Guitarsoup said:

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The rockets broadcast has laughed at how bad some of the no calls in favor of the Rockets have been.

Been really ugly.

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And yep. Rockets with four fouls in first four minutes of fourth but have played cleanest game ever since.

FTAG 2000 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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The rockets broadcast has laughed at how bad some of the no calls in favor of the Rockets have been.

Been really ugly.

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And yep. Rockets with four fouls in first four minutes of fourth but have played cleanest game ever since.

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It started back when they called over and back against Fox when Sheppard clearly deflected it back.

Rockets have double the FTs .

Guitarsoup said:

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Why are we going for Wemby Middies at the FT line?

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had the same thought. 7'4" and he is taking fade away jumpers at the FT line

Refs were bad but Area 51 was awful. Common theme in our losses is the offense just inexplicably decides they don't wanna move the ball anymore.

Spurs not going to the free throw line when they live and die by the three

Guitarsoup said:

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Why are we going for Wemby Middies at the FT line?

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Because we have been throwing up trash all quarter, why stop? Mitch just standing up at the scorers table with his arms crossed.

Someone explain why we can't run a play to get Julian an open look.

I don't get Mitch coaching at times

Vegas needed Rockets 4.5. Sure that was unrelated.

Fire Mitch. He's worthless. All he does is count minutes and make sure everyone is under their minute restriction.

I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

Sports-Ag said:

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Spurs not going to the free throw line when they live and die by the three

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They are getting beat to hell in the paint without getting any calls. Houston enabled to do whatever they want

HtownWilly12 said:

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Get to see the team in person in HOU tonight. Pretty pumped for the matchup. A little live Wemby action

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This is your fault. I want you banned from the Toyota Center if the Spurs are in town.


On a serious note....seems we're gassed. Dead legs, etc.

Enzo The Baker said:

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I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

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But when it's not working, like it hasn't all game, then Mitch needs to tell them to switch it up and do something different. Instead he just sits over there counting minutes restrictions with his head up his ass.

Sports-Ag said:

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I don't get Mitch coaching at times

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He's not that good and I think playoffs will bear it out. Our O goes into quarter long lulls without adjusting. And he's bottom five in challenges.

I get the sense he doesn't have the balls to tell Wemby to knock his **** off when he gets into these stretches like tonight where he wants to win on perimeter jumpers. He destroyed dallas opening night in the post and now all we get is a steady stream of jumpers. It's disappointing

Victor 5-21, 0-7 from 3. Castle 5-19, 2-8. Tough to overcome.

Average Joe said:

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Enzo The Baker said:

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I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

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But when it's not working, like it hasn't all game, then Mitch needs to tell them to switch it up and do something different. Instead he just sits over there counting minutes restrictions with his head up his ass.

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Agreed. When the outside side shot isn't falling Wemby should be put on the damn block rest of the game. Instead it's fire away Wemby, but only four minutes until we pull you for health and feels.

To end the third quarter and start the fourth, spurs 8 possessions were all 3 pointers and they made none! Mitch doesn't say anything to say shoot inside. During those missed shots, rockets were making buckets and catching up

FTAG 2000 said:

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Average Joe said:

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Enzo The Baker said:

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I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

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But when it's not working, like it hasn't all game, then Mitch needs to tell them to switch it up and do something different. Instead he just sits over there counting minutes restrictions with his head up his ass.

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Agreed. When the o ur side shot isn't falling Wemby should be put on the damn block rest of the game. Instead it's fire away Wemby, but only four minutes until we pull you for health and feels.

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We needed to feed him down low. Felt more like he was afraid of getting more cheap shots from dirty ass Sengun and didn't want to challenge it. They didn't have Adams, we should have taken advantage of our size more.

FTAG 2000 said:

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Average Joe said:

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Enzo The Baker said:

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I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

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But when it's not working, like it hasn't all game, then Mitch needs to tell them to switch it up and do something different. Instead he just sits over there counting minutes restrictions with his head up his ass.

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Agreed. When the o ur side shot isn't falling Wemby should be put on the damn block rest of the game. Instead it's fire away Wemby, but only four minutes until we pull you for health and feels.

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I disagree. His midrange has been solid all season. He's our guy. The shots were open. He needs to make them and he didn't. It's not like we were getting better looks in the 4th.

LawHall88 said:

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Victor 5-21, 0-7 from 3. Castle 5-19, 2-8. Tough to overcome.

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Not really. You just tell your 7'5" alien to stop playing like a guard. It's not very hard. It's insane that Kornet runs a pick and roll 100x better than Wemby.

FTAG 2000 said:

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Sports-Ag said:

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I don't get Mitch coaching at times

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He's not that good and I think playoffs will bear it out. Our O goes into quarter long lulls without adjusting. And he's bottom five in challenges.

I get the sense he doesn't have the balls to tell Wemby to knock his **** off when he gets into these stretches like tonight where he wants to win on perimeter jumpers. He destroyed dallas opening night in the post and now all we get is a steady stream of jumpers. It's disappointing

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He sucks at challenging!

Guitarsoup said:

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FTAG 2000 said:

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Average Joe said:

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Enzo The Baker said:

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I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

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But when it's not working, like it hasn't all game, then Mitch needs to tell them to switch it up and do something different. Instead he just sits over there counting minutes restrictions with his head up his ass.

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Agreed. When the o ur side shot isn't falling Wemby should be put on the damn block rest of the game. Instead it's fire away Wemby, but only four minutes until we pull you for health and feels.

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We needed to feed him down low. Felt more like he was afraid of getting more cheap shots from dirty ass Sengun and didn't want to challenge it. They didn't have Adams, we should have taken advantage of our size more.

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How will we feed him down low when he's not strong enough to get down low? And he was struggling mightily on the block with his back against the basket. He kind of always does due to his lack of strength. It's a major area of improvement for him.

Enzo The Baker said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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FTAG 2000 said:

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Average Joe said:

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Enzo The Baker said:

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I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

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But when it's not working, like it hasn't all game, then Mitch needs to tell them to switch it up and do something different. Instead he just sits over there counting minutes restrictions with his head up his ass.

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Agreed. When the o ur side shot isn't falling Wemby should be put on the damn block rest of the game. Instead it's fire away Wemby, but only four minutes until we pull you for health and feels.

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We needed to feed him down low. Felt more like he was afraid of getting more cheap shots from dirty ass Sengun and didn't want to challenge it. They didn't have Adams, we should have taken advantage of our size more.

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How will we feed him down low when he's not strong enough to get down low? And he was struggling mightily on the block with his back against the basket. He kind of always does due to his lack of strength. It's a major area of improvement for him.

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Very true, but we also have Luke, Julian, and Keldon, who are all strong enough to screen to get him position. Then Houston is playing catch up to Wemby's position, which puts them in position that is more likely for them to foul (which these refs wouldn't call.)

Enzo The Baker said:

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FTAG 2000 said:

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Average Joe said:

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Enzo The Baker said:

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I don't mind those looks from Victor. He can knock them down. He has just played a horrendous game all around though. Fox too. The rockets turned up the defense in the last 15 mins or so. We ran out of gas and it showed by not trying to get to the line.

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But when it's not working, like it hasn't all game, then Mitch needs to tell them to switch it up and do something different. Instead he just sits over there counting minutes restrictions with his head up his ass.

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Agreed. When the o ur side shot isn't falling Wemby should be put on the damn block rest of the game. Instead it's fire away Wemby, but only four minutes until we pull you for health and feels.

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I disagree. His midrange has been solid all season. He's our guy. The shots were open. He needs to make them and he didn't. It's not like we were getting better looks in the 4th.

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All season yes but he was struggling tonight before the fourth. Expecting his shot to magically improve in the last quarter when they were playing tight and the refs swallowed their whistles was a losing proposition.

His last four shots were all contested. Low percentage. Same story for Julian in the fourth. Basically him deciding to shoot with man close and getting blocked. Run a ****ing screen for someone Mitch.

The parallels between the Mitch and Earley hire are there. Both are learning on the job and were internal choices with players involved. Mitch has to get better at getting them in sets when lulls begin to happen and for goodness sakes he has to get better at challenges. We blitz teams early in games showing that the talent is obviously there.

I can recall only about a few dozen times, after a game like tonight, Pop would blast even the best Spurs Dynasty teams for being soft. Different time, different tone, but I think Mitch is basically saying the same thing. pic.twitter.com/KkZVjUFFWQ

— Don Harris (@DonHarris4) January 21, 2026

Sounds like we need to find our Jerome Kersey and Mario Elie

We shot eight straight threes to start the fourth. It's ridiculous to shoot that much from outside when they are not falling. It was actually more than that if you go back to the third quarter as we ended that period with bricks from three also.

We had Houston on the ropes, just need to make a couple of buckets and that game was over. Yet we didn't put a point on the board until Harper came in and drove into the lane and made a nice little shot a good five or six minutes into the fourth. That is just inexcusable.

Is Mitch responsible for all the misses? No. But he could put a better lineup on the court that could actually shoot. He could take a timeout and actually run a set piece to get us an easy shot in the lane or a dunk or something. But the guy took a time out and we literally came out of it and miss three more three-pointers. It has been the same story and multiple losses of this season where we are up 10 and we're going into the fourth. We trot out a crop lineup with one shooter and keep firing away from deep, and watch the lead to get sucked down while the other team just converts easy shots. How many losses will it take for anyone on the team to learn? Isn't that what a good coach should be solving?

Jillian had made eight three-pointers and we sat him for the first six minutes of the fourth. While we couldn't shoot to save our lives. Would love an explanation from Mitch on that one. Just dumb.

And then you get to the last two minutes, and what did we run? Nothing to free anyone up, just hero ball and hope someone makes a contested basket. Garbage.

Really hope he figures it out, because it feels like we are headed for a loss in the playoffs where we just don't make any adjustments and wonder why we lost.

I didn't say he isn't good, I said it pretty obvious he is learning on the job. You are right also in saying we are ahead of schedule. If we had to guess how many wins after 44 games, not many people would say 30. Now that being said, you can't just assume you will continue to improve each year and say "Next year will be even better!" They need to maximize what they have in the here and now and part of that is taking more control when you start to see the lulls. I'm also hoping that maybe they are letting them play on purpose to use as teaching moments but the 3rd quarter momentum shifts seem very redundant now.

Part of his learning on the job is still figuring out how to work the officials. During the Minnesota game I was ready for him to absolutely lose it on them but he remained pretty stoic.

Kevin Durant talks about their game plan against Wemby:

“He’s still working on his jump shot . He’s more scary when he’s inside the paint getting layups and dunks, that’s more of his game than shooting jump shots”

“When they go in it looks amazing but when you put a hand up,… pic.twitter.com/vQ68INrDVc

— . (@Kd7_Szn) January 21, 2026

Should be a must watch for Mitch and Vic.

Julian also led the team in minutes even after resting to start the 4th, so it isn't like Julian was just benched. Julian rested the first 3 minutes of the 4th then played the rest of the quarter. And Julian shot just 2-7 in the 2nd half, so maybe that had something to do with it.

The Spurs just don't do well with bigger, physical teams and these refs just decided to swallow their whistle in the last 15 minutes, which meant that Amen, Jabari, Sengun, and DFS could just hack the **** out of us without calls. Sengun looked shocked a foul wasn't called on him when he fouled Fox on that shot just inside the FT line with about a minute left. And when we aren't getting the calls that should be made, like most teams, we revert to outside shots.

The San Diego Clippers are trading a 2027 first-round G League pick to Austin in order to acquire Cam Reddish from
the Spurs, sources say, and bring the former lottery pick to Los Angeles’ affiliate club. https://t.co/lYwyg0s8ey

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) January 21, 2026

Big moves