All is not lost
Last year’s playoff series with the Spurs proves that winning sans star is possible.
The Rockets will not have to search long to find an example of a team rallying with a star out late in a playoff series.
They might not have wanted to think about the end of last season’s playoff series against San Antonio, but with Chris
Paul out, the situation the Spurs faced last season has become similar to the Rockets’ current issue.
With a 3-2 lead, the Spurs went on the road to Houston with star forward Kawhi
Leonard ruled out for Game 6, much as the Rockets went on the road to Oakland with a 3-2 lead and Paul out. The Spurs won Game 6 in a rout to clinch the series.
“Yeah, I’m just getting over that,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Now you want to put me back on the couch for a while?”
D’Antoni did recognize that situation and many others could be a reminder of what can be done short-handed.
“Yeah, definitely. You could draw all kinds of references,” D’Antoni said. “It's not something we want, for Chris especially, or us. But it’s something we can deal with very easily. We’ll use the motivation that, ‘OK, this is not going to be easy.’ It never was. Until they are dead, we’re not thinking, ‘Oh, we’re in pretty good shape.’ No, we’re not in good shape. We’re there, and now we’ve got to get over the finish line.”
Paul doesn’t cut it as a cheerleader
Guard Chris Paul traveled with the Rockets on Friday, as he had throughout the regular season when he missed games with injuries.
Paul had often said he considered it important to be with the team and vocal during games even when not playing. But he is not often confused for a cheerleader on the bench.
“More like a terrible coach than a cheerleader,” forward
P.J. Tucker said. “It’s tough. I know it’s going to drive him crazy being on the sideline, but it’s part of being in the league.”
Iguodala is listed as questionable
Warriors forward Andre
Iguodala is listed as questionable for Game 6 on Saturday night against the Rockets with a left lateral leg bruise. “I have no idea,” coach Steve
Kerr said Friday about Iguodala’s status. “He’s gotten incrementally better each day, but I haven’t talked to him this morning.”
Iguodala suffered the injury late in Sunday’s Game 3 win, when he banged knees with
James Harden. Having Iguodala
back for Game 6 would be a big boost to a team with a precariously thin wing rotation.
With five centers — Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, David West, Damian Jones and Jordan Bell — whom Kerr would prefer not to use against the perimeter-oriented Rockets, he has played Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson more than he would prefer the past two games. Nick Young, Shaun Livingston, Kevon Looney and Quinn Cook have gotten meaningful playing time with Iguodala sidelined. Head performance therapist “Chelsea ( Lane) just needs to tell me that he can play,” Kerr said, referencing Iguodala. “That’s it. Other than that, he’s either healthy enough to play or he’s not.”
Iguodala has averaged 7.9 points on 47.9 percent shooting, with 4.9 rebounds in 27.5 minutes over 13 games these playoffs, starting in all but one of them.
Defense good but can be better
As well as the Rockets have played defensively to turn around the series against the Warriors, holding the Warriors to 92 and 95 points in the past two games, they cited the things they can do better and likely must.
“It’s something we talked about building up all year,” forward P.J. Tucker said Friday. “To see our defense now be as good as it is, we still think it could be a lot better. We watched film, and honestly it wasn’t great. It really wasn’t. We didn’t play great defense last night. Everybody will talk about how good a defense we played, but we really don’t feel like that. So just keep working and trying to get better.”
There have been things the Rockets have done well, particularly with aggressive switches and the communication to be on the same page on the assorted off-ball screens when they did not switch. But guard
James Harden said they must do the things they did well better and more consistently.
“Defensively we’ve been engaged, getting stops and just communicating and talking and whatnot,” Harden said. “But we’ve got to take it to another level. We watched film and we gave them a lot of opportunities, open 3s, not communicating on switches and things like that. So we have to be that much better in a close-out game.”
Still, the Rockets have moved to within one win of the Finals on the strength of their defense.
“It’s the whole fiber of what we do,” coach Mike D’Antoni said Friday. “It’s the most important thing. Without it, you’re a pretty nice-looking team and you play well at times, but you don’t beat a team like we beat last night without grit and determination, and going on to the next play and not worrying about what happened.
“Being able to dig in for two straight games and holding them in the 90s is incredible, with guys that just continually show their resilience and their want to win.”
Toyota Center hosts Game 6 watch party
The Rockets will host a watch party for Game 6 at Toyota Center. Doors open at 7 p.m. and admission is $10 with proceeds going to the Santa Fe Strong Memorial Fund.