Upcoming week critical for preparations
With schemes in place, D’Antoni seeks to improve team’s execution
The work had been put in for most of two weeks and there was even a game against the bulk of the Oklahoma City Thunder to give things a dry run.
But the Rockets need this week.
With the day off and open scrimmage behind them, they could move to the rhythm — practice, game, practice, game, practice game — of an NBA schedule in the final week before the games count.
They can make, and presumably correct, mistakes. With the increasing degree of difficulty of games against the Knicks, Grizzlies and Spurs, the Rockets can expect a good approximation of the season to start Oct. 17 at the Warriors, all with the idea they can advance the way they want to play into the way they do play.
“We know how we want to play,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’re doing that. All I want to see is that we keep getting better, get better communication, talking, all that. How the chemistry (works), how the ball moves, what we want to do, we got that. We just want to do it better.
“We need it. We have three good games this week. We spread them out perfectly. The schedule is good. We had the distractions with the open practice and the day off. Now, we’ll have a good run.”
For the Rockets, that’s about more than getting in a groove. As confident as they are that they will play their offensive style when the games count, every game spent meshing James Harden and Chris Paul in the backcourt is helpful. Though they have excelled as playmakers for the shooters around them — averaging a combined 19.5 assists in an average of 26.5 minutes apiece — they can be smoother working off one another. Making 20 percent of his 3s, Harden could benefit from getting in a regular-season routine to find his shooting touch.
Learning doesn’t stop
“Every single day, at practice, games, even mental days when we come in and watch film, is important,” Harden said. “We can always get better. We can always learn from each other, learn from our mistakes and even learn from when we’re playing well. Opportunities are unlimited for us. As long as we have that mindset to want to get better every single day, we’ll have a chance.”
As a team that intends to switch defensively more than ever, the Rockets view the games as better preparation than practice for the sort of communication and chemistry needed.
There were several possessions against the Thunder when confusion on coverages left 3-point shooters open, giving the Rockets tape to go over and mistakes to correct. A romp against the Shanghai Sharks did not test that, especially offensively, where the Rockets cruised to 144 points. The games this week should measure progress since Tulsa.
“Most on defense when
we didn’t talk or didn’t communicate or didn’t get in the right scheme,” D’Antoni said. “Offense, pretty good. We just show them little things we need to do to make it better, more of execution than anything. I think the way we’re playing is fine, the number of 3s or how we look for 3s and how we’re trying to run the floor, that’s good. We’re close.”
Players tend to prefer games. For a team of veterans — the least-experienced player in the rotation, Clint Capela, is going into his fourth season — the “routine” is welcome.
“This is what I’ve been doing going into my 14th year,” forward Trevor Ariza said. “It’s become a bit of routine Any time you get to go into NBA cities and play in normal arenas, it’s always fun, it’s always a treat and you get to work on things you need to work on. I like to play. Any type of game is good for me, good for us, too. It gives us a chance to practice things we need to work on in game-type situations.”
In the first preseason with the shorter schedule, there will be half the previous number of “game-type situations.” That could make the week’s games more valuable than the past preseasons when players were counting days until the season.
Moving forward
“We’re looking at everything and we can get better in a lot of areas,” D’Antoni said. “I think it’s normal about 10, 12 days out. They’re a veteran team. They can look at the schedule like I can look at it. We had a good week of practice. Now we’re looking at tightening it up.”