The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Matt Thomas Show 2-7-20

Episode Date: February 7, 2020

The Matt Thomas Show w/ @SportsMT, @SportsRV, and @ProNickLow 2/7/20Guest Host @ChronBrianSmithRockets Demise Greatly Exaggerated (0:00)The Mike D'Antoni Show (20:15)The AJ Hinch Interview Isn't Going to Make Anyone Happy (40:50)Kevin Durant Is Still Using Burner Accounts (1:13:42)

Lunchtime is So much larger than life Yeah Lunch timers I'm on my way I'm making you Is the Matt Thomas show Yeah H-Town

What's happening at lunch timers? Oh wait It's Friday I just can't belt out a good morning strippers Like Matt Thomas Nick, do you want to try it? Good It is the Matt Thomas show

here on Sports Talk 790 Matt Thomas. You know he's fancy. You know he was in Beverly Hills hotels last night. You know he was traveling with the Houston Rockets. So he is out today. But you have Brian Smith and Ross via Real. And of course, we're going to talk about what went down at the Staples Center last night.

Yes. I like Clint Capella. And the Rockets, to me, this was a nail in their coffin. I think they were shedding salary. I really do. I think they're saying, hey, we're stuck with James and Russ. Capella makes a lot of money. We're not going to win. Let's act like we're going to go all the way small.

And now they're going to go out there with all them little munchies and get their damn brains beat in there right. Here's Westbrook. Crosses up. Cusma again gets in the rim and lays it up and end. 34, 31 Houston. If you don't have length against the Lakers against Milwaukee, you don't have a shot. You know, you're just wasting time. You're going to shoot threes. Pressures, horn dribbles into Covington. Now to house curls. And Cups and throws it down with the right hand. 54, 51, that's a 10 spot for Daniel Hous Jr.

Those little guys going to wear down over time. This is what they're going to go against every night. They're going to get killed on the offensive boards. They're going to get killed on the boards. But, Ernie, there's a cumulative effect that's going to take place at some point. And it's going to affect them on that three-point shooting. Rockets 112, Lakers 111, finds Covington to the corner. He doesn't take the three.

Now does over Davis, heaves and hits. Incredible stuff from Robert Covington. Goodness. You know, they'll just tell you that analytics doesn't work when the game slows down. You don't have to get rebound. Gordon to Covington, another three on the way. It's got 120, 111, Houston with 127 to go. Reports of the Rockets' demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Brian, Rockets defeat the Lakers last night. Of course, one game is an end-all be-all. I cannot wait. Go ahead. Actually, I can't be here right now

because I should be reserving my spot in downtown Houston on the parade route. I don't know what I'm doing. You think so? You're going to start camping out now. I don't know. I don't know why I'm here now because, you know,

Ross, when you lose an 82 game season, what does everyone say? It's all over. It's just one game. It's one game of 82. Don't overreact. And I'm watching the game last night.

And I told my wife, I was like, they'll probably win this game. And I love it. This is so much fun. We have three hours to dig into this. And really, this is the most interesting the Rockets have been in a couple of years, for better and for worse. And really, for better and for worse, they win. And now everyone's coming out of the woodworks, waving the flag. this is going to work.

No one's been able to figure this out on and on and on. It's last night's game because it was the Lakers, because it was after the trade deadline, because they don't have a sinner anymore. Have fun. Run with it. No, absolutely. I think a lot of it is kind of, I mean, because the narrative was in this entire,

I mean, did you watch that TNT pregame? I watched like everything. Yeah, it was like... The NFL is done. The XFL doesn't exist. The Astros don't start to next week. I am so into the... No.

No, no. I'm so into the NBA right now. I was obsessed with a trade deadline. I'm back to my NBA beat writer life. And this is how I get. I need the NFL to stop. Yes. And then I go, and I'm always, like, I'm into the NBA, but the second the NFL stops, I have to have a life.

The second of the NFL stops, I am in NBA. I mean, I'm really in, I'm like at a 7 out of 10, 8 out of 10 for the other part of the season. And then I go to 12 out of 10. Okay. And I watched the pregame. I watched Bucks. 76ers, the little bit of pregame, the entire game, the post game, read everything this morning, tweeted, blogged at the Houston Chronicle. I am 100,000% into it. I watched everything.

Houston Chronicle.com. Yeah, that's what I'm just saying. T&T could not have, they destroyed the rockets. And then they look so stupid. They destroyed them before the game. They destroyed it at halftime. And they just somehow destroyed them after the game when they won. I'm like, what's going on here?

And I'm, okay, look, whether if they had lost the. game by 20 or they win the game by 10 like that. It wouldn't have been an indictment of the small ball strategy. Of course, it's an 82 game season. I get that. But I was rooting so hard for the Rockets to win last night. Last night was fun. I am literally on my couch waking up my neighbors. You know what I mean to me? It was like it was like NCAA tournament. A high school team that's an underdog that somehow is in the state tournament. Playing, playing rec ball at the school. and you're 41 years old and you beat some kid

who's like 25 who can totally school you but you actually somehow you win and you just have this moment, which I've had before, that was last night. It felt like watching the second round of the NCAA tournament and it's some team that's never made it and they're completely undersized

and they go up against stupid Duke or North Carolina and they shoot the lights out and they play with heart and soul and passion and that was the Rockets last night. I had a lot of fun watching that game. That's the thing, though. The Rockets aren't some mid-major.

The Rockets are a good basketball team. But the Rockets are playing PJ Tucker at Center, so all of a sudden they feel like a mid-major. But, I mean, Clint Capella went away. I failed to see where the Rockets had just broken up a dynasty when they traded away. You missed Clint Capella's Hall of Fame induction last year? I miss Clint-Capella making into the Hall of Fame. Yeah, Clinkapel has been the Hall of Fame for a year. I miss him being five-time defensive player of the year.

I miss him being five-time rebounding champion. I love that everyone... He's locking down LeBron James and locking down all five players from the other team. I missed that part of his career. I don't know when it happened, but I missed it. I love that everyone who hates the Rockets,

and there are a lot of people who hate the Rockets, maybe more than ever, especially now that they're doing this, and they beat the Lakers on national TV. But everyone who hates the Rockets instantly acted like, well, number one, like bleeping idiots, but number two, like Clint Capella was the greatest sinner since Hakeem Elijah won and won two rings.

Because here's the thing. Oops, I forgot. Clintapella sucked last year against the Warriors in the second round. They couldn't even play him. He was afraid to play. He was taking three shots a game. They had to keep him off the court. He was getting his buttwit by Kevin Looney.

And Draymond Green was out rebounding Clint Capella at the start of that series. That's why the Rockets got in a hole. But oops, I forgot Clintapela is, he was the next dream. Yeah, and I forgot that we were doing little graphics, at all the heights of the player. Look at six foot nine LeBron. And they were bumping everything up. LeBron James is six foot eight and a half. Well, he's a full six foot nine. Look at him over six foot five James Hardin. I'm sorry, what? If Klincapella were on the court, he would be checking LeBron at the perimeter and locking him down. Like I don't know where I saw. Where am I missing

this? What am I missing? T&T analysts and NBA national pundits. Do they not watch basketball? and that, I just, they might be a little, they might be a little biased. Well, a little bit. I don't know. It was just, like I said, it was fun. I enjoyed that. I kept waiting for it to end and then they kicked it in late. And I will say this, and we were going to talk small, small, small, small ball, small, small ball, small ball.

Here's the thing. Russell Westbrook, Russell Westbrook's been doing this his whole career. And there was a lot, there was, you know, natural skepticism, skepticism when he joined this team. He has to keep it going. He has to prove in the playoffs. We know this. We're talking about the Rock. Everything comes down to the Rockets asterisk, which is they have to prove it in the playoffs.

Russell Westbrook kicked ass last night. Russell Westbrook has been doing that for the last two months. He is their best player right now. James Harden scored 14 points. Only took 10 shots. Great distributing the ball because that's what he was mainly doing. And they were doubling him so much. They were doubling him.

So he had to pass off. Russell Westbrook, a very efficient. 17 to 28 from the floor. Six of eight. six of eight from the line only took a couple threes, made one, 41 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and he had that Russell Westbrook snarl going on.

And he's flexing at staples. He's dunking on people. It was beautiful. That's ultimately why they won that game. It was a great game. And look, there's a lot of angles, and we got to talk about, I mean, Eric Gordon shooting the light out,

the lights out. We haven't even gotten to Robert Covington. We got a lot of stuff to get to there on the Rockets as they beat the Los Angeles Lakers last night, 121 to 111. We've got a lot of other stuff to get to here on the Matt Thomas show. First and foremost, Mike Dan Tony, Rockets head coach, joining us at 1230.

You do not want to miss that. Post-trade deadline and post-good win against the Lakers in Staples Center. We'll have Rockets Head Coach Mike Dan Tony. We're going to have some really good questions for Dan Tony. Oh, I got some great questions for him. I mean, I'm not messing around. Okay. And if you want something asked, you want it to be real?

Yes. You know, tweet us at Crombrant Smith. MDA. Uh-oh. We're not doing any of that Matt Thomas stuff. We're doing real sports radio. Okay. Big market, major city.

713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. You can call Nick. He'll write your question down. If you've got a real pressing flaming volcano, Mike Dan Tony question, we'll ask it for you. Yeah, so we have Mike Dan Tony coming up. We also haven't even touched on the AJ Hinch interview. It's airing tonight on MLB Network.

We got a ton of stuff to get to here on a Friday on the Matt Thomas. show here on a sports talk 790 short break here don't go anywhere next time tell alexa playing 790 on iHeart radio wherever you are so is matt thomas different these guys got to believe in it and this helps this helps a lot because you go here you come in here and you get spanked and we're all little and it's like oh you know maybe we can't do this but so they're fired up and we'll keep trying and so it helps regardless of it's only one game and all that it's just the confidence for the guy is good guys you look gorgeous terrific short people got no reason short people got no reason

short people got no reason to live to the matt thomas show ross v real brian smith with you as the Rockets overcame the little plucky underdog NBA team where people are making $40 million a year overcame and beat the Los Angeles Lakers. We're talking about that. We got Rocket's head coach Mike Dan Tony coming up in just about 10 minutes. So definitely want you guys to stick around for that. If you want to get in, 713, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5-790. 7-1-3-1-2-5-790.

So a lot of this overshadowed by all the small ball talking all that type of stuff. Brian, but I would say first, the early returns, not to get into caucus talk, but the early returns on Robert Covington with 10% of the preceance reporting. Five and nine from the field, four or seven from three, 14 points, played some good defense, got a couple of blocks, couple of steals. Overall, I thought, especially for a guy who basically had just taken the red eye to Los Angeles and only gotten a short crash course in a video session with some of the Rockets coaches. fit in pretty nicely. I'd say even better than that. His numbers were ridiculous. He played 30 minutes,

more bench minutes than anybody else. That wasn't a starter for the Rockets. Actually had fourth most minutes on the team, four or seven on threes, two offensive rebounds, two blocks. I'm not a plus minus person ultimately, but plus minus a plus six team,

which was the highest on the team. Again, put him in the Hall of Fame with Clint Capella. Robert, Robert Covington was absolutely fantastic. One of the key reasons why they won that game, and he did it all on no sleep. Probably didn't even have a hotel key. You know, Matt Thomas had a room with the Rockets.

Robert Covington didn't even have one yet. Fantastic debut. Let's see if you can keep it going. Yeah, and one thing that I thought was also interesting, and eye popping for me, only 31 minutes from PJ Tucker. And with these small ball lineups that they had been playing, and with Clint Capel out, he had been playing something like, you know, 40 minutes a game, it seemed like.

And just pulling up his games here, he hadn't played fewer than 31 minutes since he only did it once this month. And the other time he did, that's when he missed the game. He only played two minutes because he had a stinger. So you'd have to go pretty far back to find a game where he played under 30 minutes and only 31 last night. So that is one of the things that I'm definitely keeping eye on. Nine players in the rotation for Mike Danton. Cepalosia played. We like to criticize Mike Dantone for his rotation. And rightfully so. And I think rightfully so. I think the biggest criticism for me. Yes, rightfully. personally is the fact that he doesn't trust the young players and he kind of limits the rotation.

You understand what he's doing. He's trying to win the games, but you also have to play the long game, which I don't think he's very good at doing, but nine guys played last night for the Rockets. It was one of their best wins of the season. They've had a couple fantastic wins this year and then some very disappointing defeats. It was one of their best ones of the season. It was their most interesting win. It was a blast to watch. The question will be, how long can they do it? Can they keep it going? Do they do this? And then lose to Phoenix. You know, that would be classic Rockets. I could see that.

With Westbrook as well. They're right there. I mean, you look at the NBA standings. I feel like I've been saying this for two months about this team. They're in fourth place. And now a half game against the Jazz. The Jazz were lighting the world on fire. Now they've lost five straight. They're four and six on their last

10. The Rockets are in fourth place in the West Ross. They're three games back of the second spot. And the team, the only team that's ahead of the clippers is the Lakers. And here's, I mean, there are so many parts of this, and we really could spend three hours talking about this because it's so interesting. It's like the stuff that I love to dig my chomper's into when it comes to the Rockets

and the NBA. And there's so many ways to get into this. One of the things that really stood out last night, and it's just one game of 82, the Lakers were disappointing. You know, it's a Lakers team that didn't do anything at the trade deadline. I'm sure, though, they're out of couple buyouts. You had Darren Collison sitting in the stand. which is such a...

That was weird. Such a Lakers thing to do. Like, he would never do that for the Rockets or any other team, but you're going to do that for the Lakers. It's like he was visiting in the stands on a recruiting trip. Yeah. Anthony Davis was good. Okay.

LeBron James way too passive last night. He had 15 assists, but he didn't kick it into the end. He only had 18 points, 8 to 19 from the field. Like, if James Hardin only had 18 points in his team lost on national TV and he went one of eight on threes, he'd be getting killed. LeBron's going to get a total pass. He was way too passive last night. Javelle McGee.

I still wonder how he is in the league at times and how he did that with Golden State. He was the horrible gentleman, Gail McGee last night. Avery Bradley was good. Danny Green kind of came and went solid overall. Kuzma was horrible. Dwight Howard. All this Dwight Howard talk for months, the resurrection of Dwight Howard, he played four minutes against his old team.

He was inconsequential. Yeah, the Rockets played him off the court. And that's the thing that's, I mean, everybody's talking about how other, how they're going to have to adjust. How are the Rockets going to match up against all these. big men. Well, how are all these big men going to match up against the Rockets? Javelle McGee played 50 seconds in the fourth quarter. That's two of their bigs.

Dwight Howard played zero seconds in the fourth quarter, zero seconds in the third quarter. I thought, so I mean, everybody's like, oh, Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard and Javille McGee, they were unplayable towards the end of that game because the Rockets were getting so many open looks. They only, the Lakers only got one more rebound than the Rockets, 38 to 37. So two things. Number one, the Lakers didn't suck last night. they could have won that game. The Rockets turning on late. But the Lakers, they had so many unforce-slash-forced turnovers.

Even when they were, you kind of saw that teams don't really know how to throw the ball into the post anymore to work it in, all those things. Because Anthony Davis plays out a lot. Javelle McGee's not a back-to-the-basket guy. I mean, he's not much offense. Dwight Howard doesn't do that anymore and he barely played. You actually saw, like, the Lakers tried to obviously take advantage of the height difference, which was humongous. And so they're throwing it in and throwing it in,

but so much of it was forced and it didn't look natural, so they're turning it over constantly. Lakers only shot 9 to 31 on threes. Here's what it ultimately came down to. Russell Westbrook was the best player in the court, and the Rockets shot the lights out. And so that'll be the thing. And I'm very pro this and I'm very con this,

and I see the good and I see the bad. And I really doubt that they can do this, not just for the next 31 games Ross and do it at a high, you know, number one, number two seed in the West level, but can they do it in four playoff series, seven round games? I don't believe so. But they wouldn't have done that with Clinton. They couldn't do it with Clintapela either. No, they had Clint. No, that's not like they broke up a dynasty.

See, I disagree with that. Some Rockets fans have been saying that. The Rockets were a hamstring away from being in the NBA finals, and they would have won the NBA finals, and they had Clint Capella on that team. And Clint Capella was a huge part of that team. I'm talking about this year's team. I don't got, not in the 2018. I'm talking about right now this year, the way the rockets are. I don't think, I mean, yeah, they're probably not going to win the championship. They probably weren't going to win it with Clint Copella as well. I fully agree with that.

I fully agree with that. But here's the other part. The rockets aren't ever going to shoot this well. Like, they're going to, their next game, two games from now, they'll shoot 30% from threes. They go cold all the time. They shot the lights out. It was almost like last night the rockets were playing to get into the playoffs and they finally woke up and everyone was bringing it and they're trying to prove everybody wrong.

and I love that. That's what we've waited to see from this team all season. It took into the game after the trade deadline for that to happen. Are they all of a sudden going to shoot 20, you know, I mean, 45% from three? Absolutely not. But I think the wide open looks that they were getting last night. They're fantastic. They're a lot better. They were.

The ball was very fluid last night. The numbers for like wide open looks at the NBA.com stats, tracks, they've been way up in these games since they've been going. They were getting at, I think, 19% of wide looks. And Darry eats that stuff for breakfast. 27% wide open look. So, I mean, has the Rockets crack the code and they're just going to not lose another game? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right. V.A. select start. It's not a cheat code, but it's also a viable strategy. And a lot of people are trying to say that it's not.

All right, we've got to take a break here on the Matt Thomas show. That's Brian Smith. I'm Ross Vue Rial, alongside Nick Lowe. Coming up next. I need to write my questions down. Rockets head coach, Mike Dan Tony, here on Sports Talk 790. A straightaway three, it is up. And it's good. The Rockets are rolling now. To a better, harder, longer. Rejected. The beard is cooking.

And they play together. They play hard. He set. He fired. And he had the three. Now, exclusive insight and the latest on your Houston Rockets. You've got to be a champion. To be the champion.

Presented by Billiard Factory. Rockets head coach Mike Dan Tony joins the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790. Home of the Rockets. 1233 here on a sports talk 790 Ross vireal Brian Smith on the Matt Thomas show Matt Thomas out today and now we are pleased to be joined by Rockets head coach Mike Dan Tony

fresh off the 121 to 111-11 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Staples Center last night and Mike you got to be in a good mood for the win and also we're giving you the day off from Matt yeah things are things are good right now you know we got to obviously get better but I think we found a formula that's working for now.

Well, apparently every single NBA writer in the entire country seems to disagree, Mike. Was there a little bit of extra satisfaction in that one? That's why I know. But no, that's why I know it works. I would be worried otherwise. All right. Well, let's get into the game last night. Obviously, Smallball is nothing new for you guys.

I mean, Clint Capelle had been missing games. You've been playing some without him. But now you get the added element of Robert. Covington. And it just to me, it looked like a lot of wide open looks last night, and people are talking about how are you guys going to defend other teams, but it seemed like the Lakers had some trouble

with you guys with all that, with the five-out offense. Well, yeah, I mean, that's the whole thing. And people overlook the fact that we have really good small guys that can guard the post. You know, I don't we're two or three inches shorter,

but you put the strength of James or PJ or Eric the length of Robert Covington, and we can guard the post. And actually, the Post is probably the worst percentage shot in the NBA, so even if they score a few, so be it. But, you know, our whole key is coming down. Can we get back defensively in transition? Can we box out and not get killed on the boards?

And if that happens, they're not guard us. I mean, that's, you got Russell and James, but they start to double 10, they can't do that. They go, you know, leave James alone. James alone or leave Russell alone. I just got 41 last night. So now we have to double him too. So we call it a lot of problems. And what do you think about the, I mean, there's some confusion to me between height and length. Like how much does that matter? Because PJ Tucker's 6'5, but he's got a 7 foot wingspan.

And Robert Covington, 6'7 or whatever he is, he's got a 7 foot 2 wingspan. James Harnd's got a 611 wingspan. So you guys still have some length, even though the height may necessarily be there. Yeah, that's why. I mean, people just look at the surface. solve it. And, you know, again, I go back, like last night, if we didn't start at Tyson challenge, like, seven feet, if we just played him for five minutes, this wouldn't even be a story. Now, they played, they, they went big, and, you know, they wouldn't have that graphic up there show. Everybody's small, the starters, first time in 50 years, you know,

but if we had played big for five, six minutes, they go, oh, it's normal. You know, so it's, they don't really dive in the numbers or, and really look at the game. They just kind of a surface run, and it's a good narrative, and everybody jumps on board. And it's not saying that we might, they might not go against certain times, but this is the best way that we can plan. And if we have a chance to win a championship, this will be it. This way, it was sprinkled big in, but the other way, it wasn't going, it wasn't cutting it. Mike, how's it going? Brian Smith. Hey, Brian. How you doing? Good. Did you have an espresso this morning? How's the morning going?

Well, I've had two expresses. I've got to stay up through the meeting. We've got to be here in a few minutes with the guys. And I've got to take a nap. It's two nights in a row that I've, you know, a little change of time. And last night was a long night. So it's, we're getting there. Last night was fun to watch.

Let me ask you this. You've done small ball. I mean, this, in a lot of ways, this isn't new. You guys have done it at time since you've been the coach. You go back to Don Nelson. You know, you mentioned the Warriors and their death lineup. on and on. But this had to have been a conversation that you and Daryl and your coaching staff have had, even before Capella was injured. What was the thought process going from all of that

to this? How did you connect those two things and then all of a sudden hit the full acceleration? Well, I mean, sometimes it's luck. And in the sense that when we were two guys out in Utah, nothing to lose. All, let's try it. And then I could see it with my eyes. Before that, you're a little afraid to do it. We needed an extra perimeter for sure. And it's like, I don't want to try it, and then it doesn't work because we don't have that extra perimeter.

And then everybody, you know, we'll jump on, you know, we'll go off the bandwagon and say, I told you it would work. So you have to pick the right moment, get the guys in, have them believe in it. It's off the other way that Disney's. saying this is not it. And then tried and convince the players just going to work. You know, I think they were a little skeptical. That's the biggest takeaway from last night's game is that before our meeting at noon,

I think they were a little skeptical. By the time the game is over, if we're in the locker room after the game, total believers. And so now we have a real chance and everybody's got to stay on that, you know, mindset that, yeah, we can get it done. If we don't get it done, it's because we're not playing well. off or hard enough. When it comes to Westbrook and Harden particularly, I mean, they, you know, they can both

rebound, they can both score, they can drive, they can hit threes, they can dish out, they can do everything. But does this require them to do even more? I mean, do you have to balance them not being exhausted by game 82 or the first round of the playoffs? Or are they already, have they already been doing so much? Their roles don't change. I don't think it changes that much.

I think it actually will be easier on them. Last night, the minutes came down for everybody. Russell's minutes were up a little bit last night because he wasn't going to play tonight and he had a role. But we would like to keep everybody's minutes down and this gives us an opportunity to do that. Plus, if we really play it well, we should get some blowouts and that can help them. And to me, it's just an easy way to play. Now, they do have to fight the bigs a little bit and that could be a little exhausting.

but the other alternative is run around screens and get hit and all that. So to me it's easier, but I'm not the one that has to do it. So it's easy for me to say. But I think at the end of the day, they're going to be fresher. They should have been last year's sake. All right. Rocket Tech coach Mike Dan Tony here on The Bad Thomas Show on Sports Talk 790. Coach Robert Covington making his, well, not debut as a Houston rocket,

but at least the debut for this season's rocket. take us through him becoming a rocket. How much were you guys able to work with him and talk to him last night? And then, of course, speak to his performance, which was pretty good. Yeah, it was really good. And he's a Vasson. He knows how to play, first of all. And, you know, we have a fairly, everything's fairly simple.

They're a double team of James. So we're just trying to show him the spots that we need to feel how to run on the fast break and transition. I'll keep the middle open. And then just play and use your instincts. there'll be some things, obviously, we'll clear up with him and try to get him exactly the way we want it. But the guy's good. And he's the one thing I like is he's passing is really good.

He made a couple passes right on the money for easy threes. He's long, you know, he blocked a shot on Anthony Davis. He said it was big. He got a couple good rebounds. And then he has some big trees. And, you know, with that extra guy that we can put out there. And now I can play also, I don't, before I had to. rely on Tabo, P.J. and Daniel House, and P.J. has got too many minutes at the five.

So now you can add, I can also play Daniel House and Robert at the four or five. And so I can rest P.J. keep cephalosha within his minutes' restrictions. And rest P.J. have him pressure. So he has an element that we shortly needed, and I think it'll only get better. Mike, we'll let you go on this one. Thanks a lot for coming on. We appreciate it. My pleasure. We take sports very seriously in America and the city of Houston,

so let's go out with a very serious question. So you don't really have, you're not playing a center anymore, you've gone small. Does that mean that Matt Thomas is good in, can Matt Thomas play center for the Houston Rockets now since you don't really need a center anymore? Well, obviously, Matt, miss this, this show. right here, so I don't know what his spot, man. I don't know why he's gone. So we got, we got Matt's the Lord and rule. He's out with rest, coach. Yeah, you know, he doesn't play back to back. Yeah, exactly. All right. All right, Mike, thanks a lot. We'll talk to you down

the road, coach. Thanks a lot for that. All right, guys. Take care. Rocket's head coach, Mike, Dan Tony, here on the Mad Thomas show. This is the Matt Thomas show. Sports Talk 790. Thanks to Rocket's head coach, Mike Dan Tony, for joining us here on the Matt Thomas show. And also deftly pointing out that Matt does not play back-to-backs. We appreciate him for that.

That'll be up on the podcast page. If you miss the interview at SportsTalk790.com, it'll be up there shortly, thanks to Nick Lowe. And we'll also have a little bit of it coming up in the 2 o'clock hour if you miss that conversation. So we'll definitely want to get some of that in. But overall takeaways seems like a little bit more satisfaction in his voice. I think Mike knows he's been in this business a long time. He knows one game does not a season make.

But I think probably a little bit of validation with the result last night against the Lakers. Mike knows as well better than anybody in this city what's on the line this year. You know, his future, which team he's coaching next year, if he's coaching, if he's going to win a title, if he's able to get the best out of Hardin and Westbrook. I mean, if you're Mike Dan Tony, which we'd all love to be, if you're Mike Dan Tony, you've done it forever,

you've done it many ways, you invented a lot of this stuff. You stole some of it, you borrowed some of it, but I mean, you go back to Phoenix. He invented a lot of this stuff. They were the Warriors before the Warriors, right? You've got James Hardin,

who's still at his peak. I don't know how long it's going to last, but you have the best score in the NBA. You have Russell Westbrook who, you know, Ross had a couple years, the last couple, few years in Oklahoma City post-Darrant. We're statistically good, amazing, Mr. Triple Double, but they were getting bounced out of the first round. So Russell Westbrook has everything to prove.

He's playing his butt off. So you've got one of the best combos in the league, and then you've got a lot of in-between guys. You know, you've got a great glue guy in P.J. Tucker, who had become incredibly reluctant to shoot the ball. He was shooting about two times a game. He was better from the perimeter last night, more aggressive. You have Austin Rivers, who was a cast off.

You have Robert Covington, which feels like a nice move, a perfect fit for this team. You just traded away your young center in Clint Capella. He's trying to find some way to make this work. Can it last 32 games? Is Westbrook going to be beat up in 10 games? harden. Are you absolutely exhausted by the second round? If you win the first round, the second round, you go out in six games, everyone is going to say it's because of small ball. If they really stick with this. So number one, they're the most interesting

team in the NBA right now. And it will either work amazingly or it'll be a total failure. They're going for it. And he just said it right there. They believed at this point in the season, going in the Tread deadline, they were not good enough. They did not have enough as is, as you said, Ross, to win a title with Capella. You got to do something. It was interesting that there was one little part there where he said it wasn't going to work. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's kind of caught my eye a little bit.

That's a straight confession that they knew internally, hey, we aren't good enough. Is this going to work? We're not sure, but what we had wasn't going to work. And I guess there was that belief in the building. and they made this move and they're trying something different. Is it going to propel them to an NBA championship? I would like to say probably not. But like you said, they're taking their chances.

And Darryl Morey is a risk taker. And oh, by the way, it probably didn't hurt that they got under the luxury tax. Tellman for Tina's a risk taker. He made a pretty decent chuck and change off the gambling industry. I mean, this is, I am in no way saying that I 100% buy in. I remain professionally skeptical. I should be skeptical. You should be skeptical.

Charles Barkley is very skeptical. Of course he is. He called them Munchkins last night. Oh my gosh. Like you're 6'44 and you played Power 4, Chuck. Did he forget that? But he had some taller guys on his team, Ross. He still played Power 4 at 6'4.

I mean, here's the thing. So, number one, the Lakers let themselves down last night. I'm in no way taking any credit away from the Rockets. The Rockets were fantastic last night. That was one of the best play games they've had the entire season. Are they going to be able to do this successfully against Utah, Boston, Utah again, Memphis, Boston, the Clippers? And then, you know, these are all the things that T&T brought up last night, and those points are completely valid. I don't believe that they could finish strong, everyone's healthy, but in a seven-game series where the, I mean, it's historically proven, Ross, the action slows down.

You're going to have a game where your threes don't fall. We've seen this every year from this team. And if you don't have anything else to fall back on, I don't know what they're going to do. But you know what? This is the flip side. Clint Capella was in, clinkapela is not in decline in the NBA.

Clint Capella was in decline with the Houston Rockets. He was having a down year. He wasn't as assertive offensively. He really wasn't getting involved in the offense at all anymore. You know, when you come to the pick and roll, that was happening a lot more of the previous two years, Chris Paul, et cetera. That's not Russell Westbrook's game. So they basically said, hey, this is what we have.

We've been doing the three thing for the last three years. We are going to go all in. We'll find out if it works. That's great. They just doubled down. Let's talk to Mike in the Rockets. What you got, Mike? You know, sir.

I'm well. Listen, off the task a little bit, but work a week. Roughly. I mean, I know you do this show. You do a launch pad. I'll be on it tonight as well. Is this a friend of yours, Ross? I don't know. Rocket's launch pad starts tonight at 6 o'clock. We all work. We all work a lot of hours. Okay. These guys pay 10, 15, 20 times we get paid. So why is there minute restrictions on them? What is all this crap about? Okay.

you want to save people's energy for the playoffs. That's a very good point, sir. He'll Hardin don't do that, but everybody else seems like that they got minute restrictions. You're playing an hour game. Why do you have minute restrictions? That's a very good point, sir, and I 98% agree with you. I would say, however, two words. Kauai Leonard.

Oh, my God. All right, Mike. I just don't understand it. Right, but Kaui Leonard, they did it with Kaui, and he won the title, so it's in vogue. Yeah, thanks a lot, Mike. It's not even, yeah, I mean, the original, the OG of limits or minutes restrictions is, is Greg Popovich. How was Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and managed no-playing as effectively as they were into their late 30s? Because Greg Popovich was watching their minutes.

And we've seen the energy be sapped out of James Hardin in playoff series, where he's had, where he's had to carry all the entire load. So, I mean, what they're trying to do is. I don't love it. I don't like it, but if everyone else in the league does it and the NBA doesn't have a rule against it, they're going to do that. I mean, everything is a competitive advantage. That to me is the biggest point. Like, if people want to bring up, oh, well, Michael Jordan, he didn't load management.

But if people are doing it now and there's no rule against it. That's because everybody else in the entire league wasn't doing it. And, oh, Hakeem O'Hawkeem played 40 minutes a game for 82 games. He carried a little. That's true. But if everyone else is resting and they're going to have more energy and they're going to be. That's how it is. Then you have to do it as well.

And they have metrics on this. They have wearable technology that tells you how fast are they running? How wearable technology? Are we talking about the Astros all of a sudden? No, no. Stop. That's a low blow. Stop. They know how fast is James Hardin running?

How high is he jumping? How much energy are these guys expending? All those types of things. Like, they have data on this. And to your point, that's a great point. Quietly was load managed the entire season last year for the front of last year. And everybody was like, well, what are they doing? Why are they doing this?

Oh, they're doing this to go win the NBA. championship and they did. Because Kauai had better legs by the time the NBA finals came around than anyone on the, even the Warriors. The Warriors load managed for the last three or four years. Hardin is actually the anomaly. I don't like it. I 98% agree with that caller.

2% I don't agree with at all because there is a recent historical precedent that said, hey, we managed, Toronto load managed the hell out of Kauai last year and they won the NBA championship partly because of that. So I actually

If I'm the Rockets, and I've been saying this last couple years, actually, like, the last three or four years, Hardin should be playing less. I would get hard. Hardin's still at the team, leading the league. Leading the league. So I'm, and then now you're going to ask him to do more

and defend the post more on and on. I'm still not convinced James Hardin won't be absolutely exhausted by the second round if they make it that far, but if there's no rule against it, it's like tanking a major league baseball. If there's no rule against it, turn it into a competitive advantage,

which is what the Astros did before the trash can start a ban. Every franchise's goal is to, win an NBA championship. And if you think that resting your players now in February is going to help them with their energy in April, May, June, then you do it. And that's why they're doing. And I understand where he's coming from, hey, they're making $40 million a year. I get that. You can't play a kid's game for 40 minutes a night. I get it. But the goal is to win a championship. And that's why the Rockets really haven't even been doing it. But that's why other teams are doing it. And that's why it's in vote very much so. And they do it with Westbrook.

They have been doing it with Restbook the entire season. And they did it with Chris Paul the last couple of years. Neney was the king of load management. He's been, well, he's got a lot of management this year. There's got to be one mean adductor strain. He's been out for like eight years from that thing. But anyways, he's still probably making like $6, $8 million a year. We've got to take a break here on the Mantama show.

We see all you on hold. We'll get to you coming up. We also have to talk about the Rockets. We see some of y'all. We're going to talk about AJ Hinch and his. interview that will day-due tonight. The Astros? How much is the XFL going to suck? There's so much to get into. In the final two hours of the Matt Thomas show, we'll continue next here on Sports Talk 790. Is the Matt Thomas show.

Matt Thomas show continues. Second hour of three. Without Matt Thomas. He'll be back, though. He's taking the day off. He's doing fancy mad is doing fancy mad stuff. After traveling to 90210 last night, I guess he's in Phoenix. That's a pretty short flight. Yeah. Come on, Matt. Phoenix is nice this time of year.

February in Phoenix. Load management after spending a night in Beverly Hills. Matt doesn't do anything back to back. Anything. I don't even think he golfs any much anymore, but he's probably on a golf resort in Phoenix. He's hanging out. He's probably in the steam room or something.

Kicking it with Kevin Sommelin or something like that. We're in those fluffy slippers. Yeah, what do you think he's doing right this moment? I don't really want to picture it. It could be something. something kind of weird. Okay, heavy on the first hour on the Houston Rockets and their win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

We also had the interview with Mike. That was good. Mike is always great. He's always always a pleasure to do. I will miss A.J. Hinch in this market, to say the least, Dusty will be very, very interesting and fun. Bill O'Brien. Bill O'Brien is Bill O'Brien.

That's all I will say. No, he's Bill O'Brien. I mean, everyone knows. He's Bill O'Brien. Mike Dan Tony, since he walked into Houston, has been fantastic. to deal with. And they've, you know, they've had incredible heights and really rough times. And Mike, Mike is always the same. And I mean that in the best sense that I could. He is always the same. He's always fair. He's as honest as he can be. I mean, you can't really be 100% honest

in pro sports anymore because of the 24th, 7365 world. He's as honest as it can be. He always makes time, I literally don't have a bad thing to say about Mike Dan Tony as a coach person dealing with us. So, we'll see where it goes. That's Brian Smith. I'm Ross Villarreal alongside

Nick Lowe. And speaking of AJ Hinch, he has, I don't know if it's going to be, can we call it a bombshell interview with Tom Verducci on NBA? The initial, so last night I watched it, because they were going to tease it at five. So I was like, go do do do do. and I was going to like work out while that was going on.

So I was going to be productive. And the first tease, I texted someone right when it happened. The first tease was so bad. It was Verduci interviewing Hinch. And he asked him a fairly serious question is, do you believe the 2017 World Series title is tainted? And then it just, it just cuts. And then they're like, oh, and we'll be back later. And so it took like four segments for them to actually show it.

And then the answer was very interesting. Yes, we have a little bit of the answer. Here's, so all we have is snippets. Apparently the interview is going to air tonight in full at 5 o'clock on MLB network. So here's one of the snippets that Brian is talking about. AJ, I'm going to ask you a question that every fan I think has asked since this story broke. It's more difficult for you because it's way more meaningful. The Astros won the World Series in 2017, based on what we know now,

that we know from the commissioner's investigation, is that championship tainted? It's a fair question, and I think everyone's going to have to draw their own conclusion. I hope over time and the demonstration with the talents of this team, the players, the careers that are being had, we have some of the best players in the entire sport, all together on the same team.

I hope over time it's proven that it wasn't, but I understand the question. It's a fair question and people are going to have to draw their own conclusions. Unfortunately, we opened that door as a group and that question I may never be answered. We may never know. And we're going to have to live and move forward and be better in the sport. But unfortunately, no one can really answer that question. I can't pinpoint what advantages or what

happened or what exactly would have happened otherwise. But we did it to ourselves. That surprised me in the fact that I was... This is a hard thing to get into, man. I would have expected him to come out a little stronger against the idea that was tainted.

And for him to say, no, we have talented players, other teams are doing this. He had no way said that. And he did not go that direction at all. it's like it's like national politics in 2020 there's number one you're not going to make everybody happy number one most people aren't going to be happy right if there's so there's no right answer the astros fans who believe that their team was wronged and everybody was doing it and they made an example out of them it's unfair and well even if we did it there's no proof we use it during the world, Syria, all that's, you will never appease them at all.

That being said, he definitely did not come out and say, no, it's not tainted. In no way that tainted. We are in that thing. I mean, this was a very thought-out interview. I'm not sure if it was in his house, but it looks- I'm sure he was prepared for that type of question. If not flat-out prepared with that question, at least knowing that something like that was going to be asked. It's either in a hotel or some, you know, it's sometimes. of room.

Yeah. Looks like at somebody's house. I don't know. We don't know if he had PR coaching and it wouldn't have been asked his PR. I mean, did he hire a national PR team? The, that's a good question. That's a fair question. That's often what politicians or very important people say when they're being grilled

by, you know, Barbara Walters back in the day and it's an uncomfortable situation. That's a good question. Yeah. That's an important question. Right. That's what you say. And I'm not going to answer it. Anytime you hear.

And I'm not going to give you a specific. answer. Anytime you hear that's a good question from anybody, whether it's politics or a coach or a GM or anybody, or your boss? The question is not going to answer. It's like when you ask for something at work and your boss is like, that's a really good question. That's very fair. However, da-da-da-da-da.

Anyways, yeah, great question. I don't know the answer. I don't know how to answer that or I don't want to answer that, so I'm not going to. He talked around it. Yes. He kind of did smoke and circles and mirrors, but he also didn't in any way say, absolutely not tainted. We won that thing fair and square.

That's our World Series trophy. I'm so proud of our, like all the stuff that you say after you win the World Series, and they said the last two years, that did not get said. I'm telling you, man, it's been rough for months. And that interview, that excerpt, and we'll get the full thing tonight. To me, it's just a reminder that nothing about this is easy. Credit to A.J. Hinch for having an interview. Luno hasn't done an interview yet.

It's not like Jim Crane set down one-on-one with anyone. No one from the Astros has. AJ is really the first person to speak in detail about this. And when he does answer it, I don't think it's going to make anybody happy. Yeah, I'm really interested to see the rest of this. That's my opinion on this. I feel like, I mean, if you're not going to address those types of things or that type of question, then why are you doing the interview?

This is my question. I'm just going to give you my honest opinion. I haven't. Just getting the full of fun of this. So, he's getting an other job. I believe. I'm educated guests. AJ Hinch will be back in Major League Baseball.

Yeah, I agree. Right. And so you are a part of this. You're directly involved. Not only are you in the commissioner's report, but your owner fired you seemingly sort of out of nowhere. Right before Jim Crane had the press conference. So at some point, you have to move forward.

You have to break things. you know, and I don't mean destruction. I mean in the sense that you, you have to have a line, not in the sand, like in the asphalt. You know, you have to paint a white line and move forward. And to me, Ross, this, because this does not appear to be Astros orchestrated at all. Maybe it is. I don't know why it would be. That would be idiotic.

You despired the guy. So this, this would be Hinch. This would be the people around him. We're going to go public. We're going to go national. We're going to address as much as we can. Because I would think educated guests sooner than later, AJ Hinch will try and want and probably will be back in Major League

Baseball, and this is the first step toward that. In what capacity? Do you think he'll be a manager again? I think it'll be years. Do you think, is he managing a team next year? Because there's some people who think he did. I mean, I'll just say Michael Conner and I, on the course on the morning show and does a lot of stuff up here at 7-9.

Sure. Michael Connor, nice guy. Great baseball knowledge. And he was like, I think he's going to be managing next year. I was like, I don't know that that would happen. So that was that was the initial overall reaction from smart MLB fans. If he's managing the Astros, that would be hilarious. You heard that a lot.

I don't know, man, because it continues. But see, people were saying that before Beltron was fired, before Alex Kor was fired. And there are going to still be so many things that spill out of this. the Astros haven't really talked yet. That'll happen theoretically next week at spring training. things will keep coming out. Things will keep happening. If you're a major league team right now at this moment, do you want AJ Hinch's, you know,

I'm on the record saying this a billion times. I like AJ. He will be missed. There were so many great things that he did. I don't know. Obviously, not even like we can't see the future. I don't know if one of the other 29 major league teams in a year

while this thing is still fresh is going to want to have a press conference and put him on the podium and say, yes, this is our new manager and this is our guy. Because he's an excellent manager. Nobody doubts that.

He was one of the best managers in baseball. He had been for years. He was excellent dealing with chemistry and the clubhouse and PR. He was the freaking spokesman of that team when it was really hot and messy and horrible in the World Series time

when you were dealing all the clubs. clubhouse crap. AJ Hinch was a much better spokesman than anybody else on the Astros. So he can do all of that. He's very smart. He knows the game. He's modern. He's old school. He can do everything. I don't know. He has the talent. Obviously, he's fully qualified to be back in Major League Baseball. He was only fired because of this. But I don't know. I don't know if one of the other 28 teams is going to put him on a podium this, you know, next November and turn a franchise over to him. But this is, to me, this is clearly him trying to take that step, that first step forward. All right. We've got to take a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show. We've got

we had another excerpt of the interview from A.J. Hinch, talk about if you want to get in, 713, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. Are you a surprised? And I'd like to hear from people about, you know, we like to, we like to open it up. And I have my thoughts. I have many thoughts, but I'd love to hear what others think. It's complicated. Like on Facebook, his relationship, it's complicated. Yes, we've got a lot of stuff to get to. So how do you guys feel about this?

And we got another excerpt to come back with here on the Matt Tom show. 713, 2,1, 2, 5, 790 tweets to Cron Brian Smith and at SportsRV. The show will continue after the short break. Don't go anywhere. Matt Thomas returns on Sports Talk 790. So the commissioner's report said there was. was it started with in terms of relaying signs. There was whistling, there was clapping, there was yelling.

Eventually, they settled on the system with the banging of the trash can. You're the manager, you're in the dugout. You have to be hearing the banging going on, correct? Yeah, no, I heard it. I heard it. I don't think you process it right away. You hear a lot of things in, but I heard it.

So at some point, though, you begin to process what's going on here. And you said, obviously you know it was wrong. The question is, why don't you step in at that point? and say, guys, knock it off. I wish it would have. I really do. Follow me into the desert is thirsty.

AJ Hinch, an excerpt from his interview from Tom Verducci that will air on MLB tonight at 5 p.m. So set your DVRs because you will be listening to the A team with Adam Clanton and Adam Wexer, of course. No, I'll be watching the A.J. Hinch interview. Oh, come on. Brian Smith with a mouth full of food and Nick Lowe and Ross V Real here on Sports Talk 7971-32125790

is your phone number 713212-5-790 Just interesting turn I don't know exactly what I was expecting When I first heard about this interview I didn't know if it was going to be like a bombshell And he's going to start naming names I love that it's happening right before spring training starts you know, like Astros, 90% of Astros fans are clearly ready, want to move on, want to get excited about the season.

Baseball's starting, but this thing is not going to go away. It's not going to go away, but I think also it will help when games do actually start. Because right now, I mean, we're in middle of February. Yes, yes, yes. We're in, this has been known for years as Sports Purgatory. Like, this is why, like, years ago, Sports Illustrated started putting out the swimsuit issue in February, because it's after the Super Bowl. It's why Rockets small ball beating the Lakers was so much. fun because I'm like, yes, we have something to be excited about.

We have something meaty to talk about. So thank you, Daryl Morey in the Houston Rock. It's for giving us something. But I mean, I just, I'm just, I can't get over the, the way that AJ is answering these questions and the way that he's, or not answering them, I just felt like for the reason, like you said, okay, obviously he wants to get in the forefront of this and he wants to be apologetic and he wants to be back in the MLB. And this is probably starting that process.

but also at the same time, I'm curious, why is he going on this interview and doing these things if he's not going to answer these questions or if he doesn't have anything substantive to say? Yeah, they're very fair points. I will say this. We haven't seen the full interview yet. You know, I will reserve overall judgment and I'll be writing about it on Sunday's Chronicle. I will reserve my judgment until I watched the full interview tonight. night and see where this goes. It's all just, I mean, Ross, it's just, it's all very, very interesting. There's, there's no right answer.

It's very clear. It's very clear that they cheated. And we've always known AJ to be as much as he could, upfront, honest, direct, real, all those things, right? So then you're in this situation where it was the greatest year in Astros' history. It changed Houston. It validated times a thousand everything about the 100 lost years and the rebuild. And it turned, not that they weren't before, but I mean, it truly turned Altuve and Springer and Bregman and Correa and Verlander into heroes.

You know, Houston sports heroes. And I'm not saying. And obviously for Astros fans, those guys still are. I was at fan fest. Fans were eating it up. It was just you and like seven fans. It was absolutely packed, absolutely packed, and the park will be sold out. And you're right, Ross.

And I've thought this, and we'll see it this year. By the time that mid-May rolls around June, let's say at some point, rockets are done, and Astros are all we have because the Texans will probably go 10 and 6 and win a playoff game and get eliminated. The Astros will be there. And locally, they won't be dealing with much crap at all. in Houston. You know, they will be cheered

and loved by their fans in their ballpark. Nationally is where it'll be completely different. So locally, it'll move on. But I remember telling this to Matt while the investigation was ongoing,

that if it came down and it came down bad, which it obviously did, this was not going to go away and it would just continue to spill out and spill out and waves and waves and waves. And this is the first time

we've seen somebody top down in the organization, and he's not part of it anymore, come out and speak. And I'm just reminded, there's no easy answer for any of this. You know, like some people want utter clarification. Some people want it to go away. Some people want you to say, hey, I'm sorry, but man, we really won that World Series.

And we didn't cheat at all in seven games against the Dodgers. You know, everyone wants their own version of the truth to make it feel better. And I just don't think any of it's going to make anybody feel any better because ultimately they cheated. It's, uh, I. But then Astros fans, you know, 50% Astros fans are going to say, well, so did everybody else. And da-da-da-da-da-da. Yeah, right. Which doesn't make it okay.

I continue to go back to that. Manfred put out the memo, said, cut it out. Astros didn't cut out. They got punished. That's fine. But it'll be interesting to see how long this lingers. And because I am of the opinion, and Matt and I have disagreed on this because I bring up the example, which, of course, is a completely different ballpark of Roberto Osuna.

Okay. And how, remember when he came out of a fire story. and it was national and everybody's tweeting out the domestic violence hotline and all this other stuff. It was huge. And then literally like a month later, two weeks, man. Nobody was talking about it. He was getting cheered in Simon and May Park within two weeks. Right.

So this is a bigger deal. But I think, and so it will take a longer time for it to just go away and everybody would forget about it. But it's 2020. We're worried about, oh, you know, impeachment and what's happening with this and that and the Bachelor and the Astros and the Rock. it's in the NFL, every, NFL free agency is going to start up

in the draft and all, like, that we just get so wrapped up and so many, like, whatever show we're binging that night or whatever. Nothing sticks at all.

Nothing sticks. How about this? Is this going to turn into a series of its own? And are we going to get an Alex Corey interview shortly after this, followed by Carlos Belltran. Maybe. Even then, we'll forget, I mean, unless they're going to schedule one every month,

it's still going to go away. I just feel like in the national consciousness, this will just continue to basically melt away like everything else. Yeah, and it's going to pick up again next week when spring training starts and you have all the national media. And because it won't, and not that the local won't ask it, the locals already asked those questions,

but you're going to have national media people being flown down by the companies that paid them to try and ask these super hard ball pressing questions. They're not going to get the answers they want. And if the Astros handle this as they should, and they've hinted at this. In my ideal world, this isn't how it would be. But this is, they'll probably give, I mean, hell, they might have them all stand up against a wall outside of, um, the, the West Palm facility together. And like, I'm just making this up.

Verlander reads a statement. They all, there's like 10 of them and they each read one word of the statement at a time. They just do one word and then keep going around. And they're saying this is the only time we'll address this the entire year. We're moving on. da-da-da-da-da-da. That's it. Because that's the thing. You can keep asking, if you're some jerk reporter from New York or Boston, you can keep asking. They're not, they're not going to answer it. They're not obligated to answer it. They don't have to answer it. They can give you

a fluff answer if they want. They can tell you to screw off. They're baseball players making $5 to $10 to $30 million a year. They're not obligated to do anything to, quote, unquote, you. So historically, it won't go away. nationally, it will come and go. Locally, it'll go away. And that's how it is. Look at the Patriots. You know, you had spy grate and deflategate and da-da-da, and the Patriots were on some level hated across the country, Ross.

But in Boston, they're loved. Now they've also won six titles, but in Boston, they are loved. If the Astros could win six titles, that'd be pretty nice. If the Astros win this year, next year, win two world. series in the next three or four years, the conversation will start to change again. That's a huge. That's a huge if. All right. We have to take break here on the bad time of show. We see you guys on hold. We will get to you next here.

It's 713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. 7.1, 3, 1, 2, 5, 790. Do you think, as I do, this stuff is going to go away? Or will it linger? Or how long is it going to linger if it does? And how do you feel about A.J. Hinch and his stance or non- stance on the whole cheating scandal from the segments of the MLB tonight interview. Okay, we've got to take a quick break here at the Matt Thomas show. Brian Smith, Ross Villarreal, Nick Lowe, with you, don't go anywhere. First of all, he's a great guy. He's a hardworking guy.

It's Matt, and he's back. Brings his lunchtime, Houston Sports Talk. The Matt Thomas Show on 790. Matt Thomas shows along here on Sports Talk 790. Ross via Real Brian Smith with you. Up until 3 o'clock coming up in the next hour, we'll play a little bit of the conversation from earlier today. If you missed it, Mike Dan Tony, Rockets head coach talked with us

after the Rockets got the 121 to 111 to 11 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. And it was, I think probably the Utah Jazz win where they had no James Hardin and no Russell Westbrook was the most surprising win. but I feel like this one had a little bit more meaning and weight to it, obviously because of the trade that it had been made. Robert Covington's first game back. He played very well.

James Harden went three for 10. It only scored 14 points and you beat the best team in the West by 10 on their home floor. Yeah, they're pretty. They're the Lakers. You know. I have not fully believed in this Lakers team the entire year in the sense that they are the clear-cut favorite in the West. They're going to be in the NBA finals. They can win the NBA finals.

finals. If it was right now, it's not. But if it was Lakers versus, I'd say the Bucks, I'm picking, I'm picking the Bucks. I'm picking the Bucs. I think I'd pick the Clippers to beat them in a seven game series right now as well. I would too moves they've made. The Lakers, they don't have the depth. They're way too LeBron dependent. He's obviously, he's going to wear down at some point. And last night, he kind of looked like he was almost preserving, uh, himself at some points in the game. I mean, he was not giving his, except for when he did that, uh, that reverse that was incredible. That was, what are you doing, LeBron? That was incredible. Is he just showing off. He's like, yeah, I'm not going to be in the dunk

contest again at 35 years old. Like, I throw out my back getting out of my car to get gas. And this guy is just jumping out of the gym in his 17th year of the NBA. And, you know, the old Rockets will lose against Phoenix and then everything will

change. It could happen tonight. No Russell Westbrook as well. Well, we'll change with that. But no, that tweeted it right after the game. That was one of their best wins of the season. You could easily argue it was their best. It was by far the most interesting. It was fun. We said this at the start, Ross.

It was like watching a college team, you know, a mid-major, smaller college team, run the court, out-hustle, out-fight, out-compete, Duke, North Carolina, when they used to be good, a top

team in the NCAA tournament. So I will remain professionally skeptical. It's fascinating. it's like they're trying to prove the entire NBA wrong. The NBA has changed and change and change and threes and small. You know, it's gone smaller and smaller, but nobody's gone full on small ball.

And not just for like two games, man, for like 30 games and then said they're going to do it in the playoffs. I still don't even know if the Rockets will truly try to do it in the playoffs. They buyout market comes up. They pick somebody up. They start to weave them in the rotation. They go on, they, you know, what if they lose three straight? Are they going to stick with it then? Do they start to play Tyson Chandler and various, you know, tall guys.

Tyson Chandler at point. Let's go against everybody's wishes. But, yeah, I mean, it's funny, though, because you think of this, I'm talking about the NBA changing, probably the last 20 years the two biggest innovators as far as changing the NBA or fostering this change that's come in. Probably Mike Dantonie and Darryor Moore or near the top of the list. The Phoenix, what the Phoenix Suns did directly on some level led to what the Golden State Warriors did. you know and Steve Kerr was watching that Steve Kerr was executive

in their GM in Phoenix toward the end of the Dan Tony years there so Mike has been building Mike has been building toward this with the Rockets in his career with the sons in some ways for

20 or 30 years I don't know how it works against Rudy Gobert but they're going to say hey we can run him off the court that ultimately we can debate it a billion times and it's fun to do, they were on last night. They shot 50% from the field, 45% on

threes. If those rockets do that, the last three years, they're winning the game. They're not always going to do that. They're not always going to shoot over 40% from three. They're going to have some games with their rough. But I will say this. The open looks were pretty good. They were. For the rocket, 7-13-21-5-790.

The phone number 7-132-1-2-5-790. It just came across. I saw a tweet, Brian. The Houston Roughnecks. Minus six and a half versus Los Angeles Wildcats this weekend. Who you got? Okay, here's a bigger question. And I, there's, I'm sure there's, there's some very good people working for the Houston roughnecks and the XFL. So who am I to be up here and make fun of somebody? I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not going to do that. Okay.

I will, however, ask the question. However, how many people are going to be, this, this is, this is, this is 713, 2, 1, 2, 5, 790. How many people are going to be the XFL game this weekend? I'd be at the game. game. Oh, I'd be interested to hear that, but Christian Lamarck wants to talk some XFL. So, Christian, you going to the game? I wish, but other than that, God! Brian T. Smith.

Hey, Christian. Hi, how are you? I'm doing all right, sir. But the main thing that I want to ask is, when it comes down to the quality of play, compared to the NFL and in many cases compared to the dismal AAA last year. Yeah. Do you think that it will be enjoyable enough for the XFL to, I don't know, last and the long run, maybe be a little bit more innovative than the 2001 version?

Yeah, it's a really good question. I'll say this. When the XFL announced it was coming back, the NFL was at a low point. You know, the NFL, it wasn't right after Ray Rice, but the NFL had really had a run. Concussions, a bad run. Mark Cuban and what did they call him Ross? Like the fat pigs get slaughtered. He had basically said, hey, you know, you guys have bitten off way more you can chew. They had had the protests. There was a lot going on with the NFL. And so at that point, I was like, you know what? If the XFL comes and the XFL goes all in, give them a run for

their money. I mean, you're never going to take the NFL down. But yeah, could you be competitive? Could you last? Could you be worth turning into? Because everyone knows one of those painful things in life as a human being in the United States of America is knowing that once the Super Bowl ends, we don't get the NFL until September. I mean, that, ah, that still hurts when we realize, here's my problem with the XFL right now. Who the hell is in it? Like, Cardell Jones is your best player? Who's on the cover of you? Landry Jones is your, is the face of the

Landry Jones Landry Jones is the face of the XFL If he has the face of the XFL This league's going to last for two weeks Who's the face of the Houston Roughnecks Is it Connor Cook? I think he's the backup

Quarterback Yeah, that was Bill O'Brien's first Playoff win when he was a third stringer for the Oakland Raiders During the Brock Osweiler era Bill O'Brien's moving on to Greener Passers He defeated Josh Allen

Barely in overtime because of Deshawn Watson So that's my problem Like, I'm all for the XFL, if it's good, number one, if it's good football, and it's competitive and it's cool and they're different and they've, you've got talent. But if all you're going to run out there are NFL castoffs who aren't good enough to be in the league, I don't know, you're better off watching college football. Like, I don't know how you last and appeal to discerning football. I don't. You're watching a far, a far, a seriously inferior product.

But I'd love to be proven wrong on that. I think. Are we just football addicts? And it doesn't matter. Wait, Sammy Coats is on the Houston Roughnecks? Sammy Coats can't. But I mean, Sammy Coats has been out of the league, man. Good for him.

Like, Rock, go back to the USFL. Former Texan great Charles James. Charles James would not be in an NFL roster right now. Of course, none of these guys would. So that's what I'm saying. Like, if you go back to the USFL and I was a kid, I mean, this was like, what? There was some very smart Houstonians who live. through, what was it, the gamblers, right?

I have no recollection of the gamblers of the U.S. But I remember being a kid, and I was like five, six years old, and you had the New Orleans breakers, and, you know, they're like Dale Robertson, right now, because he lived through all this stuff, and he takes pride and remembering it. Even for all the wine he drinks. You go back to that,

though. They had Herschel Walker. They had Jim Kelly. They were, they were bidding against the NFL. Reggie White. They're bidding against the NFL. They also went bankrupt. They could have made it. I think Actually, the President of the United States now screwed it up. No, he did.

Go watch the USFL documentary. It's fascinating. But they competed and they were trying to get the top. I think it's a disgrace. Thank you. You are fake news. Thank you, Donald. Congratulations on not being impeached, by the way.

And I'm not seeing that's a good or bad thing. He just wasn't removed. Not removed, right. I'm not saying that's a good or bad thing. Just factually it happened. And that's something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do. But you've got to have names. And they have nobody right now.

and by the by the way where is johnny manzel like the second the x-fell started i was like johnny manzell will be the face of the x-fell he's not even in the league because you'd be in jail i don't i don't know where he is that's a good question what is he doing like is he

i mean we all knew that he because he comes from so much oil money that he doesn't have to do anything for his entire life if he doesn't want to but i mean let me try like has he tweeted recently what is he up to besides doing insurance commercials Well, the best part is that everything is still a comeback season, even though there's nothing coming back. How is comeback season going?

All right. We've got to take a quick break here on that note here on the Matt Thomas show. If you guys want to get in, we've got a lot of stuff to get to. We're talking XFL. If you're going to the game, Brian wants to hear from you. We've also got the AJ Hinch stuff. We've got the Rockets, a ton of things going on here on the Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. It's 7132-1-2-5-79.

7-1-3-2-1-2-5-79. The Matt Thomas show continues. on Sports Talk 790. Should have been... Thomas Show. Rolls along here on Sports Talk 790. Ross Vue Rale.

Brian Smith, Nick Lowe with you guys up until 3 o'clock. We'll hear from Rocket Tech coach, Mike Dan Tony. Next hour. We had the conversation earlier today, so if you missed out on that, definitely want to hear you guys have you guys hear some of that

as the Rockets got the win last night against the Los Angeles Lakers and now they're never going to lose again. It has been proven. The small ball lineup works and it's going to work every single game and the Rockets are now going to win the NBA championship. I just saw Woj's tweet out.

I mean, it's hard to believe. It's crazy, but Woj just tweeted out that every team in the NBA just cut all their centers. Yeah, they did. And every team in the NBA now is going to play small ball the rest of the season.

That is amazing. Yeah, I'm not even mad. I'm impressed. Very good stuff from Woj there. Barkley would still hate it. Yeah, that's true. I mean, as I mentioned earlier, does he not realize he's six foot four and played power forward?

Come on. Okay, but also other NBA news. Yes. Brian. Yes. Brought this up. Kevin Durant apparently went on a podcast. And I mean, I know a lot of people have feelings,

certain feelings about Kevin Durant for whatever reason, for a number of reasons, for the burner accounts, for how sensitive he is. and, of course, for losing to a team that he had a 3-1 lead on, joining them and winning a couple of championships, and also being the best team on those, a player on those teams. But where are you on Kevin Durant? I think he's interesting because there's not a lot of people like him. I agree with that. That is a fact.

Like, there's not, he's so sensitive and reserved, and he's talked about how he's, he's, he's the most unique person in the NBA. He's introverted and he just wants, I don't know, Kyrie might challenge him for that. And they're on the same team together. I'm going to give me my honest opinion on Kyrie. Yeah. I don't like, like, I'm tired. I'm so tired of Kyrie. The faux intellectualism.

I don't want Kyrie to ever talk. Don't know flatter stuff that you had to apologize for because you look like an idiot. Don't say you're going to be a leader and not be a leader. Don't say you're going to resign with Boston and not resigning Boston. Don't go to the Nets and choose the Nets and then call out your, you know, an organization and roster before the 50 game mark. I don't, Kyrie Irving could retire tomorrow

and the NBA would be just fine. Durant, I respect Durant. He's a hell of a player. He's one of the best players in the modern era. He's also like some coaches, I know,

his own worst enemy. If Kevin DeRant was just the ultimate badass, and that's not even staying in Oklahoma City or going to Golden State, if he was just like a badass, he would be the biggest badass in major American pro sports. No one in baseball can come close to touching him.

Patrick Mahomes is actually kind of a nice guy. So, you know, he would be like, hey, what's up? What's up, Kevin Durant? How's it going? Kevin Durant, you cannot defend him. He's an assassin. He's the sniper. He was in a small market.

He's won two titles. And he's still got burner accounts. Yeah, apparently. So like, like, dude, just be a badass. What is this from? Nick, the, I believe it's called the All the Smoke. podcast. This is like the Matt Barnes thing. I heard this on the jump. Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, I think. We were supposed to have Matt Barnes on during Super Bowl

week, but he had to go. They're getting all the big stars. He had to travel to Kobe Memorial, so Matt Barnes could enjoy it. But we did get Stephen Jackson on, who said the Rockets don't play any defense, and I can't remember what else he said. That Mike D'Antony will never win a championship. He must be talking to Barclay. But anyways, I think it's called the All the Smoke podcast. Here's Kevin Durant talking about how he's still going to do his burner thing. You think back in the day, free social media, whatever they put out is the truth. And we've never had a platform.

You know what I mean? So that's why I love it when you're out here. I didn't like to use a burner phone. I would have said, I'm Kevin Durant. I'm going to cuss you out. You talk to shit. I'm going to talk some shit. I'm going to speak my mind.

I'm still going to do the burner thing. I'm saying if I'm you, like, you know, if you come from me, I'm coming back. Certain people, I'm going to come back on my regular account. But if I'm going to try to do my thing. Hey, look out. Yeah, yeah. I got the burn. It's still out there.

It's lurking. I just slipped up that one time. You know why I slipped up. Wow. So Kevin Durant's actually amazing. He's like, you know what? No, screw you all. I'm still going to be on my burners.

But that defeats. And I know he knows this. But that defeats the point of having a burner account if you're admitting to people that you're, and that is Kevin Durant. You're just got to find the, find some. count that is defending Kevin Durant at every single turn. And we'll know it's him. Oh, my gosh.

That's good. That's funny. I don't know. I just, I like that he is vulnerable. I like that he's sensitive. I like that he's different from other guys and he's talked about how he seems to be pretty real. He said, you know what?

Like, I don't want to answer questions to me. I want to just play basketball. So he has this, this insatiable. passion for basketball and playing basketball, and it's been an avenue for greatness. Which is what he does for his career. And he's made millions of dollars. But all the other stuff he's not interested in. That's why he loved living in Oklahoma City and, and like he doesn't want to go and do

interviews and talk to people. We want to play basketball. And he wants, then he wants to just go home and get on his burner accounts. The downside, though, and this is the other side of Kevin Durant. He chose to go to Brooklyn and be Kyrie Irving's teammate. and I mean that that whole thing just looks weird right now. And he's using burner account. I just, dude, he's got a lot of free time.

Do something else. He's rehabbing from an Achilles injury, at least probably early on. He's not going to be even able to walk very much. I mean this very seriously. Kevin Durant is, and they all are like the big stars, he is so wealthy, Ross. Yes. He could pay a legion of 10 interns to just run his burner accounts 24-7 and just snipe, you know, bleep, bleepers.

Just viciously attack these people. Go ahead. Dude, hey, sign me up. And here's the thing. They don't have the password to his real account, so they can't sign into his rear one and screw it up. But then I like Kevin Durant, because he admitted on there that he screwed up the one time. That's what it all came out. Put me in,

coach. I want to be in Kevin Durant's Burner Army. Just going after people who, for whatever reason, hate on Kevin Durant on social media. You could hire someone from Apple and they can write an algorithm them for you. Yeah.

Oh, no, don't do that. No, I can't code. I'm not going to do that one. It's not about you, we're also about Kevin Durant. No, it is about me.

I'm trying to make some money off Kevin Durant. And they could just, like, it would be a bot. They would incessantly tweet replies to people who hate on Durant, and he doesn't have to be associated with it. He can pay him off through a fourth party.

He would be fine, but no, he has to be in the middle of it. He's signed into like 10 Twitter accounts at once. I like that. He's on the front lines, Brian, he's not going to hide behind some internet. Actually,

If we're really being honest, Kevin Duran has a lot of common with Adam Clanton. And I actually, now I wonder, I wonder if, if Adam Clanton is, like, secretly running Kevin Duran's burner.

We know, we know Adam doesn't have burners because he just goes straight after people on at Adam Clinton, which is why you love him. And then I get disappointed, see, and I, obviously,

I'm joking here because Clanton and I go way back and where everything's great. But I get disappointed in the Clanton sometimes. Because he makes up with people. Don't go all hard. Especially when he meets him in person. Yeah, don't go all hard. Yeah, I saw that tweet during the Super Bowl week. I was like, what are you doing, bro?

I thought that was your life. If you have a life mortal sworn enemy, you can't make up with them. It was like that with him and a Ramona Shelburne and he had her on the show. Ramona and Karim Jackson and John Middilcock. You can't make up with these people. Mike Taylor back in the day. But you know what? and we're all joking here.

We're adults joking. We're having fun. Clanton watches wrestling. He believes in pro wrestling. Yeah, so he goes for the whole feel act. He does the heel thing. I get it. Yes.

I get it. But, you know, if you're going to go to war with somebody like that, just keep going for the throat. Don't make up at Super Bowl Radio Row. Come on, Clinton. Yeah. Clanton. Don't go soft.

And then there's going to be somebody who takes that and puts it on Twitter. We're all joking here. We're all friends. It's all in good fun. No, I'm not joking. Hey, Edwin. All right. Time for a quick break here.

Oh, they're showing the XFL on TV, and it kind of looks like Juco. Do they still have the stripper cheerleaders? That's my most important question. Are they going to keep the stripper cheerleaders like they had in the original XFL in, like, 2001? And Bob Stoops is a coach? Yes, he is. Oh, that's so sad. June Jones, Houston Roughneck coach.

June Jones is a great story, so good for June Jones. All right, we have to take quick break here. Final hour of the Matt Thomas show. We've been talking about all kinds of fun stuff. AJ Hinch and his interview coming up tonight. We played some excerpts with that. We can get some more of that into that. The Rockets and the small ball lineup, they didn't lose by 20.

They actually won against the Lakers. We'll also hear from Mike Dantonia. All that good stuff coming up. Next hour, the final out of the Matt Thomas show is next. Is the Matt Thomas show. And the Rockets, to me, this was a nail in their coffin. I think they were shedding salary. I really do.

I think they're saying, hey, we're stuck with James and Russ. Capella makes a lot of money. We're not going to win. Let's act like we're going to go all the way small. And now they're going to go out there with all them little munchies and get their damn brains beat in every night. Here's Westbrook crosses up. Kuzma again gets to the rim and lays it up and end.

34, 31, Houston. If you don't have length against the Lakers, against Milwaukee, you don't have a shot. You know, you're just wasting time. You're going to chew threes. Pressures hard. dribbles it to Covington. Now to House curls it down with the right hand. 54, 51, that's a 10th spot for Daniel House Jr.

Little guys going to wear down over time. This is what they're going to go against every night. They're going to get killed on the offensive boards. They're going to get killed on the boards. But Ernie, there's a cumulative effect that's going to take place at some point. And it's going to affect them on that three-point. shooting. Rockets 1-12, Lakers 11, finds Covington to the corner.

He doesn't take the three. Now does over, David. From Robert Covington. Goodness. You know, they'll just tell you that analytics doesn't work when the game slows down. You're going to have to get rebound. Gordon to Covington, another three on the way. It's got.

11, Houston, with 127 to go. Matt, a little Matt Thomas drop in there. We need to rewind that. What was that from Matt Thomas? Oh my goodness. I love that. It's, uh, here to this one.

Rockets 112, Lakers 111 finds Covington to the corner. He doesn't take the three. Now does over Davis. Heath's credible stuff. Oh, my. Goodness.

Are you? Are you? It doesn't even sound. Oh, like he's a coming to. Goodness. It doesn't even sound like he's part of the game. He's doing something else entirely.

Oh, my. From Robert Covington. Goodness. Final hour of the Matt Thomas show here on Sports Talk 7.90. My favorite part, whenever I'm driving around the great big city of Houston, and I'm done listening to whatever music I am for the second. I'm like, all right, let me check in on the radio. Let's see what they're talking about on sports radio.

And it's like once every couple months, and I'll randomly catch you guys, and you're playing the Matt Thomas Soundbank of all of his famous, famous, legendary slogans completely out of context and I mean, I and all of Houston just start cracking up

nonstop. It's the best stuff in the world. That needs to be added. In years, it's delicious. Swallowing a lot. This package can't be that big. You worry about the birth control later. You like it hard. She likes it soft. All right.

You're an idiot. Jameson! Jameson! There's nothing better than a cream pie. Jeez, Matt. If I didn't have anything else going on in the show, I would probably look at Red Tube. I'll go find a hooker that looks classy and class her up

and put her in a nice dress and take her out to dinner of very expensive meals. I urinated into myself. Oh, geez. See, the oh my goodness would fit perfectly in there. The problem is it says Robert Covington. I know. Ackerman screws it off.

That's the problem with these drops is you've got to find a clean one. But anyways, the Rockets with the win last night. So I played some of the audio just kind of jokingly in between, splicing in between the highlights. But if you'd listen to T&T, they lost by 80. First of all, they were down by 50 at the half, apparently, when it was tied 63 to 63. But before the game, calling them munchkins, there's not going to work and all this episode. And that's not, let's just be honest. It's 2020.

Yeah. I don't even know you could say munchkins anymore. I'm surprised. Charles Barkley can say what he wants. Charles Barkley can insult cart blanche. All the heavy women in San Antonio, I'm not saying there are any, but he can say that. He can attack female reporters. He can, he can say whatever the hell he wants, and he gets away with it all.

Yes, he can. And I like Chuck, ultimately. And I thought there would be at least a little bit of humble pie after the Rockets were able to win this one. Here's some of Charles Barkley after the Rockets defeated the Lakers. The best team in the Western Conference on their home floor by 10 with James Hart and only. scoring 14. What's going to happen is, Ernie, there's some nights they're going to make their threes and they're going to win. But over the long haul, first of all, what this also does, it puts Russ and James in a really awkward situation. They don't have to play lights out

every single night or one of them. Like, they can't have any bad games. Yeah, well, Harden, season low, FGA. No, but I'm saying, but Russ went crazy. But I'm saying, but I'm saying, one of those two are both going to have to play well every single night and can they sustain that for 82 games? Because they're going to have to, some teams like who are they going to put on the Joker?

Who are they going to put on Rudy Gobert? Like when they play against guys who like... They got DeAndreate and their next game out. He's going to have a field day. Him and Booker going to have a field day. So I think what's going to happen is, yeah, everybody's going to say, well, they won tonight.

I'm like, yeah, you think they're going to be to Lakers, to Clippers, to jazz, the nuggets in a seven-game series, absolutely not. That all may very well be true. Some of that's totally legit. They just went against the best big man. And now, I mean, Anthony Davis was good. Anthony Davis was great. And he scored 32 points and 13 rebounds and all that other stuff.

But they got to stop the rockets, too. That's the thing. Like, they played Javelle McGee and Dwight Howard off the court. And they were getting wide open look after wide. open look. So, I mean, it goes two ways. And then for him to say, oh, well, you know, if both Russell Westbrook and James Hardin have bad games, they're probably not going to win. Is that breaking news? Is that stout? No bleep, Sherlock. Yeah, well, you know, if Anthony Davis and LeBron James don't go off, then they're not going to win

games. Yeah, that's how the NBA works. If your star players don't play well, you're probably not going to win a whole lot of games. But you know what's funny about that? Hardin only shot three of ten, only had 14 points, and the rocket still won last night. And they won. Because, they shot 50. How come we're not talking about the Lakers defense? Lakers defense blew last night. One of the best defenses in the league. The Rockets won that game.

Two main reasons. Russell Westbrook was a wonderful maniac. 17 to 28 from the floor, six of eight on threes, 41 points in 37 minutes, and he attacked and he attacked and never let up. And by the end of the game, he was given that nasty.

Russell Westbrook's snarl that he gives, where it's like, come get some. And that's Westbrook at his best. And the rocket shot 50% from the field and 45% on threes. They hit their shots last night. And we have known this since Mike Dan Tony started coaching this team

and they went three point obsessed, Ross. When they hit their threes, they're the most dangerous and in many ways unguarable team in the NBA, especially when you factor in Hardin and his ability to draw foul. And he was a little off last night. But, you know,

what do you do with James Harden? When James Harden dropped in 50, you can't really defend them in the modern NBA. You can't get aggressive. He's going to get to the line. You know, on a good Harden night, he's shooting 18 free throws. They hit their shots. And when they hit their shots, they could be in the Western Conference finals. Now, are they going to have home court advantage? That was a big thing two years ago. I mean, like on some level, so much has happened with the Rockets. we've lost some of the main, I hate the term narrative in 2020, but some of the main conversation points. They need home court advantage, especially second round in the Western Commons finals. They cannot have Hardin and or Westbrook exhausted by the second or third round if they make it that far.

But last night, there was a nice glimmer of hope there. It was fun. James Hardin was bad, but we also should say, though. And he rightfully deferred a lot. Eric Gordon was good. And yes, he passed out of that. He was getting double. It was a combination of things.

He couldn't get a rhythm because he was getting double-teamed a ton by the Los Angeles Lakers. And he was doing a good job distributing. He led the team in assists. So, and it also helped out. Robert Coventing, four, seven, and three. Is he going to shoot over 50% from three for the season? Probably not. Eric Gordon, we literally saw the guy go out for 12.

House was good last night. House was more, you know, he only took a... We're getting more of good house the last month, I would say, though. only took eight shots, but he was more aggressive when he could have been, played good defense, 13 points in 28 minutes. If House can do that, and then you add, so it's almost like a twofer. You have Daniel House and you have Robert Cumberton, and then you throw in a little Austin Rivers.

Like Mecklamour actually disappeared a little last night. He was 16 minutes. He was only two of six, five points. But that combination, and like three or four guys, you're kind of getting two good guys, because you've already got Westbrook and you've already got hardened. That's one of the best two-fers in the NBA, if not the best when it comes to two backcourt guards. PJ Tucker, PJ Tucker took six shots last night. That's like four more than he normally takes anymore.

It was beautiful to see. PJ Tucker, everybody talking about, like he was trending when the trade was made for the rockets, he was trending last night and everybody putting a, like, stilts. Bleacher report putting a cartoon of Space Jam where Anthony A was just going to crush him. Didn't happen. The rockets were okay. I will say the meme aspect of this is funny. Oh, it's hilarious.

If people are making jokes and the stilt stuff, I think that's funny. That's what I'm saying. I actually think in this backward way, while the national idiots who actually can't analyze, like, I shouldn't mention the name because I don't want to give him any attention and he just made a lot of money for really doing nothing. And he doesn't really know that much about basketball. And probably hasn't been in an NBA locker room in 20 years or maybe his whole career actually having to work and report. But if you're going to sit there and pregame during the game just hate on what they're doing and ignore all the actual official stats that are staring you in front of the face, it doesn't say it's going to work for the next 31 games.

It doesn't say they can do it for four rounds in the playoffs. But it worked last night. And if you're just going to hate on that, to hate on that, that says so much more about you than it does on this Rockets team. So if everyone's going to hate on them, it's kind of fun. Like, you know what, go small ball. Do it. Embrace it.

Screw them all. Is it now? Now, have they taken the mantle? Who is the most hated basketball team in the last few years? Was it the May the Warriors? It was the Warriors. It was the Warriors. It was the Warriors.

That's what I'm getting at. It's the Rockets. It's taking the mantle now? Yeah. Who's the most hated Major League Baseball team? See, Astros. So I was on the elevator up here. You think, you think, you think you think.

You just give me a column idea. I was on the elevator up here. See, this is what I do. Yeah. I need a commission check. I don't make enough. I was on the elevator up here, and I was like, we now live in a city, because this was, I was thinking about rockets. I was like, we're going to talk rockets for three hours.

And we now live in the fourth-hearted city in the country, great city. And two of our pro sports teams, it's gone from like, oh, what a great time for Houston, and this is their Renaissance and the golden era. And da-da-da-da-da-da. Two or three sports teams are pretty much hated right now by the rest of the country. and the third team has Bill O'Brien as its coach. And they don't care. Nobody cares about the Texans. You can't hate them if they're not going to be successful.

What an interesting time to be alive. Absolutely. All right. We've got to take a break here on The Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas. That's Brian Smith. I'm Ross Villarreal. You can tweet us at Sports RV and at Cron Brian Smith. You can also call us 713-1-25-719.

A conversation when Mike Dan Tony is coming up here on the Matt Thomas show. Don't go anywhere. More Matt Thomas. Now. on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas Show continues here. Sports Talk 790. I saw him in concert twice, I think.

Who's that Beck? Yeah, like, way back in the day. Oh. Actually, I met someone nice. Beck has this little niche of diehards. Yeah. He's good. He's all right.

He's, you know, he's interesting, I think. He is. Hit or miss, but it always creative. Yeah, he's cool. I'll say creative and always, but not always, just hit or miss. Yeah, actually, like, my favorite, and I mean, I haven't listened to it in 10 years, but my favorite Beck record is not any of, like, the cool white hip hop stuff or whatever. It's C-Change, which is kind of a slower, more artsy chains? No, C-Change.

It's more of an artsy one, but the songwriting is really good. It wasn't the one that he wrote and then didn't produce and then just sent out for other people to make? No. Yeah, me neither. No. Anyways. Two seconds about Beck. conversation.

Who's better? Tim Beck, former Texas Longhorns offensive coordinator or Beck? Beck. Probably Beck. How about Jeff Beck? Jeff Beck probably better than all of them.

All right? 7-1-3-1-2-5-7-80. I bet Beck is more wealthy than all three, though. That's a fact. Yeah. I would say that's a fact. We're talking a little bit about the Rockets in the last second.

Oh, look what they're talking about on TV. Is the Rocket Small Ball Strategy working? Well, let's hear Kendrick- Is it working? It just started. Yeah. Well, yeah, they've been doing it for a little bit. They've been doing it without,

I want to say they're like 11 and 1 when he when Clint Capella doesn't play. I'm a little so that's I'm a little skeptical of that stat like they he's missed a lot of games with right? Well but they just traded him. It's not like they fully commit I mean he was he was injured.

They lost to Portland they beat Dallas. They did not look good and Luca Donchich wasn't playing the New Orleans win was nice but it's not like New Orleans is a great team and they beat a really bad Charlotte team. So I mean again like let's slow. Don't hate on Bilely, Herman Gomez like that. The hornets suck. So let's slow the roll. Terry Rose. I'm like they've won four straight or, you know, like they're 11-1 without

Capella. Like, let's see them beat Utah and Boston. Boston. You know, let's see them get some consistent, strong wins against team with Biggs. And then I'll buy in a little more. I can't believe you take shots at Miles Bridges like that. All right. 7-1-3-2-5-7-90. Fred and Alvin. Let's talk some rockets. What's up, Fred? I'm thoroughly enjoying you guys, man. Thank you. It's very nice. Happy Friday to you.

Thank you, sir. Happy Friday. I'm sorry, I don't know who you guys are. You know, it's usually Matt Thomas. Hi, my name is Ross, and I've been co-hosting with Matt basically for the last 10 years. Okay, my bad. He's a regular listener. And this is Brian, who's filled in a number of times.

I was literally just pulled off the street. I'm a mess right now. Okay, okay. Last week, this is a little off the subject. Are you, Ross, were you one of the guys doing? one in the 80s thing, the worst band? Yes, yes, worst number one songs of the 80s. I love that. Thank you. That's

Ross's special. We'll be doing Fantasy 5. We're going to be not doing either 90s or 70s pretty soon up here. We usually do it on Friday, so that's coming up, Fred. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, I just love that stuff. But anyway, look, I was wildly surprised last night

when the Rockets won. I'm probably in the Charles Barkley class. And I'll just say this. You know, I think the Rockets are fun. They're a great type of conversation during the season, you know, for a city of $7 million. But when it comes to expectations, except for the year they had Golden State on the ropes. And then I think Paul got hurt. You know, I don't expect any kind of deep run in the playoffs, particularly this year.

You know, and I, so, I mean, it's just, it just, you know. is what it is. I'm not trying to hate on them. I've just learned not to expect too much once the regular season is. That's all. All right, Fred. Yeah. Thanks for the call. Thanks for listening. I appreciate it. I mean, look, it's all about

your perspective. If that's the way you want to look at it is that, you know what? The Rockets aren't going to win the championship, then what's the point? And I'm tuning out. You're very well entitled to that opinion. My opinion is they're playing fun basketball. They're getting up a lot of threes. Russell Westbrook's playing out of his mind. He's playing very well.

Harden is hitting step-back threes and getting to the basket. At least he wasn't last night, but he is going to be Robert Covington, I think, is an interesting piece. And the Rockets are going to spread the floor and they're going to shoot teams out of the gym. And last night I thought was one of the more active nights that I've seen from them as far as defense. Ball movement was fantastic and they were moving on defense. I was going to say that about defense. And I wish normally we get two segments with Mike Dantone.

We just didn't have time for that today. I wanted to ask him about that because it seemed, I don't know if it's just me in my head. or if there's something to it, I wanted to ask him, it just seemed like when Clint Capella is not there as the anchor of the defense, everybody was more engaged. Everybody was more aware that we have to be moving and we have to be switching and we have to be watching. Yeah, they didn't want to get run over. You can't just sit there and ball watch and all that type of stuff.

It felt like the engagement on the defense was better. Now, the Lakers shot pretty well overall from the floor, didn't shoot so well from three. So they were still getting their buckets. but I just felt like it seemed like more engagement on the defensive side from all five. There totally was, again, how long can that last? I mean, you're going to have to play more defense. You're playing against bigs.

You're going to get worn down more. All those things. But the only evidence we have right now, post-Chapella, is last night. If they can play anything close to that consistently, they will be a better team at least in the 82-game season. and I expected them to get out of the first round this year. Can they get out of the second round? We'll see.

Could they make a run? I don't know. I doubt it. But they're making it fun. They're making it fun. And they felt at least Mike Dantonie did. We'll have a little bit more of the conversation actually coming up in the next segment. Here's just a couple of seconds for Mike Dantone saying the way it was before just wasn't working.

But this is the best way that we can plot. And if we have a chance to win a championship, this will be. it. This way, it was sprinkled bigs in, but the other way it wasn't cutting. The other way wasn't cutting. That's strong. Says Mike Dan Tony. We'll have some more of that

conversation coming up next here on a Sports Talk 790. 7-13-21-2-5-790 if you want to get in. 7-13-1-2-125-7-90. Rockets head coach Mike Dantony coming up here on the Matt Thomas Show. Houston's Sports Talk for lunch. Matt Thomas returns.

Talk 790. Get up. Friday edition of the Mad Thomas show rolls along here on a sports talk 790. Ross via real. Brian Smith here with you. You can find him on Twitter at Cron Brian Smith. Also make sure you go to Houston Chronicle.com. You can find me on Twitter at Sports RV and of course at ProNiclo with us as well.

and on the phone lines at 713 2.125 a 790 7197-1-3-2-1-2-5-790 so a lot made of this small ball and the way the rockets are playing and all that type of stuff. Did you see the tweets from Bill Simmons last night? O'Brien. Oh, I was referring to him earlier. Oh, okay. You did? I already talked about it.

Oh, you said when you didn't want to name names. Does he write anymore? I'm joking. Does he write anymore? I would never do that. I'm joking. Uh, no. I always thought he was a really good writer.

I don't think he's that good on TV and podcast. But just like I read his book, Book of Basketball. It's like 700 pages. It's an amazing book. But especially if you want to know about the history of basketball, I highly recommend it. But apparently he was not happy with the Rockets. Here's a couple of his tweets from last night. Congrats for the Rockets.

I didn't think it was possible for me to hate watching them even more than I already did, but they pulled it off. On offense, we'll have four guys standing around watching the fifth guy dribble for 20 seconds. defense will give up all semblance of rebounding and shot blocking. We've got this. And then around, let's see, he didn't delete that, did he? No, he, then around 1017, so somewhere around the second quarter, he said, I'm out, I can't watch this, and they wonder why NBA ratings are down. Who won the game?

That'd be the Houston Rockets. And by the way, I did a little research because I was like, the Rockets are number two in the entire NBA place. You're a gene. I mean, you're a self-prescribed, internet, you know. Basketball guy.

He wrote the book of basketball. Well, I mean, don't even get me started. What do I say? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything else. But, you know, you are. You,

you've advertised yourself. You know, thousands of people across the country bought into it, ESPN gave you a platform. Da-da-da. You're going to say all that. And Russell Westbrook is going to drop

a very authentic, old school but modern in your face snarling full of swagger endless attacking 41 at Staples Center be better than Anthony Davis and LeBron James on their court he's going to do that and you're going to not even just ignore it all

it's it's too crappy for you it's beneath you and so you're going to tweet about turning the game off because you think that what you say matters to the rest of sports America. But you know what? Spotify was dumb enough to buy his, you know,

thing. The ringer. Another thing filled with podcasts that, you know, it's 2020, man. There's a lot of crap out there. And also, the notion that the rockets just stand around and dribble for a wild guy dribbles for 20 seconds, I looked it up.

They are fourth in the NBA as far as teams who get off their shots before seven seconds left. They are first in teams that have what they call early shot clock, 18 to 15 seconds, third in the NBA, and very early shot clock, 22 to 18 seconds. So they get their, they get their shots off earlier than just about anybody in the NBA. I'm consistently analytical, critical, whatever. I report on the rockets. I cover the rockets. I tell you what I think. The rockets are fascinating. Is this going to work? Probably not. We talked about this before. Was their best shot to win the finals with Mike Danton and James Harden, potentially, potentially with Chris Paul and the hamstring and game seven.

And, you know, when we look back, yeah, that minded of being it. But to sit there and not him, anyone out there and just bleep all over what they do, it's just, it's, I mean, cue the presidential soundbite. It's just, it's sad to me because in a lot of ways, the haters for this team, ignore all of the facts. They actually ignore the statistics. I think it's a disgrace. Thank you.

They ignore the facts. All these analytics that they supposedly, these people supposedly subscribe to, they conveniently ignore very often when it comes to the rockets. I will say, I'll factually point out, entering that game, Ross, they were 22nd in the NBA and 3-point percentage. That is an issue.

James Harden being exhausted by the end of the seasons, leading the league in minutes, playing too much. Those are all very relevant issues. if you want to discuss that, but just sit there and blindly and very, in a very biased way, hate on this team and say, I can't watch this anymore. When Westbrook is just running all over the Lakers inside Staples centers, I don't know what you want. And frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn. All right. Well, we said we were going to play a little bit of the Mike Dan Tony conversation.

You can find it in full at Sports Talk 790.com on the podcast page. Here's a little bit of Rockets head coach Mike Dan Tony after they took out. the Lakers in Staples Center last night on T&T. Well, yeah, I mean, that's the whole thing. And people overlook the fact that we have really good, small guys that can guard the post. You know, we're two or three inches shorter, but you put the strength of James or PJ or Eric Gordon, the length of Robert Covington, and we can guard the post. And actually, the post is probably the worst percentage shot in the NBA.

So even if they score a few, so so be it. But, you know, our whole key is coming down. Can we get back defensively in transition? Can we box out and not get killed on the boards? And if that happens, they're not going to us. I mean, you got Russell and James, but they start to double 10. They can't do that. They go, you know, leave James alone or leave Russell alone.

I've got 41 last night. So now we're going to have to double him too. So we call us a lot of problems. And what do you think about the, I mean, there's some confusion to me between height and length. Like how much does that matter? Because PJ Tucker's 6'5, but he's got a 7 foot wingspan. And Robert Covington, 6.7 or whatever he is, he's got a 7 foot 2 wingspan.

James Hardin's got a 611 wingspan. So you guys still have some length, even though the height may not necessarily be there. Yeah, that's why. I mean, people just look at the surface on it. And, you know, again, I go back, like last night, if we started Tyson Channel 5 feet, we just played him for 5 minutes, this wouldn't even be a story. they played, they went big, and, you know, they wouldn't have that graphic up there

show. Everybody's small, the starters, first time in 50 years, you know, but if we had played big for five, six minutes, they go, oh, it's normal. You know, so they don't really dive in the numbers and really look at the game. They just kind of a surface run, and it's a good narrative, and everybody jumps on board. And, you know, and it's not saying that we might, they might not go against certain times, but this is the best way that we can play. And if we have a chance to win the championship, this will be it. This way, it would sprinkle bigs in. But the other way, it wasn't going, it wasn't cutting it.

Mike, how's it going, Brian Smith? Hey, Brian. How you doing? Good. Did you have an espresso this morning? How's the morning going? Well, I've had two expresses. I've got to stay up through the meat without being here in a few minutes with the guys. Then I've got to take a nap. It's two nights in a row that I've, you know, a little change of time.

and last night was a long night. So we're getting there. Last night was fun to watch. Let me ask you this. You've done small ball. I mean, this, in a lot of ways, this isn't new. You guys have done it at time since you've been the coach. You go back to Don Nelson.

You know, you mentioned the Warriors and their death line up on and on. But this had to have been a conversation that you and Daryl and your coaching staff have had, even before Capella was injured. What was the thought process going? from all of that to this? How did you connect those two things and then all of a sudden hit the full acceleration? Well, I mean, sometimes it's luck. And in the sense that when we want two guys out in Utah, it's nothing to lose.

I let's try it. And then I could see it with my eyes. Before that, you're a little afraid to do it. We needed an extra perimeter for sure. And it's like, I don't want to try it, and then it doesn't work because we don't have to have that extra perimeter and then everybody, you know, we'll jump on, you know, we'll go off the bandwagon and say, I told you it would work. So you have to pick the right moment, get the guys in, have them believe that it. It's off the other way that this ain't, this is not it, and then

tried and convince the players just going to work. You know, I think they were a little skeptical. That's the biggest takeaway from last night's game is that before at our meeting at noon, I think they're a little skeptical. By the time the game is over, and we're in the locker room after the game, total believers. And so now we have a real chance, and everybody's got to stay on that, you know, mindset that, yeah,

we can get it done. If we don't get it done, it's because we're not playing well enough or hard enough. How, when it comes to Westbrook and Harden particularly, I mean, they, you know, they can both rebound, they can both score, they can drive, they can hit threes, they can dish out, they can do everything. But does this require,

them to do even more? I mean, do you have to balance them not being exhausted by game 82 or the first round of the playoffs? Or have they already been doing so much? Their roles don't change. I don't think it changes that much. I think it actually will be easier on them. Last night, the minutes came down for everybody. Russell's minutes were up a little bit last night because he wasn't going to play tonight and he had a role. But we would like to keep everybody's minutes down and this gives us an opportunity to do that. Plus, if we really play it well, we should get some blowouts and that can help them. And to me, it's just an easy way to play.

Now, they do have to fight the Biggs a little bit, and that could be a little exhausting. But the other alternative is run around screens and get hit and all that. So to me, it's easier. But, you know, I'm not the one that has to do it. So, you know, I'm not thinking it's easy for me to say. But I think at the end of the day, they're going to be. fresher this year than last year's that's an important point there from mike dantonie will they be fresher i think that matters and p j tucker only 31 minutes last night rockets playing nine in their

rotation of quite frankly a high number for mike dantonie in his houston rocket's career as head coach all right time for a quick break here on the matt thomas show final segment is next you want to get on the phones uh we see a couple you on hold we'll get to you next seven one three two one two five seven ninety matt thomas show rolls along here on sports talk seven 90 after this a break. Matt Thomas continues on Sports Talk 790. Matt Thomas show without Matt Thomas enters its final segment here on Sports Talk 790.

Ross via Real. Brian Smith, Nick Lowe with you folks talking mostly, I would say the predominant topic of the day. It had been the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers. Also talked a little bit about A.J. Hinch and the interview. bombshell interview tonight on MLB Network. Okay, maybe not. I don't know.

We'll see. A couple of the experts, excerpts that we got, didn't seem to be too telling. Didn't seem to be like AJ Hinch was going to be very forthcoming, but it'll be interesting to watch tonight on MLB Network to see what he comes out and says, and we have a phone caller, one Howard in Memorial. First time, long time, I think.

wants to talk about the Astros scandal. What's up, Howard? How are you? First of all, and it's maybe I'm from New York originally, but it was very hard for me to believe that starting from Crane on down and the media people connected to the Astros that they didn't know what was going on. And basically cheating in all its forms from binoculars to high-tech. binoculars has been going on since George Washington threw out the first ball.

Second of all, if I were Mr. Crane, I would have hired the best private detective agency with sports in the country. And I would got the dirt from the commissioner, every owner, every GM, and every owner. And I would have said to the commissioner, okay, if you want to play hardball, I'm going to release all the dirt I've collected. So if you were Jim Crane, you would hire an investigator to investigate other owners of Major League Baseball's teams and use that to leverage not getting punished for this. How would that work?

The season was over. Because whenever they, look, maybe I'm too much from Machiavelli. But if you are squeezing their pocketbook, as Lyndon Baines once said, hearts and minds are soon to follow. And if you were threatening this whole structure, which we know has dirty feet

all the way up and down, then they would have come to some agreement. Howard, Howard, did you hear of the Mitchell report and the steroid era? That was infinitely worse than anything the Astros did. Half the

league apparently, you know, was juicing and Major League Baseball survived just fine and is making record revenues? You want Jim Crane to take down Major League Baseball? Not necessarily, but threatened to release dirt if they came down. It's probably called blackmail. Exactly. Well, professional blackmail, which I'm sure has been done before, if they come down

too hard on the Astros, then he is going to leverage what he has to get a light of Well, you know what? You should stop by Union Station. Here's the go. It's Friday. It's a really nice day and early February. Spring train's about the start. But I'm going to be honest. Stop by Union Station on Monday. Request an interview with Crane. Let him know what you think. See how it goes. That would be silly. Oh, that would be silly. Because it would not accomplish anything. He decided not to go. And I feel sorry for Hinch and for the GM. They were the four guys. guy for what was... That is a possibility. I agree. That is a possibility. Which was going up and down the chain of command. Are you going to tell me the ballplayers didn't know about it or that they weren't... No one has said the ballplayers don't have it

haven't known about it. Here's the thing. I want to get back to you. You said the, obviously we work in the media. The Astros TV people or all of the media around the Astros? I think certainly, I believe... Let me tell you a very quick story. years ago, I was the social chairman for a hospital. And every month we had a dinner, and I would invite the writers from the Chronicle, particularly, that I had read and they were paid well for giving their talk. And as I was working one to the car, he's not there anymore. I said to him, of what you know, what percentage do you write?

He looked at me, he said 10%. So I have to- Howard, I've said that many times, and I actually just, joke about it on the radio all the time. I can say many more things on radio. I can guarantee you for a 100% fact that nobody specifically had any idea of what. Major League Baseball didn't know, Howard. It took immunity and the largest investigation in baseball history, and they still can't pinpoint what was done specifically when and how it affected games. Okay, I guess the fact that the TV and radio people did not know what was going on through their contacts within the team and the front office, I guess I find it a little hard to believe.

Okay, let me ask you guys how. Obviously, it's always great to have you on the show, and it really sends us off great going into the weekend. What's more irresponsible to put it out there that you, so you have, you actually have zero proof. You don't work with the Astros. You don't work in the league baseball. You've never done investigations. You don't deal with the media. You have zero proof. You're calling into radio station.

What's me irresponsible to accuse other people that you've never met, never spoken with, to accuse them and saying that they're covering things up, meaning TV people, radio people, people employed by the Astros. You're accusing them. You're saying there's, well, I find that hard to believe, or to actually be in the middle of it and to do wrong. You have, you have no proof. That's worse than anything else

you've said this far. You're accusing people that you've never met, you have no idea what went on, and you're saying there's no way they didn't know. They should have known. Okay, Howard, thanks a lot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. That was how, I'm sorry, that was his worst call he's ever had before. Really?

Yeah. It's a long list. He wants Jim Crane to blackmail Major League Baseball. He's convinced that Jim Crane should have hired private investigators to go head to head with Rob Manfred. And he says that everyone in TV radio who works around the Astros knew. Not, not he thinks they knew. They knew. And how come, you know, they didn't hold the Astros accountable to speak out.

That was, I've heard like 30. Hauer calls. And I'm in way too good of a mood. It's a beautiful day. I'm going to have a great weekend. The Rockets won with Smallball at Staples Center. I don't have time for that bleep right now. That was quite the doozy.

And you know what? On that note, Brian, thanks for showing us. This was a great show. Thanks for being here. It flew by. It's always an honor to fill in on the Matt Thomas. Fill in the shoes of the great,

the great Matt Thomas. None of this happens about Matt Thomas. And by the way, go to Houston Chronicle. Houston Chronicle.com. It's left to pitch. And Ross, it's always a lot of fun of you. Thanks to Nick. He does a great job. 98% good callers today. A lot of, and we talked Rockets

for almost three hours, and I'm proud of that. That doesn't happen anywhere else in this city on the radio. It's nice to do that. Thanks to Brian. Thanks to Nick Lowe. Thanks to all of you for listening. Coming up next, you've got the A-team, Adam Clanton, Adam Wexler, here on Sports Talk 790. So don't

go anywhere. Goodness. I urinated to myself.