Should start the right moment. This to me is very worrisome and something that confirms what I've seen and want to be addressed right now: MDA not coaching late in games when things get tight. He just lets Harden in particular just call the shots and you cannot just do that. 0-27, game 3 and game 4 in the 4th we clearly needed to be reminded of how we got the lead and get some confidence. That's on your coaches! Thoughts?
So why should what Jimmy Jackson says be the confirmation for anything? What are you hoping to accomplish here?
So I finally did watch it and would have liked to have heard What he said leading up to that comment but with that said he sounded like a Dantoni hater. And did we not just beat G.S. on the road in last year's playoffs?
MDA needs to know when to take timeouts, We should have took one during that huge run at the end of the 3rd where they cut it to 4.
most people don't understand what we are trying to do against the warriors. the usual critiques: we need more passing, we need less 3's, coach needs to call more plays. passing doesn't work against the warriors. first because they switch everything so off-ball screens aren't getting anyone open. second because more passing would eat into the shot clock against a great defensive team. we need less 3's: first, you won't outscore the warriors shooting 2's all game. second, because they switch everything the offense boils down to 1:1 play. when you get past your defender you hope to get to the rim but the warriors are great at rotating. the warriors rotations open the 3's. of course we'd like to shoot layups all night but the warriors are good at defense so there are 3's. we played like this all year preparing for this matchup because 1:1 and 3's are the only ways to beat the warriors. finally (and to the point of the thread), coach needs to run more plays: first, plays don't work against the warriors. see switching everything until you can only play 1:1. second, we have sets that put people in the right position to make the warriors defensive rotations more difficult once James/Paul/ego get past their man. I will concede that MDA sometimes waits too long to call timeouts and sometimes makes questionable substitutions.
Who are these.... Wow, you think ESPN personalities are bad? Fox Sports basically took all of the ESPN rejects and are sticking them all on one network. Skip, Broussard, Cowherd, Bucher, Whitlock... I mean these were all ESPN personalities that did nothing but spew BS takes all day long and most of them fired for good reason. EDIT: Correction, Skip isn't a reject, they did offer him a pretty large contract to return but still...I guess Skip gets a past since the rest of these bozos have been copying his hot take schtick. He's the hot take OG.
Jim played for MDA! That fans here acknowledge that there’s an issue with us hoisting up threes and making games closer than they need to be and that a coach could and should step in.
MDA has a done a wonderful job coaching. However he is prone to critical mistakes. Last year against GS he played Ryan Anderson for 5 mins & Curry lit his azz up 5 times in that span. This year he's gambling with playing Nene. Why not Faried? Especially when Curry goes out? Faried's physical enough to get rebounds & can also run the floor. He moves his feet better than Nene
Anyone that watched us jack up three after three and play harden ISO, drain the shot clock down before imitating any offense late in game 4 where we coughed up a 17 pt lead and doesn’t see a problem is delusional. MDA does need to coach more in those situations. There was zero reason we reverted to hero ball w 6 mins left. We only scored 19 points in the 4th. Harden was terrible in the 4th. We can be better and as fans we should demand it. This notion that we just accept it bc it’s “our style of basketball” is bullshit. We’re good enough to beat the warriors but for some reason we choose to go away from what works far too often and far too many here simply excuse it. We should expect better bc we know our team IS better. This starts w the coach.
Ok, but there isn't anything we at Clutchfans can do about it. I think it's too late to start a petition. The game is tonight.
I have been surprised with MDA in these playoffs, he’s giving minutes and playing time to more than 7 rotation players, even though only Rivers has shown capability. He’s trusting the bench more and giving playing time to players that didn’t see the court last year (Nene). He realizes, and made the correct adjustment from last year, that in a long series having relatively fresh players will help in Game 6 and 7. With the detailed article coming out about the coach structure and philosophy, MDA is trusting some of his assistants more than I would have thought. The assistants are coming up with in game adjustments by possession, quarter, and half. Part of this can be seen when they bring out their iPads when players come to bench. The notion of MDA not making in game adjustments seems to be somewhat false. There is some truth in it but mostly false, in the sense he doesn’t believe any adjustments would help the situation. The other knock is time outs, which he has been making improvements but not quite all there yet, espically end of the game situations where out of bounds play call and strategy from a coach is more important than bringing the ball upcourt against an elite defense. But even then, it’s 50/50 since everyone knows Harden is getting the ball and it wastes time on the clock trying to do that out of bounds vs bringing up court. Every coach has their faults and pet peeves, even the better ones such as Popovich and Brad Stevens. Remember the time where Pop left Duncan on the bench on a foul shot rebound that cost the game in the playoffs. Be thankful of who and what you have, espically when the results are there.
Be that as it may, you have to do something as a coach when Harden and the team is going through stretches like that. Bring out the iPads, show Harden that he's constantly missing because he's going against two defenders and or KD. Show the role players that they need to ****ing move, so Harden has options and if Harden does, then show him he has. You can remind players during time-outs of this. You don't settle down when you play and have time to really reflect. I've been a player and a coach, so to me this is obvious. Especially after going 0-27 last year and seeing the Warriors get back in it, maybe due to tired legs so use your time-outs.
The Rockets went completely cold from outside during that stretch. Including a couple attempts from EG early in the shot clock, if I recall correctly. Sometimes when shots aren't falling the Rockets need Harden to settle things down and give our guys a chance to catch their breath. He's a pretty good at the ISO thing if you haven't heard. The Warriors starters are playing heavy minutes. Every timeout you burn is a chance for them to catch their breath and collect themselves too. The Rockets' bench is killing GS's. If Coach wasn't making the right substitutions and adjustments this series would be over. Timeouts are nice to have in the final minutes. The Rockets have won two straight and are now tied up 2-2. They would be up 3-1 if the refs weren't out to get them in game one. And they played some of their best basketball of the playoffs in game four... These talking heads thrive on creating controversy. Most of them don't know sh*t, or they simply suck up to the biggest media markets. F' them.
The usual critiques are the correct ones though. Passing does work, we just dont have enough movement off the ball cause we like to create space and have shooters for the 3 ball. In game 4 there were 2 instances that caught gs off guard that I can remember off the top of my head: the backdoor cut EG had on the baseline for an and 1 layup and the cut Austin Rivers took upon himself cause CP couldnt take klay 1:1 and got bailed out with Austin getting an easy layup. We have gotten to this point with 1:1 and shooting 3s all year, we get that. We also build leads with 1:1 and making 3s. but when it gets to crunch time, we need to find a more efficient and higher percentage way to keep that lead. In the crunch when the 1:1 defenders are more focused than ever, its harder for our players to go 1:1 and succeed, especially cause they are focused on Harden and have other players sag off their man to help defend. This is where I wished we would go against the numbers and surprise the hell out of the gs with a simple play to get Harden on the post. Hes amazing at it and theres not one person on the warriors that could stop him. Its gives us a chance at a higher percentage range and lets Harden go to work while eating up clock and bridging the scoring we desperately need when our jacking up of 3s arent working. Im tired of dying by the 3. This also not the first ex-player to come out and say DATs coaching is questionable. These arent haters, these were professional basketball players who have been around the league on different teams and have had many coaches.