The Celtics issues were all chemistry related. Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown were key pieces of their playoff run last year, and they believed they deserved to start. When Stevens decided to start Hayward over Brown at the beginning of the season, it started the downhill spiral for that team.
The Rockets had enough to win. The problem is Dantoni didn’t use the depth that Morey got him and stuck to the same rotation even when it wasn’t working. And as usual MDA got exposed in the playoffs making zero adjustments and running the same players into the ground.
The issue in game 6 was lack of killer instinct to take over the game by Harden when needed. The defensive intensity was also lacking. We need one more lock down defender, rebounder and someone who can shoot 3 (basically Ariza replacement). Capela needs to get better offensively and we need to nurture that in regular season. Chris Paul needs improve his 3 pointer efficiency. Harden needs to develop mid range game and improve shot efficiency. Gordon needs to be get more consistent and not lose balls when dribbling.
I’m most curious about how long has he known about “exactly what’s needed”? Did it just occur to him right after the loss? Doubtful. It sounds like he’s been thinking about it for a while. Who the hell thinks about off season plans before the season is over? A guy that plans on his season being over. Maybe if he wasn’t thinking about off season plans and focused on the task at hand perhaps he wouldn’t have missed 5 FT’s.
It sounds like this may be it. Just my guess is that MDA is going to take the fall for this but I'm not sure why Harden would have issues with MDA and I can't imagine him having issues with CP3 although they did do their pressers separate tonight which is not usual.
Exactly. A lot of over reacting cry babies in here. Harden may be flawed but: 1) He is still one of the best players in the league 2) Still in his prime 3) Still gets better every year 4) ..and has not given up. Tweak the roster around him. Stop penny pinching. It is not like we are getting destroyed. We are always in close games and always have a chance against the title holders. It is up to Morey to get better players around him. We are still in better position than 80% of the teams in the league.
Last year supporting cast was better, especially if you consider how much Chris has regressed and that even with a deeper bench Mike still ended up playing 7/8 guys...and we were up 3-2 with that supporting cast. I get what you're saying, don't get me wrong, but still, it's hard for me to not consider that we didn't have Ariza and that Chris Paul is just not the same player, all of this in a series in which we lost 4 games by 4 points...
Took LeBron a bunch of heartbreaking losses and playoff disappointments before he got his individual game to a point where he could carry his team in the playoffs beyond just scoring a lot. Harden has gotten better every year. This season was his most consistent and best playoffs despite the result. He will figure it out because he's an all time great and the best Rocket since Hakeem. I'm not sure what glaring weakness he has figured out how to eliminate, it was obvious for LeBron, not sure what it is for Harden.
didnt harden saved a loose ball falling into the stands? And come up with 2 steals in the fourth. Understand GS made shots. Harden scored 12 in the final 8 minutes of the game.
I'll never understand why we didn't play Faried. I get it, his defense is not good, but Clint was horrible defensively and still was getting punked on the boards, fumbling passes, and just doing everything bad. You know what this is? This is the story of Moby Dick. This organization got so obsessed with beating the Warriors that we now have bad contracts on the books for a team built to beat the Warriors.
Al Horford is not soft nor a choker. He’s on a team with no chemistry and playing with a bunch of young guys that want to be THE guy.
You know what? **** it. Ride or die! Get some damn players that won't disappear in big games. Yeah people will point the finger at Harden but I don't really blame him when he's carried the team the whole year and CP3 (showed up tonight but too late), Gordon and especially Capella suddenly become magicians and disappear at certain key points of the series. I'm fine with CP3, he can still dish it out and score when needed but he's no longer the "second star" we need. It's starting to feel like the 2017 Rockets plus occasional HoF point guard help. Sucks about that massive contract.
Try watching Harden only feeds especially on D. You can find these types of streams. It is excruciating in the defensive side, or when he doesnt have the ball in his hands.
Houston gets: Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love Cleveland gets: Clint Capela, PJ Tucker, Nene's expiring Philadelphia gets: Eric Gordon, Tristan Thompson, draft picks Give Deandre Jordan the MLE. Paul Harden Butler (a much needed a##hole) Love (fixes rebounding) Jordan (fixes rebounding) Run a real ball movement offense. Get a new coach if you have to. I don't give a damn. I want someone that has some nuts, holds players accountable, and will make adjustments according to the situation.
I guess I just preferred this years team to last year. Mostly cause of Rivers and Ariza leaving a bad taste with that last performance. Can’t disagree with CP3s regression. Either way we couldn’t have asked for a better or more favorable chance. This was THE best opportunity and I doubt a better one will come along in the foreseeable future. We had everything we needed and we blew it. Now this team has a bunch of questions and it’s gonna be a mess.
I'm the first guy who thinks Faried would've been torched out there, but when something (Clint) is clearly not working, why not try something else if you have the chance? I would've tried Faried...already in game 5 actually, just like i wouldn't have played a player if/when he was so sick that he couldn't even jump, but Mike is a nba coach and i'm a random scrub so, i'm probably wrong.
