Harden downplays ‘little talk’
The Rockets never called their postgame heart-toheart Wednesday a “team meeting.” It was shorter, more informal than that. By Friday, they barely acknowledged that they hung around to talk things over at all.
“We had a team meeting?” Rockets guard James Harden said when asked about Wednesday’s chat. “It was a quick, little conversation. I don’t know if it was a team meeting. A quick, little talk.”
More than concerning themselves with what to call the discussion, they described losses in three of four games and a particularly poor performance against the Trail Blazers as no more than a rough patch typical in a season.
“It’s just to make sure everybody’s on the same page, not have any indecision about how you play,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “A lot of times, indecision looks like we’re not totally engaged. It’s not like we’re supposed to win every game. We’ll get it. We have great guys in that locker room. We’re in the top five (in the Western Conference) and a couple games out of second.
“It’s like, ‘Whoa, what’s wrong?’ Nothing’s wrong. We just need to play better, and we will. Hopefully, it’ll start (Saturday) night. If not, it’s the next night after that. We’ll keep fighting, keep working and getting things cleared and move forward.”
D’Antoni said Friday’s video session was largely to clarify coverages after mistakes were made Wednesday, along with the usual preparation for the upcoming opponent.
“It’s always tough coming off a loss, a tough loss, especially back-to-back games like that,” guard Ben McLemore said. “It’s about being in the right state of mind and preparing for (Saturday) night.” the best indication of how he has progressed.
McLemore started badly, missing his first three shots, all 3-pointers, and committing a pair of turnovers in the early minutes. He then hit a 3-pointer off the dribble, showing no discouragement.
“It’s just having the confidence with Mike ( D’Antoni) and Russ ( Westbrook) and James ( Harden) and those guys having the confidence in myself,” McLemore said. “Just think about the next play, the next shot. That’s what I did. The shots I (missed), the turnovers I made, just think about next play, next play, not worrying about that. If I do, I’m going to continue to miss shots and mess up and things like that.
“Russ and James building that confidence in myself, just think about the next shot, and I made the next shot. I kept my game rolling and try to do whatever I can do on both ends of the floor to help my team win a game.”
McLemore made 5 of 10 3-pointers the rest of the way after his slow start. His five games with at least five 3-pointers is one more than in the first six seasons of his career combined. He is averaging 16.6 points on 48.1 percent shooting as a starter.