Spurs a tough task but a familiar one
Rockets offered the requisite praise of the San Antonio Spurs, as teams so often do as if it is the price of admission the more the spring Texas weather warms and the deeper they advance in the NBA playoffs.
They also seemed to like being part of the NBA conversation as April gives way to May, as if the clearer the challenge ahead be-
came the more they saw a way through.
“San Antonio is a class act of an organization,” Rockets forward Ryan AnThe
derson said, “even though I want to smack them in this series.”
The Rockets brought out the usual labels — smart, experienced, well-coached — having studied the evidence in the video room prior to their first media session since the Spurs joined them in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Rockets said again and again that the Spurs “will not beat themselves.”
Yet, the Rockets also conceded nothing, even about their role in the first playoff meeting of the Rockets and Spurs since the 1995 Western Conference finals when the Rockets were the champions, the five-time champion Spurs had yet to win their first title and Tim Duncan was a Wake Forest sophomore.
“I don’t really care about under or big dog, or any of that,” guard James Harden said.
Instead, there was a sense that the Rockets believed they had proven something about themselves with their firstround win without their usual sharpshooting. More than that, they believed it will return.
“Everything isn’t always going to be perfect,” Harden said. “You want it to be. You always want to play well. You want to make every shot. But for us it didn’t happen that way. We had opportunities and won the series.”
Need the ‘A’ game
After making 28.4 percent of their 3-pointers in the first round, the Rockets said the shooting touch will return, even against the stifling San Antonio defense.
“It’s going to come back,” Harden said. “Luckily, we had a couple days to rest. Guys got their minds and bodies right. We got to make shots, obviously. We don’t have to play perfect, but we have to play really well.”
It would be too great a simplification to say that for the Rockets to win the series, a great offensive team has to beat a great defensive team. But the Rockets were the secondrated offensive team of the season, narrowly behind Golden State. The Spurs were the top-rated defensive team, just in front of the Warriors.
The Rockets averaged 112.8 points per game in the first round, with an offensive rating just two points per 100 possessions off their regular-season pace. But they felt they have become more well-rounded than when they had to light up scoreboards to win.
“I think we showed we don’t have to rely on the 3,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We can do it in different ways. We have different weapons. That’s probably the biggest thing. I think our defense was pretty solid the whole 48 minutes. We didn’t have big ups and downs like we did in the regular season. We’d gotten better on that end.
“It would make life a lot easier (to shoot well again). … They’re not a team that will beat themselves. And they don’t have weaknesses that you can exploit.”
The Rockets listed all the reasons it will be difficult, and then insisted they believe they can anyway.
“I just think we need to be great on both ends of the court,” Anderson said. “They’re a group that is going to bring their ‘A’ game every night. They’re not going to turn the ball over a ton or make a ton of mistakes. We need to play our ‘A’ game, use our pace and our ability to run the floor to our advantage, spread the court.
“They’re a great defensive team, but there isn’t a team that can guard us when we’re going, when we’re rolling.”
Evenly matched
After three of the four meetings were decided by two points, the Rockets had reason to believe in themselves.
“I think it just shows us we can be incredibly confident playing against them,” Anderson said. “I think we do match up well with them. We do have different weapons that they don’t. They’re a smart team. They’re wellcoached. They play together. We have the same.”