Coach won’t cite OKC loss for seed

Though it is too late to lament the final days of the season and the ways they changed the Rockets’ playoff positioning, coach Mike D’Antoni said heading into the postseason as the fourth seed was about much more than the games that put them there.

The Rockets would have been the second seed had they made their 14-point lead in Oklahoma City hold up, instead losing when Paul George sank a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left and when James Harden’s 3 at the buzzer missed. They also would have been the second seed if Minnesota, which led by 11 points with four minutes left, had won in Denver. They would have been the third seed had Sacramentos, which led by 28, won in Portland.

In addition to starting the postseason against Utah, Golden State likely awaits in the second round, one round sooner than had the Rockets finished as the Nos. 2 or 3 seed.

D’Antoni said it didn’t matter when his team faces the reigning champions, but finishing as the fourth seed was the result of many losses, not just the season-ending setback.

“It just goes back to something we preached all year,” D’Antoni said. “Your seeding is determined in November, December, January, February. It’s not determined in that last game. … We put ourselves in that position. It didn’t work out. Things didn’t go our way. We kind of blew it during the year by not winning two or three more games.

“We’re not looking past anybody, but obviously, you got to go through Golden State. That’s the main goal, but obviously, we have a great opponent coming up.”