ROCKETS POSTCAST: Durant And Sengun Not Rewarded For Late Heroics As Rockets Fall To Bulls

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It was a situation that was probably avoidable for the Houston Rockets tonight, because they

were playing one of the worst teams in the NBA over the last 30 games.

They came in and were sluggish early.

They needed a frantic comeback.

They're led by Kevin Durant and Alpine Shane Goon in that second half, and it looked

like it for a brief moment.

They'd have that comeback, but in Rockets' fashion of late, it falls short.

We're breaking it down on the Lockdown Rockets Postcast.

You are Lockdown Rockets Postcast.

Part of Lockdown Sports Houston on the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Four teams every day.

Welcome to the Lockdown Rockets Postcast.

I'm your host, Michael Conner.

The Rockets falling tonight to the Chicago Bulls by a final of 132-124.

Thanks for, of course, always joining us as soon as the game ends.

You can also get all of the reaction from Jackson Gatlin with the Lockdown Daily Rockets

Post.

Our podcast, I said easily.

Make sure you're subscribed to this YouTube channel.

Of course, listening daily, anywhere you get your podcasts to what Jackson has to say,

and you can listen to this show there as well as the Rockets.

Lose a tough one tonight, 43 to 28s, wild to think what the difference in mood of this

particular show would be if they find a way they're late to do that, to get the comeback

of victory done.

But what you're going to be talking about more than anything from this one is...

This is what you'll be talking about.

I mentioned it to start the show.

This is an avoidable situation.

The Chicago Bulls entered this one winners of just five of their last 25 games.

A team with a bad offense, a team with a bad defense, and the Rockets came out and look

like absolute do-do to start the basketball game tonight.

They got into a hole from the jump.

They put themselves in this situation where they needed a frantic comeback to get a victory.

Now look, every single night in the NBA is not the same.

It's like any other sport.

You could go to the NFL and you could find there are teams every year that win two or three

or four games.

But guess what?

They win two or three or four games and in all likelihood you go look at it.

They probably have one win against a good team somewhere.

You can do the same for baseball.

You'll have a team like the Colorado Rockets who's terrible and they'll go real off a sweep

of a winning team in a series.

It happens.

You can say that about this tonight as well.

This is a bad basketball team in Chicago, but they found a way to get a victory tonight.

They're still pros on the other side and they play a style of basketball that can be difficult

on other teams to go ahead and keep up with.

It's insanely difficult when you can't knock down a three of your own.

The Rockets start 0-14 from the three-point line tonight.

They did not hit a three until Kevin Durant hit one with about three minutes left in the

second quarter tonight.

That was horrendous and then you put it to boot.

The Bulls could not miss.

In part, bad defense, in part, just locked in.

All of it combined, bad formula for the Rockets tonight to get into a bad funk.

41-21 was the score at the end of the first quarter when Chicago shot seven of ten

from three.

The Rockets were 0-4-9.

Second quarter, the Rockets outscore them slightly by three, 27-24.

They shoot just 25 percent from the three-point line.

The Bulls hit another four for a 40-percent quarter.

At the half, the Bulls had shot 55 percent from the three-point line and then by the end

of the game, the Bulls shot a total of 50 percent from three, knocking down a total of 19

of their 38 attempts.

The Rockets just 11-41 for 27 percent.

That is the biggest storyline of this game.

The Rockets had to make a comeback, but their comeback could not be kept up with because

they were having two bases, or they shouldn't say they were having two.

They were trading two's versus three's, almost the entire night.

You put yourself in that situation on your own, period, end of story.

The end of the game was a little bit interesting, of course.

You get things back and forth there.

They were down by five with what, 10 seconds to go.

They needed a play to get it in.

That's something that people are probably going to be talking about quite a bit.

I thought it was pretty clear look.

In the NBA in 2026, you might not love it.

I know Ryan Hollins on the broadcast did not love it at all.

Kevin Ramp pushed their period, and it was a foul.

It was called, and they're going to review that.

I guess what they're going to do, 100 percent of the time, they even reviewed that thing

if they did.

They'd called a foul again.

It's self-inflicted.

Tonight is a self-inflicted night tonight.

Bazellus and Gidey with the daggers, their late Bazellus tonight felt like he just

could not miss.

He didn't miss.

He missed four, three-pointer.

He had 23 to lead the Bulls, starters tonight, and then Colin Sexton had 17 in the first

quarter, ended up with 25.

They were just, you know, the way to put it.

They were the better basketball team on the floor tonight with far less talent than what

the Rockets have out there overall, but again, that's why we play the games.

It does not matter when you have that.

Tonight's the other team just finds a way to be the better team in that basketball game.

It stinks.

It's that time of the year where, you know, you can't have these kind of losses.

We know this.

In this Western conference that is so tightly packed where they're at, now you worry about

where the rest of the West is going to end up.

The Lakers did lose tonight.

That stinks.

The Rockets could have made up a little bit of ground tonight on the Lakers.

Of course, they have to finish ahead of the Lakers since they goofed around and lost

the season series.

But the Rockets now with the Lost tonight fall back to the sixth seed in the Western conference.

They have a cushion over Phoenix, what, three and a half games of the moment between

six and seven.

At this moment, they are matched up with the Lakers in terms of three versus six.

Maybe that's the situation you want.

I don't know.

I don't think I feel that way because the Lakers just did what they did and they've been playing

good ball.

But the Rockets are putting themselves in a tough spot to where I just, you could control

a lot of things and they're not controlling them.

And number one of them is going to be faith that people have in this basketball team, you

know, being able to handle it.

Let's talk about some of the other mistakes that were made in this game tonight and we'll

do it here in a brief moment on the Lockdown Rockets postcast.

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to that rocket discussion.

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Rockets fall in ugly fashion late because they came all the way back and can't do it one

thirty two one twenty four the final Rockets now forty three and twenty eight six seed

now in the western conference you know well let's just find out somebody messed up and

it's time to let them know with who fudged up.

I'd say goes the entire team tonight for what they did in the first half and really that

first quarter again you credit the bulls for having some things that you know matter

in terms of knocking down shots at a consistent rate it's just you know maybe not play laps

the days go defensive times where guys are blown by to the rim constantly the bulls game

was pretty simple they they chuck three and they try to get to the rim to it and it

worked tonight there was too many things where the Rockets just got blown by in this basketball

there's a lot of a lot of guys in the defensive end that are that are you know worthy of criticism

you know Alpy at an unbelievable offensive night he had some moments early in that game

defensively that we're not good reached shepherd was just getting torched left and right

in terms of getting blown by Javari Smith was in my a for a lot of the game I felt like

as no good no help off your bench tonight at all you got a whopping six nine points off

the bench nine starters did play heavy minutes but I mean nine points ain't going to cut it

period I guess I have to do one thing tonight unfortunately when you lose but they did have

two guys that were I guess worthy of this this is the locked on player of the game it is

Alperin Shane goon and it is Kevin Durant for what those two guys did in the second half

Durant tonight 40 points 15 of 23 from the field five of 10 from three five of eight from

the free throw line that's another thing the Rockets miss free throws tonight they missed

look at that nine free throws hmm knock down well let's see let's just say six of those

it's a two point game they're late instead of whatever how about you just knocked out all

you know what I'm going to say there but Durant 40 points like I mentioned seven rebounds five

assists some bad turnovers to early four turnovers in the game but overall played a great game Alpi

was fantastic in front of a lot of Turkish fans there like I mentioned early in the game had

some defensive struggles but I felt like as the game moved on he played a lot better I probably

won his best games of the season really 33 points 13 rebounds 10 assist two steals 10 or 16 of 19

from the field one of two from three did miss all three of his free throws the Rockets had a lot

of opportunities for and ones tonight that was frustrating is that you know they were they were

failing to knock down threes and they would get fouled go into the rim and then miss the free throw

to get the three point play it's like what is happening here I do also need to give another

shout out to I didn't give him player the game but a min Thompson was probably the most consistent guy

overall throughout the game tonight I basically the entire game same kind of guy did I did rack

up some fouls but 23 points for him tonight but the players the game go to Alpi and they go to

Kevin Durant you go to look to look to those guys specifically in the third quarter Durant had

12 Alpi had 12 and then in the fourth quarter I'm scrolling down here Durant had 15 and Alpi had

nine so those two in the second half Durant with 27 second half points and Alpi with 21 second

half I mean Alpi Damner had his entire triple double in the second half he had 21 nine and eight

in the second half where Durant had 27 like I mentioned and hit some big huge long threes they're

late but the story again this team late in the season they are coughing up games that they should

not be coughing up yeah you go back I'm just pulling up the schedule here in the last few weeks

of course those two games against the Lakers you know bad bad bad I mean you got smoked against the

nuggets I guess the everything got smoked against the spur so those weren't really games just oh

the game it gets golden state was a total just joke of a loss the other glossing it's Miami was

really bad like they've had some games where you go and look at it's like man what are you what

are you doing here you cannot lose these games now they're in a spot slight in the season they've

got Minnesota next this road trips got three more games on a Minnesota Memphis in New Orleans they

got to get all three they can so that's what they're that's what the thought process has to be here

you can't go through this road trip and lose anymore basketball games when they do play again

on Wednesday we will be here for the locked on rockets postcast of course you can join me as soon

as the game ends for about a 10 to 20 minute ish in that range post game reaction I hope that we

don't want to come on here and sit there and say bad things again and talk about negative this

negative that it'd be great but you know that's just the way it was tonight I got to figure it out

should a little bit better and not get into a big bat massive hole early in the basketball game

for that to happen you guys have a great rest of your Monday night again we'll talk again Wednesday

night on the locked on rockets post

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