Capela nears return to court
NEW YORK — Center Clint Capela could return to the rotation as soon as Tuesday in Miami, depending on how he responds to his first practice with the team Monday, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said Sunday.
Capela is on a road trip for the first time since going out with a fracture of his left fibula Dec. 17 in Minneapolis. The practice Monday in Boca Raton, Fla., would be his first with the team and its only practice this week. D’Antoni said if Capela responds well to the workout, he could play Tuesday in Miami or Wednesday against the Bucks at Toyota Center.
“He’s been amping it up pretty good,” D’Antoni said. “If things progress and he doesn’t have any (issues), doesn’t slide back a little bit, we’ll see how it goes. It would be nice this week some time.”
Capela has averaged 11.8 points on 64 percent shooting. His average of eight rebounds per game were second on the Rockets to James Harden’s 8.2.
No plans to rest healthy players
The Nets held out Brook Lopez for rest Sunday, though they were off Saturday and have just one more game, Tuesday against the Raptors, until Friday.
The Rockets begin a stretch of five games this week, including their final set of four in five nights before the NBA eliminates that sequence from the schedule.
But coach Mike D’Antoni said he has no plans to hold out healthy players.
“I might change my tune in a couple days,” D’Antoni said. “If guys are healthy and they feel like they want to play, I will (play them.) If they’re tired and a trainer comes to me and says they risk injury, I wouldn’t play them. But so far, that’s not the case.
“I try to avoid (sitting healthy players.) We’re trying to win every game.”
The Nets, though just 8-31 heading into Sunday’s game, sat Lopez after he played both games of a back-to-back Thursday and Friday.
“Looking at the heavy schedule we’ve had, six games in nine days, two back-to-backs, tough schedule, … we’re thinking big picture, long term,” Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. “The other thing is some other guys get an opportunity to step up.”
D’Antoni praises Nets’ Atkinson
When Mike D’Antoni was coach of the Knicks, he put former Rockets assistant Kenny Atkinson on his staff, working with the first-year Nets coach long enough to believe Atkinson will be a success in Brooklyn if given time and a healthy team.
“Kenny was really good in everything we did, not only as a developmental coach and working with different guys throughout the summer and the year, just in what we did strategy-wise,” D’Antoni said Sunday. “Just a very good coach. A lot of energy and a good guy.
“I’m hoping he gets a chance. A lot of coaches are in that position where they just don’t get a chance, just not yet. If they hang in there, he’s a good coach. He’s got to get lucky a little bit. Guys have to stay healthy, and he’ll get over the hump. It’s a tough business, but Kenny’s going to do a good job wherever he goes.”
No Linsanity for Brooklyn
Nets guard Jeremy Lin was out with a hamstring injury, but with 10,000 Lin bobbleheads around Barclays Center and a return to New York, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni was reminded of the good times of Linsanity.
“It wasn’t kind of fun; it was really fun,” D’Antoni said. “As a coach, it was fun doing it. I was really proud of him and what he’s done. And it couldn’t happen to a better person. That’s why you coach, for moments like that, people like him.”
Signed to run Kenny Atkinson’s up-tempo offense, Lin has played in only 12 games as the Nets have fallen to the worst record in the NBA.
“That’s your brains,” D’Antoni said. “He’s the one that’s going to be your motor. When he’s not out there, it makes it tough.
“The league is all about injuries. If you stay injury-free and be a good team, you have a chance, only a chance. If you’re injured and you’re not that good a team, you have no chance.”