Rockets rookie Gary Clark played a season-high 32 minutes Sunday, playing time increased with Carmelo Anthony out with an illness and Gerald Green with a sprained ankle. But his increasing role could also be a large part of the Rockets evaluations of where Anthony fits.
The Rockets have praised Clark's defense throughout the season while seeing potential for his 3-point shooting to be an asset. He had a season-high eight rebounds to lead the Rockets on Sunday and has averaged 5.4 rebounds in the past five games after getting just eight in his first six games combined.
"Gary Clark's a player," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He's a player. His defense, his rebounding, smart, right position, shoots the ball, I mean, he's a player."
Clark has been especially effective as a help defender, with the Rockets defense ranking third in the NBA in the past five games, since Clark has played 21 minutes or more per game. Most of that time has been as a small forward, but he could be increasingly used as at the backup power forward spot Anthony had played.
"It's a little different, more physical of course," Clark said. "A lot of times, I'm not so much banging. His, he's bang, bang, try to score, pivot. It'll probably take a game or two to get adjusted to guarding bigger guys more often. Tuck (P.J. Tucker) and those guys talk me through just about everything, so I'll take it game-by-game."
Of D'Antoni's praise, Clark said, "It's all cool. That's what I do. I'm a player.
"People say it's ugly. People have a lot of questions, why is this kid on the court and so forth. But when it comes down to winning, I do the things that a team needs. I don't always score. I won't ever complain about scoring or shots. But you'll see me getting steals, rebounds, blocking shots, getting other guys opportunity to score. All I'm about is winning."
