Game 2 letdown is reason to doubt team has rid itself of negative vibes

The game after Mike D’Antoni and Quin Snyder acknowledged James Harden is almost impossible to guard, the Rockets didn’t show up in a playoff game on their home court until it was too late.

I could list 20 other detailed examples of the team’s symbolic Game 2 letdown. But none are going to top the perfect symbolism of the above.

Harden’s an MVP one game. The Rockets get pushed around, embarrassed and beaten up in Houston the next.

“It’s about us,” glue guy and gritty veteran forward P.J. Tucker said Thursday at Toyota Center, after 116-108 Utah allowed the Jazz to tie a Western Conference second-round

series at 1-1 on the way to Salt Lake City.

Snyder’s team adjusted and brought the intensity and emotion. But it is all about the Rockets in 2018.

Harden has played 467 regular-season and 52 playoff games for a franchise that proudly promotes his face, beard and name. D’Antoni just recorded the most regularseason victories in team history, earning a No. 1 seed throughout the playoffs and producing one of the best offenses since basketball began. Chris Paul, a perfect fit with The Beard from Game 1 through 82, is three wins away from reaching the Western Conference finals for the first time since he was drafted and can prove (and erase) so much in this postseason.

Deflated Toyota Center

But Toyota Center was as quiet and disinterested as the Rockets during the first half of Game 2; the day after left us questioning this team.

Harden has been with the Rockets six years and should be an MVP winner by the time this summer is complete. He scored a game-high 32 points and dished out a team-high 11 assists in Game 2, insisting his team was “good” after a troubling defeat. Did you believe him? D’Antoni said a lack of on-court communication led to decreased confidence, which created hesitation.

“Once you hesitate, all is lost,” said the 2016-17 NBA Coach of the Year.

But why did this team — which spent months looking like a contender for the Golden State Warriors’ crown — struggle with communication and confidence the contest after leading by 27 points and coasting to a Game 1 victory?

Shouldn’t the 65-win Rockets, filled with veterans and loaded with to-be-determined legacies, be stronger — especially at home and staring at the potential of being up 2-0?

“The playoffs is a different animal and you’ve got to figure that animal out. That’s why a series lasts seven games,” D’Antoni said. “You will have some bad games in there, but you’ve got to bounce back, cure what we can cure, and we can do that. Usually in seven games, the best team wins. If we’re the best team, we’ll win. If not, then they win. It’s pretty simple.”

“If ” we’re the best team?

I know D’Antoni’s just messing around with words. But, still, coach: Your team’s already dealing with public confidence issues. The Rockets have two superstars, a supportive owner, a highly regarded general manager, one of the league’s most respected coaches and deepest rosters, and haven’t had a losing season since 2005-06.

They’re difficult to fully back and get behind — let alone consistently write about — and every time they snooze through a playoff game, the old, bad memories return.

First-round exits during three of Harden’s initial five years in red. The unforgettable Game 6 disaster last season against a hobbled San Antonio team on the Rockets’ home court.

Warriors looming

LeBron James, 33, is willing Cleveland to playoff wins and pushing his body to the limit as his team leads Toronto 2-0.

The Warriors have been an offensive machine again, and I’d pick them over the Rockets if the latter fights past the Jazz and ends up in the conference finals.

The Rockets are 5-2 in these playoffs. But they’ve trailed or been tied entering the second quarter in four of those games. Momentum in this series also suddenly belongs to a No. 5 seed playing without its starting point guard.

“I think so. I believe so. I hope so,” said Paul, when asked if the Rockets’ confidence remained the same. “Yeah, I think we’re cool. We’re ready to fly out and get ready for Game 3.”

The NBA playoffs are ready-made for overreaction. Part of the Rockets’ strength is their calm swagger, which sets up their on-court fire.

But you know when this team is truly on, and a 50-point quarter in Game 4 at Minnesota was preceded by D’Antoni questioning his team’s commitment, then followed by a 59-55 Timberwolves halftime lead in Game 5.

“We did not do what we’re supposed to do,” the Rockets’ coach said Thursday.

Maybe this is just the Rockets’ path under Harden and D’Antoni. Shine, disappoint, shine again.

Golden State trailed Memphis 2-1 in the second round and Cleveland by the same deficit in the NBA Finals during the Warriors’ first title run with The Splash Brothers in 2015.

Maybe the league’s top seed in 2018 does more than just split in SLC.

When they get the “us” part right, these Rockets are strong enough to fly past the Jazz, beat the Warriors and win an NBA championship for the first time since 1995.

But as a stunned, then bored Toyota Center reminded us during Game 2, the Rockets are still proving themselves to us, six seasons after Harden came to Houston.