Rockets Ready For Warriors Who 'Got Nothing To Prove', Mike D'Antoni Says

The Houston Rockets took the Golden State Warriors to seven games in 2018’s Western Conference finals and head coach Mike D’Antoni is certain his team can push the Warriors again this season, if they come up against the reigning NBA champions. The playoffs get underway April 13 and as it stands, the Rockets will face Los Angeles Clippers in the first round.

But with three games to go for most teams, the standings could change by the time the playoffs come around. The Utah Jazz, Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are currently in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, and could change places as there are just 3.5 games covering the four teams.

The Rockets, currently in third place, can still finish in second if the Denver Nuggets lose two of their remaining three games and D’Antoni’s team wins all its games. But at the moment, they are likely to face Michael Malone’s Clippers in the first round of the playoffs.

Last year’s Western Conference runners-up is one of the in-form teams going into the post-season and they will be the second favorites to progress from the West. With James Harden firing on all cylinders and Chris Paul back to full fitness, D’Antoni is confident they can take the game to the Warriors if they again meet in the summit clash.

"Well, I thought we had a great crack last year, so I don’t know — we’ll see,” D’Antoni recently told The Athletic. “I’m confident, as I was when we were 11-14, that we’ll give them a run. Now they might beat us. They’re the best team. They’re the champs right now. They’ve proven it, and they’ve got nothing to prove.”

“They are different, much different,” the Rockets head coach said talking about the addition of Andrew Bogut as a backup center for the post-season. “They’re even different with (Bogut). And you know they’re going to turn it on, but we just — we like what we’ve got.”

The Rockets were spoken of as the main challengers to the Warriors before the season began, but 25 games into the campaign, it was not the case any more. They made a dismal start to the season going 11-14 before Harden and the rest kicked into gear. D’Antoni’s team has lost just 14 more since and now sits in third place with a 51-28 record. The head coach revealed that even during the dire period, the team never lost faith and remained confident that things would get better as the season progressed.

“We never lost faith,” D’Antoni said. “The players never lost faith. And I kept telling them, obviously it’s great that you don’t lose faith but if you think you’re OK y’all are crazy. We’re not OK, but we will be OK, and you have to have that confidence.”