The Houston Rockets played their fifth game in seven days on Monday night, and the end result was their fourth consecutive loss. A lack of chemistry between James Harden and Ty Lawson is just one of many issues the Rockets are dealing with, and the players tried to address some of them this week in a players-only meeting.
Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com notes that details of the meeting are unknown, but two of the main points were communication and “clearing the air.”
“What happens in the room, stays in the room,” Dwight Howard told reporters Tuesday. “It was good for us to sit down and talk, but it’s a long season and you can’t get caught up in losing a couple of games and getting upset and so frustrated and feel like it’s the end of the world.
“It is embarrassing. We hate to lose but at the same time we have a long season and we can’t think negative when we lose. We have to try and find the positive in any situation. You keep thinking negative, then negative things will continue to happen to you. You got to stay positive and fight through it. All this stuff will build our character.”
The addition of Lawson was supposed to help make Houston a legitimate contender in the West, but Rockets coach Kevin McHale has already said he is considering making a change to the starting backcourt. Lawson has shot just 31.9 percent from the field this season. While Harden’s 27.3 points per game are right on par with last season, he has shot just 36 percent from the field during Houston’s current four-game skid.
Something isn’t working for the 4-7 Rockets, and Harden is hoping the players-only meeting helps change that.
“It was good for us to communicate and each guy basically said what their role was and every single night they’re going to contribute to that role,” he said. “After the talk we had a really good practice, guys communicated, we worked hard and now it’s about carrying it over. It’s about doing it on the floor.”
No one really knows how much these players-only meetings help, unless of course you have something really important to say like Zack Greinke did a few months ago. Adding a starting point guard can be a tough adjustment, but Houston doesn’t need to abandon ship 11 games into the season. Lawson and Harden have time to make it work.
