[Feigen] Rockets preview: A focus on winning the championship

Rockets preview: A focus on winning the championship
Feigen, Houston Chronicle

No one argued that last season, from its successes along the way to its crushing end, had been forgotten. The notion that the greatest regular season in Rockets history and the sudden, Game 7 collapse that stole the championship hopes just when they were most within reach could be so easily and quickly erased from memory would have not been believed.

The Rockets went the other way. The season's end, with consecutive losses in the Western Conference finals to the Warriors after holding double-digit leads and the final, debilitating run of 27-consecutive missed 3-pointers, will not be allowed to haunt them.

Rather than tormented, the Rockets said they are driven for the goal that escaped them. Rather than hide, they will embrace, from the billboards that feature James Harden and Chris Paul and the message "Unfinished Business" to the open admonition that this season only a championship will suffice.

"It all boiled down really to one game last season," Rockets guard Eric Gordon said. "It left a bad taste in our mouths. We're still hungry and angry from last year, but we're going to continue to strive like we did last season. That's to try to be the No. 1 seed, try to win the championship.

"No question. No question. For us to have a close chance to win it, it's for sure in the back of our minds this year."

There is some debate about how prevalent the subject of the Rockets' 65-win season, Harden's MVP and the ultimate loss to the Warriors remains within the Rockets locker room. Last season does not come up. It's not discussed, other than when brought up by media.

It does not have to, remaining in memory banks that cannot be erased.


"I haven't heard that one time this year," forward P.J. Tucker said. "This is a whole new year. We have a new team. We're just trying to build and take every step to get back to where we were. But thoughts of last year are gone. We're thinking about this year."

The influence of experiences remains. The Rockets did not win the title, but will forever be convinced they were good enough. Most agree, given their league-best record, leads against the Warriors and dominance of the Cavaliers, the team they would have met in the Finals.

With Harden taking the MVP and general manager Daryl Morey named the executive of the year, most of the NBA's individual awards are represented in their locker room and offices. The addition of Carmelo Anthony, a 10-time All-Star, NCAA champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, adds to the sense that there is only one piece of "unfinished business."

"I'm like everybody else this time of year, thinking we're going to win a championship," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We have enough talent, obviously. We just have to keep working.


"I don't think we'll be satisfied with anything less than a championship."

The right time for Carmelo Anthony

Anthony did not think the Knicks were on the brink of a title when he opted to re-sign with the Knicks as a free agent in 2014, but there were other things to consider and other priorities in his life.

He had considered the Rockets that summer and was impressed enough to think of that lunch meeting when he was on his way to free agency four years later. But he was unsure of the Rockets direction then, even less willing to uproot his family in a championship chase.


With his return to free agency this summer after one unsatisfying season in Oklahoma City, Anthony's goals were clear. He needed a "fit" and could find that with the Rockets veterans, but after 16 NBA seasons, he needed a team with one aspiration, his last NBA goal, and a real championship shot.

"That was a big factor," Anthony said. "Once the dust cleared with the OKC situation, it was one of the spots I wanted to be, I wanted to be a part of, helping these guys, helping myself win a championship and get to that level. On the flip side, they were very interested in me as well. It made it a natural fit, a place I wanted to come to and I was a guy they saw could fit well into their situation and their system and their organization. They believed I could help them try to win a championship.

"At the end of the day, I think we all have the same vision, the same mindset. I think that's what made it work. That's why I'm here today. I think it's an organic fit. It was nothing forced. It was nobody fighting the situation, should we get him or should we not. It was let's go get him. We want to get him and he wants to be here."

That made the transition easier. When Anthony considered the Rockets in 2014, with a Rockets' recruiting pitch most remembered for the portrait of Anthony wearing a No. 7 that for a few more days still belonged to Jeremy Lin, the Rockets were in transition.


Dwight Howard had just finished his first of three seasons in Houston. Harden was a star, but not yet at the elite level he has reached since. The Rockets had been bounced from the playoffs in the first round.

"It was a situation I didn't know exactly what was the plan at that point in time for this team, which leads to a clear understanding of what's the goal, what's the plan with the opportunity that we have in front of us," Anthony said. "It makes it 10 times better when I came here before.

"Lunch was good. Everything was good. It was just a situation where I had to say do I really want to leave New York to be able to come to a situation where I'm not really sure of the plan. I would have had to pick my family up, take my son out of school, wife from work and have to relocate. Winning the championship at that point in time wasn't as important for me to do that. I'd rather my family and stay in New York at that point in time."

'We start at zero'

The Rockets have been open about their ambitions, though they have noticed that they are not universally listed as the top contenders to knock off the champion Warriors. The departures of Luc Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza along with the transition of power in the Eastern Conference has created new doubts.


"Every year it's a different challenge," Paul said. "Last year, it was whether there were enough basketballs on the court for me and James. This year, it's going to be something else. Who knows what the story is going to be?"

This can be a good thing. The Rockets came so close last season, holding double-digit leads in Games 6 and 7 against the Warriors but falling when Paul's right hamstring and their shooting touch betrayed them, the hope to finish could obscure how much it took to reach that point and will again.

The NBA does not offer mulligans. The Rockets can't take another swing at Game 7. Beginning with the team dinner in Lake Charles, La., D'Antoni has repeatedly reminded the Rockets that they have to start over.

"That's one thing we've talked about a lot," D'Antoni said. "We don't start where we left off last year. We start at zero. We got to figure it out and get better. And if we think people are just going to lay down and get us into the conference final, that's not going to happen. There's a lot of basketball to be played, a lot of things to learn and change and know about our team."


Still, D'Antoni does not mind the open discussions of championship contention. He considers the goal too obvious to deny. That might work against the one-game-at-a-time mentality that seems to come with coaches' first whistle, but just as the Warriors' goal last season was not to have the league's best regular-season record, the Rockets could not make anyone believe they could be satisfied with the top seed when the playoffs begin.

"I don't cringe," D'Antoni said of being open about the championship goal. "I don't do anything. It's going to happen or not happen regardless of what people say or do. I think it's an obvious thing. Most people think we're going to take a step back and win 55 games. That could happen, but at the end of the day, we have a lot of talent. If we put it all together, we're going to be really good."

"Really good" won't do. Every team will list a championship among its goals. The Rockets are among the few that has a to-do list with just one item. Anthony and Paul chose the Rockets with that in mind. For Harden and D'Antoni it is all that is left to accomplish. It is their "unfinished business."

"We talked about it," Paul said. "The biggest thing me, James, coach, Tuck (P.J. Tucker), all of us have in common is that we have a common goal of wanting to win a championship. Carmelo has that."


Harden put it even more directly.

"We got to win the chip," he said. "We all have the same goals. We haven't gotten there yet. That's more motivation, that's more drive for all of us."