Rudy T’s snub irks Brooks

Wizards coach Scott Brooks listed the top-line credentials that were apparently overlooked when Brooks’ coach as a Rockets player, Rudy Tomjanovich, was excluded from this season’s Hall of Fame class, qualifications that left so many incredulous that Tomjanovich did not get the votes needed.

Then he went one step beyond saying Tomjanovich deserves a place in Springfield, Mass.

“Nobody should get in if he doesn’t get in,” Brooks said of coaching canidates.

The class of 2018 included just one coach, Maryland’s Lefty Driesell.

Brooks cited Tomjanovich’s championships with the Rockets and USA Basketball but also pointed to his influence on he game.

“He started something that every team is doing now,” Brooks, a guard on the 1994 championship team, said. “( Hakeem) Olajuwon was the only All-Star on the team. They had nothing but a bunch of average-to-good players and a few good players in Otis Thorpe and Vernon Maxwell and other guys. We started the 3-point shooting trend. We went inside to Olajuwon and everybody else spaced the court at the 3-point line.

“He doesn’t get credit for doing that,” Brooks said. “He started the 3-point shooting trend. It took the league another 10 years to figure it out. There’s no question he’s a Hall of Famer.”

With that, Brooks added one more accomplishment rarely mentioned.

“That team didn’t play me at all in the Finals and still won,” he said.

Ariza sits out — reluctantly

Rockets forward Trevor Ariza was held out of Tuesday’s game for rest, though he has been open about how much he dislikes missing any games.

Coach Mike D’Antoni said giving Ariza a night off had been planned for some time with the Rockets assured the top seed in the Western Conference and homecourt advantage throughout the postseason. Others might also sit out in the four games remaining.

“He needed to. We were waiting until Chris (Paul) got back,” D’Antoni said. “It’s been planned. We were going to do it in San Antonio, but since Chris wasn’t ready we waited.”

D’Antoni said there is one player who might not go along with the plan for rest.

“P.J. (Tucker), no he’s not doing it,” D’Antoni said. “Forget that one.”

Since returning to the NBA in 2012, Tucker has played in 479 games, the most in the league in that stretch.

Harden has Brooks’ backing

A year ago, when asked about his former Oklahoma City players and the MVP race, Wizards coach Scott Brooks spoke about the worthiness of Russell Westbrook and James Harden for the award. On Tuesday, he said Harden would have his vote this season.

He did qualify his comments by adding that LeBron James is always deserving but said Harden is “definitely a MVP this year.”

“He has played well and their team is playing the best in basketball,” Brooks said. “You can always argue LeBron can get it every year, just like Michael Jordan should have had 12 of them. LeBron is the same type of player.

“But (Harden) is deserving. He’s put in a lot of work. He’s gotten better every year.”