D’Antoni stresses mental toughness

As much as the Rockets’ loss to the Warriors was about terrible shooting in a game they might prefer to forget, when Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said the Rockets needed mental toughness he hoped there would be a lesson they would remember long after the details of a December defeat are forgotten.

“I think sometimes, we were talking about, at the end of the road trip, your legs could be tired and not there; it’s a little like the playoffs,” D’Antoni said. “You get in the playoffs, you’re going to get tired.

“You have to be able to not foul. You need to be able to run our plays, be able to understand when to duck in and not to, and not just stand there. Your legs might not be there all the time. Your body might not feel great. But you have to be mentally sharp and find ways to win.”

The Rockets made just 16 of 51 3-pointers against the Warriors, making just 7 of 29 3s when the nearest defender was more than six feet away. But they had emphasized since that they would need to defend harder and play with more toughness regardless of how well they shoot.