As the NBA regular season is winding down, the Houston Rockets find themselves without their coach, Mike D’Antoni, who is hospitalized with dehydration.
Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reported that D’Antoni has been hospitalized since Friday. The good news is that while Houston won’t have its coach on Tuesday, D’Antoni is hoping to be released soon.
“Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni remained hospitalized on Monday for a fourth day, but has improved enough from his intestinal virus to hope to be released on Tuesday,” Feigen reported. “After some initial hope he could rejoin the Rockets Tuesday in Oklahoma City, he will not coach in the regular-season finale.”
The Rockets will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday in their regular season finale.
The final game has potential to be meaningful for Houston. The Portland Trail Blazers could do no more than tie the Rockets for the No. 3 seed and Houston has the tiebreaker. But the Rockets are only one-half game behind the Denver Nuggets for the No. 2 seed and would break a tie.
But given the fluid nature of the final three teams in the West (including OKC), Houston’s first-round opponent is still very much in flux.