Speaker 1: Where to spend ten minutes right now with the head
coach of the Houston Rockets. Rockets here in Memphis is
going to take on the Grizzlies tonight. We'll have it
for you here on seven ninety beginning at six o'clock
with the launch pad seven o'clock tip time. You may
doka with us here. You may first of all, thanks
for joining us. These conversations sometimes aren't fun, especially after
the way the performance of the last couple of.
Speaker 2: Games has it been.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the answer is yes to this, but
to the level I want to get your thoughts on.
Those two games against Miami and Atlanta were fun, interesting
buzzer beaters. You beat some good teams, you get on
the road, you got some teams that are probably worrying
about the end of the season in Chicago and then
the Minnesota game without aunt. I guess the level of
frustration for you about this team's inability to stay consistent,
especially in this time of year when you're trying to
juggle for seedings in the Western Conference.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say, you know, it's been a problem
of ours throughout the year. You know, we look and
feel and played like a different team at times against
the big matchups, you know, kind of get up with
those and then have lows against them.
Speaker 2: Of the lessive teams with.
Speaker 3: The losing records, and so obviously something we want to
change and be consistent regardless who were playing. And even
in those games, you know, we got really good stretches.
It was a poor quarter or two that kind of
slot us behind. Obviously the first court in Chicago after
a good win, but even the end of the Miami game,
letting them come back like we did, and then the
first court in Chicago outside of that played a great
dead quarters, didn't play our best, you know, most of
the night against Minnesota, probably a C level game and
put together you know, good last three minutes and a
great start to overtime, but have to be more consistent
and sustain that effort, that defensive mentality and then offensively
being aggressive and confident.
Speaker 1: Was there anything that Minnesota did in that last half
of the overtime? I mean, look, that was minutes fifty
three and fifty four of the game. What went from
so good in that fourth quarter to you know, align
with those free baskets that they were able to make
that comeback and of such a short period of time.
Speaker 2: I mean they started going after Kevin a little bit.
Speaker 3: They blitzed a few times, we got the outpring in
the pocket and Zubari had a white open three missed
a man in the pocket one time, and had some
white open shooters and LP in the dunker spot and
kind of shot over a few people.
Speaker 2: So a few miscues outside out of the.
Speaker 3: Blitz and then some some turnovers a second violation obviously
in some turnovers.
Speaker 2: That got the mount of transition. But that was the point.
Once we got the lead.
Speaker 3: You know, our defense wasn't set because they were getting
out running and scored pretty much, you know, seven to
ten seconds on the shot clock a few times in
a row.
Speaker 1: You're so late in the season here, it's not about teaching.
It's not about an extra practice, it's not about uh
intense film setting. It's it's a little bit of I
guess the psychologist part of your job as a coach
to say, look, guys, we've let a lot of these
kind of games slip through our fingers, and if we
want to be where we want to be and make
a playoff run, we got to get this corrected down.
With about ten games of the year is that the
way you're kind of approaching things.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, because even in those games that we haven't played
a full four quarters, we've had really great stretches, really
dominant stretches, and obviously, like I said, so go down
twenty one in Chicago and come back as fast as
we did in the way we did. Obviously we played
really good basketball and guard at a high level.
Speaker 2: So how can we sustain that?
Speaker 3: That's the main thing, coming out to start games with
the same intensity that we bring when we get down.
And so that's the real thing. I mean, I think
we all know we can get back and want to
be playing our best going into playoffs and have a
chance to still do that.
Speaker 4: ROCKETECT coach rom mid Dooko with his here on Sports
Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Obviously, when you go through bad stretches out here, one
of the things that pundits like to go to is
vibes or body language or things like that, and there's
been some national people picking up on that. Just your perspective,
how do you feel morale, chemistry, vibes, whatever you want
to call it.
Speaker 3: With the team, I would say everybody's frustrated when you lose,
and nobody's going to be happy about it. And so yeah,
body language isn't going to be totally upbeat when.
Speaker 2: You're you know, down twenty or giving up a big lead.
Speaker 3: But you have to have some resiliency and some determination
to get back in these games the way we have
or you know, to be even keeping it close when
we're not playing our best. And so we look at
that thing, those things overall and how can we, you know,
manage to play a better quarter here so when not
down in the deficits. So I don't put a ton
in that. I think our guys are all on the
same page, rooting for each other, chairing for each other,
and you know, when it's going well, we're upbeating all that,
and you just got to maintain that even in the
down times.
Speaker 2: And so I don't look too much into that.
Speaker 3: I think all our guys know what says stake now
and how we have to play at a more consistent level.
And so we don't look at that. I don't really
hear it, but you know, we go about our business
and try to put a full game together to night
against Memphis.
Speaker 4: Now, as you mentioned, just going about your business is there,
what do you do as a coach? You try to
keep it just business as usual. Do you try to
do anything differently when these types of stretches pop up.
Speaker 2: No, you definitely talk about it. You don't sleep it
under the rug and act like it's okay.
Speaker 3: Like we're playing our best basketball, are most consistent, and
we make that at a point and see how we
can get to it and show the great stretches that
we've had to you know, come back from down eleven
in the last three plus minutes and then take a
thirteen point lead. We did some really good things. We
were physical into the ball. They were the aggressive most
of the night, and we flipped it there. And if
we can come out with that to start show them
all the good things, the positive things that obviously we
look at what went wrong as well, but you understand
what can get you there and how consistant you have
to be.
Speaker 2: And so we look at.
Speaker 3: Both, you know, put on the table and see the
ways for us improved and how we could do it
in these last nine games.
Speaker 1: How have you liked a men since the change when
you put reena start line up the last handful of games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been great, regardless, I think even going back
to his last twenty or so games. Even before Reid
was in the lineup, he's been playing an extremely high.
Speaker 2: Level on the ball off the ball.
Speaker 3: It just gives him more variety when readers in to
not have to handle as much. You know, you can
get back into some of his dunker spots and screening
and rolling and do the offensive rebounding.
Speaker 2: So just gives them more varieties.
Speaker 3: If Wasty can score, waste, he can attack and not
just having the ball and setting up.
Speaker 2: So he's still doing that.
Speaker 3: Some obviously want him to continue to grow in that role,
but he's so good to the other things you don't
just want to limit him.
Speaker 1: You know, you've got the Memphis Grizzlies in the night.
This is a team that said twenty nine different players.
What is it like for even for a division opponent,
you will see him for the four third time this
year to have to basically draw up a new lineup
or at least film study wise of a bunch of
guys you've largely have never seen before collectively play together
at the same time.
Speaker 3: Well, you just take a look at Chicago and Washington
and all these other teams that are you know, guys
that are auditioning for roles for their futures. And you know,
they had a close game of Boston the other night.
They'd beat Denver a few games ago in their last
five and so you don't look at the names on
the back of the jersey as the NBA, and you
can get beat any night if you don't come out
with the right mindset. And so for us, it's it's
about coming out aggressive, guarding them just like they're anybody else.
Speaker 2: And we got to.
Speaker 3: Get back to our physicality on that end, offensively, taking
care of the ball, sharing the ball, and you know,
being aggressive attacking there and not looking for fouls or
calls or anything like that. And so, like I said,
it's more about us. Honestly, We'll go about our business
tonight like we have to, but we want to see
a consistent four quarters and then carry it on to
the next game as well.