HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)-
71 seconds into the second half of the Rockets 119-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks Monday night at Toyota Center Mike D’Antoni had seen enough. For at least one night his experiment of playing two traditional bigs on the floor at the same time was over.
“It’s still a work in progress,” D’Antoni said of that particular lineup after the game. “It goes against what I like, but I don’t want to be stupid either, so we’ll look at it a little bit.”
In D’Antoni’s first two seasons as Rockets coach, he had two traditional, non floor-spacing bigs share the floor for a total of 22 minutes. Over the last three games, a combination of Clint Capela, Kenneth Faried, and Nene have played together for 49 minutes, with Faried and Capela starting alongside one another the last two times the Rockets took the floor.
“Our biggest problem is rebounding the basketball, and it just made sense to try it,” D’Antoni said before Monday’s game after the Rockets leaned heavily on the big lineup to stun the Golden State Warriors Saturday night without James Harden.
In D’Antoni’s third season as Rockets’ coach, his team has dropped from seventh in defensive rating to 25th, and big reason for that drop is that the Rockets are now the NBA’s second worst defensive rebounding team (69.2 percent) after finishing fourth best a season ago. The sample size is small, but so far D’Antoni’s experiment appears to be paying off. The Rockets defensive rebounding rate has jumped to 74 percent the last three games. In the 40 minutes Faried and Capela have shared the floor that number rises to 77.3 percent.
“We both great rebounders,” Faried said late Monday night. “I think we’re both great rim runners and protectors. He protects the paint, protects the rim. I’m able to protect the rim, protect the paint, so we play off each other.
“Then, on top of that, I get to switch with him to the help side swing, ‘Hey, Clint, you stay low, I go high, let me switch and you go do everything else.’ Then if they come to the paint he’s able to block it, or vice versa, sometimes he’s out there, and if they come in the paint, I gotta go get it.”
The Rockets were plus-five in eight minutes playing big last Thursday in Los Angeles, but two nights later the big lineup was put on the spot in Oakland, and it more than survived, again posting a plus-five, but this time in 30 minutes against the best offense in the NBA. Not known for his defense, Faried spent a lot of time on Kevin Durant, and D’Antoni thought he more than held his own.
“I think he did real well,” D’Antoni said. “But that’s what he needs to keep doing well and it’s probably not the hallmark of his talent, but we switch a lot one through four, not the five-guy per say, but because of that if you’re on the floor they’re going to pick you out anyway, so you gotta guard anyway, so I didn’t think that was a factor, but I thought he did well, but he has to do that well every night.”
Still, D’Antoni’s hesitancy to deviate from small ball had nothing to do with defense.
"Will that hurt our offense? He asked rhetorically. “Well, We'll see. It's not like we're great shooters anyways, so maybe it won't hurt our offense.
Even though they take and make more three-pointers than anyone else in the NBA, the Rockets miss a lot. After Monday’s game the team is shooting 34.6 percent from downtown, eighth worst. They’ve missed more threes (1,759) than seven teams (San Antonio, Indiana, LA Clippers, Bulls, Cavs, Wolves, Grizzlies) have attempted, so from a spacing standpoint D’Antoni figures he can get away with replacing non-shooters with another non-shooter, but as luck may have it, Faried may actually be able to shoot from deep.
“His form is good, and when he shoots it, it looks good.”
Even with good form, Faried connected on a total of three three-pointers in his 465 NBA regular season and playoff games. He made one in his first game as a Rocket January 21, and after making another February 6, he’s made at least one in the last three games. During his time in Houston, Faried is 6-of-13 from behind the 3-point line, surprising some.
“I just never thought he could shoot threes,” D’Antoni said.
“I can shoot,” Faried insists. “For me it’s just me shooting, it’s not a big deal.”
D’Antoni makes it clear to just about everyone that plays for him: if you have an open look from three, take it, but in case Faried was lacking for confidence, D’Antoni made sure to run a set early against the Lakers and Warriors designed to force Faried to let one fly.
“It gives me confidence to know that he wants me to stay (in the corner), and if they throw you the ball shoot that three. Like, don’t think about it. Don’t think twice about it.”
“Probably coaches told him not to (shoot threes), and you start thinking about it you can’t do it, but once your stroke looks good and it’s easy why can’t you make it? It’s more a mental thing, and I think that helps,” D’Antoni said.
Faried attempted a pair of three-pointers Monday. He made the first from the right corner off a pass from Harden. The second came from the top of the arc. He was so open the Hawks closest defender, Kevin Heurter, started running away from him. He airballed it, but he says he knows why he missed the shot so badly, and believes he can keep from it happening again.
“I missed it cause I thought about it, and when I think about it, it’s more so you get kinda caught up and you want to do something else and then you’re throwing up a bad shot. Funny thing about that if I had just set my feet and shot it, it’d probably be a different result.”
As he tries to maneuver a roster that’s at full strength for seemingly the first time in months, D’Antoni wouldn’t commit to sticking with a big lineup, though the fact that he’s used it three straight games is a big step for a man that had been so dead set against going that direction in the past. For 15 seasons as an NBA head coach, Mike D’Antoni has played his style his way, but as this Rockets team tries to get its footing he realizes it might be time to change, though if Monday’s quick third quarter hook is a preview, don’t expect him to love doing it.