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[Houston Rockets]

The Rockets should pick up the pace

A lot of Rockets fans just witnessed their first full, top-down rebuild.

Some of us have been here before.

When the Rockets’ geriatric Olajuwon/Barkley/Pippen trio finally got put to pasture, the team’s future was unclear. Had Steve Francis not rejected Vancouver (a beautiful city, as long as you’re not in the DTES), who knows what may have happened?

When he arrived in Space City, the future was crystallized. Cuttino Mobley was the cherry on top. The Rockets would build the league’s highest octane offense around a dynamic backcourt:

But Yao Ming had other plans.

The Rockets weren’t supposed to land the number one pick in 2002. They defied the lottery Gods when they still had dominion – the odds weren’t flattened yet, but the Rockets landed the first pick with the ninth-highest odds anyway.

The rest is history. Francis and Ming proved a suspect fit, so the Rockets flipped Francis and Mobley for Tracy McGrady. They built an outstanding roster around their star duo, and could have won an NBA title if not for untimely injuries.

Rockets fans got attached to a vision. Something better came along, and the organization smartly pivoted.

History has now repeated itself.

The tanking Rockets were going to be built around supreme athleticism. That was clear once they selected Jalen Green. The opportunity to grab roughly the most athletic person ever in Amen Thompson solidified the vision: This team was going to run:

But Alperen Sengun was the new Yao Ming.

No lottery luck needed. The Rockets wisely made a draft-day deal to acquire Sengun. He’s emerged as their best player, and the vision has changed. The Rockets have constructed a slower half-court attack around Sengun’s strengths. They even flipped Green for one of the very best half-court scorers in NBA history to bolster their plan of attack.

And that’s great! In the postseason, half-court offense always reigns supreme. The league’s best teams don’t cede transition opportunities willingly. The game slows down. It’s optimal to generate the bulk of your offense in half-court sets:

But are the Rockets taking it too far?

Rockets could stand to run​

As of this writing, the Rockets’ 97.26 pace ranks 28th in the NBA. Only the Celtics and Clippers play slower.

Sengun’s offensive approach isn’t the only reason the Rockets slow it down. As the league’s best offensive rebounding team, it behooves them to slow it down. Crashing the boards puts you in a less ideal position to defend transition, and the Rockets want to be set up to collect misses anyway.

Nobody is suggesting the Rockets overhaul their approach. The team’s third-ranked 121.4 Offensive Rating speaks for itself:

But there’s certainly room to tinker.

Firstly, the Rockets could be less committed to twin-towers lineups. Go ahead and scour CleaningTheGlass: You won’t find a double big lineup with meaningful floor time and a positive differential.

Frankly, I’d give Jabari Smith Jr. a bit more time at the 5. He’s playing 3% of his minutes there in 2025-26, which is a career low by far.

For those suffering PTSD (Piercey-Traumatic Stress Disorder): No, I don’t want to squeeze Sengun out.

The team can run with Sengun in the lineup. If he collects the board, he can leverage his floor vision to push the pace and make a quick outlet pass. When Thompson gets the board, Sengun is often near the halfcourt line by the time he’s dribbling anyway. Sengun defends further from the basket than an average big man, so that puts him in a position to receive transition passes.

Perhaps Tari Eason’s return will incentivize the Rockets to run. His 1.8% Steal Percentage is far below his career 2.9% mark. If Eason can get back to his terrorizing ways, it could create opportunities for Houston to push the pace.

Once more: This isn’t about changing everything. The Rockets are in good shape. Most of their strategic pillars are strong. If they could just bump that pace up from 28th to, say, 20th or so, they’ll be able to capitalize on their surplus of athletic players to generate some easy transition buckets:

Even if it’s not the primary source of their identity.

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rockets-analysis/37269/the-houston-rockets-should-pick-up-the-pace

 

[Houston Rockets]

Houston Rockets vs. New Orleans Pelicans game preview

Thanks to a fun twist of fate, I’m in New Orleans and will be at tonight’s game. So if the Houston Rockets lose, you’ll know exactly who to blame.

The New Orleans Pelicans are 5-22 and dead last in the Western Conference. They’ve already traded their first round pick in next year’s draft for Derik Queen (who’s been good!), a deal that will probably haunt them this summer. Their other pick in that draft, Jeremiah Fears, has been fun but is still a rookie and needs time.

Basically, every Pelican outside of those rookies is on the trade block. Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones both have three years left on their deals, so any team that can snag them for a single first round pick and filler would probably feel like they got a steal. Saddiq Bey has been playing well and is much cheaper.

Lurking, of course, is the spectre of Zion Williamson, who has only played 11 games this season. The Pelicans are 2-9 in those games, with both of those wins coming against the Chicago Bulls. Just an interesting tidbit.

New Orleans is 28th in eFG% but grab offensive rebounds at a high rate (seventh in the league). Meanwhile, they allow the most efficient shooting to their opponents and don’t defensively rebound particularly well. Houston isn’t getting to the line as often as they did in the early season, but some regression was to be expected.

Tip-off​

7pm CT

How To Watch​

Space City Home Network

Injury Report​

Rockets​

Tari Eason: GTD (leg)

Dorian Finney-Smith: OUT (ankle)

Pelicans​

Dejounte Murray: OUT

The Line (as of this post)​

N/A

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can​

Saturday night on the road against the Denver Nuggets (again)

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...-rockets-vs-new-orleans-pelicans-game-preview

 

[Houston Rockets]

Rockets look to get back in the win column in NOLA vs the Pels

Houston Rockets vs New Orleans Pelicans​

December 18, 2025​

Location: Smoothie King Center – New Orleans, LA

TV: SCHN

Radio:KBME Sports Talk 790

Online: Rockets App, SCHN+

Gametime: 7:00 PM CST

Probable Starting Lineups​

Rockets: A. Thompson, Josh Okogie, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun

Pelicans: Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones, Jeremiah Fears, Zion Williamson, Derik Queen

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...-zion-williamson-alperen-sengun-amen-thompson

 

[Houston Rockets]

Rockets blow a 25-point lead to the Pelicans and fall 133-128 in OT

In recent days the Rockets inability to execute down the stretch against the upper echelon of teams in the NBA has been well covered. The New Orleans Pelicans were 5-22 going into Thursday’s game in NOLA. They have young talented players, but they are nothing close to the “upper echelon” of teams. That didn’t stop the Rockets from doing the same things that caused them to lose their previous three games on the road.

The Rockets led 99-83 going into the fourth quarter after giving up 38 points in the third letting the Pelicans dwindle down what had been a 25-point lead to 16 points. It was a tale of two halves as the Pels had only scored 45 points in the first half. In addition to the Rockets allowing the Pelicans to shoot 50.5-percent from the field, including 68-percent in the second half alone, and sending New Orleans to the free-throw line 28 times, with them making 24 of those free-throws, the Houston Rockets looked as if they forgot how to play offensive basketball in the fourth quarter and overtime, where they scored 20 and 9 points respectively.

The familiar problem of offensive incoherence, lack of ball movement, players stating around and at times looking as if this team doesn’t even practice half-court offense. With the Pelicans taking the ball out of Kevin Durant’s hands down the stretch the Rockets looked lackadaisical on the week side, unable to take advantage of the 4-on-3 advantage. Their lack of aggressiveness and hesitance only led to turnovers and bad shots. The Rockets shot 42-percent in the second half and turned the ball over 18 times in the game, five of those coming in the 4th quarter. In contrast, the Pelicans got whatever they wanted in the second half, with Saddiq Bey and Trey Murphy III leading the way for them.

The Rockets were lazy offensively and defensively, but one of the biggest indictments of their play down the stretch was that Kevin Durant played 42 minutes and scored 32 points on only 15 shots Ime Udoka was unable to find any creative way to get him free and the rest of the team seemed too scared to try and go make a play. Don’t take my word for it, those were the words of Ime Udoka after the game. Kevin Durant said after the game that the Rockets second half was “not indicative of who we are.” Well Kevin, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is kind of indicative of who this team has been in their disappointing losses, and it’s what’s beginning to make Rockets fans a bit uneasy.

We know this team is talented. Alperen Sengun nearly tallied his second double-double in as many games with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Yet for the second game in a row, he was a negative in the plus/minus category. Amen Thompson with 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists and yet was a -9 in the game. It’s not time to panic but lack of team execution down the stretch is a real concern that the team will need to figure out, or the calls for them to make a move will only grow louder and louder.

The Rockets have four games remaining on this road trip, starting with their second game in Denver this week, coming up on Saturday. They should be eager to get the bitter taste of their last two losses out of their mouths. We will be right here as always previewing the game, opening up the discussion to all of you during the game, and of course recapping after the fact. Happy Holidays to all of you TDS faithful! Let’s bounce back on Saturday.

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...en-sengun-saddiq-bey-trey-murphy-amen-tompson

 

[Houston Rockets]

The fine was well worth the message for Rockets Ime Udoka

Ime Udoka is about as authentic as it gets. He doesn’t hold back.

Just ask Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, who Udoka told to stop bitching about officiating. Sure, it got him ejected, but the message was beyond worth the punishment.

Especially when considering the effect that it had on his Houston Rockets players. It let them know that their coach was going to ride for them, no matter what. Publicly.

The Rockets players were thinking the same thing as Udoka. They realized the whistle was titled in the Los Angeles Lakers’ favor, but they’ve been taught not to let officiating affect them.

(Not to mention a lot of them at that time were still on rookie deals and likely didn’t want to give money back to the league).

Fast forward two years. Well, fast forward to December 15th, 2025, in particular.

The Rockets were in a slug fest with the Denver Nuggets and had traded blows with them for several hours.

Houston led 117-116 with just two seconds left.

Then it happened.

The referees struck once again, although this time determining the outcome. Well, let’s just say influencing it.

A phantom foul was called on Amen Thompson towards Tim Hardaway Jr. The camera angle would determine whether many thought it was a foul (which means it wasn’t a foul).

Denver hit a free throw and won the game in overtime.

Afterwards, Udoka went no-holds-barred, unloading on the officiating. The Cliff Notes version of Udoka’s rant was that the game was “the most poorly officiated game he had seen in a long time”, two of the referees had no business being out there, and the crew chief was “acting star struck”.

The next day, the NBA released their last two minute report, noting that it was indeed an incorrect call on Thompson, in addition to two other calls in the waning moments of the game, that all went against the Rockets.

The NBA also dropped the hammer relatively quickly on Udoka, fining the Rockets coach $25,000.

As a side note, if they were in agreement with Udoka regarding the poor officiating, why fine him?

(And not to pocket watch, but what’s $25,000 for someone making $11 million annually?)

But the message was worth the punishment for Udoka. Again, he said exactly what the players (and even fans) were thinking.

And once again, the teams knows he’s going to ride for them and have their back, publicly, even if it leads to punishment (or a semblance of it) for Udoka. And that’s worth much more than the fine.

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...rth-the-message-for-houston-rockets-ime-udoka

 

[Houston Rockets]

Houston Rockets vs. Denver Nuggets game preview

The six-game road trip from hell continues tonight. It’s “from hell” because it involved a game thrust onto the Houston Rockets at the list minute as a result of the NBA Cup schedule fixes (at Denver), followed by a flight back east to take on (and lose to) the New Orleans Pelicans. Then it’s a flight right back to Denver for today’s contest. And then finally, the three-game California road trip has not been kind to Ime Udoka and his Rockets during his tenure.

We just saw this game, so there isn’t much more to say. With a win, the Nuggets wrap up the tiebreaker over Houston. Nikola Jokic is still amazing. Jamal Murray is having a great early season and will probably make his first All-Star team. A random Nugget player will have a career night. And if the Nuggets desperately need a point late, Tim Hardaway Jr. can just trip over himself again.

Tip-off​

4pm CT

How To Watch​

Space City Home Network and NBA TV

Injury Report​

Rockets​

Tari Eason: GTD (leg)

Dorian Finney-Smith: OUT (ankle)

Nuggets​

Aaron Gordon: OUT

Christian Braun: OUT

The Line (as of this post)​

N/A

Check here for updates

Looking ahead because we can​

Tomorrow night on the road against the Sacramento Kings

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...ouston-rockets-vs-denver-nuggets-game-preview

 

[Houston Rockets]

Rockets granted $12.5M disabled player exception for Fred VanVleet

On Tuesday afternoon, Kelly Iko with Yahoo Sports announced that “the Houston Rockets were recently granted a $12.5 million Disabled Players Exemption for guard Fred VanVleet, who tore his right ACL prior to training camp, and despite the DPE (Disabled Player Exception), Houston is still hard-capped at the first apron.”

The Houston Rockets were recently granted a $12.5 million Disabled Players Exemption for guard Fred VanVleet, source told @YahooSports. VanVleet tore his right ACL prior to training camp.

Houston is still hard-capped at the first apron. https://t.co/Ve5ivJy40m

— Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) December 16, 2025

The Rockets expected Fred VanVleet to be their starting point guard, as he had been the previous two seasons. But in September, he tore his ACL, ending his season. Because of this, Ime Udoka, the head coach, had to be inventive with the lineup for 2025–2026. So far this season, Amen Thompson has started for Houston at point guard. Center Alperen Sengun leads the Rockets with 7.1 assists per game, and the team’s offense is much improved.

On October 27, the Rockets requested a disabled player exception as Fred VanVleet had finished his season. On Tuesday, December 16, NBA source Kelly Iko said that Houston has gotten a $12.5 million DPE for Fred VanVleet. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN, despite acquiring the DPE, the Rockets are still hard-capped at the first apron.

Prior to Houston’s trade to acquire Kevin Durant, Houston was linked to Giannis Antetokounmpo throughout the offseason. Antetokounmpo is not anticipated to be available to the Rockets this season, though.

Furthermore, Houston can only add players with veteran minimum contracts. With the squad they have put together, the team isn’t really flexible. In 2025–2026, Fred VanVleet’s $25 million salary was the Rockets’ third-highest. Additonally Fred Vanvleet, Jae’sean Tate, and Aaron Holiday all have implicit no trade clasues, which means they are extremely unlikely to be traded. The Rockets will continue to use the roster they built for 2025–2026 for the time being, as the group thinks they can compete in the West as currently constructed

Houston continues their long roadtrip with a game versus the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday at Smoothie King Arena with a 7:00 tip-off time. You can watch the game on Space City Home Network or NBA League Pass. As always, be on the lookout for pre- and post-game content here at the Dreamshake.

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...m-disabled-player-exception-for-fred-vanvleet

 

[Houston Rockets]

Rockets bounce back in Denver; defeat the Nuggets 115-101

When Ime Udoka called the Rockets out for their embarrassing effort on defense in the overtime loss to New Orleans, it was a sure bet that the defensive effort would be anything but embarrassing. In fact, they responded by holding the highest scoring offense in the NBA to 40-percent shooting, and their lowest scoring output of the season. Meanwhile, the Rockets had one of their best shooting performances of the season. What that added up to was a 14-point win for the Rockets and getting off the hook for continuing to lose to elite competition.

The defense started off shaky in the first quarter, with the Rockets giving up 29 points in large part due to turnovers. After jumping out to an early 10-2 lead the Rockets turned the ball over t times before mid-way through quarter and the Nuggets quickly dropped the deficit to 14-12 before Ime Udoka immediately jumped off the bench and called time out. The Nuggets ended the quarter with 29 points on 54 percent shooting. However, the Rockets would follow up that effort by holding the Nuggets to their lowest scoring quarter of the season, 16 points on 31.5 percent shooting.

That defensive effort would set the tone for the remainder of the game, up until just over four minutes to go in the game, when Ime Udoka felt safe enough to begin pulling starters and bringing in the bottom of the bench. That’s when the Rockets began playing with their food a bit, and the Nuggets were able to reduce a 21-point lead to 10 points with just over two minutes to go, forcing Ime to bring starters back in. Ultimately, the Rockets pulled off an impressive win over an elite team. Granted the Nuggets were missing important players, but the same can be said of the Rockets, proving that depth is the name of the game.

Kevin Durant and Reed Sheppard were both impressive and impactful in this game. Reed dropped 28 points off the bench in 30 minutes of play. He shot 9-of-15 from the field, 6-of-9 from three, added 2 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 steals and 6 assists. During his best stretch he scored 11 straight points. Most impressively, he only turned the ball over one time in 30 minutes on the floor Durant was determined to not let the Rockets have another let down as he was aggressive and efficient with 31 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists. Durant was in his bag and brought an edge to the Rockets that had been missing in the previous two meetings.

Alperen Sengun didn’t have the mega box score he had in the previous meeting, with only 8 points on 4-of-9 shooting, but unlike the last meeting he was a +24 on the floor. He and Stephen Adams held Nikola Jokic to a relatively subpar performance, at least by Joker standards. He finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, 5 fouls, and was a -20 on the floor.

The Rockets can put to rest for now they narrative that they are unable to beat teams .600 or better, but that won’t go away until they can do so consistently. Their next shot will come on Christmas day against Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers. Rockets fans will likely still be a little on edge until then, but don’t let it get in the way of your last minute Christmas shopping. If the Rockets are paying attention, all we want for Christmas is a three-game winning streak headed into that game. With Sacramento coming up tomorrow, and the Clippers on Tuesday, surely that isn’t too much to ask? We will be right here to cover it all, my TDS family. Go Rockets!

Source: https://www.thedreamshake.com/rocke...engun-nikola-jokic-reed-sheppard-jamal-murray