Problems in opening loss correctable
As unpleasant as Thursday’s video review of their season opener had to be for the Rockets, there was something encouraging about the issues that led to their blowout loss to the Pelicans.
The good news about messing up so often was that mistakes can be corrected. Had the Rockets done things correctly but were unable to do them well, solutions might not be as obvious as the problems. After a video session in which the greatest challenge was keeping the presentation of mistakes to 30 minutes, it was clear not just what needed to be done, but what can be.
“Oh man, we look at the film, it’s all stuff, just normal stuff, a lot of ordinary stuff we knew they were going to do,” forward P.J.
Tucker said. “It was just communication, guys not being in certain spots on time and communicated things. It’s all correctable. It’s stuff we know we have to do.
“Our communication was so bad. That was probably the worst communication we had in a while. We didn’t talk. We didn’t make a normal progression on defense to help each other. A lot of miscues.”
“A lot of it was communication,” guard Chris
Paul said. “We talk about it all the time. We didn’t communicate well, we didn’t get back in transition, we didn’t close out on the shooters.”
That was part of a long list, but coach Mike D’Antoni said many of the mistakes came from the shortcomings that led to the Pelicans’ fast start and the way the Rockets reacted to adversity.
“Mistakes will happen, but we started to panic because we didn’t have the right mental energy to start the game,” D’Antoni said. “When they hit you in the mouth, you start to panic a little bit. Now, stuff comes out. What are we doing? We never do that. Not switching and not talking, doubling too early. That came from us getting smacked without us being focused.
“Just watching with the guys, we didn’t impose our will. A lot of it was, they smacked us. They came out more ready than we did.”