Healthy Gordon eager to help ‘dangerous team’
As with the start of any NBA training camp, but especially this one after a long, highly unusual layoff, there were few conclusions Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni would allow himself to reach.
He was careful not to push too hard at the initial practices. There were no scrimmages in the opening days on the Disney practice courts. Through drill work, players demonstrated they had been working out in the four months since the previous practice but were rusty.
When asked if anyone stood out, Rockets forward Danuel House Jr. laughed and said most of the time was spent shooting.
Yet when D’Antoni was asked more specifically about what he had seen even in the limited initial workouts from guard Eric Gordon, who had missed nearly half of the Rockets’ 64 games and struggled to return to form after November knee surgery, D’Antoni did not hesitate.
“He looks good. Hasn’t missed a rep,” D’Antoni said. “He’s shooting the ball extremely well. Looks strong, fit. He’s ready to go. Right now, if you had to make an assessment of everybody, that’s a big bonus for us.”
With Russell Westbrook and James Harden not yet in camp, that could be especially significant in the Rockets’ eight seeding games, which begin in 17 days. The Rockets are unlikely to achieve much in the postseason without their MVP backcourt excelling, and D’Antoni remained confident they will be on the NBA’s Disney campus in enough time to be ready.
Though Westbrook revealed his has tested positive for COVID-19, D’Antoni said both are going through workouts similar to the Rockets’ practices in Florida.
The Rockets have long believed, however, that Gordon’s play also is essential to their postseason chances. Their slide to fifth in the Western Conference and the sixth seed when the season was halted March 11 was in part because of his struggles to come back from his knee surgery, with the occasional outburst (most notably his 50-point night against the Jazz when Harden and Westbrook were out) offering reminders of what he can bring.
Gordon believed spending the hiatus training in ways he could not while going from rehab to games would unlock and maintain his familiar offensive talents. Those initial practices, limited as they might have been, were a way to take his progress for a test drive.
“I’ve been looking forward to this,” Gordon said. “I just wanted to be healthy so I could be myself. For me, just to focus on basketball and what we do instead of worrying about doing rehab every day before practice, it definitely means a lot.”
Gordon has played in just 34 games this season, missing six weeks after his Nov. 13 knee surgery. He is the Rockets’ thirdleading scorer, averaging 14.5 points in 28.6 minutes per game. But he has made just 37 percent of his shots, the worst of his 12 NBA seasons. Of the 179 players to attempt at least 400 shots this season, only two have a worse percentage. His 3-point shooting has dropped from 36 percent last season to 31.9 percent this season.
His importance, however, has never been in doubt. In 11 postseason games last season, Gordon averaged 17.8 points, making 40 percent of his 3s.
As much as the Rockets’ shift to full-time use of small lineups provides spacing for Westbrook to drive and takes advantage of Harden’s ability to switch and defend big men, the Rockets believe that style similarly suits
Gordon. But that required Gordon’s return to full strength.
“I’m in a good spot now where I don’t have to worry about doing a lot of rehab and stuff,” he said. “You can see I was progressively getting better along the way during the season. I missed … 30 games. It definitely took a lot out of me. Now I’m looking forward to seeing what we can be.
“Everybody knows that we’re a dangerous team. We’re a team that can beat anybody. We’re also a team that can beat ourselves. So it’s all about us just finding that consistent path where we can continue dominance. At this point, there’s only eight games and playoffs right around the corner. We have to be dominant from start to finish. We’ve got to continue that. We can’t miss a beat during this time.
“We have to play very well every game, every single game, every night. We have to play for one another, play fast and be scrappy.”
To do that, Gordon had to be much stronger than just well enough to play. As much as will only be determined with the tougher tests to come, he had done enough even in those first few practices to believe he had left the season’s struggles behind.
“For sure, no question,” Gordon said. “There’s not a second thought about my knee. It’s all about what I’m going to do on the court.”