The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Mike D'Antoni Show 1/9/20

Episode Date: January 9, 2020

Rockets Head Coach Mike D'Antoni joins Matt each week to talk Houston Rockets Basketball

A straightaway three, it is up. And it's good. The Rockets are rolling now. Do a better, harder, longer. Rejected. The beard is cooking. They play together. They play hard.

He sat. He fired and he had the three. Now, exclusive insight and the latest on your Houston Rockets. Rockets head coach Mike Dan Tony joins the Matt Thomas show on Sports Talk 790, home of the Rockets. And we are here in Oklahoma City for tonight's game against the 3rd. Thunder will have the coverage free beginning at 7.30. Tip time just past 8.30 here on Sports Talk 790. Rockets last night with a win over Atlanta. We'll get to that and a lot of other things with our good friend, a man who came to me in late December and said, hey, is it time for our radio

show? Coach, it is. How are you? I'm fine. Matt, how are you doing? Outstanding. Thanks for doing this with us. We look forward to. I think you and I can do a half hour or what? Between now and middle of June, would that be okay with you? Oh, yeah. That'd be fun. I can hear it your voice. I got you. First of all... The June part would be fun.

Let's go that way. I got you. I got you. Hey, before we get to... We've got a lot of things to address over the half hour, but let's just get to tonight a little bit. A little extra bounce in Russ a step, naturally. This should be a fun atmosphere this evening at Oklahoma City.

It should be. He spent his whole career here prior to us. So, as he said, he grew up here, and a lot of great memories for him, I'm sure. He's going to fill it and we'll see how it manifests itself and something great, something less thing great who knows, but it should be exciting. Let's turn the clock back a little bit and take us through when you had heard from the organization that Russell Westbrook would be available, especially with Paul George going at the Clippers. When you first heard it, what were your initial thoughts? And then how fast did you get to your pen and paper to start drawing up ways to put him and James together on the same floor and be successful?

Well, I mean, you know, when I heard or the possibility or whatever, bittersweet, you know, having to get him, we had to give up Chris Paul who played on. He was a great player, and we had great success with him. So you've been all to look at the coin that way. It was a tough move on with Chris. But then you look at Russell coming in and added some dynamic stat. Part of the team was missing. So, you know, again, it's one of those things. that is the business

and you're doing, you know, we were going to have a good team no matter what. You hate it for the past, but then you get excited for the future. You have had a great opportunity through either free agent acquisitions or trades to coach some of the best players ever to play in the NBA.

Do you remember much about that first phone call, first meeting with you and Russ, and what were some of the things that were discussed? No, not a whole lot. I mean, just normal stuff. I've done Russ from your first. go say basketball, so he had a relationship. And, you know, my biggest, my message is him, it still is, and always will be him, is that just for him to be him.

I don't want to change him. He's been great in this league. He obviously knows how to play, and he just has to be full of confidence and attack like he always does. And then more just around him and try to make this team the best we could. But, you know, Russell is a good person, and it's fun to be around him. He's a live wire and it's interesting. Interesting would be definitely the term I would use. I'll say this, and we've always appreciated him from a distance

and is obviously when you're trying to guard him. His 0-60, when he takes off, especially at mid-court and attacks the basket, we saw it from, you know, as a member of the Thunder, what's it like now having that in your arsenal? And I know his three-point shooting probably isn't where he wants it to be this year, even down from previous years, but his ability to get to the rim and finish. How fun is that to have as a Houston rocket as compared to trying to defend that? Well, I mean, obviously some of the things we miss

in previous years was athleticism, the ability to go coast to coast, just speed up the tempo, get a rebound, push it. So he has all these elements that, you know, with that you get a dynamic, great player, and we've got to make sure that we've tried to create the space on the floor that is good for it. and try to, you know, incorporate him into the other guys and vice of our son.

And it's, like I said, it's mostly dealing with character and heart, and he has plenty of that. He's a good guy. And so it's fun. It's exciting. There are the challenges with everything, but we're trying to work out as best we can. He and James have been school-age friends, so this goes way beyond just playing before in Oklahoma City. But what have you noticed?

and look, James has been just one of the most prolific scores this decade, but has there anything been different to his game? And it may not be exactly what we see on the court, but maybe in a practice quarter, in the workout room, or as you guys are looking at tape, is there anything different about James's life now that he's got his friends and former teammate on the same team now? I don't think so.

You know, James is going to be James, and he has a desire to be the best of the game, best ever, and he wants to win a championship more than anything. thing. So, I mean, there is a nice friendship there, but, you know, it comes down to basketball and you're playing. And James, like I said, I think you're going to get the best of James, no matter who's with him.

Hardin mentioned about a month ago that he might think it might take the entire season for the two then to gel completely and to see what you want. Is that a little bit of player speak, or do you still even see adjustments, even though we are now 36 games into this NBA season? you know I don't think anybody knows we'll get better or get worse you never know you'll street each day and try to get it better and maybe just to get comfortable and win big games and obviously big moments that you go through

you learn win or lose we haven't been in that many although you know so each time you go against like at the clippers or someplace where where it takes an effort of the whole team, then you, you know, you see what you can do better, see what you've got to eliminate, so what works. So, yeah, in that sense, as you go forward, usually groups that stay together for years get better, just because you get different layers of the office, different layers of understanding defense and communication. And it's hard to put, you know, five, ten guys out there, and then, you know, three months later, oh, yeah, we have a championship team.

That's almost never done. And don't take a while. Well, I love this NBA season in one respect that there are so many, I mean, it's difficult because you feel like most nights you're going against a really spectacular opponent. You've had some really quality wins as of late. Denver, the L.A. Clippers and Philadelphia. The West is, I kind of thought what we thought it would be, especially with all the situation with the Golden State. Have you been surprised by anything so far, especially as things that have been as tightly compacted as they are on the Western Conference right now? Not really I think

not really just we knew that six seven teams everybody has a chance to win a title this year you know Gold State was by far the better team out there

they've come back to the pack and actually with the injuries was falling down but that could be a surprise but it's not a surprise if you add in the injuries but we knew Utah's going to be good

in Denver and the two LA team. So in Dallas, I guess, the biggest

surprise is Dallas. No one kind of thought they would jump up that quickly and that's, you know, they have one of the best

young players, obviously one of the best players in the game. So that would be the biggest surprise, but it's a dog ways as always

and it's going to be from one to six right now, probably seven here pretty soon as it's going to not separate you know, you lose a game

and you, you're in second, now you're in six. So that's how it's going to be all the way through? And it's certainly going to make every night worth watching the school board and seeing what you're doing. Tonight, James needs 27 points to reach 20,000 for his career. I think he'll be seventh fastest to do that.

And I was telling the audience last hour, that's, first of all, an impressive number. But I would think it's even more impressive coach because of the fact that early in his career, he was a six-man for Oklahoma City. Just through your eyes and watching the 60-point games, the 40-point dribble doubles, It feels like just about every other night, James is putting up some sort of new superlative. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm going to have we said it before. I think he's the best officer player ever just because of the way the game has changed, the three-point shots, the ability to be so much more efficient because of three-point shots.

And he's emphasizing efficiency, foul shots, layups, and threes. And he has that step back when he's about 39 percent. I didn't get it any time he wants. Now, you know, when he has his length, when he's, you know, not taking all the burden on him and when we can share and get him enough rest and all that, he's unstoppable. And he's proven that time and time again.

And I'm just as a team and him individually to be 100% ready physically, mentally, and go after it. But when he's like that, whether a double team or not, he's going to be unstoppable. So I hope he'll just continue. You mentioned last night in Atlanta on nights that Rust does your play

that you just, when somebody said, well, how do you overcome that? You just say, well, James has to shoot more. But sometimes you do want to get some other guys involved. Clint putting up huge numbers, getting to the with efficiency. And the fact that Ben McLemore has been able to resurrect his career,

and we'll end this first segment with him a little bit. When you found out that Ben was coming here. It was kind of like, okay, this is a former first round pick, hasn't had a lot of success. The way he's been able to transform his career in one short season with you, but basically 36 games, that's a pretty special

accomplishment for a guy that really couldn't find his way in the NBA before this season. Yeah, I mean, you never know when you get somebody. I mean, I didn't know Ben Bacamo at all and knew he had some talent. Obviously, you're going to have a second pick and you don't get that unless you have a lot

talent. He would hit shooting, which is something that we desperately need. But other than that, you don't know. And he's been a lot more than I saw in the sense of character, the ability to be able coached. And, you know, he's shown up with confidence. And he can shoot with it. It's sort of quick. So he feels a lot of our needs.

But he's been the biggest surprise by far. and I need a surprise too. All right, that's Mike Dan, Tony, with us for another segment here on the Matt Thomas shows. We come to you today from Oklahoma City. Let's go! What a pass. Got it. And he hits it.

To get Rockets Insight, he need to go inside. Hey, look who's here. Rockets head coach, Mike Dan Tony, on the Matt Thomas show. 217 here on his sports talk. seven out in another segment here with the head coach of your Houston Rockets tonight the Oklahoma City Thunder in play yesterday Coaches we kind of teased this morning there's never a Ugly win they're all gonna count the same but just a thought or two about last night getting off that fast start and then You know Trey Young's just a real good basketball player. He's not gonna allow the Atlanta Hawks to

To be blown out most nights especially after the way you guys took care of him the first time around Yeah, I mean that you know it's a We didn't play grades in the second half. I think we shot 27%. But you can flip it around and say, well, yeah, but we also won by shooting so bad. So that's a good thing. PJ Tucker came up with some big stops at the end of the game

to help us win it or almost win it. And then I think Eric made a big three and a big pass to PJ. And, you know, so we had guys contributed, which is great playing out a big game. You know, James ran out of gas, unbelievable the first quarter. and the whole team, the first half, played well. We shot the ball extremely well.

We're shooting in the 60s, so you know that wasn't going to last. And they're used to playing from behind. They've been down 13, 15, 20, and they don't quit playing. And they have shooters, and eventually, you know, we shot so great to first half, they shot bad and just flipped over the second half. But came up to necessarily stop. Those are games you win. You get out of town, and then don't think about it again.

look as you overdidval, try to get a better, but you go on. And that's the NBA. It's just the rising keeps rolling and just keep going. Is part of the goodness that is the NBA schedule? Because, look, every team's going to have these games that you're going to brag about and love on, like we talked about Philadelphia and Denver the Clippers. And then you're going to have a dud once in a while. And Golden State on Christmas would clearly be one of those.

Is that the forgiving part of the NBA is that you just can't spend a whole lot of time dwelling on that because you might have a game two days later? Well, that plus, you've got to understand that. Every team has 15 professional players out of town that can play. You know, they hit those nights where every one of them is their best that they can be, and you're not, then it's a dogfight, and then you have human elements of reference, you have travel schedules, you have back-to-backs, you have people with tired legs, you have family problems, that people psychologically are not ready to go.

So, you know, you can't. It's an 82 games of a marathon. And if you get bombed down in the minutia of, it's a win, it's a loss, you're playing bad. We've got to do, you know, then you'll get off track and heartbeat. But you have to understand what the deal is, get your mind right, and get ready for the next game.

And, you know, we always try to go by that model, you know, so what's next. No matter if you win to lose, it's the next play. It's the next month. It's where you are to stay. So many things that you can't get sidetracked by our big goal, and that's the coming first place in the West or close to it and get to the playoffs.

Mike Dan Tony, with us here on Sports Talk, 790. One more thing about last night. Capella gets you 22 rebounds. PJ gets you 17. Let's go to Clint for a second. That's the eighth time this year. He's got 20 or more rebounds. Now, some of that could be right place, right time.

Some of that it could also be he knows where to go. Some of that could also just be lucky bounces. What do you attribute these sheer huge, huge nights of rebounds for Clint? What goes into that? Well, sadly, last night was because we have so many shots. He had eight offensive rebounds. He had plenty of opportunities to get. So that's one thing that contributes to it.

But, you know, you're saying it's been the right place, right time. Well, he seems to be the only guy getting 20 rebounds or a couple guys in the leg. So why is he always in the right place, right time? No, he just hasn't been able to have a sport. boys, athletic, he's long. You put the effort in, and I wish you're lost three, which means you should be, there's long rebounds. And if you've got the effort and the energy, then, yeah, you can do it.

So he's been playing well. And he needs to continue that way. And some nights he'll score big, some nights you won't. And it just depends on how the defense guards is. But, you know, Clint's been good this year. But, you know, he's going to keep it going. You know, he had a great game against the beat. he just has to keep that mentality and keep him rolling.

Yeah, so he gets 22 last night, he gets 30 against him being the 76ers. Is it realistic to ever think about him as a 20-point-a-night guy, or is going back to what you just said a minute ago, it's just going to be more about what the other team presents as compared to a night where Clint will be really active offensively and maybe some nights he won't? Yeah, well, he's active. He always should do the same thing.

It's just how's the team going to guard you? you know, Philadelphia gave up, it gives up the least amount of threes in the lane. Well, they do that, they stay on the shooters. Now, when James is coming down, they got a choice. Either guard James and get the lob at the basket or fake it James goes back to Clinton, James gets the layup. So James has to read that and can't read it right all the time.

But now he's, so Clint is a product of what the defense's going to give it. Atlanta, last night, I think they were like the third give up the third league. or fourth least or whatever. It made us whatever. So it's a night that Clint will score. And then maybe the night they sag in, they take away the lot, take away the drive, get kickout three. So that's PJ and Ben and all those guys got to score. It's just, you know, we're trying to put the same play in play, how do they guard it,

go against that and get the one of the three shots that we value. Yeah. And we do it over and over and over and over. And whoever scores is the product of the offense and what the defense gives. Eric Gordon has been back a few games, picked up where he left off. It looks like he's shooting a lot better. I know he's going to battle some knee soreness occasionally because that's what guys do when they go through surgeries. And you've got Russ is going to miss some back-to-back contest and here and there.

But do you kind of look forward to seeing what this team does between now and the end of the season, provide everybody stays healthy and then you're full throttle because when you want to get to playoff time, You won't have to worry about back-to-back, because you'll have a chance to rest up a little bit. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what this team can do over a 10-15 game stretch when everybody is healthy and everybody can give you the kind of minutes you're looking for. Yeah, we still have some work to do with Eric getting him in there fully. Like tonight, he'll be, we don't know if he'll be able to go or not. He's going to test it.

He's still a little sore and it's just normal. Nothing out of ordinary, but we'll see if he can go or not. not. And then, you know, obviously, Russell doesn't play back to back. So it's going to take some adjusting, and we'll get to the period where we don't have any back-to-bats, and we'll have everybody put in, and we'll see where we are. But it's going to take a little while, and hopefully right after all-star break, and then we can make the final run down a stretch and have a real go-out. You've got a swing guy in Austin Rivers that some nights will play 24, 25 minutes, and some nights he'll play 10 or 11. You kind of had to have a kind of guy like that on your roster because if they're

staring at their stat board all the time, that could become a problem. How does he embrace that role where you need him some nights more than others? Well, he gets frustrated sometimes because, you know, as a competitor, he wants to play. I don't play. I'll be the same way, but he seems to deliver. And you know what? He's worked his way back into some minutes. And right when his minutes were getting cut with Eric coming back, he's played well. That's what you're going to do. It's up to me to find him as many minutes as I can't and shift people around a little bit to give him time. And obviously, I'm back-to-back when Russell doesn't play or if we're missing another perimeter player, it's easy. He'll get his minutes and that's no problem.

It's a little trying when everybody's healthy 100%. But it's up to me to try to keep him involved and get him so uncomfortable as much as he can. It's always going to be frustration. But at the end of the day, you know, we play. for the name on the front of the jersey and not the back of it. And I've got to accept whatever the wall was given to you.

Well, thankfully, if he didn't come to you and complain about it, then I think you'd have a bigger problem, frankly, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because you imagine him going, I'm just happy to be on the roster, coach.

If you play me, you play me, no big deal. Hey, let's get before wrap things up to Oklahoma City. They are playing really good basketball. That would be a problem. But, you know, it's a final line there. is compared I like it a lot of us. So he'll do what's right at the end of the day. It's just, you know, he's got to get through some frustration.

But like I said, it's my job to find him to put him comfortable. We'll do that. Rod, Thunder 1-10 and 12 coach. Chris Paul, actually playing really well. You know this was going to happen. He is one of the greatest of all time to play. What else have you guys talked about a little bit? I mean, is it they've gone through some injuries themselves,

but this Shay Gilder's Alexander is a good player. So this Thunder team, which I think a lot of people, people roared off as a non-playoff contender. He's going to present some challenges tonight. Well, that's what's good about, you know, pundits. They don't really know what to talk about, as usual. This is a good team. Stephen Adams, one of the better centers in the leg.

Chris Paul's one of the best point guards, Bob, the last year ever. So he's playing out. I mean, Mark will be well, and it doesn't surprise me at all. And he's running the show, which is kind of his natural habitat. And they're really good going down the stretch. and Chris Paul down in the fourth quarter has been unbelievably good. And they've won.

I think they're the best team in Clipstime. So I give them credibility. Donovan has done a great job with them. They have talent, you know, Schroeder and the young kid, Gallaudi, and, you know, they're good. So there'll be a playoff team, it looks like, and they'll be able to recommend. Well, thank goodness, Mike, that one of your radio broadcasters is not a pundit, because we don't ever want to speak in half-trus around. No, no.

You would never have an opinion. That's good. That's good. All right, hey, thank you for the time, my friend. We'll visit with you tonight at the arena and good luck against the Thunder. Sounds good. All right, man. We'll see you.

Thanks. Mike Dan Tony with us here on Sports Talk 790.