D’Antoni Thinks Extra Off Day Helps Rockets

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – With a 2-0 series lead in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs, Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni feels his team is still benefiting from an extra day off after each game in the series.

His team enjoyed a 32-point win in Game 1 and a 20-point victory in Game 2, both at home and look to have complete control of the series.

But he is anxious to see how his team responds on the road.

“We have talked about it,” D’Antoni said about the extra day off. “They will want to be more aggressive in this game, but we will adjust to it. We may not have practiced for something that we haven’t seen yet,” he added.

James Harden Improvement

As expected, D’Antoni is very complimentary of his star player James Harden, who has been outstanding in the first two games of the series. He had 29 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 1 and 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 2.

“He gets better every year,” D’Antoni said about Harden. “He just keeps getting better. He eats better and gets his body better, while working out more. He added the step-back three-pointer, which he has perfected,” he added.

Comfort Zone

With the two game series lead, D’Antoni knows hat his team feels like they are in a comfort zone compared to how the Jazz are feeling, but still need to make adjustments.

“We try to find out what we didn’t do right,” he said. “Not that we adjust and do it better. [Utah] might adjust the starting lineup, they might adjust how they are guarding James [Harden], they might adjust a few things and we will just wait and see what happens and try to adapt to it,” D’Antoni mentioned.

The Rockets and Jazz will tip-off Game 3 on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.