Following game4 losses; Doc Rivers: "I did a bad job". McHale: "guys didn't follow instructions"

Pops and Carlisle do it plenty. There is plenty of footage of them running down the court screaming at the refs for a Time out at the same time as the players calling a Time Out.

When it's that important, you do BOTH. You want the player to call the Time out AND you call the time out at the same time to make 100% sure the refs don't miss it. You don't leave anything to chance.

Even if we accept that all 3 were stupid, you can't abrogate the responsibility of the Head Coach to use his own ability to call a time out.

 

He wasn't going for a home run play, he was trying to run the clock down and get away from the Portland defenders. Had he stayed there, he would have gotten trapped against the baseline. I would have though that the coach should have called the timeout as soon as the team got the rebound.

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fGu7kGXAa-E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

what do you think the assistant coach is there for? He could have spill water like Kidd did.

 

Maybe we can do a player trade for a coach. for Doc Rivers

 

In short we need a head coach who has sense of urgency, and hold them accountable

 

It has been a pattern for this Rox team.

Remember Harden dribbled the ball before calling the time out last game? as a result, Rox couldn't forward the ball after the timeout and couldn't design a play for the last shot.

What I see from this team is that it is free style playing. Mistakes are not corrected during the regular season. Now under pressure, everything showed up.

I actually want to blame Morey. Morey should know the team defense is not good for this team. The team can't stop anybody. During the midseason, why didn't he try to bring a defensive-minded SF? Your perimeter anchor is your SF, not your PG.

 

yeah when I was watching that the only thing going through my head was "CP3 handles would have been very nice to have at that moment..."

 

Talk about an overkill. You do not need CP3 handles for that situation.

Most players and especially point guards, can make that simple play.

You get the ball, secure it with both hands, cradle it alongside your chest, pivot to the nearest ref and call a timeout.

I have seen it a million times in 20+ years of watching basketball.

 

Was McHale asked about what his instruction was in the timeout, or did he voluntarily cite that as the reason we lost? Because I also read that he defended Jeremy on the podium and said it wasn't his fault, but I'm not seeing that anywhere here.

 

McHale should have called a time out. It's not a question of holding Lin's hand. It is a season defining moment; he should have made sure. McHale got caught being the coach-observer on that play.

On the other hand, is anyone else struck by how damn fast all of that unfolded. It is like Lin is functioning on some altered time in that sequence, and also the game winner the other night. It's shocking how quickly he reacts.

After taking a run this morning, I feel better about things. But, damn, I want them to win this series. Is it still possible? I feel like the team is the "gold", and these tough games are the fire, they need to refine the gold. They won't win the championship but I would like for them to go through as many of these brutal playoff games as possible this year. Because they have a lot of refining to do.

 

Of course it's possible, but so so crazy unlikely.
I know both the Rockets and Mavs came back from their 0-2 holes with both first two games lost at home by winning the next three.

I'm not sure if any team ever has lost the first two games at home, then been down 1-3, to come back and win the series?

The only "good" news is that they do have home court for 2 of the final three.

That hasn't meant squat yet, but one game at a time type thing.

But I see losing in 6.

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This thread is too long. Doc vs. McHale isn't even a competition coaching wise. Whether McHale should have or shouldn't have called that time-out... who knows. It was a very bang bang play.

The real issue is the fact the dude can't design a play for his life, has no defensive philosophy, and perhaps most importantly can't motivate his best player. There's a reason the best coach in NBA history is called the Zen-master. Similarly, even with a completely different style, Pops best trait is possibly his ability to maximize his players... whether that means getting in your face or not.

Bye bye McFail... I hope!

 

Wtf as if Mchale had any given any instructions to begin with. Mchale sucks, get JVG!

 

Mcfail: "I dont know what to do."

Typical that he never takes blame on himself

 

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/video/postgame-kevin-mchale-054802017.html

Here's a link to the post-game interview. You're right, McHale was responding to a specific question about Jeremy's failure to take a time out on that play when he said that bit about the time out instruction.

And he really just gave it as an example of how the players in general had not followed instructions during the game.

Like you said, he said immediately after: "That’s not his [Jeremy's] fault; he made basketball plays; I’m just saying that is typical of what we did tonight. ... we had some defense tonight where we just stood there and watched the guy shoot the ball. We can’t do that. We have to get up in his face."

Watching that interview actually makes me feel better about McHale. The Jeremy question came at the end of the interview. When he was asked at the start what went wrong McHale said:

"We had opportunities.
We held the ball
There were mismatches
We didn't drive enough.

We held the ball too much, and we weren't aggressive driving."

In response to a second question, he cited the three consecutive botched plays in the 3rd Quarter as an example of missed opportunities. (That was when we were up by 10 or 11, and then on successive possessions Chandler and then James threw the ball away on easy fast break opportunities, then on the next possession James committed a charge for his 3rd foul. I remember the possession after that Asik picked up his 3rd foul, it was all like a slow motion car wreck.) McHale said, "we could have been ahead by 17 points."

McHale said, the team just did not show a lot of aggression. He said they were trying to go to Dwight in OT because Dwight had been doing well.

He cited "Loose balls; little plays." He mentioned that at the "end of game; we should have thrown the ball ahead; we could have gotten a 3."

"Players have to know that playoffs are different from regular season; they are built for the grind; they need to grind out wins."

"Grind out plays; execute
Stick with the plan –."

At this point, McHale was asked about Lin.

 

Thanks, steady. I had a feeling it was being taken out of context, but I am not surprised.

 

I agree, I really wanted it to work out with McHale but it seems increasingly less likely.

 

You just call the timeout upon getting the rebound. Why dribble? It's pretty clear at the point of rebound that there wasn't "a clear break" opportunity, so don't dribble. Cradle the ball and call timeout.