Ime Udoka after Jalen Green, Rockets stun Mavericks in Dallas

let's go go go

 

Unbelievable effort and defense from everyone. Keep imposing your will coach. Fantastic road win. Jalen's looking like a killer.

 

I'm very happy. A very big win on the road against the upgraded Western Conference champions.

I never imagined the Rockets winning with a struggling FVV, who ended up with only 4 points.

This win will improve their mental strength.

Go Houston Rockets!

 

Wait until Tari becomes entirely fit. Sengun needs to get fitter too.

 

That 4th quarter drought still scared the hell out of me.

Udoka subbed in Amen and Tari almost too late to stop the bleeding.

 

Going forward, Udoka must be quicker to change the closing lineup when the starters aren't working.

There is something clunky about the current starters as a group and I don't think it will go away. IMO, as the season progresses, it will become obvious the best 5-man unit will include one or both of Amen and Tari. Both guys are special on defense but are still feeling their way on offense. As they improve, both guys will start averaging >25 mpg. Book it.

 

The closing defensive lineup of Tari, Amen, Brooks, JG etc. Was a great coaching decision and closed out the win.

We beat a team with HOF talent that went to the Finals last year. Give credit to the team and coach imo.

We won again

 

Jalen becoming a winning two way player and Cade being a turnover prone ballhogging traffic cone 3 years into their careers is ****ing hilarious to me.

 

It's actually the easiest, clearest and most straightforward change we could make imo. It should genuinely be one of 2 options for our starting line ups:
Fred/Jalen/Amen/Tari/Sengun
or
Jalen/Brooks/Amen/Tari/Sengun

Amen's not a PG, Point Forward I could see, but he is just not a PG control the offense lead ball handler type player at the NBA level so far. He is however a legitimate SF, and could be our Igoudala with Tari as our Rodman. Either FVV can go to the bench and provide stability or Brooks can slide to being the off the bench defensive spark. Bari aint it, he's either a roleplayer or trade bait as far as I'm concerned.

 

Where I disagree is it doesn't matter to me who the starters are. The most important things are (1) minutes played and (2) closing lineups.

Udoka showed us tonight he won't sacrifice close games by stubbornly playing the starters at the end (though he waited too long). Soon enough, the best players will get the most minutes. Be patient.

 

CJ Stroud calling the Rockets trash. The Texans look like the real trash today.

 

Ime only cares about defense when it comes to making adjustment. He never complains about the offense

 

16 starting lineups have played at least 100 possessions so far.

The FVV/Jalen/Dillon/Jabari/Sengun starting lineup is 2nd out of those 16 in net rating. +17.8 per 100 possessions.

And that’s with opponents getting super lucky, hitting 53% from three against that lineup.

The starting group is good, actually.

 

Ime knows what he is doing and making Jalen the primary guy now. We may even see conference finals just because of that adjustment.

 

Amen and Tari both needed to close out the game.

But Udoka tried his hardest to blow yet another 20 point lead this season in bringing them in so late.

They should've been subbed on so much earlier than they were.

 

Let's pray on this.

 

More like Dob Knob Slobbin.

 

It looks like the end game defensive line up, at least for now, is:

1. FVV
2. Brooks
3. Green
4. Tari
5. Amen/Jabari.

Against the Spurs, they finished with Jabari. Against the Mavericks, they finished with Amen. They likely go with Jabari for more size, and Amen for more versatility on switches.

Last year, end game defensive line-ups rarely included Green, even when he played well. However, Udoka seems to have promoted Green to be a staple in end game defensive line-ups, which speaks a lot to his defensive improvements.

 

Cade is a fantastic player on a dumpster fire of a team… that said Jalen at his best is electric!