D’Antoni says Westbrook’s return date still mystery
While imaging and training sessions have shown Rockets guard Russell Westbrook has made progress in his recovery from a strained quadriceps muscle, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said Westbrook has not been cleared to work on the court and there is no timetable for his return.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take,” D’Antoni said. “It’s going to take a little bit. He’s working hard and he’s feeling better every day. The images are looking better. But I think it’s too early to say how many days he’s out. I don’t think anybody knows.”
Westbrook played one of the Rockets’ final four seeding games and was out for Game 1 against the Thunder. He was officially ruled out of Game 2 late Wednesday.
“He’ll just keep strengthening it and he’ll go a little bit on how he feels,” D’Antoni said. “I’m sure the next step, he’ll get on the court. I don’t want to be negative like, ‘nobody knows.’ It’s just two days, four days, four or five days — nobody knows yet. The thigh will tell him that.
“He is progressing. It feels a lot better. He’s doing a lot of conditioning, bike riding and stuff. He hasn’t got on the court yet. Once he gets on the court, he’ll be able to hone in on how many days.”
Rockets forward Luc Mbah a Moute was ruled out with left knee effusion.
Oklahoma City guard Luguentz Dort is out with a sprained right knee. Dort sat out Tuesday’s Game 1.
Smaller lineup isn’t big problem in Game 1
The Rockets held their own in
Game 1 against the Thunder in the areas expected to be troublesome with their small lineups.
They outscored Oklahoma City 44-38 in the paint and nearly matched it in second-chance points, with the Thunder outrebounding the Rockets on the offensive boards 11-8.
Rather than focusing on dealing with Thunder center Steven Adams and their disadvantages against OKC’s size, the Rockets said more attention should be devoted to their advantages.
“We’re undersized, period,” Rockets center P.J. Tucker said. “As much as we talk about it, we’re undersized. OK. So what? The elephant is in the room. It’s always going to be there. It’s always something we’ve got to deal with. But instead of looking at it as a disadvantage — I don’t know why everybody does — we do it on purpose.
“It’s not something somebody threw on us and we have to deal with. It’s our choice. We choose to be this size. We choose to play the way we play because we feel we have an advantage, multiple advantages with our personnel. Instead of saying how we dealt with being undersized, I t.ink the flip is how do other people feel about playing against us, how do they feel about being matched up with us? I think that’s more of a question?”
Thunder guard Chris Paul said there is an adjustment that takes time when facing the Rockets’ unconventional switching defense. Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said the Rockets’ style “may be” difficult to duplicate in practices given that teams tend to play the way that fits their personnel. That could be a temporary issue, but he added the Rockets did not choose to play the spacing, switching style just to be different.
“I’m sure they’ll get more used to it as the series goes on,” he said. “But if we do it correctly, so be it.”
When asked if he takes pride in doing something unconventional, D’Antoni said, “If we win, I will. If we lose, (the media) will kill me.
“Hey, we just thought this is the best way we can play,” he said. “If that’s the case, let’s go all in and do it the best we can do it. And we do hope that is enough. And we think it’s enough if things break the right way. We’ll see if our will is more dominant that the other team’s will. You crown a champion by the brains and heart of the players. That will never change. No matter what system, it’s the heart and the intelligence of the players (that matter).”