ESPN comments: Although the Rockets were eliminated, they were amazing enough; they just lost to experience and Hilder

Commented by ESPN, a famous American sports media on May 6: Although the Rockets defeated the Warriors at home 89:103 yesterday and were eliminated by 3-4 in the first round of the Western Conference playoff series, the Rockets' performance on both offense and defense in seven games in their first playoffs is still worthy of recognition, and they won two consecutive games with a big score of 1-3. Their performance was amazing, allowing everyone to see their progress this season and huge room for improvement in the future.

ESPN believes that the Rockets lost to the Warriors in the tiebreak battle, which is actually just an unexpected situation, because they did not lose to the Warriors' absolute core stars Curry and Butler on both ends of offense and defense. It was just because of the sudden outbreak of role player Hilder that changed the direction of the victory of this game. The Rockets' restrictions on Curry and Butler's defensive end were already perfect. If it weren't for Hilder's amazing nine-point three-point performance in this game, the Warriors might have been eliminated in the end, so the Rockets don't need to deny themselves too easily!

ESPN Conclusion: The Rockets can continue to polish the strength of the internal team while maintaining the original main lineup roughly unchanged during the offseason in 2025, and there is no need to trade young and potential players to get Durant. You should know that a 38-year-old Durant is not worth letting the Rockets waste the opportunity for young players to grow. Just like the Thunder, they have maintained the continuous growth of the team's main lineup for three consecutive seasons, and have achieved the strength of the league's first record this season. The Rockets are still making great efforts to make steady progress next season!