For the first time since being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, Houston Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni has given his honest opinion about what happened in their second round series against the Golden State Warriors.
The series was tied at 2-2 heading into Game 5, and Houston had the perfect opportunity to beat the two-time defending champions when Kevin Durant went down with an injury. However, the Warriors never looked rattled by Durant's absence and took care of the Rockets in Games 5 and 6.
In an interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic, D'Antoni said that Durant's absence put the Warriors in ‘desperation mode, and everybody on that team stepped up to take the challenge of beating his Rockets without the reigning Finals MVP.
“Well, I think it puts them into more of a desperation mode. We don’t have Kevin, and so yeah (they’re) more desperate,” D'Antoni said.
“Do they turn it up a ways? Yeah, probably. But again, I think where they’ve gotten beside the point (in that discussion) is that we know how good the Splash Brothers and Kevin are, but Draymond Green is playing at a very, very high level, and he’s as valuable – if (not) more valuable – than anybody.”
“And also the improvement of (Kevon) Looney. Looney has played really, really well. Nobody has ever talked about him through the years, but that gives them another very, very good player. And (Andre) Iguodala has been healthy, and last year (in their Western Conference Finals loss to Golden State) he wasn’t healthy. They’ve got a bunch of players who can go, and missing one, I just think, made them more aware of what they needed to do.”
The Rockets blew their chance of avenging last season's loss to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Instead, they were the ones who looked desperate in Game 6, trying to figure out a way to stop Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson down the stretch.
Houston had James Harden and a healthy Chris Paul this time around too. Nonetheless, they still were not able to get the job done.
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