Anderson ready but a bad fit for series
SAN FRANCISCO — As Mike D’Antoni spoke with the media and James Harden rebounded for Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson went around
the world.
Three-pointers from the top of the key.
Threes from the right wing. Long-range shots around the perimeter inside the University of San Francisco’s War Memorial Gym on Monday, the day after the Rockets were blown out 126-85 by Golden State in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.
Anderson played five minutes in garbage time, though, and has totaled 14 scoreless minutes during the series.
With D’Antoni’s rotation down to about six trusted players and the Rockets down 2-1 in the series, the NBA’s best regular-season team could use another proven 3-point shooter. But Anderson continues to sit for the Rockets, and his swished practice 3s on Monday were the most on-court action he’s seen since the first round of the playoffs.
During the Rockets’ last eight games, the 10th-year forward has two points on six shots.
“Ryan's ready to go, but it's a different type of series,” D’Antoni said before Game 3. “So he'll just have to wait until his time.”
Warriors feature balanced scoring
James Harden was the only Rocket to score at least 20 points in Game 3 and his team shot 39.5 percent from the field.
The Warriors had six players reach double digits in scoring, including all five starters; Stephen Curry’s game-high 35 points were balanced by 25 from Kevin Durant.
Chris Paul (5-of-16), Eric Gordon (4-of-13) and Gerald
Green (3-of-10) were among the Rockets who struggled from the field in Sunday's blowout defeat.
The day before a critical Game 4 at Oracle Arena, coach
Mike D’Antoni said his team needed increased contributions across the board.
“To beat these guys, and they’re good, we have to have our ‘A’ game,” D’Antoni said. “We had our ‘C’ game. And (that’s) not going to do it, especially on their court. I try to look on the bright side.
“The bright side is we can play much better and we have to. So, let’s do it.”
Iguodala is listed as questionable
Warriors forward Andre
Iguodala is listed as doubtful for Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against the Rockets on Tuesday night with a bruised left knee.
Iguodala left Sunday’s Game 3 rout of the Rockets midway through the fourth quarter after knocking knees with James Harden.
After the game, Golden State coach Steve Kerr said of Iguodala: “I think he’s OK there. He got banged on the knee. He said he would be all right.”
Iguodala, 34, was set to have an X-ray Monday. If he must miss time, that would be a significant blow to a team trying to build on its 2-1 series lead over the Rockets.
NBA writers honor Kerr
Golden State’s Steve Kerr won the Rudy Tomjanovich Award, given to an NBA coach in recognition of his cooperation with media and fans, as well as excellence on the court.
The Professional Basketball Writers Association announced the winner Tuesday. The award is named for Rudy Tomjanovich, the former Rockets coach. Kerr beat out fellow finalists
Brad Stevens of Boston, Mike
D'Antoni of the Rockets, Doc Rivers of the Clippers and
Steve Clifford of Charlotte in voting by PBWA members.
The Warriors have won two of the past three NBA titles under Kerr and have a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals over the Rockets. The PBWA said Kerr encourages players to express themselves and is generous with his time with the working media.
Too much rest is not beneficial
The whining about scheduling wasn’t as bad this season as it has been, since the NBA put some effort into minimizing the number of back-to-back games teams are forced to play.
As for the Rockets, they breezed through the regular season, winning 10 of 14 games (71.4 percent) on the second night of back-to-backs. But give them a little rest and they were better.
They won 79.5 percent of their games on one day of rest and 76.9 percent of their games on two days of rest. When the schedule afforded them at least three days, the Rockets were 5-0.
That should have boded well for the postseason, because not only are there no back-to-backs in the modern NBA playoffs, often teams get extra days off as the schedules are juggled for television. But for some reason, the Rockets haven’t taken advantage of the time off between games.
The Rockets are 9-4 in the playoffs. The four losses have come after they had at least two days off between games, and five of their six lowest-scoring games came with a two-day break.
Mike D’Antoni said it is possible the team loses its rhythm with the extra rest. There aren’t many playoff practices, and they are less intense than ones during the season.
In the seven games with two or more days of rest, the Rockets average 102.8 points. In the six games with a single day between contests, they average 115.5 points per game.
After winning Game 2 of the first-round series with Minnesota on a Wednesday, the Rockets took Thursday off, then were a no-show for Saturday’s Game 3.
After winning the series opener against the Jazz in Round 2, they took the next day off from practice and lost Game 2.
After Wednesday’s big win in Game 2 against the Warriors, the Rockets again took the next day off. And, again, they didn’t show up for Game 3 on Sunday.
When scheduled for one day off between games, the Rockets are 6-0 this postseason.
The remaining games in this series are all one day apart.
“That’s hard to assess,” D’Antoni aid. “We’ll look at it after the season’s over. But now we don’t have to worry about it because we’re playing every other day.
“I hope we have to worry about that the next series.”