Mike D’Antoni was visibly beaten down after his Houston Rockets lost Game 6 to the Golden State Warriors 118-113 to get eliminated from the playoffs in the Western Conference semifinals on Friday night.
Houston and Golden State were tied 2-2 and playing in Game 5 when Kevin Durant exited with a calf injury. The Rockets failed to take advantage of Durant’s injury and not only lost that game, but also fell in Game 6 at home.
The Rockets head coach admitted that the lost would hurt and take some time to get over.
Mike D'Antoni: "This one is going to hurt." Said this loss will leave a mark and it's going to take a long time to get over. #Rockets
— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) May 11, 2019
Let's see how #Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni is handling the game 6 defeat. pic.twitter.com/4YY3Td1gZY
— Ƒunhouse (@BackAftaThis) May 11, 2019
This loss has to leave the Rockets wondering about where to go from here. They had the best record in the league last season and pushed Golden State to seven games in the conference finals, doing so without Chris Paul. This year they started out shaky but rallied in the second half and got the matchup they wanted: the Warriors again. They got lucky that Durant was injured and couldn’t capitalize.
Houston is getting older — especially with CP3 — and possibly worse. On top of that, they’re not even as good as the Warriors without Durant. That’s a bad and sobering combination.
