just, you know, it's an experience factor, I think, and that, you know, you had to call or call in. It's talking about comparison with James and Jalen. It's two different things. But one thing I noticed with Jalen, he's just, he's been that player, whether regular season or postseason, that if, you know, you get in to pick his pocket there, a couple trips up to court and then the thing implodes from 16 to one run.

But, you know, it just, he just, I don't know, he's not a physical player. He did, when it comes to the postseason, and I agree with Matt, the league's got to clean it up. some i mean you know you're playing the dirtiest team in terms of the dirtiest player and and it just it's been a problem but jalen he just he can't handle that physicality he's i don't want to call anybody soft

especially a hometown guy i don't want to call him timid but man you know to waste the game that's good fred like you said is fred going to have that kind of game again it just sits there for the getting there's a ton of talent they may be out, you know, have more talent. But, man, you got to show it. I think of what Larry Bird said, you know, in terms of free throws on a 30-31 time, I believe it was perishing him.

It's a free throw. They call it a free throw for a reason. And, you know, we can't just harp on that. But, man, I'm like you. I thought with 13 seconds, they were going to figure out a way to win it. We had seen them win a lot of regular season games that way. But I guess if there's any good news to it all, I think they're all playing for second place anyway, even if the Lakers

mount a comeback, there's nobody's beating the O'KC, so, but, but it's just, it's sad that the way that it went down, because it just, I don't know, the physicality there at the end, that maybe it's the old man's strength, as they call it, Sean Chil, that, it,

I don't know, it just, but I felt bad for Jaylor, I do, I put, man, he's a good player, he's got a ton of talent, a bunch of them do. Tor, they all got talent, you know, and then trying to make it around these two, experienced guards. And truth of the matter is, you know, we've got the one player that's kind of like Draymond, not to that extent, but, you know, he will take himself out of the game,

but doing the same thing at times. So, I don't know. I'm hoping. Yeah, yeah, we're hoping, Marvin. Thank you. Appreciate it. I don't know how bad I feel for Jalen Green. I mean, he got it a big extension. He got paid some big money in this offseason, but it's big boy time. It's put up or shut up time. Well, he was on the bench. I know, but that's what I'm saying. Like, we think you're an alpha. Go shows you're an alpha.

And we're finding he is not an alpha. So I can't sit around and wait year after year for Jaylen Green to become that top two pick. I can't sit around and wait any longer. Like, good player, you're not great. I need greatness. The Rockets need greatness to take that step forward. And that's where, you know, we'll have all offseason to talk about, do you trade for Janus? Do you trade for Durant?

But last night, Ross, down the stretch, who was the difference maker? Jimmy Freakin' Butler. If they didn't have Jimmy Butler, this series might be over by now. You probably, you could sweep that team for O if they didn't have Jimmy Butler. If they didn't have Jimmy Butler,

they don't even make the playoffs. Yeah, they don't win the playing game probably against Yeah, and that's... It might be playing the Grizzlies right now. I do want to, again, say, that Jalen Green has gotten better every year, to me, as a player in the NBA. But it's been...

small increments, he hasn't made the huge leap, at least not consistently. Inconsistly, yes. We've seen it for nine games this year. We saw it for the month of March, the year before. Yeah, he wins a player in the month. Great. And then he disappears for a month. Yeah.

So that's what the rocket attack to figure out. And going forward is that spark and that fire that we see from him sometimes. Can he harness that and make it more consistent? because clearly, again, I cannot stress enough how much of an indictment of his play this was that Coach Udoka said backs against the wall, we do not need Jalen Green on this floor at the end of the game. He is hurting us more than he's helping us.

We're going to go somewhere else. That's crazy and disappointing. Let's get James and Klein real quick here. He was holding earlier. What's up, James? Yeah, two things that I wish would have happened last night is when Raymond got his fifth foul, and they put him back in the game.

I felt like they should have tried to get that six-fow and get him out of the game. That would have been kind of a moral support there. And I thought they made Butler's game way too easy. He was too comfortable all night long. For a guy that's supposed to be coming off an entry, I wish he had at least fix or something. Something to get him off his game, but they never did. Those are the two things I wish they had done last thing. Well, it's the damned.

If you do, Dave, it's like, okay, well, they're trying to double stuff and make sure he doesn't get the shots off. It's like you're worried about this guy, that guy. Pajemski's making you die every time he hits a 30. So it's like you know, they can't defend everybody. They got weapons and they just they have dudes that to me your focus still needs to be on stuff

because he's the special one that can do special things. And they had him flustered for much of the night, Ross. Like he's making dumb passes. They're jumping in the cutoff lanes and getting steals. Like it was, they did a good job for the most part. If, yeah. And they have better players.

and they've played better in this series and Jimmy Butler did his thing making all 12 of his free throws and he did a good job from the floor. And you know, if we put these two rosters, Gordy on a draft board, when does the first rocket get taken? Steph Curry's first,

probably Jimmy Butler's next. Do you go Dremont third? Or do you go Shingoon? Who's the third person off the board? Is it Shingoon maybe? Probably Shingoon, but I mean, you can make a case for Dremon with all the dirty work So at the very least, it's probably three of the top four first off the board.

Or maybe I'm in Thompson you get in there, but he has been so inconsistent offensively. It's, man, going into this series, I knew it was going to be tough. I picked the Rockets in seven. There has been a number of close. Every game has been at least close in the fourth quarter. Well, the Rockets really kept the Warriors at bay in the fourth quarter of their win. But the other games have been basically one possession games in the fourth quarter and close. at least to the mid of the fourth quarter.

It's just been a little thing. So when it's that type of series, you can't miss the free throws. You can't have stupid turnovers even early in the game like Jalen Green was having. I mean, this is the playoffs backs against a wall, and you come out of the gate, turn the ball over like that. Lackadaisical driving and bringing up the ball and letting both. Yeah, no focus. Exactly. It's a great word.

Lack of focus. In big moments, I think that's what cost Jalen Green early on, and I think that's what cost him being in the game late. I think they, man, especially that last possession. You open up your offense if Jalen Green is on the floor. And IMA Yokoa said, nope, we're not putting them on the floor. He's not closing this game. And that's a huge statement, I feel like, made by Coach Yodoka in San Francisco last night.

And early into early morning. It was just like that Clipper series, you know, a decade ago with James Harden, where they sat it, it was the right decision. I mean, if he's not on and he's hurting you, sorry, go take a seat. All right, we've got to take another break here. Our number one of the Matt Thomas show is in the books. You guys want to get in. You can 713-213-2-5-7-90.

7-1-3-2-5-7-90. We've been heavy on the Rockets. We'll also talk to them Astros. We also have Adam Clanton showing up. We also got gut feelings coming up at 1130. Even if I don't feel it in my gut, I'm going to predict the Rockets to win game 5, at least, for the gut feelings. coming up as well and you at 713 212 575790

713 212 5790 Our number 2 of the Matt Thomas show with Ross is underway Phone lines open at 713 212 575790 713 212 5790 Getting words with the Michael Barry show

Is ranking We need to get this audio Gordy I hear the Michael Barry show is ranking sports talk 790 personalities Or is it Ramon doing the rankings All I know is I came into number one So he doesn't talk Yeah, it's true He's telling Barry in his ear

And then he's playing zings Yeah Oh They've just Yeah he's got more lives And he's got more lives than anyone on the station He doesn't talk It's crazy

When you get Jonathan indoors Yeah well Me first Very impressive Jonathan Allen here for hemp alternative hemp alternatives why is it got to be

hemp alternative Gordon yeah yeah yeah what's the fake the fake marijuana the Delta 8 whatever that is okay

I don't know I could see Jonathan adorcing that you could yeah interesting wow yeah

I have the demographic hmm Jonathan Allen here for Zins Zins oh I don't know tobacco you put in your

cheap I think Dan Matthews uses those but anyway it's very popular some says good some say Stay away from it.

It's just nicotine. Don't do it. If you can endorse anything, Jonathan, what would you endorse? Anything? Yeah. You know, I was thinking about this other day. I think I would endorse, like, a cereal. Like, it's got to be like, I would be like, you know how Reese's puffs?

That guy was, like, wrapping in, like, that one black guy the whole time? I'd be, like, the designated, like, see. Reese's puffs with, hi, Jonathan Allen here for Reese's delicious puffs. Yeah, I don't think they're advertising. You know, like, the State Farm guy is, like, just for State Farm. He's in the billboard. I'll be like a cereal brand. You'd be like that for cereal.

Okay. You want to make sure you get up in the morning with lots of sugar. Appreciate you, Jonathan. All right, we're back here on the Matt Tom show with Ross. We need to get this audio of Ramone calling me the best personality on 790. We need that ASAP as soon as possible if we could. It was something about Barry. He was arguing that more Asterist fans listen to K-Tor rates than 790.

Hmm. I think I would disagree, but I also think there is some crossover. Well, the game's here. Yeah. We have the games on here, but for years the games were on News Radio 740, KTRH. We had the post game shows going like an hour and a half back in those days with the full scoreboard and all that stuff. Good times. All right, we're talking, well, we can talk some Astros.

We've been talking some Rockets as well. As I mentioned, phone lines open and available for you folks at 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Can I ask you something of rockets related? Yes, please. How badly did you want? Like, I wanted to jump through the screen. and strangle Draybond at one point last night.

I didn't want to strangle him. This is just what he does. This is like getting mad at a dog for barking. Draymond Green is doing what Dremont Green does. But he does the stuff like when your mom turns are back and you hit your brother. Yeah, absolutely. He does that. Or like you stick out an elbow.

Like for example, he tricks people all the time. He tricked Reggie Miller. He tricks Golden State fans. Oh, yeah. Oh, I think he's just trying to get up. Oh, that's his momentum carried him. Oh, his leg just flailed. That's what you do.

Like you said, when you're like, wrestling around with your cousins and your parents are watching and you want to throw a little extra elbow into the ribs. I'm like, oh, mom, my momentum carried me. I was just helping him up. Yeah, it was an accident. Oh, my leg went up and I accidentally kicked him in the nuts, man. It was an accident. Yeah, that's what Draymond Green does. He conducts himself like a child. He gets in between those lines and he starts a bunch of bleep. He talks a bunch of trash. And then he hits people like an eight-year-old who's got emotional issues and beats up on their cousins. That's what he does.

That's who he is. And I wasn't shocked in the least that they didn't give him a second technical foul. I was watching that play saying that is a technical foul. I don't think they're going to call it. They are not going to throw him out of this game and they didn't. And if anything, what they do is they're giving him a pass. Shouldn't it be the opposite? shouldn't they be cracking down on him

even more to set an example going, this is not how you play the game of basketball here at the NBA level? Your cheap shots and all this other crap, like, we're drawing the line saying don't be this. It says the opposite. They give him a leash.

They let him do a little extra. Because, oh, that's just how he is. It reminds me the old Legion of Boom defense with the Seahawks. Richard Sherman was grabbing hold of everybody all the time, but they went, ah, it's just how he plays, it's physical. It's like, why does he get a pass?

And then you do it, and it's, you know, flag. It reminds me of there is an episode of The Simpsons where, like, Lisa gets a bee on a paper or something like that, and everybody's mad at her. And Bart gets a C. And they're like, oh, great job, Bart. We're so proud of you. It's the baseline that is so...

You move the goalposts because he's always acting crazy. He's punching people, raking him in the face, kicking him in the nuts, kicking him in the head. And so when he just does a little infraction, And what really in this series, for Draymond's standards, he's been behaving himself, you give him that extra leeway because of how far he's already pushed the boundaries. I think that's really what it is. Nah, we're going to let him slide here.

Yeah, yeah. Got the wrong number. It's 9-1-2. I think it's Chief Wiggum. It's not that bad. Not Hankas area level, but pretty solid. So, yeah, that's just basically to me what it is. It's that he set that line.

And I think Dylan Brooks does it too. I think Dylan Brooks has gotten away with some stuff as well. So it goes both ways to that extent. Now, Dramon Green and Dylan Brooks are on different planes of existing. I died last night. There were Warriors fans on social media. I don't know why I see this. The four U-tab on Twitter.

I got some Warriors fans there too. I got them going, oh, see, this is why Dylan Brooks is such a dirty player. I'm like, get the bleep out of here. Like, see, Dylan, you can't do this in the playoffs. He's going to cost his team the game. He's going to cost his team. I'm like, what do you think the other idiot on your team is doing in Dremont? Yeah, I mean, that's just how the homerism is and it's even worse on.

Because in Twitter, you get in these hives and it just gets even worse. You go down further and further. Well, some of these national people with the ringer and stuff, like, just say you hate Dylan Brooks. Just say it. Because if you're going to hold him to that standard and not Draymond. Well, Dylan Brooks didn't need to do what he did. He didn't need to go punch the ball out of Steph Curry's hands. He didn't need to go do what he did.

He was starting some stuff too. He deserved to, he deserved his technical foul. Because they were B&Bs. Steph is on the ground. And so he did, he held up. two in his face. Because earlier he, yeah. Because so, so Dylan Brooks got a foul and he was like, I just

got one foul. It's just one foul. Then he got his second foul. So Steph Curry, look, Dylan Brooks was talking trash. The NFL would throw a flag and go taunting. He got a taunting. He got a taunting technical foul. So he did. And he put up his two and he's like, hey man, he got two fouls. Yeah, they're trash talking.

Honestly, that should like be let go on both sides in my opinion. I don't think a taunting should ever be a penalty. I think it's fun. I think it makes the game interesting. and you get stuff where guys are mixing it up like this. But, you know, and if somebody wants to say, oh, it's going to start fights, well, then throw them out of the game if they get in a fight, whatever. It doesn't move on.

I also think, I mean, another topic of discussion, can we just get hockey fights in the NBA? Wouldn't you like to see Draymond Green and Dylan Brooks just throw down at center court? And they're like, all right, five minutes in the penalty box. We'll see you guys in five. That'd be cool. The hardest part two is the crap about while the first guy, you just get a flagrant because you start. The second guy retaliated, and you are a, you are a, you know, tee him up. Yeah, that's how it goes.

There was another incident last night when they were having all discussion and all the hubbub and Draymond, all this. And he walks and literally bumps the refs the refs under, and I'm like, dude, tee his ass up. I saw that. I saw that. Like, why do they let him get away with it? I don't know. I would be extra sensitive. The minute your ass touches me, you're teed up.

Yeah. He could have been thrown out of that game a couple times. Oh, my God. And he knows what he's doing when he's. laying his legs onto Tari Isson. That's why Tari Isan got up and got into his face. Then he grabs his jersey. That should be a technical foul.

That should be a technical foul. He should be out of the game. That's the fact. And then Alper and Shingun probably dominates in the middle of that game. And they win the game. It's like a politician or a celebrity you just love and you just give them a pass. Well, let's hear him out. No.

He's dirty. He's ass up. All right. We're going to take another break here on the Mad. Thomas show with Ross. It's just, yeah, it's on. What is the worst take on right now? When they're out of the playoffs, he's on the panels and all that, and he's got a podcast.

Just go do that. Yeah, he's got a good personality. He does a good job explaining the game. I think in the booth, he's going to be very good post-playing career, whenever that is. He is one of the great defenders of all time, but he's also, he's a psychopath. He's got a screw loose. He's got to screw loose when he gets in between those lines. He does crazy stuff.

He blacks out and loses control of his body, I guess. I don't know what he's doing in there. It's ridiculous. And he should have been thrown out of that game last night. Absolutely. All right. We're going to take that break, as I said, here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. We got gut feelings coming up at 1130.

We'll have Joe Espada coming up later on the show. We got Adam Klan. We got you. We got some rockets. We've been talking. You want to get in Astros. Anything you want. 713, 212, 212-790.

7-1-3-212-5-790. And there's a suggestion that a lot of people have been making as far as a lineup change for the Rockets. I don't think they should do it. We'll talk about it when we come back here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Thanks to Chris Gordy for hanging out. He's got some very important stuff to do,

so he'll be ducking out for a bit. We'll get Adam Clayton on. Dream on hate clips. All right, well, you don't need that hate in your heart. Is he number of if we're ranking villains? Houston Sports Villains, right now. He's number one all the time for me.

I don't know if there's some guy in the 1970s that I'm not thinking of or something that people hated, but it's Draymond Green for me, number one, and it ain't even close. Who was my guy last night that peacocked the home run for the Tigers? Oh, Baez. Javier. Javier. Javier. Javier, yeah.

He's moving up that list. I think Aaron Judge is probably up the list. Yeah. Just because, I mean, remember when he did the whole Jose Altuve holding his jersey thing after hitting a home run? I remember that. Joe Kelly's still up there. Oh, Joe Kelly. What a jerk.

What a dumbass. He hits Astros players because they threw Alex Cora under the bus. The same Alex Cora that was in part of two cheating scandals, including one when you were there. What are you even doing?

Did the pouty face. Oh, my God. I saw somebody, I know on Twitter posted a video, they were in like a collectible store in L.A. And it was like all this legendary Dodgers stuff. And in the middle of all of it, like name like the greatest Dodgers. It was stuff.

Fernando Valenzuela. It was memorabilia autographed. And in the middle of it was a signed autographed mural of Joe Kelly doing the pouting. And they're like, oh, this is a great one here. Yeah. Didn't even do it. It was in the middle of COVID. It was a regular season game. It didn't even matter.

Like, why are you celebrating? Because they're a bunch of losers. Whatever. And they needed to hang on to that because they couldn't win a World Series. And then they spent $5 billion and then they won a World Series. Congratulations, Dodgers. We're all proud of you. Is there a Texans villain? I guess the Chiefs.

Pat Mahomes. Mahomes. My Homes is likable, though. It sucks losing to that. I don't know, man. He flops around. That's true. Likeable is an overstate.

Yeah. I can be annoyed by the cockiness and the flopping of one, Pat Mahomes. He's great. I mean, he's an all-time great, deservedly so. But he got his ass kicked in the Super Bowl.

Let me think. Who is the biggest? Who do the Texans hate more than anyone else? I mean, it probably was for a while there, Vince Young. Colts, wasn't there, like, one of their linebackers talking trash? Wasn't it? Was it E.J. Speed, though? Who's here now? Yeah. I can't remember who it was.

Oh, you know who their rival is? Amy Adams-strunk. Okay, the Titans. Just the Titans? Just the Titans in general? Yeah. Yeah, but who's like the Titans great? Derek Henry? Was great, but now he's a Baltimore Raven.

But they did a pretty good job. I was, I respected the hell out of Derek Henry. Yeah. He'd be like, God, here he goes. No, he ran for like 200 yards, like three times on the Texans. You what sucks is if Cam Ward ends up being good. He's a kid right down the road. Well, you told us he's going to be a bus locked on SEC.

Come on, man. I don't think he's going to be that great. Well, I hope you're right because... 11.2.0. If you're right, that was a very, very good draft for the Texans. If Cam Ward is not the guy and the Jags traded away a first-round pick for Travis Hunter, who's going to be good, but to what level and how much is he going to play on both sides of the ball?

Don't you think he gets burned out? And like week five, he gets hurt because he's playing so much on both sides. I think I made a, you know what? We got gut feelings coming up in like 10 minutes. It's like a, Otani. Are we ever going to see him pitch again? I don't know.

Has he had Tommy John twice now? I think they're like, this isn't working, bro. You can't play both sides. Yeah, but you can't make $70 million dollars and not play both sides. $70 million just to DH and not play the field is pretty crazy. They were breaking it down at ESPN. They were like, do you know, this actually saves the Jaguar's money because it's the one less position they have to.

I'm like, he's not going to play full-time TV and full-time receiver. I would be shocked if he plays full snaps at both. I think it'll be probably one side and then the smattering of snaps on the other. And then within a few years, it might just be like a handful of snaps in crucial situations. And even then, they're just going to run a couple tunnel screens for him as a wide receiver and he's going to play cornerback? I don't know. Can I give you a guy that's going to be a new, a new Astroids? Villain.

Okay. Coming up, I think it's in June or July. In a two-week span, the Astros go to Boston for three and come here for Boston. All right. What if Alex Bregman absolutely crushes in those series?

Well, what if he goes, oh, for, what does he goes one for 15? Well, then we'll pat him with the back and say it, bud, good to see you. All right, he could crush. I don't think he's going to crush because I don't think he's that good against really good pitching,

which the Astros have. How about that? I just think it's really funny to go from fan favorite to villain. Carl's Correa wasn't booed No because he didn't do anything Carlos Beltram was booed for like a decade I was like some of y'all need to get over this like relax Poo-holes

Oh Poo-holes is the worst But he was never here Once he got to the Angels Let me think of guys who were here Garrett Cole wasn't booed And now he's got Tommy John George Springer I think people still love Yeah

Who else? I mean we can go through Most of the former Astros We can go through a laundry list of Astros Who left recently Kyle Tucker Kyle Tucker, I don't think it'll be booed. That wasn't his fault. He didn't leave as a free agent. I saw a headline yesterday.

It was like, the Cubs are back, folks. This is for real. All because of Kyle Tucker. Well, that's why they did. People are saying, why did the Cubs make this move? Why did they do this? Because they were going all in on this season. Because they wanted to win.

But they better pay them. If they let them walk, you lost that trade. Yeah. We'll see. They were trying to make the playoffs. who is the Cubs general manager or the president of baseball officer, whoever. They were trying to, yeah, Jed Hoyer.

Jed Hoyer is trying to save his job. He's like, we need help now. They didn't think Cam Smith has been ready. And it's been quite quiet, frankly, from Cam Smith at the plate recently. One for four last night. He's hitting 2-11. OPS is 680.

He does have the three bombs. Working it out? Yeah, he's working it out. Had a double last night. Kyle Tucker is helping the Cubs right now on the field more than Cam Smith is right now. Okay, but Cam Smith with Esauk Paredes and Hayden Wazneski, all three of those are helping you. Let's see. Esauk Paras has been decent.

Wesnowski has been good. Esok Paredes has been okay. He's actually been one of their best hitters, unfortunately, at this moment. But Jeremy Payne is the starting lineup, by the way, in the leadoff spot. How are we feeling about that? I like it. I like it. I hope a hit from yesterday.

We will talk about that with Joe Spada. We're waiting for confirmation. We believe we're going to get him on at 1.30 later on today. It was perfect yesterday when Jeremy Pena got on board and then Jose L. Tuvei knocked him in with the home run. Speaking of, Jeremy Pena is scheduled to join the A team today at 2.30. What? The Jeremy Pena? 2.30? All right. Love it. Make sure you guys tune in for that. You can hear about him talking about being in the leadoff spot.

I didn't. And that was a great move. And it worked out because last night he gets the base hit. And then here comes Jose with the clutch to run home. That gives the asterisk the lead and they never look back. But how did you feel about Jose going to bat for Paine? I mean, I'm starting to like, this conversation is to pay the man, pay the man. Like, we can't pay everyone. Well, you could. You just have to be the Dodgers.

But it's the reality of like, I don't know, sometimes cheap labor is great. Like, if this guy is on a rookie deal and I don't have to pay him for several years, there's nothing wrong with keeping him on that rookie deal and paying him for several, you know, like. There's nothing wrong with buying out to arbitration and giving yourself that you usually, the Astros won buying out arbitration with Alex Breggman. They won big time. out arbitration with Jordan Alvarez and giving him a big deal. Christian Javier remains to be seen.

So it would be a gamble, but if Jose Altuve thinks that he's going to become a superstar and he's really been playing well lately, has been Jeremy Pena, and the hard hit numbers, barrel percentages, all that type of stuff, looking pretty good. I need a larger sample size. I know. The last two years you just showed me you were kind of mid. It would be the gamble. And he's 27 years old, so it's not like he's a spring chicken.

He's going to turn 28 at the end of this year. But his agent's going to go to the table and go, I mean, this guy's a former World Series MVP. He's going to go, yeah, what's he been for the last two years since that? Yeah, he hasn't been very good since. But he's very good at the shortstop. And Jose L. Tuvay just doesn't want all his friends going away. I guess he's like the last guy. Everybody's been shipped off.

It's like he's the last guy left in the picture at the sandlot. He's like, yeah, and then he went off and had four kids. And yeah, he played pro ball. And then, yeah, it was just me and Benny the Jet Rodriguez. Yeah. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's he's the epitome he's went to uh he went to toronto and carlos he went to minnesota he went to minneapolis and then my friend garrett went to new york and my friend kyle went to chicago and it's can you guys sign jeremy

please like what's going on here he's the pity move a team player though it's like by the way everybody i'll move to the left i'll move to the left everybody's number two in the lineup i didn't realize how everybody went north of the mason dixon line at bregman's and ball Austin. Correa's in Minneapolis. Literally went to another country, George Springer. Okay. And how many baseball team?

How many major league baseball teams are below the Mason? Nashville's been trying to get a team for years. Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays. Atlanta, Miami, and Tampa. I mean, California is its own. Nobody went to California. They got like a bunch of teams over there. The L.A. teams.

And I guess Oakland. Texas Rohingers. They signed a bunch of people. Texas. They could have signed anybody. The Royals is that Kansas City below? It's close. I think they're in the neutral side.

It might be fighting with the Yankees. I think Missouri is staying out of this one for right now. They're neutral. Yeah. Point paying, majority of the baseball teams are... Yeah, but everybody went way up in the longitude. They went where the money was, Ross. That's true.

And that's okay. Right now, go ask any Blue Jays fan. Has George Springer lived up this contract? They're going to go, no. He's been good. Ask any Twins fan. Has Correa lived up to his contract? No.

Not really. He was bad. The contracts they got, you're supposed to be one of the best, better players in baseball. Gary Cole did. Garrett Cole was living up to it until he got Tommy Johnson and now he's out

because his UCL ripped in half. I think JV's doing okay with the Giants. Is he? I don't care. I didn't want them to sign him anyways. Pitching is fine here. We're all good. Ryan Gusto's tearing it up. He's doing better than probably

whatever Justin Verlander doing at 15 million up. Ronell battled last night. Hey, Rennell Blanco's doing all right. He's your fourth, fifth guy. And Spencer Arrogetti stop having freak out. accidents where you shatter your thumb. That'd be great as well. Here's the line

with the Astros. If they score three runs, they're going to win that game. Three runs. If they can't score three, they're going to lose. They lost two nothing Friday and two nothing Saturday. That's an unfortunately way too close to true. Did you do that post game on Friday? I did

Friday, yes. It was a quick one. I know. What was your play of the game? My play of the game was Bobby was Victor Caratini throwing out Bobby Witt Jr. at second. That was the play of the game. They didn't score a run. So it's like... How was your game recap? The game recap was quite short. There was my

extreme performance of the game, I think, was Hayden Wisniewski throwing five innings. Like, we were stretching, folks. There was not much to celebrate. Yeah, we have a lot of sponsored elements in these postgame shows, and especially the Astros is like, okay, I have to come up with a play of the game, player of the game, and

extreme performance? You had multiple options for a relief pitcher of the You have plenty of those. I can't remember who I made it. I think it was Taylor Scott. I threw him a bone. You hold an opponent to two runs over nine innings. That should be a win.

90% of the time. Well, it wasn't for back-to-back game. Back-to-back shutouts. I mean, my God. But at least the bats have woken up somewhat. They woke up Sunday. They came alive last night. Seven runs, eight runs.

And guess what happened in those games, Gordy? They won. Funny how that works. It's almost like if they do that consistently, they'll win the majority of their games. I think you're on to something. Outscore the opponents. score more runs than your opponent. Things are going to go well for you in baseball.

That's why they pay us the big bucks for that kind of hard-hitting analysis. All right, we're going to take another break here. It's time for gut feelings. You got something you're feeling in your gut. Even if it's bad, just to let us know how you feeling about Game 5 coming up on Wednesday. How are you feeling about the Astros? Jeremy Payne in the leadoff spot. Is there a prediction you want to make a gut feeling you have?

713-212-5-790 is the phone number. 713-212-5-790. Gut feelings next. Here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Listen up, girls and boys. They've been so appealing. Because Ross and Matt Thomas. Yo, they got a gut feeling.

This is their gut feeling on the Matt Thomas show. All right. You got a feeling in your gut a prediction you want to make. You can do it at 713-212-5-5-1. 790 to get in 713. 212.5.790. Time now for our gut feeling predictions here on the Matt Thomas show. First and foremost, we will recap what we had from last week.

We'll start with Matt Thomas's predictions because he is not here. Shador Sanders, just a guy I wrote down for a prediction. That's looking pretty good. But he also said Shador in the top 10. Did you remember him saying Shador was going to go on the 3? Top 10? Yeah. Okay.

I wrote it down, so it must be true. He also had the Texans staying at pick number 25. They traded back to 34, said that would pick an O-line offensive lineman. I don't know if he meant that in the first pick or eventually. They did pick Arionte Ursary with their second pick. Or, yeah, Jaden Higgins with their first pick and then Ariante Ursery with their first pick. So we'll give him credit on that.

Why not? Then he also said that the Texans would draft a tight end. They did that with Luke Lechay. They got in the seventh round. We'll see how that pans out. Not normally going to expect a whole lot out of seventh round picks. He also had the Rockets winning game number two. That held to form.

Jalen Green goes off for 38 points. The Rockets have woken back up and they're going to lose the next two. So now they're down 3-1. Game number five is, is on Wednesday. You can make a prediction about that. If you'd like it, 713, 212, 5, 790.

He also had the Astros in first place by May 15th. Now, I think he tried to go by the end of April. I talked him down off of that ledge, and he got a couple of days left. The Astros play, the Tigers, today, and tomorrow. They are a game back of the Seattle Mariners. I don't think it's going to happen by the end of this month, but we shall see.

but they're in a good spot right now. Astros. Just one game back, 15 and 13 after, I mean, how slow the bats have started. Nice to have them turning things around. They'll be back in action against the Tigers. Two-night 710 first pitch on Sister Station News Radio 740, KTRH. Let's see, my predictions. Let's go to yours, Jonathan. You had the Pacers making the conference finals.

You're all in on the Indiana Pacers. I'm all in. And they're 3-1 right now, I think. They're up, I think so. And, well, you made Damian Lillard rip his Achilles, man. I just saw, you know what? I felt so bad seeing that yesterday. Yeah, that's your fault.

That's because you predicted the Pacers to beat the bucks. Yeah, they're up 3-1 in the series. They can close it out tonight. Dame Lillard ripped his Achilles. I mean, quite frankly, I think his career is basically, you know what, I'm going to put that in my gut feelings. I think Dame Lillard's career as an All-Star-level player is just done. He's already 34.

Wish him the best. Borderline Hall of Famer? Damien Hall of Famer? Damiel Lillard, Hall of Famer, yes or no? Answer within five seconds. Yes. I'm going to go no, but I bet you he makes it. All right, Dame Lillard has ripped his Achilles.

Pacers making the conference finals. That was your prediction. You also had Chudor in the top 10. See, I twitched it up. I'm telling you, man, Matt had convinced me otherwise. I don't know why. Yeah, I know. So you got to stick with it.

Now, this is the thing with gut feelings. They can change on a dime, right? That's the whole beauty of gut feelings and the curse of gut feelings is that you can change as the way. wins change, Jonathan. And unfortunately, you said Shudor Sanders will be in the top 10. He didn't get picked in the top 100.

You know, he was picked in them. Was he not even picked in the top 150? 144? Okay, well, somewhere around there. Good for Shudor Sanders. So he didn't get picked in the top 10. I said the Texans will not. Pick it number 25.

Either way, I was correct on that. I said the first pick will be an offensive alignment. I was wrong. It was the second pick. I also said three of the three. the first four picks will be on offense. I believe that is correct. Because, yeah, they went with Arionte Ursary. They went with Jaden Higgins and then Jalen Noel.

So the first three picks were offense. Then they went with Jalen Smith, the cornerback out of USC in round number three as well. So three of their top four picks were offense. I will take the win on that. And I said the Rockets will win game too. And they did. And that's how I'm starting off gut feelings this week. Jonathan, the Rockets will win. Game number five at the Toyota Center to extend the series and send it back to San Francisco. So they play one game home and then they go back to San Francisco? Yeah, it'll be one in home, game five's at home, then they're basically continuing to play every other day.

Then game six would be Friday, then game seven would be Sunday at the Toyota Center. I don't know, man. You know what? It's a gut feeling. If you're not feeling in your gut, that's okay. You know what I'm feeling my gut after yesterday? Singoon is not the superstar. My gut feeling is that he would be in a trade's piece rather than Jalen Green or J.Barrisman.

Ooh. You better watch out. We better not send this tape to Turkey. You know how those people go crazy for Alprin Shingoon and Turkey? I was getting attacked by an Alprin Shingun fan this morning. All those limp, and I think it's because he's so... What did you say? All those limp shots he takes, dude, and all that...

If you can't get past... You said limp something else. Well, all those shots he was taking, if you can't get past Draymond Green or compete with him and getting blocked out like that, yeah, I can't get 30 points. But this is the problem. Alperin Shingoon is very, very good against elite defenses. He struggles.

And Jalen Green, I would put in the same category. He can drop 38 when Jimmy Butler goes out. But against elite defenses, he's not as good. No, that's everybody. Everybody is, nobody's dropping 40-50 against elite differences every game. There's a reason why things get tougher. and 50 points games are harder to come by in the NBA. I mean, the NBA playoffs.

But all right. Alpern Shungoon, you said not a superstar. And then you said he is more likely, he would be traded. He would be in a trade package rather than trade package. Like, he rather than. Over Jalen Green or Jabari, you said? I'll say Van Gogh, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I wonder if they're going to keep Fred Van Vleet.

All right. Well, I'm going to make a similar prediction to yours. but a little bit different. And this will be a long-term one. I think this is a gut feeling because I know everybody wants him off the team. They want him traded. It's like, what are you going to get for him? Plus, he's got a high salary.

You got to match those salaries. I think the Rockets, when they signed Jalen Green to the deal that they did. And saw the improvement from him this year from years past, even though not to the love of maybe what he wanted. It still has been an improvement. I think Jalen Green is still on the Rockets roster, game one of next year. What's the detail of the contract they gave Jalen Green actually? I think it's a couple years and then Jalen Green has opt-outs.

See, yeah, that's a good feeling actually. Game one of next season. Jalen Green is still on the Houston Rockets, I think. We'll see. If he's not, that means probably Kevin Durant is. I don't know if you want to make a gut feeling about that. Oh, did you make a gut feeling about game five? No, I'm about it right now.

I think... You know what? Just whatever's in you got. Rockets. Yes. By four. By four? Oh, come on, man.

That sounds like a heart attack finish, man. Can we get one comfortable finish in this series? After last night, it's going to be four. All right, rockets win by four. I'll take it. A victory is a victory. And Coachie doka, after hearing these interviews, I definitely know, I definitely believe he has a solid,

straight, set and stone game plan for tonight, or tomorrow night. I got another gut feeling that I don't want to say, but I'm thinking it, so I have to say it. Go for it. Rockets win game five and lose game six. That's just a gut feeling. And they go back home on game six, right? No, no, they go back to Golden State, yeah.

And then game seven would be back in Houston. So they just have to, all they have to do is win three games in a row. It's that, it's that simple. All right, we're going to take a quick break. You want to get your gut feelings in. You can. 7-13-21-5-790, the phone number. what you're feeling in your gut

713-212-1-2-5-790 back with those here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. All right, we have the news at noon coming up in a few minutes. I don't know if Jonathan knows this, but he's doing the news at noon. Get a couple of news stories, you'll be ready. Just do the Rockets, recap, play a highlight, then an Astros recap, then maybe one thing else. You'll be fine.

I always slap together the news at noon in the last like 30 seconds before I'm getting ready to, so you can handle it. I got faith in you, Jonathan. That's coming up. Well, we did gut feelings in the last segment. You still want to get in with a gut feeling. You can. We'll allow it.

713-212-5-790, the phone number to get in. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Right now, I don't want this to be true, but I also don't want to be a blind homer. And that's what I try to do every day in front of this microphone is I understand we're in Houston. And some people, it's their thing. They want to be a blind homer and everything's Houston and all that stuff. That's cool. That's good and well.

that's just not the way that I go about my business in life. I try to see things objectively. I try to see both sides. So I do think the Rockets can win at home. Right now, my gut feeling. Hopefully it'll change and hopefully I'll be wrong. I'm wrong about predictions all the time. I said the Rockets are going to win seven.

Well, I guess that's still on the table. But I have my gut feeling right now. Rockets win game five at home and then lose game six on the road. Right now, I thought, that they were the better team coming into this series with the Warriors having the better players or better players capable of rising above and being great and being special.

And so far in this series, that has proved out. You've gotten basically all series long a special performance from Fred Van Vleet last night. He went 8 of 12 from 3. That was still 25 points, not like he went off for 40. And a special performance from Jalen Green in game two when he went off for 38.

Shingoon was good last night with 31 points, but he also took 28 shots and unfortunately missed the game winner. So in playoffs, that's them's the breaks. Good game, not a great game. Especially when you don't take threes and you take 28 shots and you only score 31 points. Good, not great. Not transcendent. Not all time. And we've seen all-time great transcendence from guys like Steph Curry or James Harden when he was here before.

And you're not seeing it in this series except for basically on the Golden State Warrior's side. That to me has been the difference. Steph Curry was incredible and won them game three. He was very good with some big shots in game one, which also won them that game. Jalen Green was special in game two. And then you lost game four with Brandon Pajemski going off and Jimmy Butler going 12 to 12 from the free throw. line. You had opportunities to win that game. You could not. And you shot 48% from three, by the way. We talk about the Warriors getting lucky and Brandon Projimski going off. They shot 37% from

three now. They made 17 of them. You just made 11. So they outscored you that way, six to, by six three-pointers. But you just weren't special enough. And Jalen Green was a complete no-show and non-factor in the second half. Seven minutes and two seconds on the floor. You scored. as many points. You and I scored as many points he's he did, got as many rebounds, assists, blocks, steals. At least he didn't turn the ball over. And one personal foul.

In seven minutes and two seconds of a fourth quarter of an elimination game. That's tough man. It's a tough pill to swallow. For Jalen Green and I've rooted for him in his career and I want good things for him. I was ecstatic when the Rockets drafted him. Number two overall overall. all just looking at his highlights and the capabilities that he has and the weapons that he possesses

and the physical gifts that he has as well, he can wow you as good as anybody in the NBA. And we know this. And he's got the skill and he can make those shots. But sometimes when the going gets tough, he's gone. And it's been too far too often. And the start of that game was an absolute disaster class in ball handling. just nonchalance and lack of focus bringing up the ball, lackadaisical,

and Buddy Heald's poking it away and then they're going the other way for two. It happened a couple of times. And clearly there was frustration on the side of Yemea Doka. And clearly, for whatever reason, for someone who can play with such force and play downhill and be so aggressive and look so great, it was a no-show performance.

And it's not the first time we've seen it. unfortunately. It's happened three times basically in this series out of four games. Not a coincidence, not an accident. The one time it didn't happen, you were able to get the victory. But man, I don't know.

I still want to say that he's a little bit too young to completely give up because there have been players who have made a leap after age 23 and gotten improved. and I was caution against thinking that this is a ceiling of a player because I did the same thing. When James Harden, if you remember, he had that season where he didn't finish first, second, or third all-team NBA, and he had like 27, 7 and 7 or something like that. He had a great season. And he didn't factor in in any of the wards.

It was like maybe 2015, 2016, I think it was before Dwight Howard came. And I was sitting there thinking, and I was sitting in these chairs here at sports. Horse Talk 790 at the time as a weekend host and a producer saying James Hardin has hit his ceiling. This is what he is. This is what he is. This is who he is. And at that time he was like 25, 26 years old. But he got better. He got way better. He went on to win an assist title. He went on to win three scoring titles. He went on to win an MVP. He got better because he put in the work. And then that's the question the rockets have to answer. Is he going to get better and to what level? and is he going to improve talking about Jalen Green. We've seen the incremental improvements.

How much more is he going to get better and closer to his ceiling? And as I sit right now, I'm going to tell you, I don't think he's done growing. I don't think he's done getting better. I think he can and will get better and more consistent. We've seen it in some flashes and then more and more and more somewhat consistent flashes as he's gone along. but it also, it's within him. And I don't know Jalen Green well enough to say, yeah, he's got the work ethic to where he's going to push through this,

and he's going to rise to be one of the all-time grades. Right now it's not looking like that. Four games into his career, but I will say I don't think he's done improving. I don't think this is Jalen Green. I think he can be better than what he was in game four. I think he has to be better than what he was in game four. And it can happen in this series. He could happen very well in a couple of these games down the stretch where he looks great.

He looks all world. He's dropping 30 plus points. And then you forget about those bad performances. They erase him for your mind because you get all starry-eyed and look at, oh my gosh, look at what he's capable of. Look at these high-flying dunks. Look at these step-back threes. Look at these pull-up crazy middies and going around three guys and finishing tough layups.

He can do it all. But he can also do nothing for you, which is what he did in the fourth quarter. seven minutes, Naria stat racked up rather than one personal foul. And it's frustrating. It's frustrating to watch

in big games where you want your rockets to win and they're going up against the freaking golden state warriors again and they're falling short again. It's tough. It's tough pill to swallow. To be sure,

series isn't over. The show goes on, and it will go on on Wednesday, 630 early tip. You know, maybe they'll still be on West Coast time, the Warriors, and the Rockets will be used to it and acclimated, and then get a victory. And actually, what I do think is advantage for the Rockets is the fact that they are the younger team, and this will be now the third game in a row in, what, five days? So you get a little bit longer in the tooth, talking about Stefan Curry and Draymond Green. Maybe there's going to be a little bit of a slowing down period.

and the young up-and-coming rockets can flex their muscles and get a win in game number five. We'll see. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number you want to get in. 7-13-213-125-7-90. Coming up, we'll have the news at noon. Later on, we'll have Joe Espada. Adam Clanton will be joining us as well. Haven't really talked much Astros.

We can get into that as well. And then all the top sports news of the day, the news at noon, is coming up here on Sports Talk 790. 3 of the Matt Thomas show with Ross is next. 1202 in the PM here on Sports Talk 790. It is our number 3 of the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Without Matt Thomas, he is traveling with the Houston Rockets. I am here. Adam Klan will be joining in the 1 o'clock hour,

as should Astros manager Joe Espada. But in the meantime, we have to get to all the top sports news items of the day. We call it the news. at noon. And we go to the Sports 790 News Desk with Intrepid reporter Jonathan Allen. What do you got for us, Jonathan. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

My name is Jonathan K. Allen. They call me J.K. And the first top I want to talk about is the local nine having a very convincing win over the Detroit lines. Swing and a mess. Chase the slider in the dirt. And that is the ball game. The Houston Astros take the first game of the first game.

this three-game series from the Detroit Tigers, winning 10 to 5. Astros have now won seven of their last 10 ball games. Fitting in for the Astros, another swing and miss, 12 strikeouts by the pitchers who continue to get the job done. Excuse me for that mess up. Detroit Tigers, Tiger. Detroit Lions, Tigers, Bears, I don't know, some sort of big cat. We're a Houston nation.

Yeah, it's fine. Some sort of growling big cat. Now, could 100 men take on one Bengal tiger? What do you think? Tigers are easy, man. Actually, actually, they are the true... The Kings of the Jungle. Wait, are the lion?

Is that... I don't know. By the way, I'm still seeing all those hundred men taking on one gorilla memes. And people are making videos. It's pretty hilarious. I still maintain that the first 30 to 40 guys would tire out the gorilla. And then the last guys, that's when the eye gouging and the nut punching starts. And then you could eventually subdue the gorilla.

I literally just saw on a Twitter thread of a dude. dude that got a degree for like the evolution of monkeys, breaking it down for people like, oh, okay. What did he say? He said there would definitely be 30 to 40 casualties, but men can still do it. Okay.

I don't know, though. Okay, you're still on the guerrilla side. I don't know, man. Well, apparently, gorillas have lower level of stamina than men do, apparently. That's what I've heard. Yeah, so they say if you choke him out for a little bit, you know, like in time, maybe. I don't know.

I just, I've been a little bit of time. I just know, I want to be in the last batch of 10. I think the first 80, 90 guys can take them out. I just want to be in the last batch, last dance, when the gorilla's really tired, and then I just got to get the eye-gouge it, and then we're all going to be all good. That's what I'm thinking.

All right, anyways, have you seen the new one, Jonathan? The new one is one polar bear versus 200 guys. No, I was one polar bear. No. Now, I think a polar bear definitely takes out 100 guys. Because they have big claws. Yeah, and they're huge.

They have like. They have like your jugular's getting sliced in a half. That's that. So I don't know if it's 200. How big is a polar bear? Polar bears are huge. I don't know. All right.

Anyway, let's get back to the news. Yes, the Astros get the win over the Detroit Tigers yesterday. Ronald Blanco, this has been his basically his line de jour. How many times this year has he thrown five innings and given up three earned runs? Feels like he's done it like three or four times already this season. So, yeah, the E. is taking a step back from what it was last year. Anybody with a brain knew that there was going to be a little bit of regression for him,

but he did enough to keep you in the game, and then the bullpen's doing his thing. I actually meant, you know what, let me write this down to ask Joe earlier later on when we get him on. Like all these left-handed relievers, the whole time Dusty Baker was here, he was like, yeah, I need more lefties. Need some lefties out of the bullpen.

And they're like, yeah, we're good. We're going to give you Luke Rayleigh or something, whatever his name was. And it was like one ineffective lefty. Now they got a bunch of effective lefties in the bullpen. O'Kert, King, getting the job done. And then while a Bray, Urd, and Hader coming in later, and the Astros able to get the win,

eight saves for Josh Hader. 14 pitches, 12 strikes. How about that for him? A.6.4 ERA on the season. Astros looking pretty good, taking the series opener against the, Detroit Tigers. Game number two of the series will be on our sister station news radio 740 KTRH.

That'll be a 710 start here on Sports Talk 790. Oh, no, I'm stupid. KTRH will be Wednesday. I'm sorry. No, it won't be a KTRH. It'll be here on Sports Talk 790. And then the Rockets will be later on on 790 as well. It's a double dipper.

Teams that win championships here on Sports Talk 790. Tigers and Astros tonight on 790. Excuse me. as look, I'm going to be honest. I was with you on air until like 1 a.m. I'm pretty tired. Astros and Tigers tonight, 710, Sports Talk 790.

Joe Espada later on on this program. What else you got, Jonathan Allen? On the news at noon. Real quick, before we leave the Local 9, I just wanted to address, because I know you talked about earlier, about how Altube was going on into the media saying that

Dana Brown and all of them needs to give pinion and extension. And I want to just to show you guys real quick. He's more mature and he's a guy that you know works hard, plays hard, shows up every day, willing to go and play and willing to learn. And when you combine all those things, you're going to have a great year, you know, you're going to become a superstar and he's a very valuable player for us and I'm very surprised he's not signing to a long-term year with you, you know, deal with the extras.

You know, he's a guy that you really want him on your team for a long turn. So I think, you know, Dana Brown and you know, Dana Brown and Mr. Crane needs to start working on that. Thank you. I just thought that was... I thought... I never heard that about any athlete.

He's like, look. I thought that was really cool. You let my friend George go to Toronto. You let my other friend Carlos go to Minnesota. I begged you. I begged you to sign Alex Bregman. You let him go to Boston. Please.

Like, this is one... We're his last friends on this team. Probably Jeremy Pena. Yordon Alvarez, maybe Yiner Diaz, but he's just a puppy in this game. Like, yeah, everybody that has been his guy, maybe Fromber as well, we put in that category, and Lance McCuller's Jr. whenever he's able to come back. Like, he and Lance McCuller Jr. are still the last two guys off of that 17 team. And then if you go to the 19 team, you just add in Yordaan Alvarez,

and Jeremy Pena was a rookie in 22. So, yeah, Jose Altuvae is an astro for life. He's on a long-term deal. He's tired of seeing all his friends go away. So he wants the Astros to sign Jeremy Payne to a long-term deal. And it hasn't been brought up, but Hunter Brown, they should think about kick, as Matt Thomas would say, kicking the tires on a long-term deal.

So good for El-Tube, for stumping for his guys, and go into the media and saying, I want him to sign this guy. But unfortunately, it was not very effective when it came to the Alex Breggman deal. And to move on to next topic, I just saw this right now. The Niners agreed for Kittle, making him the highest pay tight-in with $76.4 million contract attention deal. Yeah, George Kittle, he was holding out from voluntary workouts, correct?

I believe so. I just saw it right now that he just on the deal today. Making the highest pay time in NFL history, actually. NFL history. Four years, $76.4 million. $40 million. and guaranteed money for George Kittle. Wow.

All right. Look, he's been good and he's been pretty healthy. Earlier on in his career, we talked about him possibly being injury prone and he had missed a lot of time. See, this is why I tell you, injury prone is not necessarily predictive, especially in a violent game like the NFL.

Yeah, he missed a lot of games. But do you really pay in his career? Four years, 76 million? 31 years old? No, that's a lot. But at least $40 million of it's guaranteed, probably within the first two years. They're banking that he's going to be good for the next two years and then they can figure things out because he has been great. He's one of the great tight-ins, especially two-way tight-ins.

He's a great blocker, great pass catcher, scores touchdowns. I don't consider him. Who's the best tight-in in the game right now? Would you see? It might be him. It was Kelsey, but, you know. Yeah, Kelsey's falling off. I do that.

Playoff before. What is the name of the Lions Tight-in? Sam Leporta. Leporta, yes. He's pretty good. One other one. Trey McBride,

Brock Bowers. Mark Andrew? No. Yeah, so he's definitely a top five guy and then arguably the number one, especially when you factor in the pass and run blocking that he does, which is better than most tight-in,

certainly better than, say, Dalton Schult. here in Houston. All right, so a big deal for George Kittle. Congratulations to him, $76 million. What else is on the news at noon? Jonathan Allen. Other than we all know about Houston Rockets and losing 106 and 109 to the Golden State Warriors,

as well, I got a clip from Singoon, you know, after the press game in the press conference, if y'all didn't hear, just showing a lot of growth, saying, you know, to the people of Houston that he's got, he's got what it takes and that he's not scared of this and he's going to keep trying these shots. Game shot, so. But there's a lot to learn.

I'm still young. You know, I'm going to make those one day and get better and better. Game shot. You know, just showing the people of Houston that he's not scared. Obviously, it's down, he's upset in the, you know, the demeanor.

But what can you do when you're versing step in the Golden State? And you've got to figure out what you can do when you're seated number two, right? Backs against the wall. must win game on Wednesday. Alpern Shingoon, unfortunately, he could not go around Draymond Green and that spin move that he put on, was trying to get closer to the basket, could not do it in a one-on-one

situation with Shingun on Draymond Green at the top of the key. Ima Adoka liked the Rockets chances, and that was the setup that they went. Actually, Coach Udoka saying that Fred Van Vlate was supposed to screen and they were going to switch to get on Gary Payton on him, and then maybe there would have been a collapse in a double team situation. Either way, didn't work out the way that the Rockets wanted, didn't make the shot. You got to make those in playoff series.

They didn't do it. They're down 3-1 with their backs against a wall coming home on Wednesday. I like Alperin Shingoon, but elite defenders can slow him down. Same thing for Jalen Green. Same thing for most people to a degree. But it feels a little bit more stark with Alperin-Gun and especially Jalen Green and how poorly he's been playing and how well he's been defended with the Golden State Warriors. We'll talk about how the Golden State Warriors have been defending Jalen Green.

Also mentioned earlier that there was a suggestion people have been making that I do not agree with. We'll get to that when we come back. Coming up later on, we will have Adam Clanton joining us at 1 o'clock. We'll also have Joe Espada in the fold later on. And you, if you'd like to get in, we're talking Astros, we're talking Rockets, anything you want to get to. 713-212-5-790. Do you want Jeremy Pena signed up long-term? Is Jalen Green too close to his ceiling?

Is it time for the Rockets to move on? We'll talk about that as well. It's 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. One o'clock, Adam Clanton, will join us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross, without Matt Thomas. Chris Gordy was hanging out earlier. In the meantime, it is just me. So if you want to get in and have a little conversation,

whether it be about the Astros or the Rock. or whatever you'd like, you can do so. At 713, 212, 5790, 713, 212-212-5-790 is the phone number to get in. You can also send tweets to at SportsRV if you would like to get in that way as well. So, Rockets, again, we've been talking a lot about it, and I mentioned a couple of topics we were going to get to as far as Jalen Green. How close is he getting to his ceiling? I don't know.

Is it too close to try to give him more of a chance? They signed him to a deal in this offseason, a three-year extension that I believe he can opt out after two years. So you basically have him for another year and then we'll see. I don't know. It's up to the Rockets. It's up to the coaching staff and Rafael Stone. And for them to say, do we think we can move forward into this next phase of Rockets basketball with Jalen Green being important? big part of it.

He's got warts to his game. He's not a perfect player. Permanent defense sometimes is a lacking, but sometimes he locks up, man. I've seen him multiple times against very good offenders, whether it be, I don't know, the Jalen Brunson's, the Jason Tatum's, he's done it multiple times being switched on Stefan Curry in this series. So I think the defense can be there for him. He's gotten stronger.

He's gotten better in that facet of his game. It's the offensive game as well. he's improved at, but too often, especially in game number three, looking like a deer in headlights when they were trapped, and then the lack of days ago bad turnovers, which can crop up here and there, but it just can't happen in a playoff game and in a pivotal situation like it was in game number three.

And so a lot of people have talked about the option of, do you go with Cam Whitmore? I don't think so. I don't think, you know, some people calling for Reed Shepard as well. That ain't happening. And Aaron Holiday, I think I feel like I've talked about it is a little bit more plausible as somebody who can come off the bench and help. But it's been very clear that Coach Udoca wants to keep a tight eight-man rotation.

It's been the starters. It's been Jabari, Tari, and Stephen Adams. By the way, I haven't even mentioned much. Stephen Adams is incredible. When you look at the box score, that doesn't even begin to tell you the impact. Unless you want to look at the plus minus, he was a plus 16. every starter in the negative except for Alper and Shingoon, but the bench unit did very well.

Therefore, their plus minus went up. And to me, plus minus in one game especially, not always indicative. For example, Chalin Green was a plus three in the fourth quarter. He didn't rack up a single stat. So do you think he was a plus great player for the team or were other guys doing things that were helping the squad?

I think you have your answer with a little bit of critical thinking. But Stephen Adams was good. he was just, you know, you look, like I said, you look, two for four, whatever, seven rebounds, that's cool. But five of them on the offensive end, he was a number of times. If you look at that run that Alpern Shingoon went on in that third quarter where he was, where he was scoring at Will, there was a lot of times where Stephen Adams was sealing off Quentin Post at the low block and giving a free lane to Alprin Shingoon in letting him operate down in the post. So Stephen Adams with the screening, with the Creenham's,

dealing off of the post and with the offensive rebounds, with the doing everything with the dirty work and going after loose balls, blocking a couple of shots as well. Four actually. He was huge. He was a big part of that Rockets game and a big part of the loss that they had on Saturday. Yeah, Saturday. I think he was really good.

I think he was really good in game one too. Like he's been consistent, man. He's been one of their better players. Unfortunately, he had an illness. He was listed as questionable before the game. don't know how much that impacted his effectiveness. Didn't seem like much. He played 26 minutes, and Stephen Adams was really good.

But I don't think turning to Kim, what more is going to happen at all? I know it's been suggested by a lot of you, and maybe going forward. I think he plays a little bit too out of control. And that's why Jalen Green was sitting at the end of this game. He plays a little bit too out of control. And in a playoff game against a really good team

that is going to beat you in transition, where you can all afford to give up free baskets on defense and then also give up free baskets on offense with turnovers and or bad shot selection. Coach you don't know because not going to trust Cam Whitmore right now. And I totally understand that. Aaron Holliday, I think a little bit more trustworthy

and a better more consistent three-point shooter. But he's been on ice this whole series. Is that going to continue? Is the starting lineup going to be the same in game five? Is the rotation going to be the same in game five? I don't know. I would tend to say yes. But Coach Yodga did say after the game, everything is up for evaluation. But that's also what coaches say.

They're going to say everything is up for evaluation and then go from there. So I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. But I would have to say probably rotation and starting lineup stays the same for the Rockets in game number five tomorrow at the Toyota Center. 713-212-5-790 is the phone number if you want to get in. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Yankees Keith holding longest. What's up, Yankees Keith?

Hey, man, I think you can attribute all this stuff until these kids being nervous. But then again, when Jalen Green scored 38 points, he should have his, I mean, his confidence should be up to the highest level. How can he just crash and burn like he keeps going? Yeah, I know. That's what I'm saying. He didn't look nervous in game two. It's just, I think a part of it is really good defense. and part of it is this something we've seen from him before, Keith.

It's not the first time we've seen Jalen Green disappear for games. Unfortunately, it's happened three out of four. This year, I'm going to guess he didn't have a single stretch all year long. I can go look through his game logs, and I will during the break. I'm going to guess he didn't have a stretch all year with three out of four games he was in single digits. That's incredible. I can see last night it seemed like at the second half that A man was getting his, confidence up and so was

LP. But like you said, Jaylen, he just disappeared. I don't get it. I can't understand it. I don't think they should trade him. But if he clunks out again tomorrow, they may think about it. Yeah, it'll be interesting, and thank you,

Keith, and appreciate you getting in. First of all, this thing, too, it's easy to say, oh, trade him, get rid of him. That's all right. Listen him. What are you going to get? Hey, I got this two guard who takes a lot of shots. He's not super efficient, and he just had the worst playoff series. I mean, he just played his worst basketball

during a playoff series. That's not very attractive to other teams. So that's what you, your situation you kind of get into to where it's like, is it better for you to hope that there is improvement to where he makes a leap, which

he has, he has improved, but he hasn't leapt, right? It's been incremental small improvements. Slightly more efficiently, more efficient offensively. Slightly better play player, slightly better defense, incrementally, year by year by year. And he is just 23 years old.

And I'm not saying that that is an excuse. I'm not saying, oh, give him some time. He's only 23. I'm saying NBA players do not peak at age 23, generally, barring, you know, Derek Rose in some big injury where his knees fall apart. For the most part, players get better and better and better and better. and they peak at 27, 28, 29, 30. Around there.

And like I said, where the reason I say this is because I am my own example of that. I said on these airwaves, on the sports RV show on a Saturday, when James Hardin was like 26 years old, I said that he peaked. And I was dead wrong. After that, after I said that James Hardin peaked,

he went and won an MVP and three scoring championship. ships. So players can get better. Players do improve. And improvement is not always linear. It's going to be up and down. But you're hoping for more ups and downs,

but Jalen Green is down right now, and there's no getting around that. So where do we go from here? What does the Rockets organization go from here? I'll tell you where they go from here. They play on Wednesday. See how he looks. Bounce back.

You scored 38 in one game in this series. Do it again. Carry the team. I'm on your back. Let's see it. I'm not super optimistic, but stranger things have happened. 713-212-5-790. The phone number here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 7-13-212-5-790. Couple of you on hold. We'll get to you as we go along. We also have Adam Clanton coming up at 1 o'clock. And you at 7-13 at 2-1-2-5-7-90. All right. You guys are getting popping on the phone lines. I do appreciate it.

They are open. Still, a couple of them. 713, 212. 5790, 713, 212, 5, 790. We've been talking some Rockets basketball. They are down in the series 3 to 1 after losing 109 to 106. Last night against the Golden State Warriors. Outbrinch and Goons, 11-foot push shot, falling just short, couldn't get the rebound.

Fred Van Vliet gets shot, really, to throw up a prayer at the end there. Unfortunately, it did not even hit Rim, and the rockets fall to the Golden State Warriors, 109 to 106. We're talking about that and more at 713-213-2-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Holding a longest Joe in downtown, the floor is yours. Hey, I don't think Cam is the solution to the Jalen Green situation, but I think the clear issue about this offense in this series is outside of the three-third shooting, getting to the rim.

And Cam this season would just dive and throw himself at the rim in a way that A. Man can't just because of Cam's size. I'm not saying he needs to get like critical fourth quarter minutes, but if Jalen, Amen, and Tari aren't hitting any shots like they were last night, why not just throw Cam in there in like the second quarter and have Draymond soak up a bunch of fouls trying to stop him? I think it's just because it's a two-way game. And it seems clear to me that the coach you docket does not.

Yeah. I think so. That's what Udoka thinks to me. I think he's a lot of missed assignments. A lot of times he's not paying attention and ball watching and maybe the intensity would ramp up in a playoff game and he would be ready for it. But I think Coach Udoca does not want to throw him into that fire and take that risk. He's going with a very tight eight-man rotation.

He's going with guys he can trust. And unfortunately, Jalen Green has fallen out of trust, at least did in the second half of this game. And it's going to be a game-by-game basis. But I don't think, I don't think Cam Whitmore has Coach Udoca's trust Joe it just doesn't seem like

He's totally in the doghouse with Udoca I get that Yeah I mean like even Jaylen Green off an inbound play I feel like some of his best game Is where he can just kind of You know dive at the baseline and do a jump shot or something I was surprised at and have him in at the end there I was very shocked

At the very least having the threat And Jalen Green is not like a dead eye three point shooter at all But I mean running two-man actions with he and Alperin Shingoon to where you can get Shingun going downhill and just being prepared for a trap situation where you can find guys and have them positioned to where you can go four on. If Jalen Green is getting doubled and trapped, then that means everybody else is four on three, and you've got to figure something out. And they just haven't been able to do that consistently.

And it didn't happen a whole lot in the game four, at least on my eyes, because Jalen Green was just, he was losing the ball, just pulling up to half court. and pulling up to the top of the key. So they didn't get that opportunity, but I'm with you. I understand that there was a lack of trust in Jalen Green, but even not even having the threat. If not it was a veiled threat or a false threat of Jalen Green on the floor, I thought was at first puzzling, but then at the very least, very telling that Coach Udoka said,

no, I'm not going with this guy. We can win without him. He is hurting us more than he's helping us. All right. Thanks a lot, Joe. Appreciate it. Yeah, it's frustrating, man, because like I said, I'm a Rockets fan through and through.

Born and raised, Houston, Texas. I want the Rockets to win. I want Jalen Green to succeed. I want Alper and Shungoon to succeed. Everybody on this floor that you're wearing rockets gear, I root for you. There's a lot of people these days, and it's just the younger generation,

especially with free agency and guys getting traded. They're more player fans than team fans. And there are people who are all in on Jalen Green or all in on Alper and Shingoon. and then one of the other succeeds and they get mad and they argue with each other. I want everybody to succeed. You wear Houston on the front of your jersey. I want you to win with this team.

And it's frustrating to see Alper and Shingun would get muscled by Draymond Green and only thrive when he's off the floor. And it's frustrating to see Jalen Green not on the floor at all. In a last second to win the game. The game is on the line. you need one bucket. And Coach Yudoka says, nope, don't need them.

We're going to go on. We're going to go on without them. That's tough, man. That is tough. All right, 713, 212-5-790. The phone number, let's keep it rolling with Geo and Ataskaseda holding longest. What's up, Gio?

What's up, Ross? Hey, man, I just want to touch on the Jalen Green thing real quick. I have been the Jalen Green fans as we drafted them. I gave him a long leash. I knew it was going to be some growing pains, and we all know that there have been growing pains, absolutely. But he was, out of all the draft picks that we got in the past drafts, he was the one player that we brought on who was going to be the guy.

You know, he was going to be the face of the Rockets. He was going to be our go-to guy. He was going to, you know, bring us to the promised land. but he has been extremely inconsistent, whether it be in these playoffs, whether it be in the past seasons, this regular season, you know,

he'll go, on any given night, we do not know which Jalen Green we are going to get, and that's a problem. And he is completely underperforming in regards to the draft that he was drafted in, to the players that he was drafted by. I mean,

for one, Cade Cunningham was drafted, number one. he was an all-star and an all-N-B-A team. Mowbally was an all-star, all-N-B-A team, and defensive player of the year, and Scotty Barnes was an all-star. Jaylon Green does not have any of those things next to his name. So, I mean, you know, he's just completely underperforming,

and I hate to say it, but, you know, he's not it. He's not the answer, man. And we're going to have to make a decision on him this off-season and see what we're going to do. Appreciate it, guys. Good show. All right. Thank you, Gio.

Yeah, look, like I said, he's behind in his development, especially like you said, relative to his draft class, relative to what we wanted, relative to expectations. A lot of players, you know, we talked about it last year in the offseason. Third year leap. Can you get a third year leave from Jalen Green? And in many respects in his game, well, at least in points per game, he regressed. This year, he got better offensively.

I feel like his playmaking was better. his assistant numbers are not up, but I feel like his playmaking is better. His effective field goal percentages and true shooting percentages are better than they have been. Relative to the last two years in his career, so he got better at that. If you look at some advanced statistics like box plus minus, a value over replacement player, he's had his best season as an NBA player. So you look at all those types of things, and he's gotten better. Win shares as well, win shares per 48 minutes.

You look at a lot of those things, he's gotten a lot better. But it's just been incremental. And he has not been an All-Star. And as you mentioned, Scotty Barnes has been. And Evan Mobley was just defensive player of the year. He was a borderline All-Star. He's just not reached to that level. And I understand if you want to give up on him and say,

this is who he is, he's not getting any better. I just disagree. I just have to disagree. He's 23. He's going to get better. I think the question is, and we can argue this, and we don't know, how much better will he get? Will he become an efficient 25-point-per-game player?

Will he use this as motivation and a learning tool and a teaching tool? And will he use this as a springboard to improve and, you know, strengthen his resolve to get better and work harder and not have what he had early in his career where just things given to him and the reins of the offense given to him and the hard coaching from Imiyodoka. I think it has gotten better.

The question is, how much better will it get? And I don't know. You don't know either. If you want to give up on him, I'm not calling you crazy. I'm not saying, oh, what are you an idiot? Jalen Green, this guy is God's gift of basketball. football. How could you give up on him? I understand where you're coming from. I understand your

side of it. I'm also just going to sit here and tell you, and maybe I'm on an island by myself, and I think especially after this game I am, and I'm okay with that. I've been on islands before and I've been right. I've been on islands before and I've been wrong. But I don't think this is it. I don't think he's reached the peak of his NBA career. But it sucks. That doesn't make any easier. We can debate. till we're blue in the face. You know, where is his ceiling? Where is it going to be? Should he be traded?

Should he stay? Should he have signed the extension? Should he have not? Bottom line is he was a no-show in game four. Rockets needed him in game four. They needed a big performance on the road, backs against the wall, and he was a literal no-show because he was on the bench.

I'm not arguing with you on that, for sure. All right, 7-13-212-5-790 is the phone number. 713, 212, 5, 790. We're going to take a quick break. A lot of you on hold. Let's go. Let's get after it. We're talking some Rockets Ball.

We're having some fun. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross with you until 2 o'clock here on Sports Talk 790. Joe Espada coming up at 130. Adam Clinton coming up at 1 o'clock and your calls as we go along and we'll be right back after this short break. All right. We've got to have a discussion about Cam Whitmore. I keep getting a bunch of tweets. I don't know.

Look, I like Cam Whitmore. He's a young player. he's shown some flashes. He's had a 30-point game here and there. You need to stop and think for a second. Why is Cam Whitmore not out there? If he is this unstoppable offensive force and he is this huge spark and he can score points on this team that does not score points.

If he is this hyper-efficient scoring machine, why isn't Coach Udoka playing him? Either A, you think Coach Udoka is stupid? Or making a mistake? or I don't even know what B would be he's got annesia and he forgot his name and it's awkward for him so he doesn't want to call his name so he doesn't want to pull him off the bench.

I mean, I don't even know what it would be. I like Cam Whitmore. He is not the cure to what ails, the Houston Rockets, in my opinion. He throws up a lot of wild shots. He does score a lot of points, but a lot of time that's in garbage time against bad teams.

And he's gotten some opportunities, but clearly he does not have the trust of Coach Udoka, especially on the defensive side of the ball. He can fill it up, but he plays a little bit too much for himself, and he misses defensive assignments all the time. And I think clearly to me, and I tend to agree with Coach Udoke,

Cam Whitmore is not going to just spark a major Houston Rockets run. It's just the disease of we, we always fall in love with bench players for whatever reason as a fan base. Gary Clark, got to play Gary Clark more. Why isn't Steven, what Silas playing Gary Clark? This guy's an idiot. Look, he does it all. The future defensive player of the year knocking down corner threes. I would go to Joseus Hardinstein, but he actually turned out to be a really good player.

But it's like, it's bench players for whatever reason. We fall in love of them. We think they're going to be, they're going to fix everything for the rocket. I just don't think that's the case. I just don't. You just have to sit there and ask yourself, why isn't Cam Whitmore playing more? There are answers to that question.

I think those answers are out of control too much on offense and the attention to detail lacking on defense. And that's that. They don't want to throw him into the playoff fires right now. Simple as that. All right, 713, 212, 5790 is the phone number. Let's keep it going. Jamal in Memorial holding longest.

What's up, Jamal? Hey, how's it going, everyone? I'm not going to lie to the caller from my task to see that he kind of stole a lot of my thunder. That was a real jerk move. I would say this. I'm not going to really chime too much in on the game last night. I kind of think they're cooked already. they may win game five, but they'll do good maybe to even push it to a game seven to hit it there.

But what the caller was saying on Jalen Green, he hit on some lot of good points, right? They drafted Jailie Green. Out of all the picks and all the drafts we had, Jailen Green was the one that was supposed to be like, you know, the face, supposed to kind of be what Hardin was. He's clearly not that. I'm actually, I like Jailen Green. And I was phone, like the caller said, gave him a long leash. But after seeing this series simple, he ain't it.

He might have a little bit of growth still left, but he's not it. And I just think he's one of those guys where he's dynamic. He's not quite a one, night quarter two. So it's real hard to kind of get him, you know, he's always going to have, until he reminds me of a early J.R. Smith, where J.R. Smith was with Denver, with the Mellow Denver. A very talented guy, J.R. can't share out of high school, you know, had a guy that got ups and can jump into athleticism off the charts,

but wasn't able to kind of rein it in and define his game later on into his career. So we don't have time for that. I actually think that the, I would say this, I wasn't even for the KD trade earlier, but I'm at the point now where I'm forward. And I think Jalen Green has got to be the trade with the trade. I think, I don't, I think Sangoon is untouchable. I wasn't a big fan. West name has shown me a lot lately.

I wasn't too high on Jabari Smith, but I'm a big, I think Shangoon, Bari, and Amen are your untouchables. You Jalen Greens, the trade ship, you put a package up some draft picks. Maybe you trade Van Vlid on the aspiring contract, you know, maybe even Cam has to go to Whitmore. But I think moving forward, those are the guys you build around. Amen, Shangoon, and Bari. I still like the kid too. I still like Rich Shepard.

think he got to just get an opportunity. And I just, that's what I wanted to, I think, I think, unless we make some kind of run to the Western Conference finals or further, I think that the, I think the trade is going to happen somewhere in the offseason or maybe in the middle of the season next year. I just want to get your thoughts on that. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you getting in, Jamal. Yeah, I don't, I don't know, especially when it comes to, you could use a prime, Kevin Durant. I mean, obviously, prime Kevin Durant's don't grow on trees.

A lot more than end of his career, not as good defensively, Kevin Durant. And maybe it's easier to kind of shore up for some of his defensive deficiencies because he does have length. He can recover. He can still block shots. He still moves pretty well. For a guy that is as 36 years old and had an Achilles injury, it's crazy that he's still going as good as he is. At this point,

I'm just like throwing my hands up and saying, I don't know. I'm going to be honest. I have an opinion. My opinion is that I won't want Kevin Durant here long term. My opinion is that Jalen Green can continue to grow, but I don't think he's got the superstar ceiling that we were hoping that he did have. I think he's got complimentary player, second or third best player,

on a championship winning franchise as his ceiling. as a go-to guy, I would agree. He is not there. Maybe he can get to the level of what Jamal Murray has been for the Denver Nuggets. Where occasionally, yeah, it's Nicola Yolkut's show, and he continues to grow and get better. And then he can be an efficient second option. But then you have to ask, who's your first option? I like Alper and Shingoon, too, but I don't think he's untouchable.

I think we've seen it in this series that he can struggle against really good defensive teams and I think that limits his ceiling as well. He really thrived when Draymond Green was off the floor. What happened when Draymond Green is on the floor? He's just, he's not as effective. He's not as good. And that can happen to him.

He can run into roadblocks, and that's going to happen in playoffs. If you give the other team all this time to focus their energy on defending you, it's going to be tough for you to come through. And that's what's happening in Jalen Green right now. The Warriors are shading him to go to his left hand, and they are blitzing and trapping him.

And it has done a great, they've got a great job of limiting how effective Jalen Green can be. When they have the game plan, when they can turn the screws on you, and you're going up against really good coaching staffs and some of the best players and defenders, on the planet in the playoffs,

your warts get magnified. They get that much more exposed. And that's what's happening with Jalen Green right now. So I don't know where they go from here. They're not out of the series yet. We'll see what happens. Let's just hope that somehow, some way, Jalen Green goes off for 30 points on Wednesday,

and we're talking about how they bounce back. I don't know that's going to happen. I understand we're in between games. Last night was an extreme disappointment. Dude wasn't even on the floor on the floor. quarter. I mean, he was, but he wasn't. Seven minutes, two seconds, no points, no rebounds, no

assists, no, no turnovers, no one personal foul, no blocks, no steals, he's out there getting trillions. He's out there, he scored as many points as if we put a lamp post out there. That can't happen. That cannot happen.

All right, 713, 212, 5 is 790. A lot of you on hold, I promise we will get to you. We've got to take a quick top of the hour break. Adam Clanton will join We got Joe Spada coming up at 130 as well. You folks on the phone lines, I got one line open at 713, 212, 570. 713, 212, 570. All right, hour number four of the Matt Thomas show with Ross without Matt Thomas.

And now joined by Adam Clanton. I guess I need to get a final confirmation. We're supposed to have Joe Spada coming up at 130 as well. And phone lines are full. We were a tower full bore. the engine is firing on all cylinders as we're talking some Rockets ball Adam Clanton is settling in so

let me go to some of you on hold real quick let's start with Robert in Katie what's up Robert hey Ross I'll might talk about the other green on Golden State Draymond Yes there I was really confused and pretty upset

last night him continuing to play in the game that first time he put his shoulder in our guy, he was a moving screen. And they didn't even call a foul on that. They called a foul on us and plus a technical. Then the second time, when he grabbed our jersey after kicking him in the head a couple of times, he didn't get thrown out then.

You know, they didn't get him a technical on that. That should be automatic technical. You grabbed all the guy's jersey. I mean, I haven't heard anybody talking anything about that. I just wanted your opinion. Yeah, it was very clear. Thank you, Robert. Appreciate you getting in. First of all, there are some that will argue it was not intentional by Draymond Green kicking, and then Reggie Miller among them that it wasn't an intentional foul.

I think it was intentional. I think he kicked him in the head. It was also during a dead ball when he did that, when he kicked Harrison in the head, and then he pulled on his jersey. It should have been a technical foul, and Draymond Green should have been out of the game. Well, for most people, that would be the benefit of the doubt that they would get. For this guy who has done this, how many times now? Like, why do his legs always wind up in people's groins or in their head or wherever else? And why is he stepping on people all the time?

Like, I'm sorry, you don't get that benefit of the doubt. Unless, of course, you're a Draymond Green and you still do because you play for the Warriors. Yeah, I don't under, I mean, I actually do understand it perfectly. They didn't want to throw him out of the game. Why? What does he bring to the table? Ratings? stellar offense, amazing shooting.

No, he's a goon. Throw him out. He plays really good defense. I mean, he's... Yeah, he was allowed to play very good defense on Shingoon in that last play because he should have been thrown out before after that. He should have been thrown out of the game. I agree with that.

He was not. I think we've seen that, even if it's not, Draymond Green, referees are hesitant to give a second technical foul. We've seen it with Dylan Brooks. The only question you need to ask yourself about that scenario is what would have happened to Dylan Brooks last night. I think Dylan Brooks a lot of times has gotten leeway and not getting his second technical foul. He would have thrown out in that situation.

No, I don't know that. We don't know that. So you can say that and you can sit there and we can whine about it. But the bottom line is we don't know that. Dylan Brooks has been given leeway in getting his second technical foul in games and situations. I've seen it with my own two eyes. And it's unfortunate. But he also had to go out there and win the game.

Tremont Green was on the floor for the Rockets. You got to make your free throws. You got to make your easier shots. You can't get muscled up by him. And Jalen Green can't be on. no-show in the fourth quarter. He can't. Jalen Green's the biggest, biggest story of this game. It's not the free throws. I promise you. Because you should be able to win a game where you lead most of the night again, and you have a 31 and 10 night from Alperin Schingoon, even if it's on 28 shots.

28 shots, not super offense. I mean, Jordan had nights like that, too. He got 31. Alperin Shingoon, the volume shooter like Michael Jordan. I'm just saying, like, he did his part. Other guy, I mean, Fred Van Vleet got 25 from him, and you're going to waste it because Jalen Green a no show for the third time this series? I definitely agree that that was a waste. In playoff series and you know this Adam, we've been watching basketball a while, you get those magical games

from guys you're not expecting it from. Warriors got it last night from Brandon Pajamsky, where he went off. What a piece of crap he is? I mean, he scores a... What? Was he a piece of crap for? Because he plays for the Warriors. What more reason do you need? The guy, he averages

like just under 12 per game except for he turns into Superman against the freaking Rockets because they don't ever guard him. He's had some big games against them. He doesn't guard them. He's had a big games against other people where he's gone off like 28. But the deal is that he went off and the Warriors capitalized. You wasted, as you said, wasted is the term.

Fred Van Fleet ain't going for 8 for 12 from 3 in another game in this series. You need to get a win from this. Well, he can go 8 for 18 from 3. He did that in game 2. But that was also a Jimmy Butler off the field, I mean off the court. And this is the thing that we've seen from Jalen Green that I was hoping would kind of get ironed out in the playoffs. It's the lackadaisical dribbling, lack of focus, not paying attention. Where are guys, oh, you know, I'm doing a spinning dribble for bleeps and giggles at the top of the key and I lose the ball.

And they're going the other way for an easy two. That is unacceptable. And clearly E. Medoca agreed because he did not go with Jailen Green down the stretch. even on a last second play to win the game, you're down 107 to 106 with whatever it was 20 seconds to go or something like that? I can't remember. No, it looks like it's 13 seconds to go.

You don't use Jalen Green on the floor. Very clearly, Ema Doka sending the message, I can win without this guy the way he's playing tonight. Or I don't trust him to help me win tonight. I mean, either way you look at it, there's a couple of things at play here. Oh, and let's not forget the foul on Jimmy Butler with Dylan Brooks grazing his jersey. Again, it's probably a foul. Incidental contact.

I think that's a no call in that situation, but I also think when they call it and review it, they have to... In the playoffs. I hate that phrase because it comes up so much. Well, in the playoffs, that's not a foul. Why? It's a foul all season long. Why does it change now? But, okay, let's say for the sake of argument, that's how you feel.

You know, it's a playoff foul or it's not a playoff foul, what have you. my bigger issue with as the officials go is that I mean other than the obvious just nonsense with draymond green I mean there's leashes and then there's this guy he's got his own category um I just feel like you know be consistent be consistent on both ends if you're going to call that kind of foul on on dillon especially in that situation under a minute to go this guy's going to get three free throws and you negated that because fred van and Vleet hit another three to tie the game up, but, or no, actually that was after that, so I take that back. Shingoon hit the shot. He tied up 104 and then Jimmy got the three free throws to make it 107.

And then Shingoon got the bucket to get him to within one. They made a stop and then Shingoon got defended by, oh, Draymond Green, who shouldn't have been in the game. But I digress. If you're going to do that, you have to be consistent. But I said this yesterday. I've said it to Wex. I've said it like consistently. And I'll die on this hill.

I don't care if I'm in the minority. It doesn't matter to me. You are not going, like, we've seen when one team is clearly better than the other in a series, a.k.a. Oklahoma City, aka Cleveland. Like, way to roll over and die, Tyler Hero. Someone else threw you down like a ragdoll, and it was the Cleveland Cavaliers. That's a clear example of one team being better than the other. You're not going to convince me the Warriors are a better team than the Rockets the way the series has gone.

I understand. Now, are you going to tell me that they're a better free throw shooting team? Absolutely. But when this game is determined by three points on the road and with some questionable shenanigans going on with Dremont Green and the Rockets missed 12 free throws, I'm not going to sit here and say, oh yeah, clearly the Golden State Warriors were the better team in this series.

But clearly it's a fumbled opportunity. Absolutely twice. By Houston. Again against the Warriors. I mean. And here's the other thing. Here's the other aspect, because I know there's lots of layers to get to

and we'll do it for four hours on the A team. This first round series, maybe into the second round, if the rockets were to have advanced, and I'm not saying it's over, but come on, it's 3-1. This was going to hurt, much like that first round series against the Thunder when James Harden first got here.

You knew they were overmatched because they had Westbrook and Durant. You knew that it was probably not going to go your way. But, you know, there's growing pains. That kind of thing has to happen. The problem is when it comes against this team, it's going to be, everything's going to be magnified. Everybody's going to freak out. Oh, God, here we go again.

They're not that good. They're going to get smashed by whoever they play next. I'm fully convinced of that. We'll see. Smashed. Okay. I hope you're right. It doesn't matter.

I think it's probably OKC is going to win the West Front in the way no matter what. Yeah, this was not a title season for the Rockets. No, it wasn't. They exceeded expectation. We do have to keep that in perspective as well. So, yeah, a lot of different things and angles to get to. And we've got full phones right now. So let's get one quick one.

quick with Roger on the northwest side. Good evening, gentlemen. While in the whole time, I've been listening to the station, I've been traded jelly like five times. We've restructured the lineup, and we've just so many

multiple things that it's not even over yet, but it's over. It's over. It's over the progression here. The only thing, the only thing about it is just we seem to go to the same stumbling block and we've had the past other years were in the playoffs. The Golden State Warrior rolled

and I don't know how to figure it out and how to get past it. Other than, you know, getting better talent, I don't know, you seem to be getting beat up by Jerry Atchitz. I don't understand it. It's just something. It's like the Superstic's back in the 80s

when Akeem was just putting up gargantial numbers and still couldn't pass it on it. It's just the whole thing all over rinse, wash, reprieve. But I do know one thing. If we go out like a, like a just, you know, without even a fight on Wednesday, and you just bet the league.

Always we win the game and we eat by and then we lose the next game. I still think it's good enough for a adult as a guy with, you know, he don't put up with that. I don't think Tima Fatita will. I do think there's going to be some moves made because he's the bottom line. So let's a show him to the bottom line owner. I just wish that, I just wish that, you know,

gentlemen would have at least somewhat put up some numbers and some kind of the fight. Yeah, all right, Roger, sorry, we've got to get to a break. But yeah, we'll see what happens to Jalen Green. We can talk about you, Adam. We've been talking about it. People want him traded and gone, and I totally understand if you think that this is his ceiling

and this is all he's got, I'm not really going to argue with you. I also do think that players generally in the NBA do not peak at age 23, but the question is where is Jalen Green's peak? We'll discuss that when we come back. We also got some of you on hold. We'll continue to get to you as well.

Phone lines open two of them at 7-13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Rockets lose game four. We also got Joe Spada coming up at 130. Here on Sports Talk 790, you're home for the teams that actually win championships, the Rockets and the Astros. All right, a lot of you to get to on the phone lines. We'll do that shortly.

Adam Clinton hanging out here on the Matt Thomas show with Rock. Matt Thomas out traveling. BuzzFest headliner here, Marilyn Manson. Back to, okay. He's uncanceled. Everything's good with him? Yeah, he's fine. Oh. I mean, I know what you're talking about. Improprieties, sir.

I don't know. I don't know. Well, I think that was one of those situations. Well, I'm not going to get into that. Okay, we're going to move on. Or sometimes where I'm like, yeah. When is BuzzFest?

Probably next month. I don't know. You shouldn't you know this? I should. You are Mr. Rockface. Let's go. I haven't gone to one since we had a child together. funny how that happens so that's been six and a half years yeah he's almost seven all right anyways we're talking some rockets basketball we do have joe spotted coming up in the next segment those

you on hold we will get to you very shortly here on a sports talk 790 how many times this is a good name that somebody just brought up because i put up a twitter poll oh geez i love your twitter polling do you think jalen green will hit in his career i hit superstar all-star complimentary piece which I would categorize him as a complimentary piece right now and some people putting role player I just put that just kind of as a as a joke he's already better than a role player I voted. All-Star?

I'm not saying. Why not? Oh, it's an anonymous vote? Well, I mean... Well, we're talking about it. You can tell me on the air. That's why I'm bringing it up. I enjoy the supplemental income. You didn't put role player, did you? No, I'm not blind.

Look, somebody responded Kevin Martin. And that is an interesting comparison. You ready? Because if Jalen Green has hit his ceiling, he basically is a Kevin Martin. Are you ready for something real controversial? Yes. He wishes he was Kevin Martin. Oh.

Listen, Kevin Martin never scored eight points in a playoff game multiple times. Kevin Martin was good for 20. Kevin Martin was good for 20. I'm not looking up his numbers right now, and I know you are. I am. This is what me and Wex do. He actually goes to the, and I just go to the eye test because I've got a insane memory and I watch all the games. Insane memory.

He's, I can guarantee you his playoff, what's Jalen's playoff average right now? 15 and a half. And that's significantly boosted by game two because he's only played four games. Uh-huh. I guarantee you Kevin Martin's playoff average, whatever it is, probably blows that out of the water. Well, I, uh, I can find that for you. But again, 11.6. Wow. Well, color me shocked. If you want to go just with the Rockets, only only played one playoff series with the Rockets. Yeah, is it,

Wait, who did they play? Oklahoma City in 2013? Or no, no, he was on Oklahoma City, sorry. Yeah. He didn't play with the Rockets in the playoffs at all. They never made the playoffs. That was the purgatory years. No, they did not.

Because he was part of the hardened trade. He played against the Rockets. When he got traded to Oklahoma City, in 2013, they played in two playoffs series. he averaged 14 points per game. So your perfect memory is a little off, sorry. I get, well, again, it's boosted by 38 in game two. Hey, that's all 38 points counted.

They don't win that game without him. Agreed, but the other three games, he hasn't even scored double digits. I mean, it's very skewed. It's pretty bad. And the only other stretch, I looked this up because we were talking about this earlier on the show, three out of four games, not scoring in double digits. has not, didn't happen all season, except for the last three games when he was just on a minute's restriction basically, and they were just playing out the string because they already

clinched the two seed. So if you don't count those three games, all season long he has not had a stretch this poor. I know that this is going to become a hot topic, particularly if like if the Rock, it's just, I would like to think they would have some pride and salvage their season tomorrow night at home. But whatever the case, if this series is it, and you go into this off season Yeah, if you Kenny Loggins? Mm-hmm.

If you go... And Michael McDonald? Yes. I think you're right. They co-wrote that. If you go into this off season and you're of the opinion, ah, he's only 23.

Like Jordan was 23 when you, like all this kind of stuff. It's not even necessarily compare, go ahead, I'm sorry. Well, I just, my thing is, yes, he's 23, and if you want to compare it to fill in the blank this player when he was 23,

fine. But that's not today's NBA. And this guy is, what is this, season number four for him? This is his fourth season. We also have to remember that his developmental season out of high school was a COVID season where he played like seven, eight games for G League Ignite. And his head coach was Stephen Silas the first two years of his career. And however much you want to say that. So he's had.

And KPJ was taking his shots. And this is another thing is that he's gotten better every year. Yeah. He has. Defensively, he's a lot better than he was in his first year. offensively he's a lot more efficient he's a better playmaker he sees the game better it's a question of how much better will he get from here that is the that's the case for every rocket that's young basically every rocket that's not dillan brooks or fred van vleet as far as

hardcore rotation guys but i don't look at alper and shingoon and say man he just does it he looks like the moment's too big for him i've never once thought that in these four games i've thought he might have he might have been playing too timid at times but he's put up numbers that say, I belong on the floor in a playoff series. Jayline has put up that kind of numbers once. And the other three games, he's been borderline unplayable. Unplayable. And last night he was unplayable. And that they didn't play him. I want to say,

now somebody put this on Twitter. I'm going to have to look it up. Basically, they're shooting, they're true shooting percentages when you factor in three-pointers and free throws. It's been about the same in this series. No, there's three guys that are like that. And, and, and Jabari's, I think Jabari might be the other one. They've all been bad. And Jabari's been the most consistent young rocket in this series by far. He's been awesome, actually.

Yeah, he's been good, but he's not been, you know, over transition or whatever. It's a men. All right, so we've got a couple of people to get to. Gerard, you've been holding long. We have a lot of people to get to. Plus, we got Joe Spada. So I try to make it brief if you could, Gerard.

Go ahead. Hello? Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. Just quick saying, as far as it's too critical. little moments out that stands out to me in the game. I think when

Kerr played Hacker Adams, I don't think of Doka should have took Adams out the game. He paid right until Steve Kerr, hand, taking them out. If they're going to play that game, I can understand maybe taking them out if he missed the first two free throws, then you take him out, but don't just take them out just because he's playing Hacker Adam. They play

right to his hand, but Adam was playing well. He was getting rebound, he was blocking shots. He was being a positive influence out there on the court, so I don't agree with that. And another key moment was to file on Jimmy Butler. You know, he was shooting that shot against the shot clock. He just came out right there. That was a bad foul by Dillian Brooks.

So those two promos really stood out to me, one of the reasons why the records lost the game, along with the free throws and stuff like that. So hopefully they can learn from this. If they come up short in this series, man, I'm kind of glad they're getting experience. And then in the off-season, you can kind of gaze what the Rockets need to get to that next level.

I do think they need to get a closer. To me, Jeff, to me, agreeing, unless he becomes a better shooter, he is what he's going to be. Unless he improves his outside shock. The teams know how to play them. They just pack the paint. And bear him to, even from the outside, you know,

Steve Kerr did not overreact off a game two. He said, okay, you made eight threes in game two, but we don't think you can do it four times. And that's basically the bet that Kerr has made, and he's going to get the money on that bet in maybe the next couple of games. So he's going to have to improve his outside shot. If he don't do that, then he's a limited offensive player.

Another thing, in offseason, if the Rockets can get a number one guy, sure-fired number one option, and then you can kind of bring Sagoon down to a number two guy because in the NBA today, man, it's more of a guard and wing league unless you have a jokin's or a Yonis. And I don't think Sagoons on that level, so I think he's probably better as a number two option, and Jalen Green should be your number three option.

But he's too inconsistent to be your one or two. So you bring in, you know, you might make some trades, maybe you bring in, or maybe a John Moran. Maybe, you know, I know he's got a lot off the court issue, but maybe you look at him. Maybe you revisit a Kevin Durant or somebody like that, but maybe you include Jalen Green in the trade or if you do bring a superstar, you bring, you bump Jalen Green down to a number three option. Yeah, all right, Gerard, sorry, we got to hit to a break, man. Thank you for getting in. Look, there's not just franchise top 10 players growing on trees. That's the tough part of this building of an NBA team.

The Rockets tanked. They got a number two pick, a number three pick, a what, a number four pick and another number three pick? You got four top five picks on this team. And right now none of them are superstars. No, but you hit on probably all but one of them. I just, look, if you... Man, that's Reed Shepherd Slender stuff. Reed Sheppard wasn't out there hitting shots last night because he wasn't playing either.

I'm just kidding. I just think that if you end up, you know, this offseason, you make a deal and it involves Jalen Green. Let's just say for the sake of argument. Uh-huh. Do you see him going somewhere and becoming the next Kobe Bryant? Not the next Kobe Bryant, but I could see, I mean, the Clippers traded away Shaggilder Alexander.

He got a lot better. Jalen Brunson was traded by the Dallas Mavericks. He's got a lot better. I think he could be in a situation where he grows and he gets better? Absolutely. I could see a situation where he's hit his ceiling already as an NBA player. We just don't know.

It's about what's in here. He has all the physical talent in the world. And I'm pointing to my chest because it's radio. It's about what it's within him. Is he going to take this and say, you know what? It's going to motivate him and fuel him to be better? Because players have fallen flat on their face in their first playoff experiences and come back and gone better.

Kobe Ryan did. He was airballing three-points against the jazz. We just don't have that answer. People brought up the first playoff series that Shade Gild Alexander played against the rockets in the bubble. He was terrible for the balance of that series. Could you imagine if he had been this guy? He got better.

Yeah. So we don't know. But this is Jalen Green's fourth season. Right. Chey Gilgis Alexander got traded in a deal for a superstar at the time in his rookie year. Yeah. I mean, it's just you have more of a sample size to make an educated guess, whichever way you go. Zach Levine didn't.

Zach Levine was Jalen Green's biggest comp coming out of the draft. He didn't have a really good season until like his sixth year in the NBA. So, I mean, everybody's on a different timeline. We want him to be on a faster timeline. We want to be, John Morant was already taken over the league by year three. Aunt Edwards taken over the year, taken over the league by year three. By the way. So he's behind those players.

For those of you wanting to try and take advantage of trade rumors around a guy like John Morant, I don't think you want to trade for a guy who can't shoot to put on a team who can't shoot. That's just, he can't shoot threes either. and he's a bad defensive player. Booker's the play. If you do this, Booker's the play. But yeah, what's that going to cost you? All right, we got to take a break.

We got Joe Spotted coming up. Those who on hold will get to you as soon as I can, I promise. We also have, well, phone calls, like I said, and Joe Spada, and I have to tell you. All right. Those are you on hold, we appreciate you for getting in. We'll get you in the last segment if you hold, I promise. Right now, though, we have to go to the Astros manager himself. Joe Espada. Matt is out

this week. He's traveling with the Rockets and you have me and Adam with you here, Joe. Rockets, we've been talking a lot about them making some lineup changes. You made a change at the top of your lineup, Jeremy Payne, with some results so far. How much of that was? Altuvae just coming to you, and that's why you went with him at the

leadoff spot or also rewarding Jeremy Payne for what's been a pretty good couple of weeks offensively for him? Both, both. I think Jeremy has really improved his offensive approach. And I think it was a combination of trying to get him going, trying to mature as a hitter and continue his developing his offensive approach.

And also trying to get Altova, you know, locked in. And I think this two spot will help him having Jeremy in front of him, hopefully continues to get on base, having Altube an opportunity to potentially hit with some people on base have more time to get ready for his at bat sandwich in there between Yorda and Perez. It's hopefully creating some traffic for two of our best hitters right now, which is Jordan and Paredes, we've made in score in position. And a lot of the numbers for Jeremy Pena looked really good.

You look at the expected slug, the hard hit percentage, all that type of stuff. It's been way up for him. Is this the real deal? Are we looking at a breakout season, you think, from Jeremy Pena? Well, you know what? I'm just going to speak to what I see right now, and I really like the approach. his preparation every single day he's putting the work in exactly what we have asked him to do

and he's coming to his own he's trying to figure some stuff out so i really like where he's at right now and hopefully we could get this going um this will be really good for our lineup if we could get someone with that kind of speed and that kind of dynamic approach in in a top of our order and we could continue moving forward and giving our our offense some more chances to to score more runs and what is that like for you when you your building lineups. Do you guys just have some machine and you just type in against this pitcher and this matchup

and this is what it spits out, this is what's going to score the Morse runs? No. It don't work like that. There's no machine. I wish there was a machine, but there's no machine, you know. There's information that we use. You know, I use information like, you know,

what the matchup looks like. I look at the pitch shape against some of our hitters that day. I try to stack it the best way. we can't, but there's no secret sauce to this. You know, you're trying to put the best players on the field in a position to succeed. Talking to Astros manager, Joe Espata here on Sports Talk 790. Joe, Christian Walker with another Homer last night, how much, in your opinion,

and this is the first time I've had a chance to talk to you in this kind of setting since the season began, how much was he putting pressure on himself and how much can that kind of, you know, play mind tricks on a guy in a situation like his where he's, you know, he's a guy who's a big addition to the lineup, gets the contract, all that. that kind of stuff and he might be pressing a little bit. Do you think that was going on? You know, what's your assessment of him as we get to the tail end of April here? Yeah, I think he's been transparent in how he's felt since he got here. You know, he wants to be, he wants to, he wants to post and he's posting, he's trying to do the best he can, he's trying

to get big hits for us. He knows he was a big off-season acquisition. And he's trying to, you know, he's trying to, you know, to produce for us. And I know eventually he will. and he's starting to come around. I think the last couple of games, his approach has been better. He's staying in the zone hit that ball hard. Fastball kind of open in, the fastball that he's been trying to get to. That shows that he's in a better spot. But we just need to let, you know, it's early in the season.

This guy's been a really good hitter for a long time. But I think, you know, in the beginning, he was trying really hard. He didn't have much of a spring training. So he's trying to play a little bit of a catch-up. But I think he's starting to come on his zone here the last couple of games. Thanks. And also in the middle of the lineup, it's nice to have Yordon going. Is it feel like your job's a lot easier when he's driving and runs,

especially like he did on Sunday? Oh, my goodness, yes, it is. You know, he is, it's a force. When he is, when he comes to the plate and you know that he's swinging the belt, when you know he's feeling good, you know, you know, the pitcher is in danger, right? he is getting to that spot where we know that he's really close. I said this a couple of days ago.

He's getting really close. And once he clicks, I think everything just comes together. Joe, let's, speaking of dangerous pitchers, I guess you talk about a pitcher that's in a dangerous situation. A guy who's putting in hitters in a lot of dangerous situations to start

the year is Hunter Brown. I mean, you've got some real good talent on your staff right now, and obviously, Eric Getty, when he comes back, will add to that. along with some other guys. But even in your wildest best expectations, did you see this kind of start for Hunter? Yes, to be honest with you,

a very humble way. I see Hunter getting out to a really good start based on what he did last year. He's off-season, terminated this job getting ready for the season, understanding the adjustments that he needed to make to come out of the gate throwing the ball he's doing. He's one of the best in the game,

and I'm not surprised it's the success. he's having. Now it's us to keep him moving forward, keeping him healthy. This kid is so well prepared. He wants this so bad. He has step up to be our age right now. Yeah. And I mean, without giving too much away, he had some mechanical adjustments that he made last season and had some success, you know, after the first month and a half, two months maybe. What kind of adjustments, what kind of preparations are you talking about, if you can say? Yeah, you know what? For me, it's more how he sees

himself, you know, when you first get to the big leagues, you're trying to get to know yourself at the major league level, right? Like you know, you know, you think you have a pretty good idea of who you are and you think you have a pretty good idea how to get, you know,

hitters in the big leagues. But unless you go through struggles and, you know, the struggles and and figure out this is not working for me and allow us to help you make those adjustments throughout the season, that's when you really learn your strength and weaknesses as an athlete in general. And I think that's the thing about Hunter.

We all knew he had this stuff. We all knew that he had the demeanor to do it and the grit and the toughness to do it. He went through some struggles. He allowed us to help him. You know, let's change how you use your repertoire. Let's just make these adjustments on how you use your fastball against writing, how you used to breaking most against lefty. You know, and he, okay, this works for me.

Now, once he gets everything going, now he is, now I got a pretty good idea. How can I prepare myself? Now I know how to read a report. Now I know how to execute my game plan. And that's where he's at right now. And speaking of pitchers that have things working for him, Ryan Gusto thrust into a starting role after being in the bullpen.

What has been the key for him to be so successful in these spot starts? You know, I know what he does really well, he throws a ton of strikes. He is not afraid of, he's not afraid of contact. You know, he comes after you and you need to have that mentality to pitch in this level and to sustain success at this level. And I think he's doing a really good job of that. Now he's trying to get him deep into the games, getting three times through the lineup. That's always a challenge for any young pitcher.

And we're helping him go through that, but I'm really pleased the way he's been throwing the ball. Do you have a starter for tomorrow? Yes, I do, but I'm not going to share it with you guys right now. I'm going to share with you guys later. All right, all right. Keep it close to the vest. That's okay, Joe. Appreciate the time, and we'll talk to you next week.

All right, guys, you guys, take care. All right, appreciate it. There you go. Joe Espada here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Sometimes his manager, you got to keep some things close to the vest, and that's okay. Well, close to the vest. All right, those are you on hold. We will get to you next.

I promise. If you want to get in, you, 713-212-5-790. Thanks to Joe Espada for the time. Final segment with your calls. Coming up next, the Matt Thomas show with Ross here on Sports Talk 790. This afternoon at 2.

Did you land an awesome player? Did you land a sure-fire starter? Adam Clanton, Adam Wexler, the 18. I just want to feel better about C.J. Stroud moving forward because he's protected. On Sports Talk 790. Now, the drive. on Sports Talk 790 from the Honda of Clearlake.com traffic center. So we'll have a Pasadena slowdown, 225 Westbound, trying to come past Alan Genoa.

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Having the most fun in Houston sports. The Matt Thomas Show with Ross continues on Sports Talk 7.90. Yes, it does. My name is Ross. I'm the Ross part of the show. Matt is out. But Adam is here. Planted, I mean.

Hello. He's hanging out. Appreciate him. Thanks to Joe Espada for spending a few minutes with us here on the program. and honestly you guys are scaring me with all these Kevin Martin, Monte Ellis references and other guys who just

never developed, who showed some promise and never developed into all-star players. You and I were talking about the whole Kevin Martin. Well, we were talking about all these comparisons. And, you know, once upon a time, the Warriors had to decide

between Monte Ellis and Steph Curry. And that's because they had both on their roster, though. We're just kind of talking about who Jalen Green is now and what he might become. Like what, and that's where, you know, nobody has a crystal ball. And I was talking with somebody last night within the organization. And I said to them, you know, if this doesn't, if they don't come back miraculously, I think Raffel's got some very tough decisions to make this offseason.

Because if you do decide to make a deal and it's with Phoenix. just because that's the most logical way to go. You've got their picks. So there's already a lot right there to be talked about. But you have to decide who you're getting. Like if it's Durant, you can kind of see the parameters of that deal. He's available for pennies on the dollar because of his age, because of the fact he doesn't want to be there.

And because of the fact, frankly, that they're in jail with his contract. They're trying to get out of it and get better. What they're trying to do is rebuild on the fly around Devin Booker. but if I'm the Rockets and I'm dealing with Phoenix and I have their picks so I have more leverage than any other team out there that they're talking to and let's just say for the sake of argument they try to say well you know San Antonio is interested in Durant too I say go ahead send him to San Antonio with his 54 million in his 37 years of age I want Devin Booker if you want your picks back and I'll give you Jalen Green for him well if Jalen Green's not looking that attractive here he's probably also not looking that attractive elsewhere so we'll see what I like I My opinion is... They can have Ken Whitmore. This is bad sports radio host 101. My opinion is whatever happens, happens.

I don't really have a... I mean, if Kevin Durand is here, I'm going to be happy and excited, but also he's got age concerns. If Jalen Green stays here, I've got concerns about him being the guy, obviously, and continuing to develop. So it's just a rock and a hard place. When you get all these top five picks and none of them turn out to be superstars at the moment, this is where you end up, unfortunately.

When you tank for picks and you don't hit any super-ups, You end up in this, not a bad spot. They won 52 games. They're the number two seed. But you're about to be bounced out in the first round is what it looks like right now. All right. Let's go to Richard has been holding way too long on the phone lines. Let's get Richard in here real quick.

What's up, Richard? Hey, I know this to talk about Jalen Green. This Rockets team is young. In playoff experience, this is the first year for a lot of them, right? I mean, you've got... Yes. Jaylen Green and all of them. I mean, first year, we're expecting, you know, I know we're expecting him to win.

Okay, don't get me wrong. I expect him to win. But Jaylon Green's 23, and, you know, yeah, he's made some mistakes. He does look like a, last night he looked like a deer in the headlights the whole time he was out there. And to me, that's the head coach's got to help with that. In other words, you know, you design plays for him. I know he may have done this already. I'm sure he has.

I've seen them in the season do it. You know, you design plays for him to get an open shot to get him going. That's what you have to do with players that seem like they're just lost or something. Instead of sitting him down. Kerr wants you to sit him down from the Warriors. He wants you to play him because he can explode and start shooting and making them. And he's seen the film too, you know. This guy can beat him.

but I want to just to say that about Jen, and all of them, they're young and they're playing together in the playoffs for the first time. I mean, they have no experience, basically, in playoff basketball except for a couple, you know, that have played in the past. All right. Thank you, Richard. Appreciate you getting in, man. There is that part of it that teams often, we talk about this in the NBA all the time. The teams in their first times going to the playoffs, it's not usual that a team is a, assembled and the first year they hit the playoffs, they win a championship.

I mean, the 08 Celtics come to mind on that. But outside of that, it's been, you go through your playoff wars, you advance further in the playoffs, and then eventually you get to the NBA finals and or win the championship. Yeah, the Celtics had veterans that basically formed a super team. Right. So do the heat. So to the rockets in the late nights. The heat didn't win it all in their first try.

Right. Famously. But I just, the growth, the patience that's needed, and I'll give the Rockets this, whether it's Raffel Stone or Tillman or whoever needs to get the credit, they absolutely have had patience. I mean, this is the first

playoff series in five years. That is a long time to be not in the postseason, especially from where they came from. And here's the other thing, and I'm going to bring this up on our show today, if I told you last season, after 41 and 41, that the Rockets are going to get 52

wins and be the two seed, and they're going to make the postseason, and they're to lose in the first round, you'd probably take that coming from where you were two years prior. I thought there were going to be a playing team this year. Best case scenario is what you were thinking. I was thinking 45 wins, is

I said top six. I was thinking top, I was thinking top seven. High 40s win total if all things went, you know, the way they could have. I mean, what's crazy about the Rockets is they probably left five wins on the board at the minimum this year just by

missing free throws. Well, that's who they are, though. They're 30 out of 30. Now, they're not this bad. They've been, they were at 74% on the season. They've been at 62.3% in the series. Last night was an abomination, though. It was horrible.

You lost that game because of those free throws. All right. Quickly, Chris in San Francisco, what's up, Chris? Hey, brother, good morning. Good morning. Good afternoon. I do not like the Warriors. Four salient points.

I'm going to embarrass your coaching staff and your scouting staff. Uh-huh. Why are we guarding Draymond Green at the top of the key and not covering the backside on the low post? We've got to defend from the inside out, not from the outside. And we got burns all night, all night. Draymond Green is baked. Now, if he wants to blind pick, Amir Thompson, why are we blind pick, which is illegal pick, and knocking the hell out of the warriors to put them out of whack?

I don't know, Chris. Sorry, well, that's going to be it. We appreciate you. It said Warrior fan, so my plan was to get him on and then just shut him down. But then he was saying he was a rocket fan, so I got confused. Very weird. I'm sorry. Anyways, hey, thanks for hanging out, Mr. Clayton.

You got it. I appreciate it. Thanks to Chris Gordy for hanging out. Thanks to Joe Espada for joining the show as well. My name is Rosby Real. I will talk to you next. Coming up at 6 for the Astros on Deck Show, actually. Now it's time for another Adam to join.

And for me to leave, his name is Adam Witzer. They call their show the A-Team, and that's coming up next. Don't go anywhere. Thank you.