NBA

McGrady-less Rockets face tough road trip

Team will have to rely on its defense with star guard out three weeks

Van Gundy is looking no further than Thursday’s game and just wants to see the Rockets play hard and smart. Houston was 25-16 on the road last season.

“That’s where it starts — get the effort so you don’t beat yourself that way and then playing intelligent basketball,” Van Gundy said. “You just want to give yourself a chance to play your best. If you don’t beat yourself in this league, you win a lot.”

Van Gundy said Houston’s offensive problems are fixable through simple execution.

“I don’t know if we’ll make our shots, but we can space the floor correctly, pass more on target,” he said.

Van Gundy said he also needs to do a better job of maximizing Houston’s offensive options, starting with how he uses Yao.

The 7-foot-6 center scored 22 points in the first halves of the last two games and only 15 in the second halves. He played more than 35 minutes in both games and missed close-range shots in the fourth quarters, leading Van Gundy to wonder if he was playing him too much.

“He seems really tired at the start of the second half,” Van Gundy said.

On the other hand, without either Yao or McGrady on the floor, Van Gundy concedes the Rockets are easy to defend, lacking the offensive star opponents have to respect.

“We have good enough players, but there are very few guys in this league who can draw a second defender to them,” Van Gundy said. “Those are the guys who make your offense good, whether it’s a post-up guy, a dribble penetration guy or a pick-and-roll guy.”

Without McGrady, more players have had to log more minutes.

“Everybody is just having to do a little bit more, and that’s all right,” Van Gundy said. “We’ll see what we have in this really challenging stretch.”

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