The Houston Rockets will start forward Kenneth Faried Monday night against the Atlanta Hawks, according to coach Mike D’Antoni.
The Rockets started Faried alongside returning center Clint Capela Saturday night against the Golden State Warriors and decided they wanted to experiment with that lineup longer.
“I do want to exploit this a little bit longer to see how the lineup looks,” said D’Antoni before the game Monday.
Houston had better success on the glass (where they’ve struggled all season) with that lineup in Oakland and even out-rebounded Golden State 48-46. The Warriors are ninth in rebounding percentage this season while the Rockets have been 26th this season so this was a significant feat for the team.
The skepticism behind playing Faried at power forward stems from the worry that Houston will hurt their floor spacing with a career 22.2-percent three-point shooter next to Capela. However, since Faried’s arrival in Houston, he’s shooting 45.5 percent from three and the Rockets are optimistic they can enable him to become a better floor spacer.
“Now that he can shoot threes, (opponents) have to respect that,” D’Antoni said. “His form’s good and when he shoots it, it looks good. So, why can’t you make it?”
D’Antoni believes Faried’s importance on the defensive glass is more integral to Houston’s success than any possible floor spacing problem the Rockets may encounter in the future.
“We need better defensive rebounding, energy and athleticism on the floor because we’re awful small,” said D’Antoni. “So that was the thought behind it.”
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