‘Just be better at who we are’
Mistakes aplenty to fix without wholesale change
The Rockets are not about to change. Not now. Have issues with the iso offense they have run since October? Tough. Want to fill the offense with cuts and screens and motion? You’re not getting it.
There are many things the Rockets listed they must do better to knock off Golden State on Wednesday and even the Western Conference finals before it heads to Oakland, Calif. There are corrections to be made, even some tweaks that might qualify as playoff adjustments.
The Rockets are not scrapping their offense, one of the best in NBA history, to come up with a new one between games, no matter the howling that might
have come following their Game 1 loss.
“One thing we can shore up is make sure to keep all the noise out,” Mike D’Antoni said. “We talked about that. We play the way we play. When we play that way, we’re pretty good. We have to be able to understand we have to do this a little better, this a little bit longer and up the ante. Our pace has to be up.
“There are things we can do and will do.”
With that, he launched into a rebuttal for those critical of the Rockets’ use of isolation offense. With the Warriors switching on screens, the Rockets went oneon-one, most often by picking out the defender — often Stephen Curry or center Kevon Looney — they wanted James Harden to attack. Harden scored 41 points. It was by far the thing the Rockets did best.
“‘Oh my gosh, they iso, that’s they all they do,’ ” D’Antoni said, mimicking the criticism. “No, it isn’t. It is what we do best. We scored like 60 percent of the time on it. Really? ‘Oh, they don’t pass. Everybody stands.’ Really? Did you watch us for 82 games? That’s what we do.
“We are who we are and we’re pretty good at it and we can’t get off who we are. Just be better at who we are. And don’t worry about somebody else solving the puzzle a different way. Fine. That’s how they solve it. We solve our puzzle this way. We have to play (to) our strengths. We know our strengths. We just have to do it better.”
There are many ways the Rockets said they can do that better, and nearly as many other areas they must repair to match up with the Warriors. They insisted, however, there are enough ways they can improve to give themselves a far better chance than they had in Game 1’s 119-106 loss.
They have to correct the coverage breakdowns that led to open 3-pointers by the Warriors, many from Klay Thompson, who put up 15 3-pointers, the most for a Warrior this postseason. The Warriors made 52.5 percent of their shots and have won 22 consecutive playoff games when making at least half their shots. The Rockets are 2-3 in the postseason (8-8 in the regular season) when allowing 50 percent shooting.
“This comes down to a dogfight,” D’Antoni said. “Your hair should be on fire. You should be playing and spitting blood out there. This is hard stuff to overcome one of the better teams in the history of the NBA. They got to embrace the situation.”
The Rockets need to take care of the ball better. Averaging 9.7 turnovers per game in the first two rounds, they had 16, leading to 17 Golden State points.
They need to finish at the rim. The Rockets took 36 shots from within 5 feet on Monday, more than any team averages in the playoffs. They missed 14 of them, sending the Warriors racing the other way with numbers. The Warriors outscored the Rockets 18-3 in fast-break points.
“I don’t know how many layups we missed,” D’Antoni said. “They turned them into fast breaks. You take them away and make the layups and defend a little better. We got to get into transition more. We have to defend better. We have to up the ante.”
The Rockets need to create more open 3s. Harden and Paul did not have an assist on a 3pointer. While some of that was from a few missed open looks, other than Paul and Harden the Rockets took just 21 3-pointers, making six.
“We’re in the Western Conference finals,” Harden said. “So we’ve got to play like we’re supposed to be here, which we do deserve to be here. Defensively get into it, get into a rhythm, a groove, help each other out, communicate, being active. Offensively pushing the pace in transition, getting stops and knocking down our shots.
“We went two months and maybe lost a game or two by doing what we do. So it won’t change; we’ve just got to do it better. They did what they do better than what we do.”
As much as the Warriors have strengths, from Kevin Durant’s shot-making and Thompson’s and Stephen Curry’s marksmanship to the tight, switching defense led by Draymond Green, the Rockets believed there was more than enough they can repair to close the gap, without coming up with a whole new offense.
“At the end of the day, we are who we are,” Chris Paul said. “We got here playing the way that we play, and we’ve just got to be us.”