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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
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This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks Podcast.
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For the second time in the last three games, the Houston Rockets have played a contender
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in the Western Conference, a big boy in the Western Conference.
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They've gone out there and they have absolutely laid an egg.
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That's exactly what happened again tonight in Denver as the nuggets roll through the
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And we're breaking down all the problems on the Lockdown Rockets Postcast.
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You are Lockdown Rockets Postcast.
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Part of Lockdown Sports Houston on the Lockdown Podcast Network.
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Your team every day.
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129.93, the final tonight between your Houston Rockets and the Denver Nuggets as the Rockets
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cannot come close to making competitive down the stretch after a competitive first half.
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Absolutely no answer for the nuggets all the second half.
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Hello and welcome to Lockdown Rockets Postcast.
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I am Michael Conner.
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Thank you for joining us.
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If you are new to this show because it's only the second night we've been back with it
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and you're wondering where's Jackson Jackson is still here.
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He does the Rockets daily show.
2:23
This is the Lockdown Rockets Postcast.
2:24
We're here with you live after games.
2:26
I'm not going to say this every time we do a postcast.
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I just want to remind people because it's only the second time we've done one this season.
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We are with you the rest of the season outside of Friday's game.
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I have a previous commitment on Friday that was ahead of getting the green light to bring
2:42
But tonight we talk about it all.
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The Rockets were absolutely terrible.
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The turning point in this basketball game was this.
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I'm the reveal where the game was once or lost.
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It's the turning point.
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The third quarter tonight was absolutely atrocious.
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I got the box score here just from the third.
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Rockets get out scored 40 to 22 in that third quarter.
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They go, oh, they from the three point line.
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They shoot the ball horribly in that quarter and they're 44% and Denver shoots 52%.
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And for 83% from the three point line in that quarter, the Rockets turn it over four
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times in that quarter and just get absolutely trounced in that period.
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I mean, it was a competitive game in the first half.
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I mean, you go to half, they hit the three there right before the buzzer to extend the
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But I mean, it was looking like I was going to be a three point game, 53, 47 at the half.
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The Rockets did all that without shooting the three at all in the first half and that's
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what turned out to be all of the issues in this basketball game is that the nuggets now
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look, there is a human element to any evaluation of a sports game when it happens, right?
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You and I can be humans when we look at it and realize the Rockets are on the back end
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of a back-to-back where they played and Houston last night had to play it, you know, all
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the way through to get that victory and have to get on a plane, go to Denver, get in it
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probably between what, two, three, four or something.
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So between two and four in the morning, if you've ever been to Denver, the Denver airport
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is nowhere near downtown Denver.
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So it's a 45-minute drive at least.
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You're probably not laying your head down to what, six something in the morning.
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Maybe it's a little bit earlier than that and you're trying to sleep on a non-normal sleep
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schedule, get up and then go play a basketball game in a city that's mile high.
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It's not easy, but when you are paid millions of dollars, of course, the expectation always
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is that you go out there and you get your best.
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And they had the effort in the first half.
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But this is the problem that this is now happened the second time in the last three games.
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Like I mentioned, you did this against San Antonio where you got absolutely just smacked
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around and then tonight, Denver just boat races in the second half.
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You didn't shoot the three at all tonight.
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The rockets as a team in the third or the from the three-point line in the game tonight
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shoot four of 33, 12% from three.
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That's a huge problem.
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Denver, I mean, you just got outnumbered at that point, Denver, 17 of 32, 53%.
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They had that issue.
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The turnover issue, of course, massive issue for this basketball team almost every single
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night, 15 of them tonight.
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And it really sparked a lot of the easy buckets and the quick runs that Denver went on throughout
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the basketball game.
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And then there's the fact that like I mentioned, running what I am concerned with with this
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basketball team is that you've seen two teams, two monsters in the Western Conference
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now in San Antonio and Denver really target some very similar issues that the rockets have
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and then just basically go afterball game.
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I mean, now Toronto runs a lot.
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We saw it last night, but you know, Toronto keyed in on it as well.
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The rockets don't move well in transition.
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They don't get back half the time.
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They're not good at pushing the pace.
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And it's a really frustrating aspect of this team.
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And then you mix it all in, you know, all these issues that I'm mentioning, whether it's,
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you know, that or the back to back.
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This is a massive game.
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There's 18 games left in the season coming into this one.
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This is a Western Conference.
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We talked about this last night that is so stacked up.
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And at the rocket slip up for three, four games, they're out of the top six easily.
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Two games better than the seventh seed right now in the Western Conference that being in the Phoenix
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So if you have a bad week, you could be on the outside looking in and saying, I have
7:34
to plan a plan, which is still for the life of me.
7:40
The dumbest thing the ever NBA has ever come up with.
7:44
And maybe the idea is not dumb, but doing it with 10 team, it's just stupid.
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They should just stuck with the eight and done a play in with it, you know, the bottom
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for whatever, different thing for a different time.
7:58
But tonight's game was a game of consequence.
8:02
You know, there's a chance to help yourself.
8:05
Rockets go to the four seed now at this moment.
8:08
It's going to change every night at this moment.
8:10
They're now matched up to play the Minnesota Timberwolves.
8:12
They would have the home court advantage in that one.
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Makers go up to the three seed nuggets, stay at the six at the moment.
8:19
All those teams though have 40 wins.
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Denver is one worse in the lost column than the Rockets are at this point.
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Rockets now 40 in 25 on the season.
8:30
But this is a chance with this schedule.
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Denver, by the way, wins the season series over the Rockets with that victory tight three
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That's also the non-encouraging part of this.
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We talked about it last night, and I mentioned it.
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We don't want absolutely no part of playing the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs.
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The Rockets, here's just the unfortunate and we can live in reality.
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The Rockets are not as good as the Denver Nuggets.
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I just, I can't say over a seven game series, it's just not going to happen.
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It's just not going to happen.
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They can beat the Lakers.
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They'll play with the Timberwolves, Timber puppies.
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They handle Phoenix, I think.
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Can't play with San Antonio.
9:16
Can't play with Oklahoma City.
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And I don't think they could play with Denver.
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Those three teams clear cut class above where this Rockets team is.
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Some years just works out that way.
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It's not that this team is bad.
9:35
It just hasn't worked out the way that we all saw it working out when the season started
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or when we put our predictions together, of course, for what this season would be.
9:46
And it's disappointing when you have a night like tonight.
9:49
This late in the season in a game that matters so much where you just come out and lay an
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It can't happen again.
9:57
Now you look at this schedule down the stretch, you got an easy one against New Orleans
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come up, you think, but you got a Lakers twice next week.
10:05
At home, you have to have those games period.
10:11
You still have a matchup against the Timber Wolves on the 25th of March in Minnesota,
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have to have that one.
10:20
Playing Phoenix, April 7th, have to have that one, playing Minnesota again, April 10th,
10:25
have to have that one, a lot of have to have games on this schedule the rest of the way.
10:31
And it's time to put up or shut up.
10:34
And it comes to stepping up in these kind of games.
10:39
Do I even give out a player of the game?
10:43
I guess right here in the lockdown, rocket postcast after these messages.
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Before we get back to our rocket's discussion here tonight, there's nothing like being in
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Look, you can get all the pricing up front, the all-in price up front is fantastic.
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Download the game time app today and remember, it's gametime.co, not.com.
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This is Nick Gangthead with the Lockdown Mavericks podcast.
12:48
This message is a paid partnership with AppleCard.
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I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my AppleCard, which
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can be automatically sent to my high-yield savings account through AppleCard right in the
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With my iPhone, I can use AppleCard with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go.
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You can apply for AppleCard too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone, subject to
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credit approval, savings is available to AppleCard owners subject to eligibility, savings
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in AppleCard by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more
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Alright, I feel gross for having to do this tonight, but who is?
13:23
This is the Lockdown Player of the Game.
13:26
I mean, I guess if I have to give it to a rocket, I give it to a min Thompson, just because
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of the team that's scoring with 16.
13:36
I should give it to Jeff Green, who was the only guy that wasn't a negative in the plus
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You know, that's what it would do.
13:41
We're going to give the player the game to Jeff Green.
13:43
He played seven minutes and 33 seconds, but he's the only player in the plus minus
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category that wasn't a minus double digit number.
13:50
He was minus three.
13:52
The starters plus minus here, you go real quick.
13:55
Jubari minus 12, KD minus 18, Alpy minus 17, Tari minus 17, Amid minus 17.
14:03
I'm going to get to the reach, reach, shepherd minus 26 yikes.
14:07
That's the word for this game.
14:08
Look for one word to describe this basketball game tonight.
14:13
And the yikes part of it too is, I mean, that's, you know, I know there's a, there's
14:22
a, there's a lot of issues from this basketball game tonight, but credit to Denver.
14:27
I mean, they took KD out of this game.
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That's a little bit scary.
14:31
That's why I really don't want anything to do with Denver.
14:34
I mean, they just took KD out of the game.
14:36
You got to pay shots tonight.
14:37
They're just throwing doubles, triples at him.
14:39
They don't respect whatever else the Rockets had to throw at them offensively.
14:43
They're saying, you know what?
14:48
And tonight, it worked out big time for Denver.
14:53
They just, you know, they went out there and it was not great.
15:01
I do want to mention again one more time because I keep seeing it in the comments as we're
15:06
I just pulled them up.
15:08
I've not replaced Jackson, Gatlin.
15:10
This is a post cast show.
15:12
It is a post game reaction to what happens in every game, the rest of the season.
15:16
We did these last season.
15:17
We did the whole season, unfortunately, you know, timing-wise, they just, we just got
15:22
to go ahead to do these.
15:24
I'll be here the rest of the season and in the playoffs, we'll be here doing the show
15:30
And Jackson is still doing the daily show, so make sure you're checking out what he has
15:34
to say on a daily basis.
15:36
I'm here to give you your instant reaction as soon as the game is and be like you on a
15:41
I want to see them do well, but I'm going to be mad when they go out there and play like
15:45
this, like all of you are tonight.
15:47
They, of course, will get right back to action in a couple of nights, Friday night at home
15:52
against the New Orleans Pelicans.
15:54
Like I mentioned, we will actually not have a show for that one when I got the Green
15:58
Night to do these shows.
15:59
I already had a commitment on Friday, so there will not be a show Friday just ahead
16:04
But we'll be back Monday for the first of two against the Lakers next week before they
16:08
also allow or will allow welcome the Atlanta Hawks of Town.
16:12
And then welcome Pam out of bio in the Miami Heat to town next weekend as well.
16:16
Hopefully he doesn't go for 83.
16:18
That would be a problem.
16:20
Congrats to him on setting the second most points in the NBA game last night.
16:24
I didn't even mention that during the postcast show yesterday.
16:28
I knew it and I just didn't mention it.
16:30
You guys have a great rest of your, I don't know what night it is Wednesday night at this
16:34
point, almost Thursday morning.
16:37
We will talk again next Monday on this show specifically on the locked on rockets,
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