Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff was extremely critical of his team after their 110-108 loss to New Orleans on Saturday night, saying that they “disrespected the game.”
Houston is just 16-16 this season and wildly inconsistent, and Bickerstaff made it clear that that’s not good enough.
“Our issue is doing things right because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s going to get me a bucket, not because it’s going to get me a shot, not because I get the glory,” Bickerstaff told reporters, via Eye on Basketball. “That’s not what this is about. And that’s what our problem is right now.
“We play San Antonio last night, we play a wonderful game, we play a beautiful game on both sides of the ball. We come out here tonight, things aren’t easy, things don’t go our way and we turn into the ugly Rockets again. That’s frustrating for me, frustrating for all of us I’m sure, but it’s not treating the game the right way. Over and over again, we’ve disrespected the game. Our priorities need to be clear. And I need to do a better job of playing the people whose priorities are clear.”
When asked what the priorities needed to be, Bickerstaff responded, “Winning is the only priority.” Here’s video of his full comments:
Strong words from Bickerstaff, but not all that undeserved, and it seems to be an ongoing problem with this group of players. Former coach Kevin McHale said they simply didn’t get it, and it doesn’t seem that Bickerstaff is having much better luck getting through to them
