Mike D’Antoni, current assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets, is reported to have a strong interest in fulfilling the current head coaching vacancy at the Portland Trail Blazers.

The 70-year-old coaching veteran has an impressive, lengthy résumé, including stints with the Suns and the Knicks. Notably, D’Antoni has developed a reputation for an electric brand of offensively focused basketball, one that is largely predicated on constant scoring – even if it is sometimes at the expense of strong defense. Conversely, the Trail Blazers have reiterated their desire to find a new successor for their head coaching vacancy that can build a team focused on lockdown defensive play. Regardless, it appears that the stark differences in expectations for playing style are not holding back either party in a possible union, as D’Antoni and the Trail Blazers have been widely reported to have a mutual interest in joining forces.

D’Antoni will likely have a bevy of coaching options to choose from, as he is garnering interest from the Celtics and the Magic, among others. Part of this rise in D’Antoni taking the reins of another NBA team stem from a career in coaching marked not just by longevity, but also by success. D’Antoni oversaw some of the best years at the Suns in the early 2000s, leading them to multiple historic regular seasons and deep playoff runs. D’Antoni is also well-known for reshaping the playing style of James Harden while coaching the Houston Rockets, turning Harden into a prolific scorer and leading the franchise to multiple playoff appearances. D’Antoni’s most recent stop is with the Nets, where once again he has played an integral role in creating one of the strongest teams in the league.

D’Antoni is widely expected to interview for the Blazers’ head coaching position, among others, at the conclusion of Brooklyn’s current playoff run. Whether or not the Trail Blazers and D’Antoni end up inking a deal remains to be seen, although it is evident that Portland is a frontrunner for his services.

A reunion is set as the Brooklyn Nets have signed Mike D’Antoni as an assistant head coach under Steve Nash. The Brooklyn Nets signed both D’Antoni and Ime Udoka as assistant head coach.

The Nets continue to build up their coaching staff for Nash, who was signed as the new head coach for the Brooklyn Nets. Added D’Antoni as an assistant coach is surprising, and it reunited both Nash and D’Antoni together. D’Antoni had previously coached with Nash when both were on the Phoenix Suns from 2004-2008. Together they were able to lead the Suns to playoff success and two western conference finals appearance. It was under D’Antoni that Nash was able to win two MVPs.

Recently, D’Antoni was the head coach for the Houston Rockets from 2016-2020. At the end of the 2020 season, D’Antoni decided to walk away and not stay for a contract extension. During his tenure with the Rockets, he was able to lead them to the playoffs regularly and led them to a western conference finals appearance. During his tenure with the Rockets, he achieved a 217-101 coaching record.

The Nets have also signed Udoka as an assistant coach. He had spent the previous seven seasons as an assistant head coach for the San Antonio Spurs under head coach Gregg Popovich. This adds to the experience as he learned under the legendary head coach.

This will certainly complement Nash coaching style as he now has two assistant coaches who had experienced success under different teams. The Nets coaching staff now looks strong and stacked. They have Nash, a Hall of Famer as head coach and D’Antoni and Udoka as assistant coaches. The major question is, how will this affect the Nets in the long run when both stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant return next season.

The Houston Rockets lost to San Antonio on the road Tuesday night, but it came after James Harden had a wide open dunk in the fourth quarter that did not count. On the replay, Harden steals the ball with eight minutes left in the game and appears to dunk the ball giving Houston a 15 point lead.

The referees should have counted it but the confusion came after the ball spun around in the net and came back up hitting the back of the rim before bouncing onto the court. On replay, it is clearly a completed dunk for Harden, but while Houston and Head Coach Mike D’Antoni were protesting the call the 30-second period the NBA allows for challenging calls had passed.

“I heard that they said the ball hit James and went back through, so it was a goaltend on James. I challenged that and I didn’t get a response. Then another guy said it wasn’t a goaltend, it went out of bounds on us. And I said, ‘Well, I can challenge that.’ You know I don’t know, to answer your question. I’ve got nothing I can’t tell you,” D’Antoni said.

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This is the first year the league has implemented challenging plays taking a page out of the NFL and MLB’s book. Teams are allowed one a game and don’t receive a second if the call is overturned in their favor. It is definitely a work in progress.

“When the play happened, Harden goes in for a dunk, and then the ball appears to us to pop back through the net. When that happens, that is basket interference. To have a successful field goal, it must clear the net. We have since come in here and looked at the play. He dunked it so hard that the net carried it back over the rim a second time, so in fact it did clear the net and should have been a successful field goal,” said Referee Crew Chief James Capers.

Besides the controversy, Russell Westbrook ended up with a triple double contributing 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists but shot 7-30 from the field. This was the third time Harden had scored 50 or more points this season and this comes after dropping 60 against Atlanta last game. It was an unorthodox way to reach 50 as Harden shot only 11-38 and 4-20 from three point range. He did, however, set an NBA record from the free throw line with 24 attempts without a miss.

That signature style of drawing contact came back to haunt him late in the fourth quarter after getting called for two charges. DeMar DeRozan drew the last one with a second left in the game leading to San Antonio’s victory.

The Rockets continue their road trip against the defending champs in Toronto tomorrow night.

The Houston Rockets offense led by James Harden has evolved into basketball’s version of the three true outcomes. Either someone will launch a three, a quick drive to the hoop will result in a layup or they’ll be sent to the line. On Sunday, against the Boston Celtics, they did all three. By halftime, the visiting team found themselves up 65-43. Harden was good for 23 points in the first 24 minutes and teammate Eric Gordon knocked in another 20 to match Boston by themselves.  Houston’s squad would eventually win 115-104.

Rockets beat Celtics

In the first five minutes, the Celtics turned the ball over five times. Coach Mike D’Antoni made sure his team capitalized on the opportunity and they found ten unanswered points. But that wasn’t the end of Brad Stevens‘s nightmare. His squad failed to play help defense or even cover ball-handlers when they beat their man on a drive. That led to uncontested layup after uncontested layup. Harden scored more than half of his first 31 points —16 in total — in the paint.

Boston has fallen hard for the age-old theory that a player returning from injury is like a new acquisition. The entire season has been plagued by hopes that Gordon Hayward will return to his previous All-Star form and the team went into Sunday betting on Aron Baynes. The big man out of New Zeland had missed 11 games due to a left foot contusion. With his return, the team banked on a defensive upgrade. Instead, the Rockets went right after him. Harden ebbed and flowed around screens, forcing defenders to swap onto him, and driving past Baynes for an easy layup multiple times.

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Harden ended the night with 42 points, four assists and seven rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Gordon scored an additional 32 for the Rockets. The two combined for 74 points on 51 percent shooting. The Celtics as a team didn’t surpass that amount until nearly 10 minutes into the third quarter.

The Rockets will take on the Toronto Raptors Tuesday night in what could serve as a potential NBA Finals preview. The Celtics will hope to get things back on track against the Golden State Warriors that same night.

For the past few years, James Harden has essentially functioned as the Houston Rockets’ point guard. Now, he has the title to back it up.

James Harden To Play As Houston Rockets’ Full-Time Point Guard

Coach Mike D’Antoni said Monday morning that the shooting guard is changing positions to become the Rockets’ full-time point guard.

At Monday’s media day session, D’Antoni said: “He’s more or less responsible giving rhythm to the team, that’s what a point guard does. He’s going to be on the ball and he’s going to be distributing the ball and it will take some adjusting. He’s got a lot more responsibilities as a point guard. A play-caller, a good basketball mind, he’s already telling guys we can do this we can do that.”

Last season, Harden, 27, averaged a career-high 7.5 assists per game last season to go along with 29.0 points and 6.1 rebounds. He has increased his per-game assist total in each of the past six seasons.

Per Basketball-Reference.com, Harden–who designed his own sneaker a few weeks ago– has also set career highs in usage rate in each of the last two seasons (32.5 percent last season).

Harden refused to classify himself as a point guard, although he seemed to enjoy the responsibility created by his new role. “I’m a basketball player,” he said.

“Just a lot of trust. My teammates trust in me to make the right decision whether it’s scoring or whether it’s making a play,” Harden said. “We have a lot of guys who are more than capable to create and knock down shots and that’s what is going to open our floor. A lot more guys are going to get open shots left and right.”

The Rockets seem to be making this move purely for reasons relating to roster necessity. Houston signed Eric Gordon to a $53 million deal this offseason. Gordon should serve as the main offensive shooting guard as Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson and Clint Capela round out the starting lineup.

Houston finished 41-41 last season before making sweeping roster changes. There could be rumors of a more “uptempo” system under D’Antoni, although last season’s Rockets already ranked seventh in pace, according to NBA.com. ESPN.com’s Calvin Watkins reported that D’Antoni said he wants Harden to play the system at his own pace.

“Sometimes he will be (slower) sometimes he’ll be a faster version. Steve [Nash] is not like your traditional jet. Steve had his pace and Jeremy Lin had his pace and guys had their pace and all the point guards I ever coached had their way of doing it and those are very good players. He’ll have his way. I don’t know if we’ll time him, ‘Ok, he’s fast or slow.’ It will be fast enough to score.”

The Rockets begin the season on Oct. 26, when they face the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Caption:HOUSTON, TX – MARCH 14: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets takes the basketball down the court during their game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Toyota Center on March 14, 2016 in Houston, Texas.