No time to panic despite place in standings
Although they are next to last in West, players, coaches confident even as schedule toughens
After losing their third consecutive game at Dallas on Saturday, the Rockets are reeling. But 25 games into the regular season, it is too early to press the panic button even as the Western Conference playoff pack thickens.
“Everyone seems to be having nights where it’s like, ‘Oh wow, that’s a wow result,’ and the back is pretty tight,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Having said that, every game’s hard. And yeah, if you could go on a streak and win a lot of games, you can catch up very quickly if not go ahead of everybody.”
The chance to start such a streak and move up in the standings begins Tuesday night when the Rockets host Portland. Yet any optimism must be tempered by the reality of their upcoming schedule.
Of the Rockets’ 10 remaining opponents in 2018,only two missed the playoffs last season. And the two that did — the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies — sit among the top six in the West. And the Rockets’ first game of 2019 is a Jan. 3 date at Golden State.
“Yeah, it’s doable, but we have to do it against really good teams,” D’Antoni said. “It’s getting late in the sense of we’re in a hole. But
you can’t be a great team and get out of a hole unless we start playing.”
There are aspects of histeam’s recent struggles that don’t much concern D’Antoni, whether it it Chris Paul’s missed free throws or James Harden’s errant 3pointer down the stretch in Saturday’s three-point loss to the Mavericks.
“They’ve done it their whole careers, so I’m not worried about it,” D’Antoni said. “But it’s really important to have the urgency we did have against Dallas, and we played pretty well (although) we can still do a better job boxing out.
“Like anybody else, we’re upset about it. You don’t sleep well, and you’re trying to search for answers, and they’re doing the same thing. Now, nobody’s confidence is shaken, and it’s not like (a) woeis-me attitude.”
For Rockets players, the losing is predictably frustrating. Still, different results are to be expected with a different team.
“Obviously, we’ve had some injuries and stuff to start the season, which is not easy. Our bench this season is different, so we just have to stay with it,” center Clint Capela said.
“We try to talk about it, but we also know that last year the team was a lot different. I remember we had a lot more vets. This year, we have a lot of young guys we have to help. It’s a new system, a new defense that they have to adapt (to). They’re playing with the two best guards in the league, so they have to adapt to that too, so it’s not making it easy.”
In light of last season’s trip to the Western Conference finals, where the Rockets took the Warriors to seven games, the fall from the elite has been surreal.
“It can be mind-boggling,” guard Eric Gordon said. “But at the end of the day, it’s still early in the season, and we still have a chance to make some noise.”
To do that, the Rockets need to be more efficient and disciplined, particularly on defense.
“A big stat that we’ve been messing up all year is putting other teams in the foul bonus way too early, especially in the fourth quarter,” D’Antoni said. “It’s a big stat, and we’ve got to do a better job of being disciplined and not reaching.”
Looking ahead to Portland, D’Antoni is confident his team will fare better than their 104-85 loss to the Trail Blazers in October.
“We couldn’t score last time against them,” he said. “That’s changed. I think our offense is a lot better since then.”
Although their 11-14 record has them next to last in the Western Conference, the Rockets are only three games behind Dallas, which occupies the eighth playoff spot.
That’s why despite another losing streak, Gordon knows it’s not too late for Houston.
“It’s a long season, and you have to continue to find ways to win,” he said. “The good thing is everybody’s still close in the rankings in the West, so if we win a couple big games, then we’re right there.”