On Friday night's game against the New York Knicks, the Houston Rockets' head coach in Mike D’Antoni will miss his first game ever due to illness, according to a report from Chris Iseman of USA Today:
Mike D’Antoni is sick and will not coach the Rockets tonight. First time he’s ever missed a game.
— Chris Iseman (@ChrisIseman) April 5, 2019
The Rockets, after the team’s best season in franchise history last year with the reigning MVP in James Harden as well as a bevy of three-and-D specialists all around him, had a bit of a dip this season.
After losing a few of its most important players, such as Trevor Ariza and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the Rockets stuttered out of the gate. Don’t forget, Carmelo Anthony (who was one of the reasons why Dwyane Wade returned for a final season) was on this team to start the year, and the fit was less than ideal.
Beyond that, the team signed former Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams (a known non-shooter) and traded away one of the team’s best deep threats in Ryan Anderson in favor of young big man Marquese Chriss, who does not particularly fit with what Houston is trying to do on offense under D’Antoni.
D’Antoni, the pioneering coach who spearheaded the pace-and-space revolution with the “7 seconds or less” Phoenix Suns, returned with a vengeance last year with the Rockets. On the way to winning his second coach of the year award, the Rockets were a juggernaut and almost defeated the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
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