D’Antoni gets the last laugh with defense
Second-half stops contribute to erasing a 17-point deficit
OAKLAND, Calif. — In a heavyweight matchup of verbal knockout punchers, Mike D’Antoni scored a direct hit. Draymond Green could take it, especially with his new championship ring and a powerhouse team just starting the season. But the exchange might have said something about the Rockets’ chase of Green’s Warriors.
Green had heard D’Antoni’s media day quotes about a matchup with the Warriors. There was nothing disparaging about them. He mostly said the Rockets can score a bit, too.
“You’re not going to stop them,” D’Antoni said that day of the Warriors. “It’s just going to happen. They’re not going to stop us, either.”
Pretty standard media day stuff. But when the loquacious Warriors forward, the 2016-17 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, considered D’Antoni’s confidence, he seized on the primary difference between the Warriors’ championships teams and the Rockets’ place in the pack of pursuers.
“I don’t know how serious they take defense with that comment,” Green said. “They want it to be a shootout, which is fine. But we’re going to play some defense. We score pretty well. But we’re a damn good defensive team, too. So we’re going to play some defense.”
Much yet to prove
In their rise to NBA supremacy, the Warriors have ranked among the league’s top five defensive teams for four consecutive seasons, leading the NBA in opposing field-goal percentage, steals and blocks last season. The Rockets ranked 17th last season, fading defensively in the second half of the season.
The Rockets hoped to change that trend with the additions of Luc Mbah a Moute and P.J. Tucker and a greater commitment to the defensive end. But they still have much to prove.
The Rockets hardly shut down the Warriors in the season opener Tuesday, but the defense improved markedly in the second half. After allowing 71 first-half points, the defense held the Warriors to 20 in the fourth quarter, when the Rockets completed their comeback for a 122-121 victory.
That returned D’Antoni to Green’s doubts.
“Somebody said we don’t take it seriously on defense,” D’Antoni said. “Well, obviously (the Warriors) don’t take it seriously either. We scored pretty good. I think both teams take it seriously. We did play well, and it’s a big push for us. We want to be a good defensive team, but when you play against guys like that, you better be able to score the ball. We were able to do both.”
The Rockets’ offense remains vital against the Warriors.
In the past two seasons, when the Warriors scored 120 or more points, they were 30-0 against the rest of the NBA; 1-2 against the Rockets. But as much as the Rockets rely on their high-scoring offense, they knew they had to improve on the other end and cited the season opener as a sign of progress.
“We talk about it all the time,” guard James Harden said. “That’s our identity. Obviously, we can score with the best of them. Defensively, if we want to get where we want to go, we have to get stops. We played against this past year’s No. 1 offense; it was a good test for us.
“We got a chance, man. We got a chance. We have to do it consistently, not just get up for the Warriors, but make sure we take care of business every single night. Defensively, if we lock in and pride ourselves on getting stops, offensively, we have more than enough weapons. That’s what we have to do.”
The Rockets had their share of breakdowns in the first half and were especially vulnerable in transition, where the Warriors made 8 of 10 shots in the half. They did a better job switching in the second half and got back defensively, slowing the Warriors enough to rally from a 17-point deficit.
Improved as game progressed
In the last 15 minutes, the Warriors made 9 of 22 shots with seven turnovers. Some of that was because Green, who had 13 assists, left the game with a strained knee and Andre Iguodala was already out. But the Warriors still had Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry playing most of the fourth quarter.
“I don’t want to say we won because of defense,” Mbah a Moute said. “We didn’t do it in the first half. They got a lot of points in transition. They got a lot of 3s. Those are mistakes we felt like we can correct. That’s kind of what we did.
“We ran back in transition and we were able to limit the mistakes. Our defense could have been better early in the game. We got better as the game went along. It helped us win the game.”
That did not put the Rockets’ defense on the Warriors’ level, but as with the season itself, it was a good start. It also gave D’Antoni the last word.
“Everyone came in and did a great job defensively, rebounding the ball and we didn’t turn it over,” he said. “Everything we did, we set it up so that we had a chance to beat them. We did it.”