Rockets’ victory over Thunder Show are already playing as if it were the post -station

Houston-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the first player to emerge in the corridor after the first half cycal, visibly disappointed while heading towards the locker room.

Not long afterwards, the third year striker Jalen Williams led the conglomerate of Oklahoma City Thunder players and coaches, none of whom pronounced a word. Alex Caruso applauded with enthusiasm, perhaps hoping to lift the spirits of his teammates, but the overwhelming silence was deafening.

It was an unusual show for Oklahoma City (64-13), winners of eleven consecutive games before the defeat for Friday 125-111 against the Houston Rockets and a team that seemed to control his destiny, having lost only twice from the All-Star break. But Houston, who he conquered a playoff place at the beginning of this weekApparently he launched a switch before his first trip to the post -station in four years and is anxious to send a message to the rest of the NBA.

The Thunder guided for all 44 seconds, with the rockets that enjoyed a comfortable pro-philo victory. Jalen Green has passed all the markers with 34 points in shooting at 11 on 24 and Alperenia şengün added 31 points for a shot 11 out of 21. Gilgeous-Alexander, the top scorer of the NBA, ended in the evening with 22 points in 22 shots. With the victory, Houston has strengthened his grip on seed n. 2 In the Western Conference and obtained an advantage at home in the first round of the playoffs.

“We popped up from this (the latest) 20 games,” said Rockets IME UDOKA coach. “Just to sharpen you towards the end of the season in many ways. You want to play the best to go to the playoffs and stay healthy, and these two things are like that. It is a luxury of having the depth we have, but also understanding what will happen.

“Four quality opponents arriving, we want to play a good basketball and tighten, start making a playoff atmosphere.”

Do not make mistakes, the Rockets, who have the remaining remaining program of the NBA, according to Tankathon, are dealing with the last five games of the regular season as a litmus test. And since every team that Houston will face between today and the end of the season is a playoff team of the western conference, these games are more than simple for sowing purposes.

“Depending on the importance of the game, you could keep (the patterns) vanilla,” said Udoka. “But if he is a must-win and you have to do things like taking them out of some things that have been successful against us recently, you start using those things. Having two practices has given us the opportunity to travel many things and go beyond their game plan.

“We threw more against them. Here’s how it will appear in the playoffs. Very specific on games, on the staff and we did it tonight.”

In the fifth and last meeting of Houston with Oklahoma City, it was important to neutralize the advantage of physicality they generally enjoy. Dillon Brooks, who had collected his sixteenth technical foul of the season, was suspended. But instead that Udoka has included Tari Eason or Jabari Smith Jr. in training, he went with the Steven Adams reserve center.

The decision to go with Adams on other options seemed to be a key in planning the game of the Thunder, especially from the opening suggestion. Less than two minutes from the game, the coach Mark Daigneault called a timeout, with his players confused on what was happening on the floor.

The combination of Adams e Şengün has yet to become an approach to a high volume-Solo 130 minutes together before Friday evening-but the insistence of Udoka in counteracting the trend of the spacing was rewarded in the dividends. The rockets are +33 in their minutes together this season.

“Bring physicality, of course,” added Udoka. “I think it was one of our most physical games from the beginning. I love aggression and attention to details on the game level. They do a good job by hammering the glass, obtaining the second opportunity and more than what they did. Any possibility that we can distribute it is favorable for us.”

The presence of Adams in the initial formation-and a great reason why the dual-Big combination has worked so far because of its physicality, which proves to both ends of the floor. Offensively, Adams’s competence around the glass is well documented with 12 rebounds (six offensive) against Oklahoma City. Defensively, the speed of Adams is underestimated, even at the age of 31 with a long history of accidents.

According to NBA.com monitoring data, the opponents are shooting at 59.7 percent on shots within six feet from the edge when Adams is the closest defender. This is almost a difference in five percent than when it is out of the floor. (Şengün rates in the same way, with opponents shoot 59.2 percent.)

On Friday evening it was a reminder of why the Rockets present themselves as a dark horse in front of the post -station. They can shave defensively, how to send a myriad of looks to Gilgeous-Alexander, and also have athleticism to punish the outdoor teams (they won the transition battle from 19 to 8).

“Shows when we are punctual, we pay attention to details and play hard. We are one of the best teams of NBA,” said Green. “If we do it in a coherent way and play hard, we hit the blows, it is rather difficult to protect. … these are the teams we are about to play, so we have to be acute.”

(Photo of Jalen Green: Erik Williams / Imagn Images)