Silas holding on to his challenges
Rockets coach Stephen Silas made it through 94 minutes of preseason basketball before he could wait no longer to hit the challenge light.
With 1:36 left in the Rockets game against the Miami Heat on Thursday, Silas challenged a foul call on Usman Garuba, getting the call overturned after the video review. It was not unusual for him to win a challenge, but an NBA rule change could have him holding hold onto his challenges until late in games as he did on Thursday more often this season.
When it came to challenging officials’ calls last season, Silas won more often than his team did. But the rule change that rtakes away the officials’ option to review out of bounds calls in the final two minutes could lead to a change in his strategy.
The Rockets won just 17 games last season, but Silas won 19 of his 32 coach’s challenges, a far better winning percentage (59.4 percent) than the league average overall (48 percent). But with the rule change, Silas said he might hold onto a challenge more often than he did last season.
“We’re going to have a conversation around that in the next week or so so we can really figure it out because that’s a big play down the stretch and they’re not going to be reviewing it,” Silas said. “Maybe it does make sense to hold onto it or does it make more sense to take points from the other team? Figuring that out is something I’m going to be working with our analytics group, coaches and Rafael ( Stone, the Rockets general manager.)”
Silas chose to use his challenges based on a mix of potential benefit and likelihood of a win.
If he could win points or remove an opponents’ scoring, or save a key player a foul or get an opposing top player a foul, Silas was more likely to challenge than just for the possession of the ball. But he tended toward challenging, regardless of the time in the game, when he was confident that he would win the challenge.
“I’m definitely trying to win them,” Silas said. “Holding onto them now that the situation won’t be there (for officials to review late out of bounds rulings) is something I have to think about.”
NBA coaches had hoped to be allowed to keep their one challenge per game when calls were overturned but the NBA opted not to make that change.
“We brought it up,” Silas said. “It would be great if we could do that, but it’s very much about the flow of the game. They’re trying to not stop the flow.”