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Speaker 1: Let un O one on Sports Talk seven ninety our

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weekly visit right now with a head basketball coach. If

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your Houston Rockets, who fell last night to the Oklahoma

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City Thunder, and we'll talk about that and tonight's matchup

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with the Minnesota Timberwolves. It is a late start. If

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you were at the game last night, thank you for

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being there. At six thirty tonight you get a chance

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to relax a little bit and get a little bit

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there a little bit later. You may doka with us

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here on the show and Ros could you pot him

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up for me?

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Speaker 2: Here?

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Speaker 1: My phone system is down, so let's talk to coach

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right now. Uh Emy, I'll tell you this. The first

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three quarters weren't I mean the easiest thing to watch,

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but your guys kind of hung around. Did you was

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there a sense in your mind to say, look, let's

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put together one good scoring quarter, we can win this

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bad boy. Instead, unfortunately with the other direction.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're ruined me of Vegas a little bit. Last

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year against them, we defended at a high level. Gild

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As Alexander was kind of held in check. J Williams

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only had six points, but we couldn't make enough shots

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to really extend that lead and take advantage knowing that

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they'll get going eventually. And to your point, it was like, Okay,

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seventy seven to seventy five on the last quarter, that's

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put one together. And we went on a major drought

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and they up their physicality.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that your your squads do not shoot

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well from three, obviously, and you're trying to find an

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answer for that. But I will give credit, and I

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hate giving credit because it's just what I don't want

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to do. But they intercept passing lanes. They're ferocious there,

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even though they've been a little more human the last

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couple of months. Oklahoma City can make life miserable for

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teams defensively, can they not.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're one of best in the league and pretty

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unique at what they do as far as they can play,

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getting steals, turnovers, deflections and all those things. And so

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you have to be disciplined and get off the ball,

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make the simple reads. But at the same time, you

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have to knock down those shots. And we've been in

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a little bit of a tough stretch right now where

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these games will look a lot different if we make

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some shots, obviously, but still still garden at a high

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enough level stests. Stay confident, you know, trust the trust

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the work you put in all year, and that the

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worm will eventually turn, you know.

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Speaker 1: And I think Kevin Durant shared your exact centemon that.

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But so someone says, coach, hey, good morning, how arey?

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Let me buy you a cup of coffee and can

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you guys make some shotsy? How does does it come

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right down to that? I mean, no back, the ball

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has to go through the hoop. But is it spacing?

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Is it shot selection? Is it timing? Tell me where

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a team that is collectively in a shooting self, especially

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from three, try to shake itself when four or five

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guys are kind of struggling at the same time, Hey.

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Speaker 2: You have to do other things to interject yourself into

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the game. The shots that are there at high quality,

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looks that we've gone all year and been one of

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the most efficient shooting teams. You have to continue to

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take those. And it always happens throughout the year. You'll

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get a slump or two and it snowballs into the

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entire team. But at the same time, still take those

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same shots, but do other things to get yourself going.

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Get get get in the passing lane, guard some get

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some transition offense, offensive rebounds, things like that, does the

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ball go through and not just be relying on jump shots.

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Speaker 1: ROCKETEC coach imy Adoka was here on a Sports Talk

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seven to ninety and what is it like you for

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you as a coach when it's been a bit of

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a bad run like this, as far as the self

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evaluation process of you and your coaching staff balancing saying hey, yeah,

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this is going to turn it's okay, or we have

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to make some sort of changes or tinker with some things.

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Speaker 2: So it's a little bit of both understanding as long

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as we've been around and then some players you see

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it happen once or twice a year. Like I said,

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it sucks when it's the whole team and you just

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need one or two guys to kind of step out,

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step up and make those shots. But at the same time,

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you have to figure out other things and not just

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say okay, the jump shots will fall eventually, go to

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different actions, get other guys involved, and then tweak the

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lineups if you have to to inject some energy, and

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I think JD did that in the Chicago game taking

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a look at some other guys and how we can

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help them. As well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's who I was going to bring up next,

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talking about tinkering and some changing. What led to the

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decision with some more minutes for JD. Davison and what

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have you seen from him that you like and that

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you would like to improve?

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Speaker 2: The injuries, I mean, Dorian being in out a little

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bit sorry going down, it's the opportunity to get some

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other have some looks. You know, he's one of our

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more natural point guards and guys that facilitate the offense

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and get us into stuff, and so knowing what we

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have with him there, it's just a chance to get

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him a look with some guys being down right now,

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and that was really what led into that. But had

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a really good game Againt Chicago, I think. Okay, see,

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he made it tough on everybody last night from a

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shooting standpoint, nobody had an average or above average game.

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But just get a look at him over these next

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few games and seeing what he brings the table. He's

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done it all through preseason and very comfortable putting him in.

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Speaker 1: You unfortunately got a tea last night the A J.

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Mitchell backcourt. Did you get obviously did not get a

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satisfactory explanation did those referees even by the looking at

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the screen at all, or they like, I don't want

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to look at it.

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Speaker 2: No, they never look up there. They they don't want

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to see if they're right or wrong by looking up there.

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But it's just, you know, a culmination of some things.

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So that one stood out that nobody's watching the ball.

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They all tell me it's not my call, not my look,

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and so okay, that's fine. But I think more so

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a culmination of a few different things.

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Speaker 1: And straight on my part, well, I understand that for sure,

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that's the thing. If I was refereeing, I goofed it up.

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I would let you have about a minute and a

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half and then and then we go on from there.

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But unfortunately that was not the case.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: Tell me about Steven Adams, A huge rebounding night for you. You've not, uh,

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you stayed away from back to backs on him. We've

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got one here tonight, So are you ready to announce

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whether he can go to night? He can take tonight

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on off? I mean, you've got a bunch of games

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come up even after tonight's game.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he'll he'll be out tonight, Dorian will be available

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and I'm hoping to have Harry bag based on how

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he feels after going through a workout today. And so

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you know, Minnesota is another team with some big bodies,

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and you know Steven is great against everybody, and so

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we'll be conscious with him as we have been to

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keep to get him right throughout the season and have

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other guys available with with Randall and Nasriz and it's

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good to have some smaller bodies to put on those

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stretch stretch fives.

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Speaker 1: I know he wants to play. I know you want

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him to play, but it's it's you got to follow

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the rule book, don't you When it comes to Stephen

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to make sure he's ready for you come posts and.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think he's night and day from last year.

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I mean last year he can go more than five

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minutes to start the season and now he can run

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longer stretches and play up to twenty five thirty. And

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so we're just, like I said, being smart about the season,

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getting other guy's looks. That's why you got Clint Capella

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and all the guys that we brought in and get

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him to the and go healthy and then a good rhythm.

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Speaker 1: I mentioned Katie a little bit ago, and he gave

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a good retrospect. What does he see through this? And

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obviously don't get talk to him much. We get to

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talk to you, but how is he pacing this, because look,

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he has been through the highs and lows of an

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NBA season multiple times over and this has not been

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a great January. How does he see things? And have

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you asked him or is he just doing on his

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own to kind of keep the guys saying, look, this

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is January. Nobody wins championships then, But as you know,

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as things will be super competitive in the West like

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they were last year, that every game especially it feels

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like after the turn of the calendar seems to mean

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just a little bit more.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thing playing as long as he has he has

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a great perspective on that. But at the same time,

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the know us are happier, satisfied, and he's at the

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top of the list as far as that and so

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understanding where we want to get to. I've been take

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a little bit of time with you know, different personnel

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and him being inserted. But at the same time, the

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standard is the standard, and we want to play up

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to that and not play down to level our competition

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or up to level competition. We want to be consistent

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across the board, and as we know, it all helps

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to make shots, no doubt about that. But we can

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get guys going himself. He holds himself to a high standard,

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and nobody's happen when we're losing, regardless of the time

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of year.

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Speaker 1: And another guy that holds himself to a high standards, Jabbari,

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A couple of nice back to back games from three

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from him? Is that a pull aside of conversation, say, Hi,

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keep it going, Let's change a couple of things up,

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because he was his hard as harsh as critic after

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those games earlier in the months.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you're getting right over the look. There's

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nothing more you can ask than that. But like I said,

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there's not just being reliant on jump shots. You want

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to do the other things. Get to his mid range game,

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which he had been missing some of those. I think

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him and Kevin missed a good amount of good mid

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mid range shots last night. But he's one of our

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best offensive rebounders, a versatile offensive player that can do

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multiple different things, and so it's not just hitting on

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the perimeter. Sometimes that happens when when Portland goes zone

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or something like that, but doing other things to get

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yourself in the game, gets the free throw line and all,

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and get some layups and just to see the ball

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go through and so great that he had to stretch

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against Chicago and he had some carryover lately.

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Speaker 1: Last thing you mentioned zone, when teams struggle from three,

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teams will do that. We saw quite a bit of

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that with like OKC last night. If the three ain't falling.

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How is the most effective way is basketball one on

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one to break that zone? Is it finding those guys

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in the baseline for those mid range's a little bit

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of both.

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Speaker 2: I think we have two really good players that we

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can flash in the middle with with Kevin and Alprin.

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Kevin is very much automatic that layup in the mid

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range shot, but Alprin is such a good playmaker and

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finisher around the basket if you get them in the middle.

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But at the same time, you don't want to just

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rely on those guys going on on one there. You

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have to get some ball, some ball movement and penetration,

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not just pass the ball around. A lot of teams

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get stagnifican zone, and as long as you penetrate and

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locate usually get a really good wide open shot.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for the time. Coach. We'll talk to you

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tonight in best of luck against the Wolves.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.