WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Being the NBA's only 3-0 team after the season's first week, the Houston Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni still wants his team to be sharper in the future games, local media reported on Monday.
Sitting atop the Western Conference standings with an undefeated record and the Memphis Grizzlies up next at Toyota Center, D'Antoni told the Houston Chronicle that the team's got a lot of things to clean up.
"We're not real sharp right now. I was just telling the guys the biggest thing is preseason was about 10 days shorter than previously. With the preseason, we played eight games. That would be a normal preseason schedule. But this season it's shorter. You watch teams around the league. I don't think they were quite ready. There's going to be some growing pains," D'Antoni was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle on Monday.
"We have new guys in the system. Chris Paul was in. Now, he's out. We're working through some issues. It's a lot easier to work through them when you're winning than when you're losing."
"Don't get complacent," D'Antoni added. "We got to get better. We got to get a lot better."
Nothing can improve the Rockets offense more quickly than to start making the 3s they have missed. Compared to what they did in the past season, the team's current 3-point shooting percentage (28.6) is unacceptable. Only three teams in the league have shot worse than the Rockets 28.6 3-point percentage.
To change that, the Rockets said they need to get themselves and the ball moving more quickly.
"We can shoot the ball so much better as a group," Rockets forward Ryan Anderson said. "We're taking advantage of what we can do. Our halfcourt defense is really good right now. We need to be better in offensive transition. If we work on getting stops and running, getting those easier transition layups, once we get that down, really push the ball, you'll see a big difference in our scoring."
"Just pushing the ball after getting stops, or even inbounding the ball quick, that's when we're at our best. Especially against Memphis, if we can run them, that's when we're going to be real good."