ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 3/6/2013

I'm starting to think that the reason why Lin sat out in the 4th was to rest him for the upcoming games. I mean, including yesterday's game plus the next 2 would be a 3 games in 4 night scenario. Maybe the Rockets front office values Lin more than Harden? I mean, they do try to run Harden to the ground.

 

Choo - chooo... Full Harden Mode train coming... Chooo Choooo... we missed the Playoff!
Originally Posted by Grigori
Adelman developed a fetish for Barea-Rubio-Ridnour 3-PG lineup this season with Barea handling the ball and Rubio spotting up. Naturally, hilarity ensued and Adelman stubbornly stuck to it for a while, but to his credit, he actually paid attention to the overall results instead of letting mere 6-point swings serve his confirmation bias and dictate his strategy, and eventually he admitted his mistake and did not go back to it.

McHale, on the other hand, just wants to believe what he feels like believing at any given moment, and in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. Overall result trends be damned. Playing the known odds be damned. All it takes is two fumbles, or two makes, or a 6-point swing with Kevin McHale to make him buy into whatever random rationalization he feels like embracing at any given moment. I mean, the dude obviously has a very short attention span and no memory capacity to speak of (all those shots to the head he took as a player must have taken their toll).

Our entire season was going to be over after Morey/McHale had decided to go full Harden two games into the season, which, as it turned out, killed Harden's efficiency almost as badly as other players'. Of course, Harden was still not bad, because he was a star, but as an accident of a gift would show us, he could be so much better still if the team didn't go full Harden.

Our entire season and this whole playoff run had been a gift of an accident from that one Spurs game Harden sat out. We went 12-2 in the following stretch with Lin initiating a large chunk of the offense and Harden absolutely thriving and kicking ass over the stretch (actually one loss punctuated the 12-2 stretch where we were blowing good teams out, it was the TOR game where Asik fumbled two passes early in PnR and we called a timeout just to make the adjustment not to set another screen on Calderon for the next 2.5 quarters, so we were actually 12-3 in the full stretch, but we definitely went full Harden in that TOR loss). Apparently after seeing Harden's efficiency surge sky high there, whoever was calling the shots decided to go full Harden again. Disaster followed and we all remember what happened the next 8 games when we went hardcore full Harden.

We have been riding the coattail of that little gift of an accident stretch this whole time. Without it we stand at 21-27 with basically zero chance of making the playoffs. 19-27 if you take out the first two games at the start of the season before we went full Harden. Truth be told, down this final stretch of 20 games, if we go full Harden for a couple of quarters in most of them, I am not liking our chances.

You can have something very beautiful with a truckload of Harden, but you never go full Harden, man! SMH.

 

This loss is heart breaking...

 

Time for some stress reliever..

 

Dont you think that we need to find other ways to win other than running? How are we going to utilize and gain experience other than to bear down and see what we can do?

 

They want to work Parsons to death (essentially slave labor) and want to get every penny from Harden.:grin:If you think about it Lin and Asik were being paid max salary in last night's game (comparison to Harden). We all want Lin to have nice stats and play all 48 minutes just like Harden and Parsons, but playing 25-30 minutes a night is probably good for Lin for now. Gets playing time to develop, but not strenuous enough to hit him long term.

 

yea that guy's grasping at straws...rest lin?!?! they have 2 freaking whole days off before saturday and this was the first game in how many days?!?!
it's not about minutes overall, it's where these minutes are played during the game.

 

D'Mo lack of defense lost the game

 

Which is why I say that the front office maybe value Lin more than Harden when you really think about it. Lin and Asik are played MAX contract, irrespective of Harden getting 80 million. They run Harden and Parsons to the ground, yet they let Lin rest. Some may counterargue that the best and valued players is supposed to be on the court all the time, so therefore, Harden is the most valued player. But why would you play him to the ground knowing that there is a 3 games in 4 nights coming up, and yet you rest Lin? Probably because if we play ISO harden only, you get the 7 game losing streak, a barely winnable game against Charlotte and Orlando. I predict that if it's not a b2b or a 3 games in 4 nights, (there are no more 4 games in 5 nights through the season,) then Lin would play the 4th quarter. Otherwise, we may see Lin on the bench again.

 

Sure but this is the last few games before the post season. Usually at this time you start solidifying your playoff rotation. At this time you start doubling down on what has made you successful don't stat experimenting. And people like to say that we should reward Bev & Robbinson for playing well. That is silly they are bench guys for a reason, you reward your starters because they are your starters. We are in a playoff hunt. If anybody should be rewarded it should be the guys who were here the longest, got you here in the first place & have yet to miss a single game ie Lin & Asik.

I didn't believe the assertion that McHale doesn't trust Lin but I maybe starting to warm up to it. Like how often does a coach sit a starting PG for 10 minute stretches. That is a LONG ASS time to be resting. How can you establish a playing rhythm like that? McHale sits his starters down the stretch far to easily & has no qualms about it. (*cough* Keith Smart *cough*) I think there are elements of lack of trust but I also think there are major elements of he doesn't know what he is doing out there & when he realizes he was wrong he doubles down on his mistakes & never accepts responsibility. Like he snuck Omer back in, in the last 4 seconds of the game. He has done a similar thing with Patterson when it was clear that he should have been playing in the 4th. He like subbed Patt in, in the last 10 seconds or something.

 

It is not the same, they are out of playoff chase, play for fun and prepare for next season already.

 

Let me guess, it is because of Mchale. :grin:

 

WAAHHA same reason why if the wizards traded for Harden they're probably heading the playoffs. Anthony Davis and Eric Gordon can't stay on the court. If both were healthy they'd be doing damage.

 

That idea about rhythm is interesting. McHale is a winner, so I wonder if he differentiates game rhythm from an individual's, and makes his rotational & substitution decisions accordingly.

 

I'm on the same boat. Followed Lin here...now I have Harden and Parson on my FAV list and YES i do cheer for the rockets to win.

 

Absolutely,we play offence too simply.Mavericks just need to put Mario on Harden，who is supposed to be responsible for that?

 

Wax on, wax off. Thanks for the relief!

 

woah ...


what were we talking about again?

 

Jeremy Lin.
That's why Mchale put beverley on court the whole 4th quarter.

 

I went through that transition a few weeks ago, believe me! And now I'm a believer.

While coaches in other teams respected Lin by designing special strategies to limit him (as we all saw in last night's game -- the double team, full court pressure and even changing their starting pg), Rockets' coach McHale used every such opportunity as an excuse to bench Lin. He was like, "So you're trying to shut down Lin, guess what, I will just bench him so your strategy fails. I outsmart you, see!"