Well, the month of November is nearly at an end, people are feasting and hopefully not fighting.

Let’s take a look at the dinner table and see what’s prepared for us today:

1 – The Main Course – Turkey, not Turkiye.

Just as we all expected, the Houston Rockets are 14-6, second in a loaded Western Conference and on a pace for 56ish wins. It’s not insane to say this, it’s not crazy to talk “on a pace”, as we’re now at roughly 25% of the season played. The team’s point differential is fourth in the NBA, and also second in the West.

The reason the Rockets act will keep playing into the season is defense. The best defense in the NBA is the OKC Thunder, with 103 points surrendered per game. The Rockets? 103.7, in two more games played, with five back-to-backs in 20 games.

Many might think the starting lineup is weak, and the bench saves the Rockets. This simply isn’t true. The starters are, as a group, very strong, even if the only NBA wide standout right now is Sengun. Amen Thompson and Tari “Do A Bit Less On Offense” Eason form the rest of the core of what’s turning into a tight rotation in tight games.

2 – Cranberry Sauce – This Team Should Get Better

This Rockets team should really get better. It’s understandable that a head coach seeks out his most reliable lineup, his most clutch performers. You do this in case for example you need to win a hotly contested NBA Cup Game (and yes, they ARE hotly contested, because basketball players and coaches are very competitive people) on the road in overtime against a team that’s off to a disappointing start. You want to know this in case you’re playing a truly desperate team that’s seeing its dream of contention shatter. One that’s rested for two days, while your team has rested maybe five hours in a hotel room.

Right now that group is: Alpie, Fred, Jalen, Jabari, Dillon, Amen, Tari.

That might be bad in terms of minutes. It’s good in that every one of those players is an NBA starter in terms of ability. Some might be much more.

But that leaves – Reed Sheppard, Cam Whitmore, Jock Landale, Steven Adams, Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday. I’d argue all those guys are also NBA level players, and a couple might be much more.

PS – Fresh cranberry sauce is VERY easy to make. It’s something you can assign to a child who wants to help out, with whatever level of supervision is required. They’ll be proud, and it’s quick, and the payoff is high for the effort.

3. The Odd Side From The Depths of Time Involving Canned Soup That You Secretly Love

Some might say it’s gross. Some might question why it’s on the table. Some wonder why it exists at all. But it delivers something that no amount of grilled Brussels sprouts with black vinegar, or roast cauliflower ever can.

It delivers 41pts/7rbs/2stl/1blk on 12-20 shooting, 4-6 3pt, 13-14FT when everyone else seems flat, or constantly pushing uphill.

It’s often not so great, there are often better things on the table. But when a daring 0-11 experiment in grilled tofu and pureed asparagus is lying there untouched, it comes through. You know it should be better, but how can you not bring it to the table, knowing what you know about the inconsistency of the rest of the sides?

Jalen is in my opinion, one of the most confidence driven players I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen a guy where good results lead to more good results, and bad ones lead to bad results, quite like Jalen Green. There doesn’t seem to be a steady middle ground of consistency at this point.

4. The Sweet Potatoes

The star. This would be Alperen Sengun. He’s a top player in a lot of categories: +/- (6th). defensive win shares(1st), offensive rebounds (3rd), win shares (8th).

The list goes on, but the point is, the sort of players that show up in these sorts of categories are stars. They’re important players to the team. The reason Alpie doesn’t show up in some of the more traditional metrics, like points per game, is that his usage isn’t that high, a mere 26%. Sure, his true shooting could be higher, but pretty much all the other success metrics are great.

Do you make sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving? If so, do you top them with marshmallows or with a mix of chopped pecans, butter and brown sugar? If you’ve never had them the latter way, give it a try. I don’t think you’ll go back.

5. Going for A Quick Walk To Clear My Head

So much at the table. So much food. So much work for it all to be over so quickly (which is why the leftovers are in some way the best part). Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, and you wonder if you ate the right things, ate too much, didn’t eat enough, or can even face the idea of pie. Or pies. Who could even think of dessert right now?

You need a walk to clear your head, to help you get your equilibrium back.

Reed Sheppard might need a brisk walk too. Or a trip to the Rio Grande Valley, to join Cam Whitmore on the Vipers.

Aaron Holiday can very much handle 9 minutes of sort of playing point guard per night.

Reed needs to be somewhere to get his confidence back. To get shots up, distribute the ball, work on his basket attacks and not be terrified of making a mistake. Fred VanVleet often puts up not one bad shot, but a series of them. He is not immediately glued to the bench for doing so. Yes, that’s because he’s basically the only organizing force on the Rockets offense.

Still, point guards can’t live in total fear of mistakes. It bottles up the skills and instincts that make them point guards.

I don’t think Reed needs months there, but he does need minutes. He needs a chance to be the guy who was drafted 3rd overall. Ime Udoka backseat driving every single Reed Sheppard possession maybe isn’t helping development so much as making for a player who is starting to look paranoid, rather than confident.