Coach D'Antoni to Represent West at All-Star Game

HOUSTON – The NBA announced that Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni and his staff will represent the Western Conference at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, which takes place in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. CT on TNT.  D’Antoni’s coaching staff is comprised of associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik and assistant coaches Roy Rogers and Brett Gunning.

D’Antoni was selected after the Rockets secured the second-best record in the Western Conference through the league’s cut-off point of games played on Sunday, Feb. 4 by nature of San Antonio losing to Philadelphia tonight.  Steve Kerr and Golden State’s staff are ineligible, having represented the Western Conference in last year’s All-Star Game.  D’Antoni will coach the All-Star team drafted by Warriors guard Stephen Curry, which includes James Harden, who is making his sixth-straight All-Star appearance.

For D’Antoni, it is his second stint coaching the All-Star Game, having represented the Western Conference as head coach of Phoenix in 2007.  D’Antoni joins Rudy Tomjanovich (1997) as the only coaches to have represented the Rockets in the All-Star Game.  

Houston is 34-13 this season, which is tied for the second-best record in franchise history through the first 47 games of a season.  Last season, D’Antoni earned his second Coach of the Year award, after guiding the Rockets to a 55-27 mark, up from a record of 41-41 in 2015-16.  Dating back to the start of last season, the Rockets have the third-highest winning percentage (.690) in the NBA.

The Rockets have hit 740 3-pointers this season, breaking their own NBA record for the most 3FGM through the first 47 games of a season set in 2016-17 (690).  During D’Antoni’s time as head coach of Phoenix, the Suns posted the league’s three highest single season totals for 3-pointers made from 2004-05 through 2006-07.  Prior to 2004-05, only three teams had more than 700 3-pointers in a single season.  Last season, 25 of the 30 teams recorded at least 700 3-pointers made.