No McHale, but that’s not the biggest difference for the Rockets

From shootaround.

Although Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale has taken a leave of absence and missed the last several games, that isn’t the biggest change for the Trail Blazers on this second go-around.

“When we first played them, (James) Harden had just gotten to the team and so they hadn’t had a lot of time to practice,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “He just showed up and they played three games boom, boom, boom. So they’ve had more time to incorporate differ t offensive sets and get more comfortable with each other. I think (the difference is) more that than Kevin being gone right now.”