The Rockets Have Found Their Next SUPERSTAR

With 10 minutes and 10 seconds left on Wednesday night, a 9-point Rockets lead over Golden State was cut down to 3. Georges Niang and DeAnthony Melton had just hit back-to-back 3s, and the Warriors had walked into Houston on an 8-game win streak. Houston was a guard short, too. Marcus Smart got ejected at the end of the third quarter for a flagrant 2 on Chris Bassey. Kevin Durant was sitting. And the shots were about to go to a bench guard who has made only 18 of his 57 threes all season. That, of course, was Reed Shepard. In two minutes and 16 seconds, Shepard hit three threes and a three-point game was an 18-point lead by the three-minute and 32-second mark. The Rockets are now 9-3, and this game helps settle a question that every good team needs to know before spring. When the game gets close, Who is taking the shots? And this past Wednesday, it wasn't Kevin Durant. And I think this game tells you a lot about what the Rockets can be. Shepard checked in for Durant to start the fourth quarter, and Jabari Smith Jr. opened up the quarter with a three for the Rockets to go up nine. Then came the Niang and Melton threes and Ime Udoka called a timeout with the lead only at three points. Out of the timeout, Alperen Sengun threw a lob to Amen Thompson and it was 90-85. The next two trips went to Shepard, both off Sengun passes, a 28-footer at 9-15 and then a 27-footer 32 seconds later. That made it 96-85 and Steve Kerr needed a timeout. Golden State came out swinging. Will Richardson scored, then Pajemski hit a three and drew a foul on a four-point play. It was back to a five-point game, and 11 seconds later, Fred VanVleet found Shepard 26 feet out, 99-91. And then on the very next trip, VanVleet hit one himself. From 88-85, the Rockets outscored Golden State 23-8, and it was 111-93 with 3 minutes and 32 seconds left. Shepard scored 9 of his 13 points in the whole game in just those 2 minutes, and every single one of them was from deep. He missed both of his threes before the fourth quarter, and one of them got blocked. A lot of young shooters would just straight up stop shooting after a start like that, but Shepard kept letting it fly, and Udoka kept him out there. That's what I liked most about Shepard's performance this one. He started off slow, but he didn't settle and wait for the game to come to him. KD didn't check back in until 5 minutes and 22 seconds were left on the clock, so the Rockets closed out the Warriors' run with their best score off the bench. This also isn't the first time that Shepard's cooked up the Warriors. Last season, he scored 31 points against them in November. In March, he put up 30 more on them, with six threes. Now, look at who gave him the ball on those three shots. Sengun twice, and then VanVleet the other time. So, Shepard had some real help on those shots. And I think that help was the real story of this game. But real quick before we continue, let me know, who actually was the one that helped close this game for the Rockets, Reed Shepard or Fred VanVleet? Put it in the comments down below. All five Rocket starters scored in double figures, and together they had 90 of the 115 points. They also handed out 24 of the team's 26 assists, so almost every basket ran through the starters. Let's start with Sengun, who was one assist away from a triple-double. 19 points. 13 rebounds and 9 assists. That's pretty close to his normal night. He's averaging 21 points and almost 8 assists a game this year. Definitely one of the best centers in the entire NBA. Those 13 rebounds were actually his most in a game this season, and he had to get them because Clint Capella and Steven Adams were both out, so there was no one behind him. Sengun played 37 minutes in this one, and the only other center who actually got in for the game was Oscar Sheebway, who only played one minute. What's funny was, before tip-off, Ime Udoka was asked if he had a special plan for guarding Steph Curry, who was on an absolute tear going into this one, and Udoka had just two words, Amen Thompson. Two minutes into the game, Amen blocked Curry's pull-up from 26 feet. Curry was gone before the first quarter ended, though, as ESPN reports he had an oblique tear that will keep him out for at least two weeks. Amen took over in the third quarter after that, 15 points, most of them all at the rim. He finished with 19, almost 4 more than he's averaging this season. Jabari Smith Jr. had the quietest line in the 5, 14 points on 5 of 14 shooting. But he was still a plus 20, second best on the team, and his three blocks were almost half of Houston's 7. Right after Shepard's run, Smith hit a pull-up and a driving dunk 24 seconds apart, so the Warriors really never got a breath. In terms of plus minus, Fred VanVleet was the best player on the floor for Houston. He scored 18, more than 4 above his average this season of 13.7. He made 4 of his 7 threes, and the last one was a 31 footer at 3 minutes and 32 seconds that put the Rockets up by 18. He's a 39% shooter from 3 this season, so Udoka knows what he's getting when the ball finds him late. KD scored 20 on 8 of 17, right at his season average of 21. His biggest play of the 4th quarter was a pass, the assist on VanVleet's 31 footer, and he scored just 2 points in it. That's the reason that people are afraid of this Rockets team come spring, because KD doesn't have to put the team on his back. He gets help from all four other starters, as well as the bench. What this team did as a group shows how they are built to win, and it really was reflected by the box score. It started at the rim. Houston scored 50 points in the paint to Golden State's 34, a big part of what they were running. The Rockets had 19 fast break points, and the Warriors only had 7. The Rockets were forcing turnovers and capitalizing off the mistakes. That is the game that this Houston team wants to be playing every single night. We also shot 51% from the field, and Golden State only shot 41%. The defense set the tone early on, too. A men and Smith each blocked a Curry shot in the first six minutes of the game. By the end of the first quarter, it was 35-20, and Durant had 7 points in the first six minutes. They took care of the ball as well. 12 turnovers against the 13 they forced from Golden State. For a stretch in the second quarter, though, None of that was really happening, and Golden State actually ended up tying the game. The Rockets had led 35-20 after the first quarter, and were still up 11 in the early second. With 2 minutes and 33 seconds left in the half, it was 49 all. Golden State won that quarter 31-21 without Curry on the floor for one second of it. A lot of it came off the glass as the Warriors grabbed 16 offensive rebounds to Houston's 9. That's what happens when you only have one real center in the rotation, because of course, Sengun, he's good, but he's not going to play 48 minutes. And the bench outside of Shepard didn't give it much either as Tari Eason went two for 11 from the field and finished in a minus 11. Bogdanovich played 10 minutes without a point, and with Smart gone, Udoka was short guards to turn to. The Warriors also took a whopping 51 threes and made only 17 of them, 33%. But still, give a team that many opportunities to shoot three when they are already good at shooting threes, then your 9 point lead in the 4th quarter is gonna be gone. And of course, there is an asterisk on this one, we all know it, Steph Curry only played 6 minutes here, but that doesn't mean the other Warriors didn't step up. Yaxa Lindenborg led the team with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Pajemski also added 22. Of course, the asterisk is also cut both ways though, because two nights earlier, this same Warriors team beat New Orleans by 51, and their streak ran through Denver, Minnesota, and both LA teams. Of course, a win is still a win, and we also did end their 8-game win streak, so although there is stuff to build on, I'd still say it was a great performance from Houston. But what should Houston take from this game into our next matchup on Friday? Well, we're 9-3 right now, third place in the West, and we've won two straight since that embarrassing loss to Phoenix. And Friday, it doesn't get much easier, as we are at home taking on the Jazz, who are 1-11 this season. And what I want to see is Houston keeping Reed Sheppard on the floor, especially when it gets close, I mean, if it even is close in this game. He is averaging 19 minutes a game off the bench, and in the 9 games he's played this season, so the real question is whether Udoka keeps him out there late when the game is tight. His shot is trending the right way, 12 of 31 from 3 in his last 5 games after 9 of 32 in the first 4 before that. His assists have gone the other way, 0.8 a game over those 5 after 4.8 before, so this team is now using him as a shooter first. The second thing is going to be the start. Like I've been saying time and time again, the Houston Rockets got a start fast, and in this game they did. They led by 15 after the first quarter. The Rockets also got to keep utilizing Amen. He was dominating Steph Curry for the first six minutes of this game, and then once Steph Curry left, Amen became a problem for every player for the Warriors. Third is going to be the bench, because Besides Shepard, they really didn't play well in this one. Of course, Smart's ejection does make it a lot harder because he had made both of his threes in 17 minutes before that, and after Utah, it's four straight on the road, Washington, Miami, Indiana, and then Denver again. So, this road trip is really going to find out if Wednesday was a fluke for Shepard because there's going to be no home crowd cheering him on to really uplift him and help him get going. And I know after a game like that, everyone's going to be saying that Shepard should close all the games from here on out, but let's... I think that when Shepard is hot, Udoka should let him play. Especially in a rivalry like this, Shepard has proven to show up in the big moments, and he definitely delivered in this last game. However, he's definitely going to need to prove it again before he earns a solid spot in this game, closing out tight situations. So we'll see what happens against Utah on Friday. I don't think that's going to be a close game, but if it is, we'll watch and see how Shepard's role impacts the team. But who do you guys think was the Rockets' best player this past Wednesday, Sengun or Amen Thompson, or even Reed Sheppard or Fred VanVleet? Let me know down in the comments below. H-Town is 9-3, and we got the Utah Jazz coming up next. As always, thank you for watching the video, and I'll see you guys tomorrow.