Nwaba out with ankle sprain
The Rockets were at full strength (minus Dante Exum, who has not played this season and is not expected to return in the first half schedule before the break) for two games. That did not last.
Forward David Nwaba, who has become an important part of the second unit’s outstanding defense, likely is out for the Rockets’ two games against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a sprained left ankle.
“Luckily, we do have some depth,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “Ben McLemore, who hasn’t been playing, can step in. Or I can go with nine guys. He’ll be missed for however long he misses.
“I told him today, some of the plays he made, he made one play when … we passed ahead, he drove in, missed it, got his own rebound and finished. There was another play, he went in and missed it and then stole the ball back and went back in. He played with such reckless abandon; we’re going to miss it. Probably won’t be out too long.”
Nwaba leads the Rockets in plus/minus rating, plus 67 in his 17 games played, including plus 12.3 per game in the past six games. In the past nine games, since the Rockets’ roster-altering trade, he has averaged 9.4 points on 50.8 percent shooting.
Finding time to rest is difficult
Though the Rockets were able to begin their four-game road trip, their longest of the season’s first-half schedule, without pushing anyone past 28 minutes in Saturday’s rout in New Orleans, the schedule demanded an emphasis on rest and likely will throughout February.
The Rockets will not have more than one day between games again in the schedule heading into the break. They play 18 games in 31 days, including three sets of back-tobacks. Victor Oladipo has not played both games in back-to-backs this season. John Wall was out with a sore knee when the Rockets began their only back-to-back so far this season.
“We had a good game last night, guys didn’t play a bunch of minutes,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “But they’re still feeling playing every other day. We didn’t do very much (at Sunday’s practice). We did a little defensive technique, then we got some shots up. That was it.”
Other than that, players who have not been playing played two-on-two, but the challenge of the condensed schedule is to get work in and remain fresh for games.
“It’s hard to do,” Silas said. “We have guys coming off major injuries, and we have guys who are not going to be playing high 30s as far as minutes are concerned, so our depth is going to have to really come into play as far as that stretch of the season.
“I talked to the players (Sunday) about just having the first quarter of the season gone already, and now we have the next quarter prior to All-Star break and really concentrating on making sure that we’re getting better every day, taking care of our body, having energy for the games, all of those things. It’s daunting to play that many games in that few days. But the way we are taking each game and improving, the future looks bright as far as I’m concerned.”
Silas focusing on better starts
For all the improvements the Rockets have made, their play in first quarters has remained a problem, even in the winning streak.
They came back to win after trailing by 20 against the Trail Blazers and by 11 in New Orleans, their first comebacks from doubledigit deficits to win this season, but they rank just 24th in the NBA in net rating in the opening quarter. Even in the fivegame winning streak, they have ranked just 20th.
The slow starts have been on both ends. Defensively, where the Rockets have the top rating in the NBA during the winning streak, they have ranked just 19th in the opening quarter.
“We really have been talking about having a defensive mindset coming into games and not allowing our makes or misses dictate whether we’re going to have a good start to the game,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “Some games it’s been like a make-or-miss thing, missing shots we can make and they’ve been running out on us. Some games it’s been energy.
“It’s definitely something we’ve been talking quite a bit about and showing the difference between, for instance the first quarter last night — I didn’t think we were awful, we just missed some shots we should have made — and the second quarter when everything came together. At a time like this, when you’re on a winning streak, you can highlight the positive and make sure we continue to do those positive things. But it is also easier to point out the mistakes that you’re making as a group and fix them without hammering guys.”
The Rockets have cited an ability to overcome slow starts in their past two games but said they cannot rely on that.
“Trust and believe, that’s not the way we want to start,” guard John Wall said. “And I know that’s not the way coach wants us to start the game. Just to find ways to win those games and compete and come back with a win, that’s big for us later down the road.”