Admit it: You snickered. Maybe a little bit. Maybe a lot. Mike D’Antoni? He was the last thing Houston needed. The Rockets were fresh off a disappointing 41-41 season. The offense — top 10 in the NBA in efficiency — was fine. The defense — bottom third in the league — was not. Stephen Silas, a rising assistant on Steve Clifford’s defensive-minded staff in Charlotte, made sense. D’Antoni didn’t.

Whoops. Midway through the season and the NBA Coach of the Year Award is locked up. It’s D’Antoni — and it isn’t even close. Quin Snyder has been great in Utah. David Fizdale has been brilliant in Memphis. Brad Stevens is an annual candidate in Boston. But D’Antoni losing the vote would be a Buster Douglas-type upset.

Houston is 32-11. Would anyone have been shocked if it was closer to 11-32? The Rockets lost Dwight Howard and, yes, the Howard-James Harden partnership was Kardashian-level toxic. Still — that was a double-double walking out the door. That was rim protection. Replaced by whom? Clint Capela? Montrezl Harrell? Nene? Even the most ardent Howard-hater would admit there was a talent gap.

And yet … it’s worked. The Rockets’ offense, predictably, is humming. It’s second in points per game (114.9), a number that in a non-Warriors super-team season would be well ahead of the field. Houston is obliterating opponents under a barrage of 3-pointers — 10-plus in 27 consecutive games, an NBA-record. It has made 15-plus 25 times and 20-plus six-times. Four Rockets populate the top seven in 3-pointers made, including free-agent signees Eric Gordon (152) and Ryan Anderson (116), two ex-Pelicans who have revived their careers in D’Antoni’s free-flowing system.

D’Antoni is enjoying the experience. “Anytime you have a good group of guys that are very coachable, it’s fun,” D’Antoni said. And why shouldn’t he? Three years ago his career seemed over. He resigned from the Lakers in May 2014 after abruptly resigning from the Knicks in 2012. He was still a good coach, but one seemingly incapable of coaching just any roster.

And there was some truth to that. The Knicks were a bad fit. The Lakers, too. Carmelo Anthony was the kind of isolation-dependent star who would never buy in to D’Antoni’s system. Kobe Bryant didn’t, either, and the idea of two-bigs like Howard and Pau Gasol ever fitting was laughable. Yet D’Antoni had two failed jobs stapled to his résumé. The success of the Suns never seemed so far away.

D’Antoni admits he wondered if it were over. He was in his early 60s. His offense, once innovative, was being copied by everyone. Hiring young assistants to lead teams — Fizdale, Luke Walton, Kenny Atkinson — was becoming en vogue. He didn’t know if anyone would give him another shot.

But he wanted one. Badly. “And right away,” D’Antoni told The Vertical. “I was looking for a better way to end things.” So he stayed busy. He visited other teams — standard practice for out-of-work coaches. He watched games. He called other coaches. In December 2015, Jerry Colangelo called. He wanted D’Antoni to join Brett Brown’s staff in Philadelphia. “And when Jerry asks,” D’Antoni said, “you go. Plus, it reminded people I wasn’t dead.”

Houston, D’Antoni says, was exactly what he was looking for. “Players, management, ownership all wanted to play the way I wanted to coach,” he said. That included Harden. Harden was already a great player. D’Antoni saw a way to make him better.

“I watched a lot of tape of him,” D’Antoni said. “His skills are enormous. Point guard made sense. He was that anyway. We just cut the fat off. The way he plays now, he’s making an impact every minute. So we can play him less minutes. And he’s fresher.”

Two years ago, Harden was the runner-up for MVP. This season, he’s among the frontrunners to win it. Thrust into a playmaking role, Harden’s assists have shot up (an NBA-best 11.7 per game) while his scoring hasn’t missed a beat. Russell Westbrook is the NBA’s best threat to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson. Harden is a couple of rebounds per game shy from joining him.

Harden knew D’Antoni was innovative. But playing point guard? “I was shocked,” Harden said. “But I’ve always been a really good passer and a playmaker. As training camp came along and I started handling it, it came easier. I’m still learning to do it at a high level every single night. You are in control of the ball 90 percent of the game. But it feels good. Guys are getting shots, guys are happy and that’s what matters.”

You know what else matters? Defense. Houston isn’t great, but it doesn’t have to be. A middle-of-the-pack defense — the Rockets are 16th in defensive efficiency — has made Houston a top-three team. A top-10 defense? D’Antoni believes that will elevate the Rockets into a true conference contender.

And wouldn’t that be something? Ten years ago, D’Antoni was riding high. His Suns won 61 games and were a Robert bleeping Horry hip check on Steve Nash — and the subsequent Amar’e Stoudemire suspension for leaving the bench, a loss that cost the Suns Game 5 of the 2007 conference semifinals to San Antonio, the eventual champions — from perhaps validating D’Antoni ball. Stoudemire plays, perhaps the Suns win the series and it’s D’Antoni celebrating a four-game sweep of the Cavaliers in the Finals, and we don’t have to wait for Golden State to prove that small-ball can win.

At 65, D’Antoni has his last shot. He has Harden, a versatile player every bit as dangerous as Nash. He has an arsenal of 3-point shooters and bigs who can run the floor. Think Houston isn’t a contender? Wins at Golden State and San Antonio say otherwise. Think the game has passed D’Antoni by? Ask his peers, who openly admit they still swipe plays from him.

The Rockets have been revived. Mike D’Antoni has, too.

More NBA coverage from The Vertical: