The Rockets lose Luc Mbah a Moute for the next 6 weeks due to an injury he suffered in a meaningless game for the Rockets against the Lakers today. Despite the Rockets having the #1 seed clinched and home court advantage throughout the playoffs they've still played their starters and key players in big minutes, which is typical Mike D'Antoni. Not sure if he'll ever change but if he doesn't ever win a career during his coaching career I think that will be one of the main reasons. He seems to put too much importance on every regular season game and doesn't allow his players to rest at all even when they clinch high playoff spots. James Harden and Chris Paul have both played regular minutes over the last 6 games that I checked and so have other Rockets. Now there is an injury to a key player for them that could hurt them in the 2nd round, assuming they get out of the 1st round.
I wonder how long it will be for Rockets fans to start turning on D'Antoni because of his short rotations and lack of defense. If they lose Capela in free agency their defense will take a big hit also. They managed to win a franchise best 65 games this year so far, which is their first 60+ win season also. He's helped turn them into a contender and I think they have a shot at winning a title nowadays since defense isn't as important as it was a decade ago but things still slow down in the postseason and they'll need to be able to get stops. I don't think they can outscore Golden State either, not with Curry, Durant, and Klay. I know the Rockets are sort of in a honeymoon phase with D'Antoni still because he brought them back to contention but if he can't deliver a title in the next year or two then I'm not sure he'll be able to at all. Harden will be 30 after next season and the Rockets don't have the training staff that the Suns did. Harden may be able to play good into his 30's but Paul is already on the wrong side of 30 and getting older, he's got maybe a year or two before his production drops off a lot also. They don't have any young talent poised to step up and take the spot of Paul or any of their starters. Their forward rotation is pretty old right now with Ariza, Tucker, Mbah a Moute, and Ryan Anderson being the 4 forwards they use.
https://sports.yahoo.com/rockets-lo...ayers-game-didnt-mean-anything-053009121.html
