Skip & Shannon react to Rockets' Game 7 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder | NBA | UNDISPUTED

Did the

rockets

win this

game

or did the

thunder

lose it? The

rockets

, the rockets, the

thunder

lost this ball

game

. They jumped. They were the better team in critical situations in the previous games they won. They won those games in critical situations. Nobody was better in clutch situations than chris paul this year and for some reason last night they weren't good uh look jump they went one for nine with one four with four turnovers in the last four minutes chris paul lost the bunny he's in the lane five feet from the basket and left it short Dennis Schroeder jumped before missed two point-blank layups that's not like them those are the shots they were taking in the previous games they had won and chris paul took a shot in the last eight minutes he jumps after making three of his shots and two of them with threes, that's what Chris, no, come on,

skip

a game where Lou Dort gives you 30.

You have to participate in a game where he gives you 30 and James Harden is struggling on the offensive end. like he did, that's a game you have to win, you have to win that game, all you wanted to do was give yourself a chance at the end of the game, you didn't get beat, it wasn't a situation you were in. trying to catch up throughout the ball game you were right where you wanted to be i guarantee if okc thunder was drawing this game i will tell you how you would like what to play just give us a chance. with the last five minutes in the ballgame, that's all we can ask of Billy Donovan, that's all he wanted, was a chance to be in this ballgame at the end of the game and he was there for the They took it and left it.

Come on, they let this ball game go, there's no other way around it. I'll tell you what I did. I like a guy who

skip

s that when he's struggling on the offensive end or in any aspect of his game, he finds another way to impact the ball game. and in years past i'm not so sure james harden would have done what he did last night because those three blocked shots those steals were big considering how poorly he had played offensively but he missed the thunder he lost this ball game there is no other way If they make one of nine, four turnovers in the last four minutes, when they've been as good as anyone in the NBA in those situations, what hurt them the most were the turnovers and if you go back and look at it, usually They hit Houston. crystal houston turned the ball over well if houston is going to stay close to you in the ball game until the rebound and you are going to turn it over this is what happened and they lost this ball game but the thunder gag just went away skipped there's no other way around it golinari had made how many 57 consecutive free throws hey what did cubby do spit out the part chris paul should have made that shot because he had six or six in the ball game skip it's a 90 free throw? bowler, I understand Golonari had made 57 in a row, but let me ask you a question 29 in a row and you only play in the player, yes, but let me ask you a question, jump, how was he throwing the ball last night?

How many on the way? Did you do it last night? We are not talking about cc. Do you want to talk about? Oh, he did this. He did it last night. Was he playing last night? I don't care about last night. That's why you're going home, big shots on this team. I'm talking about last night. I'm talking about last night. So keep going, but look, that's what you like. dig up the past well, he did this, he did that we're talking about right now. There's no way how many are sitting in Billy Donovan's seat. There's no way for you to say uh Chris, go shoot this, that's your question, stop it.

How was he playing last night? That's all I'm asking. How was he playing last night? Did you notice all the people who played the game last night? He had the lowest most minor excuse. My highest, he was in bad shape. 16 yeah, 27 minutes ahead, I'm not going to take anything away from the Houston Rockets, they won this game in every way small and big, they've been winning a lot of games this year since they were little, I've told you over and over again and again and again the rockets now play defense the rockets now interrupt you with their amoeba zones and their little defenses with scrambled balls where everyone plays in the five positions and guess who leads the playoffs to date imposing turnovers the Oklahoma City turned the ball over. because the houston rockets are turning them around if you look at this team right now that like in the playoffs so far covington is third in deflections james harden is fifth in the playoffs in fumble recoveries who in history the nba could have imagined james harden who can just fool him that's his reputation he's not going to try hard he won't play any defense he's fifth in the playoffs so far in fumbles recovered and pj tucker leads the playoffs in charges taken that's how they're beating the people with their defense last night, they clamped down on the Thunder down the stretch and this was the clutch team in the NBA and they were having a hard time finding a shot down that stretch that you're talking about and All I know is that the take of the game came from the least likely source in the rockets and you have to give credit to Pj Tucker yeah and if you look at the box score what did he do for the game? a total of two of eight, he has five points, but look he had nine rebounds and four steals, but he had a shot that won the game with 125 left.

What Shea Gilges Alexander had just done, he had run wide into the corner. They had found him and he had buried the three they suddenly made wait a second, thunder up, so thunder, I love that old time expression with obviously durant and westbrook in my hometown of

oklahoma

city

, thunder and all All of a sudden, Houston gets to the other end and if we could look at this shot that PJ made, they took him off the three-point line because all he does is shoot the corner three, that's it and Stephen Adams ran at him and he goes up and down, up and down and look at this James Harden, up and down, that's a tough shot, that's a little footer, right, you're not expecting it, how many of those did he shoot all year because I reviewed this?

For the year, he attempted 299 three-pointers, he attempted just 127 career two-pointers, so only 30 percent of his shots in the regular season were from two points and that's a career jumper that you go to the right of the basket and it's a touch shot that's not in your repertoire so you say: how do I do this? I barely do it how do I gently leave it just above the edge? shook it up yeah they never gave up the leadership of that point forward so we get to the game that you mentioned for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chris Paul has had a sensational year, he's led the decisive points, I understood that, but he creates for himself a open jump shot eight feet wide. in the lane, he's fine, this is it, this is this, this is for the leader and to your point, he has short arms and he doesn't even lift it over the edge, it's so short he just hits the front end. the rim and that will basically be the ball game that will bring us if you give Chris Paul 10 of those shots how many do you think he makes in the seventh game? 44 seconds left.

I don't know if it's the circumstances. Chris Paul has never done it. i played in the nba finals oh okay it's all a matter of circumstance but you want golden already taken that free throw game seven 59 in a row that's absurd it's just absurd okay then it had been the game Lew Dort Memorial. I love Lou Dort. I have tweeted about him. i said before that sam presti strikes again, breaks rc buford's block in san antonio, right, sam presti is always like r.c buford, finding that guy that no one else seems to know, so lou dort played a year in the state from Arizona, where obviously James Harden played and what Lou Dort did in his first year.

He was the PAC-12 Freshman of the Year and made the first-team all-defense team. Pac-12 made the second team with twelve ninety-five players of the year. Okay, so he waits a second. he didn't get drafted and the thunder stole him and they hid him in the g league for a lot of this you're not much but you're a part of this year and all of a sudden the first time i saw him play i was like that kid can play . He's built like a football player, he's a strong safety, he's 6-3 220 in all the years I've watched James Harden, a revolutionary game changing offensive player, I've never seen anyone defend him better than Lou Dort He defends it, I think they played. against each other starts games at arizona state in the off season because obviously they both went there well and there's something about this guy that beats it to the point every time james harden can't pass it well james harden can pass anyone obviously with the threat of the step back three puts you on skates and beats you with your right hand or your left hand to the basket and lou dort doesn't let him advance even an inch in any direction, right, i have never seen him do it with corpulence and quickness because he's so wide, James is like he can't find a crease, yeah he's beating me to the spot every time he stops me on the pass, he slides well, he has great lateral movement ability, but he's 220 pounds, Yes, it doesn't dislodge easily. from his spot and that's what James normally could do, normally he could separate, lower his shoulder and the kid is there, like I said, he's built like a football player, he's not, look at his shoulder, Those aren't basketball shoulders, no, so ludor.

He also dominated the game on offense and just for the record in this series as of last night, he was 7 of 38 from three, or 18 percent during the regular season. He was a 29.7 right-handed three-point shooter, okay? The game plan is going to say about Lou Dort, uh, let him shoot, yeah, let him shoot, and Lou Dort has the highest arc of any three-point shooter in the league, he just shoots these moonballs and last night, who knew if you were going in? or he misses by a mile, I could miss him by a mile, but they started reigning from the sky right through the rim, he makes six three-pointers and scores 30 points, how often will Oklahoma City be able to trust and depend on that? nothing you will never understand there were only two before lou dort there were only two guys 21 or younger who scored 30 points in game 7 you may have heard of them one is kobe bryant and the other is lebron james Lou.

Dougherty is in that company now jump that will be a trivia question someday have mercy so he's the reason they're afloat they're in the game and I told you yesterday if Oklahoma City can somehow hold on This until the last couple of minutes right, I imagine Oklahoma City will find another way to win. Yeah, so let's go to that final possession and see what James Harden did. on defense even though he can't scratch on offense, true, he's frustrated and tormented, but now let's see how this last play plays out, here we go, Chris Paul, he has nowhere to go and he hands it off to Shea Gill.

He almost got it and everything. a sudden look at James, he's guarding, he was guarding Stephen Adams and he had to wait until the last split second, the last split second, to leave Stephen because if he leaves him too soon, Shea Gills will just throw a dunk for Look at this James. he's guarding the center and at the last second he pulls the speedster off the blocks and again, who has drawn the most fouls in NBA history on three-pointers? Who understands how to foul a three-point shot? James Harden, right? the best box of fouls in three-point shots well, conversely, he is the best, I know how not to commit fouls in a three-point shot, look what he did, he went sideways and used his left arm, but he Make sure not to completely reach Dort's body. he goes completely sideways to block it, what happens with him is that he dominates with his left hand, he is a left-handed shooter and the doritos are right-handed, it is the perfect scenario so that he does not have to run towards his body, but the left actually It's you're off the arm, yeah, you'd think you'd go with your right more, but he knows that if I go with my right, I'll foul him more times than if you jump, you'll try to block the shot with your dominant way. uh, your dominant hand, okay, I got it, but it's smarter and sneakier, yeah, trying to get a little bit inside the left corner and use your left to block it and this is the hottest hand on the court.

Lou Dort has the ball. in his hands and number seven is about to happen, well guess what he had seen before in the previous game, he saw two situations that got someone in trouble because they went ahead and ended up filing it, I don't know if he saw. but again, he probably probably started or heard about it, yes, it's very possible, but that's perfect, a clean block, yes, without even a hint of a foul, there is no body touch and then avoiding the rebound even though Dord had already gone out of bounds. so he was already off limits, but again, this is James Harden.

James Harden made a defensive play to save the game, if you remember, a couple years ago my new guy hit James with the same block he got by blocking with his left hand. that was all mine who did this is a new guy this is the new james james harden is what makesthis defense works because if you look at covington plays defense pj tucker plays defense now russ is not a defensive guy but he is james harden because you will play difficult because your leader has to buy James Harden has to buy and then he says: "Okay "I have a piece of junk here." I have to get down on the ground and grab some of these loose balls.

Also, you can't have two or five on the ground getting loose. balls, yeah, when he accepted, like you mentioned, deflection, steals, shot blocking, now it's contagious, give him credit, like I said, he found another way to impact the game even though his offensive game wasn't there and if he wouldn't have done this jump considering he was 4 15 and the way he shot the three ball he would have been crushed this morning and rightly so okay and guess who else would have been crushed this morning. If I look at the fourth quarter score, his partner, so to speak. crime russell westbrook in the fourth quarter goes one of eight how many wild shots just came off the rim and that would have been under scrutiny yeah, but james on defense saved the day and then i'm going to give russ credit because

oklahoma

city

, the team of this year's Clutches basketball game, had one last throw-in from there down the court with 1.8 seconds left to maybe create another three for who knows Lou Dort and they can't get the ball in bounds and Shea Gill he just tries it and russ puts a hand on it russ puts a hand on it first and pj goes and catches it can i ask you a question? that's defense that's the houston rockets playing defense they couldn't even put the ball back you used two timeouts you used two, yeah, and the best play you could come up with was Steven Adams stepping six feet away from the basket again .

Mark Jackson was making the point. I think Tim Legler nailed it after the game. Also, it looked like Steven Adams was going to head to the basket because they don't have anyone his size, they are guarding him with six five people, hey you hear the thing jump if you go back and look at it, pj tuck is in front with no one behind him of him because uh uh uh covington is over Here Tall's pajamas maybe six four, give him six five just nine nine, yeah, Stephen Adams is seven feet tall so there's no one behind him and a 6'5 is versus a seven-footer.

I kept thinking they were going to throw him after a dunk at the buzzer to win the game because the type of play might have been tight, that is, but again, the clock won't start until he hits it right, so if you have it in the hoop and he goes and catches it in the air, he has a lot of time, one point, one point, two seconds, he can catch it and just because it's there in the basket and that's what you come up with after two timeouts, you achieve let your seven-foot shot go away from the basket.

That's the only thing you can think of, skip, I thought if he's in the game, Stephen Adams has to set better screens than that or he won't be helpful, you're not, you're not really trying to get him the ball, he's over there. because he is a big body and can scream, yes, those screams were a bit loud, so it really didn't help. You came out better by putting Dority in the game, at least you got another shooter because that street screen he put up was terrible, you're ready to fire Billy. donovan is where you're headed, be skip, they had less than a one percent chance of making the playoffs.

I thought this might have been Billy Donovan's best coaching job considering he took this team to the playoffs and took them to game seven. With a realistic chance of winning this game, I thought this might have been his best coaching job. Well, I don't think this was Mike D'Antoni's best coaching job because I'm never sure exactly how much he coaches, but in some ways maybe it was James's. this team became a defensive minded team and again they play in this strange amoeba zone where they constantly change you take atoms now you take atoms now you take atoms because no one is big enough to attack them no, but they face them behind him, in front of them , they're constantly morphing into different schemes, well, because he's not an offensive threat, he's a jump and roll to the basket type of guy, get a dunk, get a lob or get a shot, so you're not really running offensive sets for him, so they don't really put much emphasis on it, what's the chance?

I mean, Chris Paul once tried to say "get down on the block, I'll give it to you and him, him." shoot some kind of shot that wasn't even close to being effective on the next team, you realize anthony davis can post pj tucker, he can shoot over the top, he can put him on the floor and get to the rack, so if you play with him like this, it's going to be a completely different result, but last night's thunder jump had been great in these situations and this is what you skip, you dream of a situation where you've been great, it's like you're in the spelling bee when you see these kids they learn a word they practice and they start jumping, jump, I know, I know what I have, I'm going to win the spelling bee, well, thunder, this is the situation you dream about 33 times in In the regular season you've been in this situation and you came out victorious, but for some reason last night and I get it, it's game seven, Chris, look, there's nothing, we're going to get there, jump in the room.

Chris Paul and Scott Foster don't like it. They don't like each other, but Scott Foster hates, remember, James Harden said he shouldn't be allowed to take our games anymore. I think he's back. He might be my least favorite referee in all of basketball and it's game seven because I. I think Chris Paul lost another game 7 where Scott Foster is the referee, but he gave him a delay in a game he just skipped. Do I think the officiating had an impact on this game? Chris Paul clearly not, because I think the last two minutes we were playing football, everyone was running over everyone and I was like, okay, that's a foul, everyone looking around and no one called anything and right before the house, remember, Scott Foster caught a file on Covington in the defensive zone, there's an officer standing right there watching. at that and didn't say a word, Scott thought about walking in like you say vote, I've got a file on you bro and he called it gladly, like I've got you, yeah, so in the end, Mike D'Antoni used the ultimate cliche . and yet, it is the first time I have heard this cliché used in the Houston Rockets with James Harden, right, he said that in games of this magnitude in the playoffs you win with your heart, yes, I thought that in the end, Houston was discouraged, Oklahoma City, Houston only played a little. tougher turned into a wonderfully ugly basketball game, it was a little hard to watch, but exciting for all the wrong reasons, it was turnovers and missed layups and missteps and yet in the end, Houston prevailed because Houston played harder on defense and usually in the seven game, when it's close, it comes down to stopping it, if we go back to 2016, skip, it was the block, you have to stop it, you have to come up with that play, you have to get 50 50 Balls and rockets got more of those, but what they didn't do that okc did was okc flipped the ball.

Remember in game six they had 22 turnovers and the Thunder took over the ball and they slammed it off the glass. the game was the other way around okc they turned the ball over the rockets took care of the ball and they only gave up more three in the rebound margin well if you don't hit them against the glass if you're not more 10 more 15 more 20 So I know what's going to happen pass we go to every game, you know, I make two, the king will be the king of turnovers in this series because all the rockets will pick his pocket left and right, okay, look, okay, okay.

I want that energy now, I want that, okay, I want that energy, yeah, I would have because by the time I see, oh yeah, by the time we come back on Monday we'll be 2-0, okay, I might bet a case or two, thanks for watch, you can subscribe here to get the latest from the show and be sure to see more of the best clips from

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