Freedom of speech
Ability of stars, role players to self-police, push each other has helped boost camaraderie
DALLAS — Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni had plenty to say at halftime, a brief second-quarter surge doing little to ease his mind or quiet the thoughts he was ready to share now that he had his team in the Air Canada Centre visitor’s locker room. He had to wait in line.
“We didn’t have to tell them,” D’Antoni said. “We didn’t have to show it on the film. They knew it.”
More than knew it, they expressed it, sharing their thoughts with one another about a low-energy start and shoddy transition defense.
This was no aberration, no reaction to a poor start that would ultimately cost the Rockets the game and their 17-game winning streak.
Throughout the season, the Rockets have been their own harshest critics, explaining that their aspirations are so great, their camaraderie and “spirit” as Chris Paul has called it, so strong that they can push one another and expect to be pushed. D’Antoni, though he often does get to speak his mind, has considered that a key to the Rockets’ rise to the NBA’s best record.
“This group is incredible,” D’Antoni said. “They’re self-motivated. They want to win. They come out. They do the right things. We want to make a correction. We show them on tape. They’ve already talked about it 10 times. We’re in a good place.
“We do (make corrections) all the time, but they do it themselves. Somebody makes a mistake, the low man (the defender in the back of the defense) is not there, they hear about it — in a good way. If they’re not setting the right picks or not boxing out, they address it. Before we get them to the bench, they’ve already discussed it. ‘Got it, coach. Got it. Got it.’ It’s just a fun group.”
Seeing the big picture
Any coach would consider having a team that engaged to be “fun.” He’s not the only one. The Rockets understandably described their season that way when they were rolling along in the winning streak. But they put it, and even in the streak, in the context of their goal to keep building something that will win deep into the postseason and to do it in what is largely their first season together.
“A lot of fun, a lot of fun, because we just have a great group of guys,” Paul said. “Obviously, everything with our team will be judged by the playoffs. But it’s about this building and this process all season long, and we have a really good group.
“We hoop. Just keep trying to build game by game. If you see us during the game, we get on each other. But we don’t get on the plane and don’t talk to each other. We understand the big picture.”
A team that includes Paul and P.J. Tucker will tend to share its thoughts. But the tendency to self-police is as welcome as inevitable, and the conspicuous difference from a few seasons ago when the 2015-16 team that so often needed to call team meetings to air grievances.
“It’s something special,” guard James Harden said. “It’s special when you have guys out there that have your back all the time and want to see you do well, want to see you succeed. You look at our bench. Our bench is cheering each other on. It makes you want to go out there and give that extra effort, especially with the coaching staff we have, how well they coach us. We’re just so tied into each other. It makes you want to go out and compete.”
That also has allowed the freedom for Rockets, from the stars to role players, to speak their minds. The Rockets have often cited the need for extensive communication, generally referring to managing the many switches required by their defensive schemes. But that applied to their own reviews. As important to their defensive scheme as it is to know what one another is thinking, the Rockets don’t have to guess.
“That’s everything,” Tucker said. “That’s everything in our season. We coach ourselves. Obviously, (D’Antoni) is our coach, and he does a great job coaching us, but we coach ourselves. We come in here and talk. Our coaches don’t even have to talk at halftime. We know why we’re winning, why we’re losing. What we need to do, what adjustments we need to make.”
Talking with one voice
It also could be why they often speak so alike, to the point it might be a matter of time before Paul drops “swag” into sentences in classic Hardenese. Harden has already co-opted Paul’s favorite way to describe the Rockets’ approach to everything from reading defenses to the winning streak.
“We’re just out there hooping,” Harden said after the Rockets’ Wednesday win in Milwaukee. “We’re not worried about wins and losses. We’re worried about playing the right way on both ends of the floor. More times than not, 90 percent of the time, if you play that way on both ends of the floor, great things will happen.
“We’re just out there swagging and hooping.”
And constantly talking.