HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets don’t seem worried about their recent downturn following a terrific December run that carried into the new year.
The cushion coach Mike D’Antoni had talked about building in the quest for a high playoff seed remains solid. The Rockets (37-17) still boast the third-best record in the Western Conference. Yet, after winning 20 of 22 games, starting with a win at Golden State on Dec. 1 extending into a victory on Jan. 10 at Charlotte, the Rockets’ momentum has stalled.
While December was wonderful with James Harden named player of the month and D’Antoni coach of the month, don’t expect any awards for February. Houston has lost eight of its past 14 games going into Tuesday’s home contest against Orlando.
“It’s a number of things,” Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley said. “We got a mark on our back. We’re one of the best teams in the NBA, so we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. We went through the injury bug a little bit — that’s not an excuse. We just got to understand we’re going to get teams’ best shot, and we got to be ready and prepare for it, and we will.”
All NBA teams peak at some point during a long 82-game season. For the Rockets, that could prove to be December, when Harden emerged as a leading candidate for the MVP award. In 17 December games, Harden averaged 28.3 points, 12 assists and 9.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor.
“Maybe, yeah, but there’s no reason why we don’t play at a high level all the time,” D’Antoni said in addressing his team’s December hot streak. “Kinda like that we got a lot of games in January [17 in total] where we couldn’t have practice time, so we are just getting back and just have to reiterate the points that are important for us.”
The schedule has been daunting. Houston played 29 of its first 51 games on the road this season, tied for the fifth-most road games within the first 51 games in league history. It also tied for the most in franchise history, matching the 1970-71 team. As of Sunday, the Rockets had played a league-high 54 road games.
During a 21-day span in January, the Rockets played 12 games with three sets of back-to-backs. It limited the practice schedule, because D’Antoni was trying to get his team as much rest as possible. He also lost starting forward Ryan Anderson (stomach virus) for two games and guard Eric Gordon (sprained left big toe and stiff back) for four games. Beverley missed one game with a left quad contusion. Houston went 5-7 in that 21-day span.
But the Rockets are back home now, going 2-1 so far on a four-game homestand that concludes against the Magic.
The home schedule offers several benefits for the Rockets, including more time to practice and rest. D’Antoni gave the team two days off following Friday’s overtime victory versus Chicago. Forward Trevor Ariza said the Rockets can go over some defensive drills in which communication and movement are stressed. The offensive pace, at times slow, isn’t too much of a concern because the Rockets are comfortable with the open looks they’re getting. Yet, Houston hasn’t been finishing those open looks.
“It will be easier for us with us playing a lot of games at home, not having as many games as we did earlier in the year,” Ariza said. “We have more practice time, and we can get back to the things we did earlier in the year.”
In the past 14 games, the Rockets have allowed their opponents to score 111.4 points and shoot 48.4 percent from the field. When Houston won 20 of 22 games, opponents averaged 107.9 points and shot 44.5 percent.
The point production of Anderson and Gordon has fallen in the past 14 games in comparison to December. Gordon is averaging 15.5 and shooting 38 percent from the field in that span. In December, when Gordon emerged as a favorite for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, he averaged 19.4 points and shot 44.2 percent. Anderson’s shooting percentage also has taken a drop, going from 45.5 in December to just 39.1 percent in the past 14 games.
Ariza’s shooting touch has been dreadful of late. In the past five games, he is shooting 19 percent from the field and has made just 5 of 30 3-point field goals.
“You just don’t worry about it, trust your work, understand throughout the season everything isn’t going to be perfect,” Ariza said. “Stay confident and take the shots you been taking and whatever happens, happens.”
Road travel, leading to tired legs, is one reason the Rockets entered a valley at this stage of the season. Even Harden, one of the more durable players on the team, has felt the effects. After recording his second 50-plus-point triple-double of the season in a Jan. 27 win at Philadelphia, he mustered only 15 points on a 3-for-17 shooting performance two nights later in a loss at Indiana.
D’Antoni attributes the ups and downs to players being human. Beverley noted the Rockets are not making excuses but understand this is the schedule they’ve faced and are handling it.
Houston built up so many quality victories — beating Golden State, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Boston and the LA Clippers — that it overshadows some difficult road losses to Miami, Milwaukee and Minnesota.
“I just think we just went through a little bit of adversity,” Ariza said. “We got through last month — it wasn’t the best month for us or what we expected, but we got through it. Now, it’s easing up. We got more practice time, more rest time for guys, so [we’re] looking to finish up strong and get back to where we were earlier in the year.”
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