Last-minute Changes, Reports, and News, Ahead of Rockets vs Suns

Last Wednesday, Houston had Minnesota right where they wanted them. They were up 84-82 after the third quarter, at home. It was a fight all night, 26 lead changes, and Houston never led by more than 5. Then, Minnesota won the fourth quarter 35-23. The Rockets turned it over 22 times, and the Wolves scored 33 points off those turnovers. It was the Rockets' first home loss of the season, and tonight they go against Phoenix, who is 2-5, and are finding every single way possible this year to lose a basketball game. Except for one, and it is the exact thing that just beat Houston. Opponents are averaging 18 turnovers a game against the Phoenix Suns this season. On Thursday, Orlando gave it away 25 times, and Phoenix won by 13. Quickly, before we keep going here, we're going we are at 8,950 subscribers on the channel, and our goal is to hit 9,000 by the end of the week, to have a so if you haven't already, please make sure you are subscribed, it would greatly help out the channel. little bit Houston is coughing the ball up about 16 times a game this season. And it's hit 22 twice already in 9 games. of a break. By this rate, the Rockets are only around 20th in the league at holding onto the ball. Everywhere else, this Suns team is in some serious trouble. They opened the season with an embarrassing 41-point loss in Portland. On Wednesday, Portland beat them again, 132-119, this time in Phoenix. They're giving up 121 points a game. Houston, on the other end of that, is outscoring teams by 10.3 points a game. Before Wednesday, the Rockets beat OKC by 21, and Boston by 16 in the same week. Houston is the better team by a wide margin. The only way that we lose this game tonight is if we hand it to them. The schedule also helps too. Houston has had two days off, and Phoenix played Wednesday and Thursday back-to-back. It's also Houston's only road game in a run of 7, with Denver, Golden State, and Utah all coming to Houston next week. Rest, schedule, health, everything seems to be edging towards Houston's way tonight. Except for one thing, and that's the turnovers. Houston's going into this one still a little bit short on big men. Clint Capella is still out with that right ankle sprain, and Steven Adams remains out with a right calf strain. Still no timeline for both their returns. Ime Udoka said that Adams is on a week-to-week basis, so this isn't going to be a quick recovery. That leaves Alperen Sengun with almost nobody behind him. Oscar Tshiebwe played 2 minutes on Wednesday. Sengun played 39. Rudy Gobert made it a long night for him too. Sengun shot 5 of 15 from the field. He's still finished with 12 rebounds and 10 assists though. And he is having a monster year, averaging 22.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 8.1 assists. And on the NBA MVP power ranking, Sengun ranked 6th place. And without Mark Williams, Phoenix has got nobody to guard him all night. Because the Suns are pretty banged up in the middle as well. Mark Williams remains out after shoulder surgery. Jordan Goodwin is doubtful with a calf injury and Rasheed Fleming is questionable with an ankle. Some bad news for the Rockets though is that Devin Booker and Jalen Green are both off the injury report. The Suns' young center Kaman Malawach, the number 10 pick in 2025, a pick Phoenix got from Houston in the Kevin Durant trade. He's playing about 20 minutes a game with 7.3 points and 6 rebounds. So that means tonight, Houston is going against the whole bill for Kevin Durant. Durant is also averaging 20.8 points a game this year on a very low 12.4 shot attempts per game. He has cooled off a little from 23.5 points a game in his first four to just 18.6 in their last five. NBA stats posted this week having him making 63.6% of his mid-range shots, the best mark in the league among players with 20 or more attempts. It's an early sample, but with Amin Thompson on the floor, Durant's true shooting is 69.9, and without him, is 53.2. Tonight is Durant's second game in Phoenix since the trade, and in the first one in April, he scored 24 points in a Rockets dub. Devin Booker scored 31 in that game, and Phoenix still lost by 14. Green has made 32 of his 79 shots this season. From 3, he's 6 of 27. On Thursday against Orlando, he scored 6 points in just 24 minutes. According to Rockets beat coverage tonight, it's only the second time Houston has faced Green since the trade. Dylan Brooks has been the better half of that return for Phoenix, though, at 17.6 points a game. Miles Bridges is right there with him at 17.4 points a game with 7.5 rebounds. But of course, the guy that Houston's going to have to worry about tonight is Devin Booker. This season, Booker is averaging 25.4 points a game, and he's coming off 33 against Portland and 30 against Orlando on back-to-back nights. He also dropped 43 points in one of the Suns' two wins against Golden State. In a column quoted this week, Howard Beck wrote that Booker just seems like a guy whose talent is being wasted. Beck also wrote that every rival executive is monitoring the Sun's struggles, and Valley of the Suns says big changes are surely on the horizon. A player this good on a team that's this frustrating is exactly who you don't want to catch on a bad night. If Booker lights up the scoring, but his roster doesn't help him out, then Houston should be fine. The only problem is if Miles Bridges and Dylan Brooks help out Booker as well. So what am I watching for? Well, there's three things that are going to end up deciding this one. First up is the ball. If Houston can stay under their 16 turnover average, the Suns will lose the only thing they do well. On Wednesday, down 5 inside of the last 2.5 minutes, Fred VanVleet lost the ball twice and Minnesota hit a 3 right after the second one. Secondly is the glass, and this is where Houston should absolutely feast. The Rockets are out-rebounding teams by 4 a game, and Phoenix is getting out-rebounded by 8. Minnesota grabbed 15 offensive rebounds on Wednesday, and Gobert had 6 of them. So without Capela and without Adams, that job falls on Sengun, Amin Thompson, and Tari Eason. If Houston can dominate on the glass tonight, I just don't see how Phoenix can keep up. Third is the fourth quarter, because Phoenix's defense has held teams to about 40% shooting from the field in the fourth quarter this season. And that is exactly where Houston fell apart on Wednesday, and the matchup I want to see is Amin Thompson on Devin Booker. One more name, Jabari Smith Jr. He's made 27 of his 55 threes all season. He is lighting it up. Everyone's been asking for him to take more shots this year, and a defense like the Suns is the perfect game to do it. He's shooting 49% on about six attempts a game. Reed Sheppard is also worth a look too. He scored 14 in 21 minutes on Wednesday and was the only Rocket in the rotation who finished in the plus. Phoenix is letting opponents shoot 39% from three as well. Houston is going into this game as six and a half point favorites, and ESPN's predictor gives them a 69% chance to win. The Rockets also did go 4-0 against Phoenix last season. The closest of those four was a three point game in January, and the other three were all by 14 or more. So what do I think this game is going to go like? Well, of course, I'm saying that the Rockets win this one, and I don't think this game will be even close before crunch time. Why? Well, the Suns are already giving up 121 points a game this year, and Houston is scoring 118. Of course, Kevin Durant is going to be one of the players to watch. He scored 24 the last time he played Phoenix, and I know he is hungry for revenge. I'm also hoping for a Sengun bounce-back game. He doesn't gotta go against Rudy Gobert tonight, and Cam Whitmore is definitely easy pickings for him. The worry is of course Devin Booker. He has 63 points in his last two games, and Houston has almost no backup center to throw at problems. Turnovers are gonna tell the story in this one. If the Rockets can actually keep the ball and keep it under 16, then this one's over. Also let me know down in the comments who you guys think is gonna lead the Rockets in scoring tonight. Kevin Durant or Alperen Sengun? Tip-off is 9 o'clock Eastern, so enjoy the game.