Focus is on play, not opponent
The Rockets have long insisted their emphasis is on how well they play, rather than the opponent they are playing. The upcoming stretch of games against teams that could be a first-round opponent — the Clippers, Pelicans and Timberwolves — followed by a game at Portland to complete a three-game road trip will not change that.
“We’re not where we want to be,” Rockets guard James Harden said. “We’re not that good yet. So we have to go out there and approach every single game, no matter who we’re playing, like it’s a playoff game. We’re 15 games away (from the postseason), so it’s time to take it serious.’’
Asked if playing playoff-caliber teams is more valuable than facing the lottery-bound Mavericks or severely short-handed Spurs, guard Chris Paul said the Rockets were unconcerned with the strength of opponents.
“I hate to be repetitive, but it’s about us,” he said. “Every game we go into, we’re trying to continue to build, and we don’t want to start having bad habits and start just letting teams do whatever. As for us, it’s about consistency and building.”
The Rockets’ remaining 15 regular-season games feature nine against teams with winning records, including each of the next four games. In addition to their pursuit of the Western Conference’s top seed, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said he wants to iron out his rotation when Ryan Anderson returns from a sore hip.
“We know we have a couple of goals,” D’Antoni said. “We want to finish first, get home-court advantage, make sure everybody’s healthy; we got to get Ryan back for sure, trying to find out the rotations, the right rotations. I would like to keep playing Gerald (Green) and even when Ryan comes back, everybody can play 20, 25 minutes, and then try to get in the playoffs as healthy and full of energy as we can without compromising the home-court advantage. We still would like to do that.”
Tucker’s play boosting defensive ranking
With wins in three games of the four-game road trip before beating the Spurs at home Monday, the Rockets’ defense has moved to seventhbest in points allowed per possession, ranking third in that stretch.
The Rockets have had the fourth-best defense in the NBA since P.J. Tucker moved into the starting lineup, a change coach Mike D’Antoni cited as a key to the improvement.
“I’ll tell you what, when you have P.J. Tucker out there, it’s hard not to have energy on the floor,” D’Antoni said. “He’s got energy for about four or five guys, and I think the switches have been helping us, just staying home, and without running all over the place.
“P.J. really anchors the defense right now. He’s a bear out there, just some of the things he does. If you’re playing beside of him, you have to feel that energy, that has to motivate you.”