Defense gets a quick study
Though the Kings beat the Rockets badly on the offensive glass Saturday, most of the damage came when the Rockets’ lead had reached at least 20. That gave coach Mike
D’Antoni the ample useful video to show Tuesday, a day before the league’s top offensive rebounder comes to town, without having to take a loss to learn a lesson.
“Being up 25 points leads to that,” D’Antoni said of the Rockets’ allowing a season-high 23 second-chance points Saturday. “I just watched the film with the guys in there. Every time we were up 20 and made a mistake, we just didn’t box out. It happens. We could get on them out of a win, which is the best way to do it.” Pistons center Andre
Drummond, who leads the NBA in rebounding (16.2 per game), averages a league-high 6.1 offensive rebounds, helping him to a league-best 6.9 secondchance points. With the Rockets’ switching defense, guards will often be matched up on Drummond, making it much more difficult to keep him off the offensive glass.
The Rockets are tied for 24th in defensive rebounding percentage, though that has picked up a bit in their turnaround defensively since the slow start. They rank 18th in the past nine games.
“Every defense, you have a weakness,” D’Antoni said. “Little guys will have to box him out and try the best they can. We’ll probably give up putbacks that you just can’t avoid. But even when you don’t switch, they’re really good on the offensive boards. Just don’t panic and do what we do, and we should be OK if we do it well enough.”
With James Harden averaging 5.3 rebounds and Chris Paul 5.1, the Rockets are the only team with a pair of guards averaging at least five.
“It’s tough,” Paul said. “You have to try to get inside position. For a guy like me, just try to box out as much as possible, use my legs. If it comes off, hopefully you get the rebound. Or if not, sometimes you can box him out and let somebody else get the rebound.”
Back in the thick of things
When the Rockets gathered for practice Tuesday after two off days, the standings had become far more bunched in front of them than when they left Saturday with a four-game winning streak.
There were four teams — the Trail Blazers, Clippers, Warriors and Grizzlies — tied for the best record in the Western Conference.
The ninth-place Rockets, having climbed much of the way out of the hole they dug with a 1-5 start, began Tuesday just 2½ games out of first place but with a thick pack of teams in their path.
“We started off so bad, but if you look at the standings, we’re two games in the loss column from being back where we need to be, which is a blessing in itself,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “In the West, we could have almost been mathematically out of it by now. We have to take advantage of it. The bad thing is 13 other teams probably saying the same thing. So everybody is bunched up, and we have to take care of business.”
D’Antoni said he was confident the Rockets would bounce back, but their four-game winning streak going into Wednesday’s game against the Pistons was enough to move them just one game better than .500.
“You have to have faith in our guys,” D’Antoni said. “Our guys are professional, and they’re good. You worry about it. You pull your hair out. But in the end, they’re going to come back to who they are. Who they are is pretty good.