He ran Harden into the ground and ran too many ISOs Don’t need to Stephen A to tell you this unless you are stupid
This is the story of the game. Playoff Mike D'Antoni showed up and not only blew whatever chance they had tonight, but probably ruined Harden for game 7.
It's the roster design what do you want from this team. They run PnR with Ariza and Tucker so they can turn it over. You want Gordon to pass the ball? You want to post up Capela. We had 2 playmakers that went 50/50 on ball sharing. 1 is out. Gordon is not suddenly turning into a point guard and Ariza is not turning into Durant
The Rockets didn’t get stops in the second half. First half they scored in transition off of stops. Second half, we had to play against their set defense, and all we could muster was ISO ball because that’s what this team does. Harden’s fatigue clearly became a factor, but there’s really not much else the Rockets could do.
Rockets went from "Man, they have 9-10-11 guys who can play! Where are they gonna find the minutes?!" to a 6-man rotation. 6 1/2 man rotation ain't gonna cut it. (But none of those other guys are really worthy of minutes either.)
I was worried with our 7man rotation even we won game 4 and 5. Then CP got hurt. It was a perfect opportunity to expand our rotation, but MDA just basically used a 6 man rotation! We have seen Harden's performance suffer when he is tired millions of times. It is up to our so called offensive genius coach to figure something out in game 7.
The 6/7 man rotation is wearing them down but you see what you get from the bench. Even more glaring with Paul out and E.G. in the starting lineup. Have to beat the warriors in an ugly defensive battle like games 4 and 5.
He can’t be discouraged. Keep attacking in game 7. The whistle will favor the home team, as long as the they are the aggressor.
Harden, Ariza and Gordon played too much. That is my only compaint. I ain't tripping about the isolations. Draymond has been key to forcing the Rockets to run so many. He's made Capela a non-factor offensively. He also shuts Harden down whenever they meet in the paint. I wish some of the bench played a bit more, but this micro rotation got us here, so why complain? The expectations changed once Paul pulled his hammy or whatever. This all sucks.
He needs to step ****ing aside! Offensive genius? 25 points in a goddamned half. The 1994 Knicks called and are laughing their asses off.... https://www.deseretnews.com/article/565035950/Fewest-points-scored-in-one-NBA-half.html
