The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Mike D'Antoni Show 2-20-20

Episode Date: February 20, 2020

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

Rockets. It's good! Rockets head coach, Mike Dan Tony, is heard weekly on the Matt Thomas show. Coach, how goes it? Just do it. Exclusive insight. That's the biggest takeaway from last night's game. The latest on your Rockets.

Can you assess the general culture in that locker room right now? Coming from the mouth of Coach Dan Tony. We can get it done. If we have a chance to win the championship, this will be here. Brought to you by Billiard Factory and Wingstop. Mike Dan Tony with us on Sports Talk 790. On Sports Talk 790. Home of your Rockets.

And the Rockets open up the second half of the season, the official second half tonight in San Francisco against the Golden State Warriors. I'm here in West Palm Beach. I will rejoin the Rockets in Salt Lake on Saturday. Coach, first of all, good afternoon. Do you miss me at all? Oh, yeah, Matt. Where are you? You're not with us?

I'm so glad to hear your voice. I really am. How was the off time? What did you do? get some downtime? Yeah, I just hung out. Just not been doing it much vain. I just hung out and got the week over with and excited about getting started again.

You know, there has been some stories put out in the last handful of days about how this team under your leadership has been really good in the second half of the year. Beyond your great coaching abilities, why do you think that is? You think sometimes just time away from the game helps the guys a little bit? Well, you know, we have a little bit more of urgency, I think, and that's kind of, you know, when you have a veteran team, that's what you've got to have. You've got to have an urgency to play every day because every team can beat you. Some days during the year, it gets a little along for them, and they know the playoffs of what counts. And now their antennas should be up, and they should be tuned in and try to make a run for it.

So let's do this. Give me the high watermark of the season for you, and give me the point where you're like, oh, guys, we've got to be better. than this. And I know it's a long, we've played a lot of games so far, but is there one a moment in time you thought, man, this is amazing. And then on the other side of it, one that was extra frustrating for you. Not really. I mean, there was a lot of frustrating points, but, you know, I was worried, you know, most of the year where we just weren't efficient. And whether you win or you lose, and, you know, it's really how you play in the game. And I just thought we, you know, did okay.

We just kind of bopped along and got in the position where we're okay. understanding is nothing great. So there's nothing exciting to get. Now, lately, I'm, you know, watching the team and how it's seen Robert Covington coming on and practice yesterday. And so I'm trying to get, I'm not trying. I'm getting excited, you know, consciously optimistic. But I think we could be really good. I think we can surprise some people. Seems like, coach, throughout the season, it's been, you've only had one of Hardin or Westbrook going at the same time. last game, you had them combined for 78 points over 40 from James. Number one, how is he looking?

How is he feeling? Because we know he was kind of bogged down by injuries a little bit. And number two, you guys can be pretty special if you get them both going, right? Yeah, I mean, that's the whole thing. Well, that's our future, you know, lives on that. They have to play really well for us to be able to survive. And, you know, they look good. They feel good. A week off, help both of them.

and I think, you know, PJ, everybody looked fresh yesterday, the fact because it was very lively. And so, you know, having said that, we're going in, you know, schedule is going to be tough and we've got to get going. And we have extra bodies, which hopefully we can cut down minutes on guys and keep him fresher. We're trying to get Eric back. I don't know if he'll be available tonight.

I doubt it probably Utah will be his game. So once we get everybody here and everybody rolling, and we should be, like I said, we should make a great run for it. Coach, PJ has not been afraid to play the five on numerous occasions, even before the trade, and that's just kind of what you've done with him against some teams. But how has Robert Covington adjusted to the fact that he has been much more in the low block than maybe other places he's been around the NBA? And how comfortable do you think he's getting in the position you put him in?

Yeah, well, he can guard anybody and all the guys. And, you know, PJ really doesn't play five. He guards the hardest guys, and that's normally a four or three. He's on, like, he's on Quiet Leonard and he's on the LeBron James, and he's on guys like that. So the five, actually, James probably starts on the five more than anybody that we have. But everybody switches so everybody gets their turn in there. And it's actually, they do it well.

They guard them well, and that's not a, doesn't seem to be a problem. You try to always box out and get rebounds, so they have a little bit more intends to it knowing that we'll get clobbered if they don't do it. So that's good. I expect the defense to get better and then rebounding to get better. And obviously when you go in the offensive event, it just opens up everything for James and Russell to be efficient and to really have a great, you know, we need to have the best offense. We're third right now, but hopefully by the end of the year we'll move up past Milwaukee. I mentioned this to you last week. I think it bears repeating.

The turnover count has really started to drop. That has to be a very pleasant sign for you. Is that one of those early messages of, hey, extra possessions, not giving away extra, giving opportunities, and holding out of the basketball is going to ultimately help this team dramatically? Well, you always make that case. I think the bigger thing is, one, is that the floor is more open. And when it's open, it's easier to drive. you have less hands around you.

And when you're going to the realm, you're not getting shots blocked or, you know, you're not trying to make an alley-up play and should make the simple play. And things should be simpler. And, you know, the result of the turnover should come down. And that's a big key for us. And they have to be down. We have to get efficient. And if you're not efficient, we're not going to win a title.

And so far so good. Hopefully it will just keep getting better. as covering the NBA for a while I don't overthink 10-day contracts so I will leave it to you Jeff Green is officially a member of the team I think you've got one more addition that hasn't been official yet but when Jeff

practiced with you guys yesterday what was it like having him there and what are your frankly honest expectations about what Jeff can do in this short period of time well you know like I've only seen one practice it was really good yesterday and day before actually two parts that he was really good He can add

He's 6-9 He's long He's athletic He knows how to play He's been to finals once There's a lot of good things We can use out of him And just makes us a little bit longer

He shoots the three He's been shooting well Hopefully that'll continue So I expect him to be here all year And expect him to play well And he could be a big part of what we do Well last time The squad was in San Francisco

it was Christmas Day, kind of a regrettable loss? Is that on the mind of some of the players, or is there just too many games? No, no. I don't remember we played on Christmas. No, they forget stuff like that. They don't know if they did. They didn't write at all. But, you know, we played bad.

So they go on. That doesn't, there's not, you know, harbor any old feelings or, oh, my gosh, you know, we've got to get back at them. No, we got to, we got bigger fish to fry. We've got to win a championship. We've got to get set up for the play. playoffs. And, you know, we have to have a really good record in the last part of the year to try to get a and get in the right spot in the playoffs so we can at least, you know, have a better chance at winning.

But no, individual things like that are long forgotten. And we, like I said, we're concentrating on the bigger picture. Well, the big picture also would be coached. It would be cool if the Rockets could owe the Utah Jazz a buzzer-beater on Saturday Night and Salt Lake City. You'd be okay with that, right? Yeah, anyway, you're going to win in Utah would be huge, because that is a Todd Blaker game for the standings. But, again, that's much more important how we play,

get the guys' rotations, get Eric back, see where we are, see where we've got to get better. That's probably the bigger picture. And then there are always little battles along the way. Like I said, we have to have a good record in the last 28 games. We need to be really good there so we can just set ourselves up, make it a little easier. It doesn't really change that much, but it's a little bit better. All right, Coach, I get into Salt Lake late tomorrow night. Can you pick me up at the airport?

Yeah, just wait. You get your bags. You just wait out on the curb. I'll be there. I feel like I might be waiting there for a long period of time. Good luck tonight in San Francisco. We'll see you in Salt Lake City tomorrow. Sounds good. All right. We'll see, man. All right, thank you guys. Coach. I like Dan Tony with us here. not obviously offering up a town car or any sort of Uber services for me in Salt Lake City.