Unworried Chandler says skids happen
The Rockets have lost three games in a row.
Next up, they host Miami — a team that bested them by 29 points earlier this month — on Wednesday night.
And they are still without key contributor Eric Gordon and might be missing starter Clint Capela, who is ill, as well.
Things haven’t been looking up for the team that boasts MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook and has NBA title aspirations.
But Rockets center Tyson Chandler isn’t worried about a thing.
“No season ever goes by without tough stretches or turmoil,” he said. “There’s a fine line between winning and losing. We play great basketball here. We are going to win a lot.”
Make no mistake that in today’s NBA, every win matters. When the season starts winding down and playoff spots are hard to come by, last week’s losses will matter.
But Chandler knows the Rockets can make up ground down the road.
He’s seen it happen repeatedly.
A 19-year veteran, Chandler has seen a little bit of everything.
From the game growing and evolving, to teams starting slow and finishing strong, to favorites falling, he knows that anything can happen.
“You have to just focus on what you can control,” Chandler said at Tuesday’s practice. “That’s what we are doing.”
Chandler, who might have to start on Wednesday if Capela can’t play, said that was one of the many lessons he learned early on from Chicago teammate Scottie Pippen.
The two were on the 2003-04 Bulls team in Pippen’s final season.
Chandler said he took a lot of lessons from all their talks and tried his best to implement them in his own career.
“We were losing at the time, and I never forgot those conversations on the plane, in meetings, in the locker room, Chandler said. “He would pull me off the court and get in my ear. He was on a team that won six championships, so I took a lot of what he said, a lot of those stories and paid attention.”
From Pippen, Chandler learned the importance of chemistry and communication. He learned that talent can’t take care of everything. A team with a good locker room, with players on board with the
same goals could go far.
It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually everything really sunk in for Chandler.
“Maybe about halfway through my career,” he said. “After I had spent some time winning, that helps you get the right mindset.”
The Rockets aren’t in any real danger right now.
Their three-game losing streak was at the hands of the Nuggets, the Clippers and the Mavericks — all Western Conference teams that should end up in the playoffs this season.
Still, the Rockets struggled in ways they shouldn’t in those losses.
Against the Clippers and the Mavericks, they got off to slow starts and saw their inability to take care of the basketball spur big runs by their opponents.
In all three losses, the Rockets didn’t defend consistently.
On Sunday, the Mavericks scored 45 points on the Rockets in the first quarter. It was tough to fix their defensive issues after they allowed such a fast start.
In one other game this season, the Rockets allowed even more firstquarter points. The Heat scored 46 in the first quarter on Nov. 3.
To win in the Western Conference, they have to
shore up their defense. Better defense to start games will set the tone they need.
“There’s a lot to learn from each loss,” Chandler said. “We just have to keep everything in perspective.”
That’s one of the reasons the Rockets brought in Chandler in the offseason — to be a veteran leader who has the ability to bring experience and perspective to the mix.
During this stretch, his calmness and wisdom can go a long way. The Rockets can’t have stretches of three straight losses and be one of the best teams in the league.
They’ll have to figure out how to avoid that in the future or their postseason goals will be extremely hard to reach.
Now they need to figure out how to bounce back against the team that has beaten them worse than any other has this season.
Chandler believes that his team will respond the right way and that it will result in a win.
“We are making strides — the right strides,” Chandler said. “I love where we are at. We have a group of good guys who are all on the same page, want the same things, and that makes it easier.”