Playoff implications? With Grizzlies, maybe
Today’s matchup carries extra weight considering the foe
Though it might be a tad early, less than two weeks into November, to consider playoff positioning, the Rockets did anyway. They had just watched 30 minutes of video of the Memphis Grizzlies and could not help themselves.
When a team with the Rockets’ aspirations has lost three times in 12 games and two of those losses have been to the
same opponent, it gets late early, more so when the remaining two games against that opponent come in the next eight days.
With five months left in the season, the Rockets consider Saturday night’s meeting with the Grizzlies at Toyota Center, along with a return engagement to Memphis on Nov. 18, as vital for reasons they might not fully appreciate until the postseason.
“It’s important,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “You want to try to get all the … tiebreakers. We’re down 2-0, so the next two games are crucial for that in the next week.”
Guard Eric Gordon went a step further. The Rockets might never need a tiebreaker against the Grizzlies, but he did not like the idea that there would a playoff matchup his team would need to avoid, or worse, would be an issue.
“You don’t want to take that
chance,” Gordon said. “They’re making a good run and you have to decide between playoff positioning and (avoiding a bad postseason matchup). That’s why we’re going to really try to take care of these next two games (against the Grizzlies). They work hard. They can be a playoff team. You don’t want to worry about that when playoff time comes.”
It might not just be about the Grizzlies. The Rockets have in general seemed to have had trouble with teams with long, athletics wings and forwards such as the Grizzlies, Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat last season and the Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers already this season.
But the Rockets were not ready to concede they cannot match up with those teams when at full strength this season, considering the three losses this season are too small a sample size to define them. The next two nights, against the Grizzlies and Pacers (who swept the Rockets last season), could determine if those matchups remain an issue.
“You could make a case. You could also make a case each individual game is a story in itself,” D’Antoni said. “You take Memphis. We played really well all the way to the middle of the fourth quarter and kind of let it go down. We didn’t have Eric (who was out with a stomach virus) there.
“We have to pay attention to their athleticism. They are more athletic than we are. They get out in transition. And they get into us more (defensively). We’re going to have to counteract that by being mentally ready and prepared and anticipate what they’re doing.”
The Rockets have faced the Grizzlies so often, having also played in Memphis in the preseason, they studied the matchup the way teams typically do in the postseason. The Rockets reached the conclusion they did not play with the intensity of their 117-113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday when they showed the tenacity down the stretch that the Grizzlies had against them in the fourth quarters last month.
The Rockets have averaged 15.5 points in the fourth quarter against Memphis but believe they can win that way now (after scoring 17 in the fourth quarter against the Cavs), even if they could not a few weeks ago.
“We watched a lot of film from those games,” forward Ryan Anderson said. “There were segments of the game they played harder than us. We were up pretty big (12 points) the first game against them. They’re a hard-playing team. You can’t let up against a team like Memphis. They’re going to be solid. They’re not going to allow you to score a ton of points. They’re a good defensive team.
“Especially with a scrappy team like that, you have to be really physical with them. If we stick with our same game plan, we’ll be fine. In those games we played Memphis, I feel like we were figuring some things out. I think we’re playing at a different level right now.”
More than anything, that was why the Rockets believed the two losses to the Grizzlies are not indications of a greater problem. After losing their next game to the 76ers, the Rockets have won their past four games, giving them their second-best start in 20 seasons.
“We’re a better team now,” Gordon said. “We were kind of finding ourselves early in the season. We’re a better team. Everybody is playing well.
“We’re starting to figure it out and putting a lot of good wins together. Hopefully, we can keep on getting better as guys are getting healthier now.”
Still, there remains the issue of how they match up with the Grizzlies, even if they don’t need to five months from now.