The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Have Won 3 Straight, Off To Their Best Start Since 2019-20 Season

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

The Houston Rockets have started to recapture the attention of Houston sports fandom following Wednesday's 111-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in the opener of a two-game set. The Rockets are off to their best start since the 2019-20 season, sitting at 8-4 and fifth in the Western Conference. By carrying over much of the same rotation as last year, the Rockets have built upon their chemistry and have found early-season success. While starters Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green have provided explosive play on both ends of the court, the Rockets have received a much-needed spark off the bench from Amen Thompson and Tari Eason, who each had 18 points in the win over the Clippers. Matt Thomas and Ross Villarreal of "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" discuss the beginning of a possible resurgence from the Rockets and what needs to be done to further this progress.

And we say hello to Roger on 790. Roger, good after, or good morning. Good morning, Matt. I know this is weird, right? So, yeah, Ross, you shut your horrid's mouth when you're talking about me that being ripped rib sandwich. Thank you. It sucks.

So, no, it doesn't. You suck. No, just kidding. You suck, too. Hello, Brian. Anyway, so I'm really digging this pair of twins, man. I, you know, I'm starting to think that we're going to have to, you know, it's got a long season, small sample size, I'm just loving their energy, though.

God, off the bench, I don't think they come in waves, and the teams, they just can't stop it from coming, you know, they're just, I know they, they're just, I know they, they study it and they film, but they just can't experience it when these guys come at them, especially in Atari and it's like a, it's like a whirling derbush with a man, Thompson, just, just a ball of energy. Before, you know, when he was a rookie, it was just like raw energy, and he didn't really know, like a deer, you know, running for the first time. But now, you know, just a year removed from, you know, from a season ago and these guys are just, man, they're getting it.

They're getting it. And you could just tell that like, you doka sticks to dogs. You know, he's like, all right, let's let's go. Let's run. And yeah, Javari is struggling a bit. But I do like the way Javari, sorry, handles himself on the court. He doesn't go too high or too low. So that's a good thing, I think.

So, you know, with Shangoon, it's contagious. Now he's actually playing defense. And I'm wondering because of these guys are just, you know, motivating them. And that, you know, they level up because Amari and Tarry bring that level up in him. So that's all I got to say. It's nice to see. Long time coming. Thank you, Roger.

Appreciate it. There's a large amount of dormant rocket basketball fans in this community. I am convinced of it. Not that it's ever going to overtake the Astros or overtake the Texans. I get that. but I think there's been a lot of people that have largely checked out because of, let's face it, four years of non-playoffs. We'll do that for anyone.

Go ask the Astros. And honestly, in this community, in this sports market in which we live in, it's going to take you get into a championship level to get those people back. Yeah, it's going to, yeah, that's what it took for the Astros? They didn't, I mean, the first time they drew in this era, three million fans was what, last year? Yep. And they won a World Series in 17. So it takes years and years and years to rebuild back a fan base.

It just does. Yeah. Especially here in Houston. Yeah. It's not like, hey, we'll see you as soon as you get good again. We're going to have to see you be prolonged, have prolonged success. And I think getting to 500 was one part of it last year. I think the next natural progression would be to try to at least get to the play in.

Yes. I'm trying to look at, let me give you the next 10 games. Rockets are 804 real quick on this. You got the Clippers again on Friday. When? At Chicago Sunday. When? At Milwaukee Monday.

When? Indiana, two Portland's. Let's say they go, they lose two of those. Why not? And then at Minnesota, at Philadelphia, home Oklahoma City, and then a three-game West Road trip at Sacramento, at Golden State, and at the L.A. Clippers. How about this? Why don't we, by the time the December 8th,

number, whatever number of that number of games. Okay. We really have a serious assessment about where this team is. Okay. We'll know a lot more. Because the competition will improve a little bit. Although again, Portland sucks. Chicago's not very good. Philadelphia's been a major disappointment this year. Milwaukee's been a major disappointment. But those are also home games for them. Joel Embed is back playing at least a little bit for the 76ers. Let's talk to Anthony and Deere Park at 1040 on the Matt Thomas show. Ross.

Anthony, good morning. Thanks for holding. Hey, good morning, guys. So I did have two points, and I have a question for you all. So two things that have excited me from last season to this season, through 12 games, like EMA you doke is a damn good basketball coach. And I think the second thing that's really exciting for me is that, to me, it looks like Jalen Green is taking that next step. Like, it feels like this is Jalen Green's rockets, and that's really exciting to me.

My question is, Matt, do you think, and Ross, do you think that Jabari Smith Jr. could benefit by going to the bench for a little bit? Like, Amin Thompson, with the exception of Jalen Green, is playing the most minutes on the team. So, like, do you think that the Rockets and Jabari Smith Jr. could benefit from maybe starting Amin Thompson for a while? We've talked by this a lot so far, Anthony, and thanks for the phone call. There's part of me that says if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Part of me also says you need to get Jabari out of this funk, and you can do that by not having to rely on him so much early in the game. But there's also part of me that says if the Rockets are really going to take that next level jump

and stay on this winning clip of winning eight out of every 12 games they play, you can't have somebody in your starting lineup that's just going to be a minus offensive player. I don't. If it was going to be anybody, I would, say it would probably be more Tari Esen, but I think they also like, as you said, Matt, his bench energy. And they like Jabari Smith Jr. in that starting lineup

for what he can bring defensively and guarding Biggs and his size and his length. I mean, he's six foot 10. He's bigger than him in Thompson. He's bigger than Tarry Eason. They don't need him to knock down shots. I think people are getting a little too fixated on that. Oh my God, he only had five

points. Yeah, they won the game. They're going to run the offense through Fred Van Vleet, through Jalen Green, and through Alper and Shingoon. They don't need Jabari Smith, Jr. to be dropping 20 every night. They want him to go out there, guard one through five. They play him as a five in small lineups,

and they like what he does there, and eventually his three-point shots will fall. I'm a big believer in that, because it just, you look at what his career sample has been. It's much better than what it is. So he's struggling right now for 10, 12 games. It happens in the NBA to so many players every single year.

The three points will start, three-pointers will start falling, and then he's still going to do everything else he brings on the floor, and I don't think we're going to be talking about it as much. I would like it not to be a key part of, I mean, if you get something from him and moves along and does some more things offensively and gets out of this slump, it'll be an additional bonus. I just don't want this to be the reason

while the rockets are taking steps back. I don't think if the rockets all of a sudden drop five of seven, it's because of Jabari Smith is shooting at 35. It won't be. It won't be because it'll be on Jalen Green or Alpern-Gingrune or Fred Van Vlead or, I mean, it's not going to be like, man, Jabari Smith Jr., you know, he got up those 10 shots and the fourth quarter only made two of them. Right. It's just not, that's not the Rockets' offense. That's not how it's built. And I don't think necessarily it has to be Jalen Green's team. I mean, the Rockets last night won the game despite the fact that Jalen, he did have five threes, but he was seven to 21 overall.

He is. He was five of 14. Yeah, he's volume. It's not about overly accurate. Now, does he come with some big shots down the stretch and have some high flying dunks and whatnot and key three-pointers? He's done that.

I mean, he hasn't played poorly this year, but it's not a... This rocket team, and I mentioned this to EMA yesterday before the game, this rocket team, folks, is winning by shooting about 43% from the floor. That, to me, is not sustainable unless you continue to have guys

that are fighting for offensive rebounds, that take the ball away, that get points off turnovers, and that's been the recipe for what this team has been. Its defensive work has been significantly better this year. Their top five and deep in points allowed so far this year. They are getting lots of second chance points opportunities. In fact, they had 24 second chance points.

When you start losing a rebounding battle, they're number one in offensive rebound and number one rebounding in the league. If those numbers continue, you can live with 43%. Yes. But you are looking for at some point, somebody from the perimeter, to start heating up. And yet, the offensive rebounding thing, that's by design.

We had IMAOCA on this show say his goal is for this team to be number one in the league in offensive rebounding.