Despite grabbing a convincing win over a dilapidated Golden State Warriors roster on Wednesday, Houston Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni called on his players to play harder and give more effort.
“We're doing the same things we did last year and the year before that and the year before that….It's a matter of heart, will, communication and getting it done,” said Mike D'Antoni in his post-game presser, according to Alykhan Bijani of The Athletic. “We can't make adjustments until they play as hard as they can.”
The Rockets let the Warriors hang around for most of the game before finally putting out the final squeeze in the fourth quarter. All of the starters played 30 or more minutes, which seemed unnecessary when a fully healthy lineup was trotted out against a bunch of non-starters on the Warriors.
Houston still faced some of the same issues that plagued them early in the season, quickly giving up fast-break opportunities with long rebounds from their obsession with corner three, along with the fouls in transition that constantly put the Warriors in the bonus.
D'Antoni is hoping his team can learn even from a win, but that remains to be seen as of now. Many scouts have been worried the Rockets won't be able to threaten in the playoffs the way they play defense, all while general manager Daryl Morey is looking forward to becoming the best offense in the NBA along with a top-10 defense as his final recipe.
The Rockets are far along from the latter, which has made even D'Antoni worry about his players' effort level.
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