Rockets team owner Tilman Fertitta is very confident in his team’s chances to win an NBA title this season.
“We’re really good,” says Fertitta, adding that the Rockets don’t fear the Lakers, Clippers or Nuggets the way they once feared Golden State.
The voluble owner also can’t figure out what the big deal is about H-Town going super-small for the stretch run.
Per The Austin American-Statesman:
“We’re really good,” Fertitta said in a half-hour phone conversation Monday. “We’ve lost a few games on last-second 3-pointers when we were ahead by two or we would be right there as the second seed now. But I’m not worried about anybody in the West.”
They just shook up their lineup by trading away solid center Clint Capela for a smaller Robert Covington and are embracing a small-ball philosophy that might or might not work in the postseason.
“We basically changed out a guy who’s 6-10 to a guy who’s 6-7, 6-8,” he said. “Are you really that much smaller? It makes the big guy for the other team go out on the perimeter. Did you see Rudy Gobert trying to keep up with Russell [Westbrook]? Russell was running him around like crazy. It’s working.”
But will it work over an extended postseason? No one knows, but the 2012 Heat employed it with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade for a title.
“None of us fear L.A. or the Clippers or Denver like we feared Golden State,” he said. “It’s not like how we were scared of them. We could easily win the West this year or get knocked out in the first round. Both L.A. teams, Denver, Houston, we’re all excellent teams. Just comes down to somebody gets hot and makes a shot. Our chances are as good as they’ve ever been.”
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