In-season tourney weighed
Rockets forward P.J. Tucker, a veteran of leagues in Israel, Ukraine, Germany, Greece and Italy, has played in assorted in-season tournaments, the sort the NBA and NBA Players Association are considering for the 2021-22 season. He was at best ambivalent about bringing the concept to the NBA.
“I don’t really care,” Tucker said. “It’s like cup stuff. The NBA, I doubt they’ll ever get to that. We play for an NBA championship. I don’t want to play for anything else. There is nothing else. It’s like a consolation? I don’t know. We play for an NBA championship, period.”
Rockets guard James Harden was even more dismissive of the idea.
“Are we in college?” he said. “Is this college?”
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said that as a player and coach in Europe those in-season tournaments were hugely important. But they came with relative incentives unlikely to be matched in the NBA.
“Heck yeah you cared about them because you don’t know if you are going to win the big one,” D’Antoni said. “There’s two big ones, the European championship and the Italian championship. You win either one, it’s successful. You win a cup at the end of the year, it’s pretty successful.”
NBA players could feel that way, he said, “If they put (up) good enough bonus money. For us Italians, it was for sure because it would double the salary. They pay on wins over there. They don’t pay out before the year starts.”
In Europe, he said, the challenge was shifting goals from tournament to league play.
That might not be a factor in the NBA where the tournament would lack the history to be similarly valued. An inseason NBA tournament would likely be in late November or December, long before the focus on playoff positioning.
“That’s hard. It’s not easy emotionally because we would have four championships within the year,” D’Antoni said. “A lot of times you would come off maybe losing the finals in March, a European final, and then the next game is a hard game you need to win in the regular season. So, your energy comes down. It makes it tough to remain emotionally up every game.
“It is exciting and exciting for the fans. You can bum out on one thing and win two other things, which is cool. It is an interesting concept.”
House plays through pain
Rockets forward Danuel House Jr. said he is still dealing with “a little bit” of pain in his sore left shoulder, but that it continues to improve.
He missed a game last week after being injured in Denver when he ran into a Nikola Jokic screen. He played 35 minutes against the Mavericks, making 5 of 12 shots and scoring 16 points.
“My shoulder is better,”
House said. “It got hit a couple times. Just learning to brace it. I’m too tough. Tough people don’t think about body weakness.”
Capela in doubt due to illness
Rockets center Clint Capela was listed as questionable to play Wednesday against the Miami Heat with an illness. He missed Tuesday’s practice.
Capela has had at least 19 rebounds in seven consecutive games, matching a pair of Dennis Rodman streaks for the longest with 19 rebounds since 1983-84.
“It’s crazy. I’m super happy he’s finally got it going,” Rockets forward P.J. Tucker said. “His energy, he’s been all over the place, blocking shots, playing solid defense. And he’s rebounding the ball really well. I’m super excited where he’s at.”
Capela has moved to second in the NBA in rebounding, averaging 14.5 per game. After a review, the NBA added a rebound to his total on Sunday, giving him a season-high 23.
The Rockets’ rebounding, however, remains an issue. Even in those seven games, the Rockets have ranked 20th in defensive rebounding percentage. The Rockets have allowed 15.3 second-chance points per game in that stretch, with only three teams allowing more.
“Clint’s been rebounding extremely well,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We made a point, we can get a little bit better at it. It’s trending in the right direction.”
Westbrook hit with flagrant foul
Rockets guard Russell Westbrook was assessed his first flagrant foul of the season on Tuesday, two days after he committed it.
The NBA announced that Westbrook had retroactively received a flagrant foul-penalty one for shoving Mavericks guard Luka Doncic in the back on the possession following a Westbrook miss on a drive.
Players receive a onegame suspension with six flagrant foul points. Westbrook led the NBA last season with four flagrant fouls but also had 16 technical fouls. He has two technical fouls this season.