In a half-full way of looking at things — which, under the circumstances of the restarted NBA season, might be wise — the Rockets have traditionally been their best against the league’s best.
That is not always good enough. The NBA’s top teams take their share of games in those matchups.
But it does inspire the Rockets’ championship aspirations. And despite the damage that can be done to their record when they play down to the level of lesser competition, it gives the Rockets reason to consider themselves on par with the Bucks and Lakers. It is also a reason they look forward to Thursday’s meeting with a Los Angeles team considered a championship favorite, not just to measure themselves again but to be lifted to the level of the elite.
“We battled every single time we played,” Rockets center P.J. Tucker said. “It’s no different. We know if we want to win an NBA championship, we’ve got to go through them. They’ve got to go through us. It’s one of those things. We’ll be ready to battle.”
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They usually are. The Rockets have gone 11-6 against teams in the top 10 in net rating, a winning percentage of .647 that is better than their record against the rest of the league (.620.) They are 8-6 against the top three in each conference, including a split of their first two games against the Lakers, with the Rockets winning in the showcase after the trade deadline viewed as a coming out for the smallball lineup.
As often as the Rockets have said they can beat anyone but are prone to losing to anyone (they have four losses against teams that were left home), failures against the Knicks or Hornets hurt their record but won’t be repeated in the postseason.
“Since I’ve been a Rocket, that’s been one of our things,” Tucker, in his third season in Houston, said. “We’ve always been really good at stepping up in big games and the spotlight of big games.
“It’s been our fault playing the lower level teams. They always give us trouble. It’s something we talk about all the time, trying to get locked in. But these games are always fun and pretty easy to get up for.”
Though the Lakers will be playing the second half of a back-to-back, Los Angeles coach Frank Vogel said he would stick to his customary rotation with the only caveat that he will not “overdo” the playing time for stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The Rockets seemed to expect as much, even sounding as if they prefer it that way as a preparation for the postseason to begin in less than two weeks. Though others will look at these sorts of games as measures of worthiness for contender status, the Rockets said these games are ways to sharpen their play to merit that.
“They’re big games,” D’Antoni said. “That’ll get us ready a lot faster than anything else. It is important. We’ll use these last five. We want to come in one of the (top) six spots. If guys need more work, they’ll work more. If they need rest, they’ll get rest. Probably the No. 1 thing is we get Eric (Gordon) back so he can play a couple games before the playoffs start.”
More immediately, the game is another chance to deal with the challenges of an especially tough tall vs. small matchup. Just as the Bucks were the best team defensively in the restricted area, the Lakers have been the best offensively, with the most scoring and best field goal percentage at the rim.
After a poor start, the Rockets held their own inside against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday. As much as they have been outrebounded in every game and were again on Tuesday, they were within four in second-chance points. But they also did not play with the sort of high-energy defensive effort and high-speed offensive style required, especially against the Lakers.
“Portland is about the same thing. They’re a big team,” D’Antoni said. “The blueprint will be more or less the same. They got bigs we got to run. We have to move the ball and get them into rotations. Then, we’ll have to gang rebound. (Tuesday) night, we didn’t force our will on them as we did in the first two games. We let them off the hook.
“We just went to their pace. It was a mistake and we paid for it. Now, against the Lakers we won’t make the same mistake again. It’s a mindset. We try to talk about it a lot. How important is winning a championship to you? How important is having a great playoff? They decide. If it’s that important, they’ll do it.
“I think we all have faith that guys want the championship bad enough that ‘OK, we’re not going to let that happen again.’”
If that sounded like a challenge the Rockets likely heard more directly, D’Antoni had just come from the day’s video session.
A look at James and Davis at the opening tip could also bring the same reminder of the challenge ahead. But as much as D’Antoni acknowledged that “historically,” the Rockets have seemed to point to big games, the Rockets said they remain more concerned with their play than the team they are playing.
“Honestly, it’s not about the Lakers or any other team; it’s about us,” guard James Harden said. “Taking these practice days, these games to tighten things up, making sure we’re ready to go when it counts. Every game, it’s not about who we’re playing. It’s about us.”
That might be, but it seems likely, and the records indicate, the Rockets will recognize the other team.
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
twitter.com/jonathan_feigen
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