The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Space City’s Ryan Hollins Talks Rockets & State of NBA

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Space City’s Ryan Hollins Talks Rockets & State of NBA

got him for a couple of segments, our buddy Ryan Hollins. Ryan, how the hell are you today? I'm doing great, man. How are you? I got no complaints. Hey, so if you turn the ball over 27 times in the game and you're supposed to lose by 25 points, right, typically? What the, what was that? I was so weird last night, was it not?

It was a lot of complacency at the end of the day. and I think that it was good and bad. You saw a sense of urgency, you saw a carryover. That's a frustration from a tough loss, that fourth quarter up in New York, what it should look like, Matt. But at the end of the day, I've been a player in the locker room before, and I felt like there's a lot of like, well, Utah's not taking this game serious.

You know, a lot of moments where the focus definitely lacked, but the urgency and the hustle was there. So there was a mix of both. And again, EMA has given responsibility to essentially almost all four to five players on the floor to handle the basketball and make good decisions. So we'll see how he handles that. At any time, he can strip those abilities from the guys and see what he does there. But I think as a player, that's your responsibility to take care of the basketball. And sometimes we saw a lot of last night looking for the home run play rather than the simple play.

And a lot of those home run plays paid off, Matt. You know, Ryan, there were a lot of good numbers besides the individual performances of Jabari. A man goes eight for eight. They also were very good on the fast break. 13 out of 14 shot opportunities on fast break turned into baskets. They also were 27 of 37 in the points in the paint. Those should be, in fact, the easiest baskets to make. That had to be a good sign, especially because, and it maybe sounds silly for me to even say,

but is running a three-on-one or a three-on-two harder than it appears to be when you're watching a basketball game? No, I mean, that's simple spacing and finishing at the end of the day. And again, I think sometimes it comes out of complacency. Now, it's always nice. And, you know, I was in a generation where I was told, hey, get the ball to a guard and go. Again, Houston has four guys that can push on a break. So I think there's more responsibility of whoever has the ball in the middle to handle the ball or take care of it. And Houston's very unique because you could very well argue their best playmakers,

Alprin Schengh Gilden. He plays majority five, probably 90% five on the floor. So as far as push on the break, again, that responsibility has been delegated to all the guys. And that's where you're seeing some of the mistakes happen. I'm so glad you're with me because there's so many things about the nuance of basketball that I trust and value your opinion on. Somebody asked me yesterday about why Alpi brings the ball up so much into front court. Give me the biggest positive about that.

And then also tell me what that ultimately could be from a detrimental standpoint if he's not. Forgetting about turnovers. What hindrances come into play if he is doing so much ball handling? And what are the positives on both sides of that? I see you're locked in today, Matt. You're with the details. First off, for Houston, sometimes there's a group that struggles to get the ball across half court. A lot of times that we just spoke of, he's got a four or five guarding him.

So he's probably more equipped to get across half court with a five man guarding him who's going to struggle to pressure the basketball. Remember early in the season in Milwaukee? Who wasn't it? It was Janice Ans de Kupo trying to pressure pull a court and he got broke down and Alpi went to the basket and scored one of the more impressive buckets in the clutch time that we saw this season. So, you know, he's going to get the defender that's not going to be all over his jersey at the end of the day. And if you put a small guy on him, you know, he'll just run to the post. know you don't like to see those mismatches ultimately. So that's why you can argue that he's better at doing that.

Now, here's the challenge. If I'm a team and I'm playing against, when you play against another team's best player, sometimes, you know, your best defense for him is your offense or making him work. So now if Houston, another team, let's say Oklahoma City, they know Shingoon's bringing the ball up port. I'm going to pressure him up court. When he gets the ball, I'm going to double team him. When he's on defense, I'm going to run him into picking rolls. I'm going to make him have to work and move his feet.

So, you know, you would attack those really great guys. You know, if it was, you know, Tim Duncan, you know, or certain guys like that. Like, you want to make him work. It was Shaquille O'Neal for years. You know, hey, pull him outside of paint, make him have to slide his feet. See if you can tire him out, you know? So, again, you like to attack stars because it's extremely hard to score the basketball and then go on the other side and defend.

How many times in your life did you bring the ball up to the court? I mean, I might count on my hand, Matt. you know what I mean but I was always like get the ball to a guard and run and I was a guy I ran like a deer so I would rim run and just run past people you know that was one of my best attributes so as far as dribbling I mean

I could have done it but it probably would have take away from my strength could I have shot threes or shot more 20 footers yeah but at the end of the day when you are the most athletic guy on your team and possibly one of the most one of the most in the NBA it's like well we need you catching lobs and be

by the rim, you know, playing to your strength. So, no, Matt. I'm going to tell you some right now. If I'm running a basketball team, I'm letting you bring up the ball court as much as you want because you've got great handles. You just do. Oh, thanks, Matt. I appreciate that.

Thanks, Matt. Yeah. But you know what? We're joking about it. But in all reality, you look at Nicole Yolkich. Yes. And it's so dangerous because he initiates offense and he puts five in such a bad predicament. You put a small guy on him, he'd take him to the hole. And then you don't have a lot of,

you don't have a lot of point guards in today's NBA. So now Jamal Murray would never, would all be respected Jamal. He would never have the success if he wasn't playing alongside Yolkich, because he's a perfect fit where he's comfortable playing off ball, getting downhill, running pick and roll, looking to score. And he understands the weapon that Yolkich is ultimately at the end of the day and it just released pressure. And Jamal Murray, best when he's scoring. You know, if you get 20 assists from Jamal Murray, you're taking him away from

one of his strengths at the end of the day. And when you get 20 assists from Yolkits, he can do whatever you need. That's why he's so dominant. Our friend Ryan Hollins from Space City Home Network, Rockets analysts with us here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross, 1238 here on Sports Talk 790. The Jazz tried to press

quite a bit in the first quarter. Rockets did not handle it particularly well. Do you anticipate that happening more between now and the end of regular season with perhaps teams that can cause similar problems? You said, will the rockets press more? No, well, the opponents will press the rocket? Like Utah tried, and they were successful a little bit, but then the rockets are starting

shooting well, said to back off on that. You hit it right on the head, Matt. Like, you have to have the personnel to do that. And those are the teams that Houston has had the problems with. San Antonio did it early in the season. And Houston has improved, obviously, because teams are looking to do it, Oklahoma City. the very first game of the season. They're probably one of the best in history at all five positions

be able to pressure the basketball. So to answer your team is going to be like a team with a personnel, you know, and like our guys have the Kings tomorrow night. And like the Kings weren't great at it, but like they just realized just pressure as much as we can. And we, you know, our group messed around and, you know, lost a very winnable game up there in Sacramento. So you're going to see teams, like you said, like attempt to do it,

but it may not look great if they don't have. have the personnel. And for Houston, I think the challenge is, like, somebody just stepping up and saying, like, get me the ball and get, like a great point guard. I was always told, Matt, if you want to, you can ask Calvin Murphy, you can ask any point. I say, what would you do if you saw a trap? They just start laughing. There's no way you trap me. It's almost disrespectful that you see a full court press. So I think the challenge for Houston is seeing a guy that steps up and says get me the ball and just get out of the way. And a lot of times, Kevin, to his, to his credit, has done as best as he can at doing that.

But again, it kind of takes them out of this natural position and you got a group that's doing their best, Matt. Ryan, a lot of conversation with EMA and I, and media ask it as well, about the number of minutes of Durant and Men Thompson are playing, especially more for KD. You didn't feel like there was enough of a separation because there were so many turnovers that you could give Durant a lot. of the fourth quarter off. Those two guys are two and three in the league and minutes played per game. Is that just going to be the norm of the rest of the way because the bench is now shriveled up with no Adams, no Fred all year long, and now Jay Sean's gone for a while? Or it was just a man Thompson built because of the way the team is built that he's going to be

out there 37, 38 minutes a night. We should stop worrying about how many minutes he's playing. Well, for one, it's nice to be young. I'd be lying to you if I told you didn't scare. the heck out of me. And I think Kevin understands that the schedule is a lot lighter going down the stretch. And like it's go time. You know, it's time for him to step up.

But he stepped into the season with a mindset of saying like, hey, I want everybody else to flourish and make plays. And it's a real case and point last night. Definitely stepped out. And like, he was going for this career high and assist. And Matt, due to my notes, which I will love to share with you, his career high 16 assists. You know, we were, we were, I was all fired up. Matt, okay, you're going to have to lock in and it look like he was going for it last night.

And he knows that any time I can go get his 20. I think when he ended up with 18 or 20 last night, he can walk to 20 points. So Kevin's just so unique in that fashion, but he was definitely going for the assist, looking at past the ball and get guys involved. And that becomes extremely instrumental because you're asking me, how are he going to play those minutes? You know how he's going to play those minutes? Because his teammates are going to step up and make plays.

And he's like, Jabari, I go for 30 or 40, Jabari. like I want you to. Like that's what I want to see from you. And some of his frustrations at times, and don't quote me on this, is because he's like, I want you guys to take the next step. He believes in these guys and there's a reason that he came to Houston, you know, and as great as he is, he's willing to sacrifice some of that because he knows there's a bigger picture because if I can get Jabari or men or read

or these guys that come around, we're going to be paired for success. Matt, am I wrong? He knows he can get 40. Yes. I don't know if I know anybody. Like, I play with Paul Pierce, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Noviceky. Like, Dirk was probably the second closest guy.

And maybe Paul that, like, nah, probably Dirk. Dirk's fight only got to play with it against anybody. He knows that I can go get 40. Now, I'm not saying it's going to turn into a win, but he knows he can go get 40. And Kevin still has that type of game. And he's 37 years old, too. I mean, that's one of the thing is most incredible,

is that, look, that slide step, the baseline maybe has taken a step back, maybe that dribble dry penetration that he lived on early in his career. But to me, Ryan, he might be the greatest elbow jump shooter in the history of the NBA. And maybe even bet greater than that. But I mean, at those elbows, it's about 90% accurate. It really is. He's the greatest natural scoring talent we've ever seen. Would all due respect to Michael Jordan to Steph Curry to whoever you want to either.

Michael's not seven feet, dude. And then he's got the Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan baseline package fade away. Then he's got the dirt one-leggar. Then he's seven feet. Then he's obsessive. Then the guy has a chip on his shoulder. Like he's just trying to get under his own shoulders, okay?

And poke at himself. And sometimes Kevin's just poking at himself and get himself going. And I'm sorry, it's not pretty at times. But it's part of greatness, Matt. I've seen you do that sometimes before your broadcast to ask yourself up. Yes, exactly. That's exactly what it is. I had the same prep like Kevin Durant

preps for a basketball game. All right. Rino, it appears that the San Antonio Spurs never want to lose again. We've got to be worried about them, correct? Why? Why, Matt?

Hats off to San Antonio, hats off to Oklahoma City. You've played them extremely well. No, they haven't won every game. No, it's not just, you know, dominance in the series, but, you know, those are two. the top teams in the NBA.

And when I watch Houston playing, I watch the matchup, I don't feel like, oh, man, Houston doesn't have enough to compete with them. Houston was up 18, and it was one of those games. We don't want to talk about, but it was a loss that went away, but it was very strategic. And here's the thing, Wimba Yama can't guard

out from Shingoon. They had success because he was off the ball. You put a small guy on LP, and he was able to just roam to the field. So those are strategic fixes that you can make in a playoff series. Now, don't let me jump the gun here, but all due respect on what they've done here. But from a talent's perspective, I'm not shaking in my boots, Matt. I'm not, you know,

I'm not losing things if I'm Houston. You don't look and say, you know, just heading shoulders of a difference. And those are the two top teams of the conference right now with all the injuries to Denver. All right. So I have heard listening to like NBA radio people and some various podcast that look there are people that are down on the rockets and I and I hope they continue to be down on them because it'll surprise the world and be fun for us in a good championship run. I hear the phrase, now maybe this is a little different with Stephen Adams being up, so I've not heard this in a while, but I've heard the rockets are built for longer series. Validate that for me because I'm curious to hear your perspective on that.

I don't know if I would agree to that. Houston has talent, but it's almost like the game. Right now, you'd like to just kind of, Houston is best when they can just kind of get out and overpower people, you know? And sometimes, because there's the difference. When you have a point guard, right? Let's make it very simple. He minimizes turnovers. And what happens is the message from the coaching staff gets shortened and relayed almost immediately.

When you don't have a plate guard, it takes a while for the coach's message to get to the players and relate to the floor. So the longer that a series goes on, the more adjustments that will come into play. So I think for Houston, you like to, you know, just we're assuming right now take care of business early. You know, not that you can't win. You have one of the greatest closers in the history of basketball with Kevin Durant. But again, you don't want to, if you're in Houston, you want to just be dominant. You don't want to play a game of adjustments right now. Okay, let's get to another couple big picture items for let you run.

The tanking stuff has been a huge issue. You've seen the Utah Jazz get fined. You saw the Indiana Patriots get fined. Look, Ryan, they have been tanking in the NBA for a long period of time. First of all, why is it being so accelerated this year with so much talk about it? And then, two, if I gave you the cap that said, you are the commissioner, can you fix it for me? Or do you just let this go and say, you know what? This is how the league is created.

This is what happens. You can try to alter the lottery numbers, but if teams want to lose, they'll be willing to take the fine because if you go get a top three player that's a game changer for you, paying a $500,000 fine is pennies to worry about because long-term teams will get better

because them losing helps them get better players. Hey, Matt, when you, if you lost like a dollar out of your wallet or $5, I mean, you're a man of, principle, but you're not going to lose your wits. You know, if you got to pay off a $5 bet or something, that's what it's like to these organizations. And $500,000, a half a million is a joke compared to getting a franchise-like talent. Here's the reality, the commissioner does an amazing job. He's going to have to appease the fans and he's going to throw out those

signs and say, hey, we caught them and we find them. But ultimately, the teams don't give a darn. And the reality moving forward, and the reality from the past, Tim Duncan got to the San Antonio Spurs by them tanking and throwing away games. LeBron James got to the Cleveland Cavaliers and finally came back home and delivered a championship because of tanking. Okay, they just absolutely just mailed it in. This has been through the big, through when teams figured it out, that's what they started to do and it's an efficient way.

Now, here's the reality. You're not going to see a draft this deep in a very long time. So it's not going to be a problem every single year. And what you don't want to see is it be loud, and you have to think the rights to the NBA has been sold for a whole lot of money. Okay? So you want to deliver on those goods. The game last night was on prime, right? Or prime or peacock, right?

Peacock. And the one thing they're saying is, man, we paid to see the Utah Jazz not, you know, missing players here. So again, the NBA is going to have to peeve the fans. They're going to say they're going to do anything. But in retrospect, it's a slap on the wrist. And again, for fans moving forward, you're not going to have a draft this deep. And what the commissioner did was actually genius, Matt. And I don't know if you remember this.

So everybody doesn't really quite understand the playing tournament. And what the playing tournament is it gives life, life to seeds all the way down to 10. So right now, you had teams that would just mail it in. A majority of things that would mail it in after a certain point in the season. I remember it, Matt, when you were locked in, when there was only eight teams going to the playoffs, you'd be locked in two, three weeks out of your seating, and then teams would just host. Even the winning teams would just stay and not be competitive.

But you're seeing a competitive nature through the 10, 11th, well spot, trying to get into the playoffs, trying to get into a play in birth far through the end of the season. So the competitive nature has risen by head and shoulders, and people just don't realize that. But again, you've got to appease the people who paid a lot of money to watch our sport. Is it smart to do? Is it ugly to see for the fans?

Yes. Has the NBA done something about it? Yes. So let's all take a moment and breathe that, Thomas. So you don't think this is going to be a radical announcement by the commissioner? Or do you think he kind of has to because so many people are complaining? Or is it full complaining? Is it teams that are saying these things, but in reality, are like if we're in the Utah Jazz's situation or we're in the Sacramento spot, we'd be doing the exact same thing?

well the people who really made the big thing is Oklahoma City because they have that pick yeah they don't want Utah to get the pick at the end of the day you know like there's a method to the madness so I think what you don't want to do is become national news and at the end of day for Utah NERCITS just went in and had a season ending procedure uh you know like just at least fix the funk a little bit and here's the thing early early in the NBA I played for the Charlotte Bobcats. We were a group that played extremely hard, competed, and at the end of the game, we just could change, Matt. So, you know, I think you just don't want to see a disrespectful product on the floor. Stay competitive, compete. And again, if you're competing with your

young guys out there, let them go compete. I thought that Houston, uh, Houston never tanked. I felt like Houston developed, Matt. You can hear me. You can quote me on that if you want to. I will develop their guys. And they just had young guys out there. And they've put played hard and they competed and it just didn't work out in some games. So, you know, they put some lipstick on the pig. That's all the fans are saying, man. All right. You've caught me down a little bit because I don't, it's not fun to tank, but I'll tell you this.

The Rockets are playing the Kings tomorrow. They've lost 16 to 17. We need these victories as much as we can as I would love to see the rockets stay at the number three spot in the West. Hey, it's great to hear your voice. Nobody ever watches games on Prime and Peacock because you're not on those channels. So as long as it's on Space City, it's Ryan. Holland's 24-7.