Mike D'Antoni's Magic Is Working Again with the Houston Rockets

Now that the Houston Rockets are flying high again—they boast a 19-7 record, are tied for third place in the Western Conference and average an NBA-leading 14.5 made three-pointers per game—it begs the question:

How does head coach Mike D'Antoni do it?

How did he get the high-scoring James Harden to move over to point guard and not only thrive, but also lead the league in assists at 11.7 per game?

How is he able to get the most out of role players like Clint Capela, Patrick Beverley and Ryan Anderson? How did he completely revitalize Eric Gordon and get him to buy in to a sixth-man role—to the point he's a legitimate Sixth Man of the Year candidate?

Create a buffet.

Simply put, in D'Antoni's high-powered offense, everybody eats.

That's why the Rockets are now at a point where they can go out and get a season-high 40 assists on 50 field goals like they did against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.

"I mean, that's how we've been playing the whole year," Beverley said. "Like I said, it's a big pie and everybody gets a little piece of it. When you play that way, you go home, everybody is happy. Man, it's a great atmosphere to be around. So at last we're having fun through the ups and the downs. It's a great group of guys to be around. We share the wealth and from that everybody gets a little piece of the pie."

Even previously little-used energy guys like Montrezl Harrell and Sam Dekker are going out and proving they are relevant players in the league, that they deserve a slice of the pie.

"Coach D'Antoni's philosophy offensively is different from a lot of teams," Beverley said. "He set the foundation of a new breed of basketball. We don't go out and try to take a particular number. It's how it works out. We shoot open threes. We shoot them fast. We're confident. The coaching staff is confident on our abilities."

Dekker, who had a career-high 19 points and seven rebounds off the bench against Sacramento, is averaging 10.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game during the Rockets' current eight-game winning streak. The second-year man out of Wisconsin is a testament to the notion that a rising tide raises all ships.

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"It starts with James," said Dekker, who has hit double figures in five of the past nine games. "He moves the ball so well. He finds us when we're cutting, then it just trickles down. And when everyone's getting along and playing with that chemistry, we're really hard to stop."

Another big reason why it's hard to stop Houston from scoring at will? D'Antoni's belief that no shot is a bad shot.

"This team has ultimate freedom to shoot the shots they want to shoot," Harden said.

"It gives us huge confidence. I think each and every individual knows what's a good shot and what's a bad shot. That's the good part about our team—there's no leash. If you're open, shoot the basketball. If you don't shoot it, it's a bad shot. So for us, we shoot our open shots, we play well, we share the ball and we compete at a high level."

That's right. If an open player doesn't shoot, it's a bad shot. That player has the green light to shoot no matter where he is on the floor.

"That gives you the ultimate confidence," Trevor Ariza said. "No matter how many times you shoot it, it's a good shot. You start to believe it's a good shot. It builds a lot of confidence. If they have an open shot or a good look at the basket, shoot the ball. There's no 'Oh, that's a bad shot.' It builds your confidence."

That confidence is paying dividends for the Rockets, just like it did for the D'Antoni-era Phoenix Suns.

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Because of D'Antoni's "seven seconds or less" philosophy, the barrage of long balls and a career .650 winning percentage over five years, players like Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire and Shawn Marion became MVPs and All-Stars. Role players like Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa carved out respectable careers for themselves in the league.

The same is happening in Houston.

Harden is out-Nashing Steve. Capela is no Stoudemire, but he's steadily improving. Anderson is continuing to stretch the floor, and Gordon, like Barbosa, could win the Sixth Man of the Year trophy.

Houston is playing free and loose, but sometimes a little too loose. As has been the case with any D'Antoni-coached team, there are deficiencies on the defensive end.

The Rockets allow opponents 17.4 points per game off turnovers (23rd in the league) and give up 46.1 points per game in the paint, which is likely the trade-off from playing bigs who are more comfortable spreading the floor.

Houston is also middle of the pack on opponent fast-break points, giving up 13.3 points per contest (17th), and has a defensive rating of 104.8 (18th).

While the Rockets have been somewhat sloppy over the first quarter of the season, expect them to clean that up as they continue to jell and get a better sense of where everyone else is on the court.

Perhaps they'll also learn they can't just outscore opponents and get the win, though they did just that in a 122-118 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. They let the Nets rack up 75 points during the second half and had to get some key defensive plays down the stretch to pull it out.

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"If we had hit free throws, we wouldn't be talking about this," Beverley said after the win. "If we rebound a little better today, we're not talking about this. But at certain times of the game, you don't have to have a great defensive game to win games. It just takes a couple of stops at the end, and that's what it was tonight.

"We were really fortunate. We cannot rely on that, and we can't get comfortable with playing that type of way. We have to get better. And it's a process, and we're willing to take the necessary steps during the process."

That process is worth it, because the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors showed everyone a team could win playing the pace-and-space, three-ball-launching style that D'Antoni champions.

Of course, while it remains to be seen if the Rockets can duplicate some of D'Antoni's greatest hits (who could ever forget Linsanity?), they'll continue to soar if confidence in their long balls never wanes, they clean up their defensive weaknesses and everyone on the squad keeps getting his fill on offense.

"Extremely unselfish," Harden said. "Guys had shot opportunities and they shoot them. And when they don't, they create for someone else. We've been doing it all year, and it's working. Everybody is getting shots, everybody is scoring the basketball and everybody is happy."

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats accurate as of Dec. 15 and courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com.

Maurice Bobb covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ReeseReport.