We deserved to lose. I'm not sure what I'm more upset about though. That Steve Blake hit the wide open 3 or that the game was that close to begin with. I never put too much weight on regular season games, but I would think the Rockets would have this one circled on the calendar. I mean, i could see if we were an established team that been together for years, but we're not. We're new. How/Why the hell would we be playing so lazy this early into a season is beyond me. I can handle being out of rhythm on offense or you know just shots not falling. I can handle Dwight missing freethrows. I can handle a few lapses on defense from players over the course of the game. It's like other than Howard, Asik and Beverly the players don't even attempt to play defense. It's too early to start slacking. I'm not even mad that we lost. If we would've taken care of business from the start, then that 3 pointer by Blake wouldn't have mattered. Dwight's freethrows wouldn't have mattered. The missed rotation at the end wouldn't have mattered. We aren't supposed to squeek by this freaking sucky ass Lakers team!
I agree, the team seems to have entitlement issues, where they don't play hard from the jump. I think that is why McHale wants Bev as a starter to help bring the energy level up of guys like Harden and Dwight. DD
it was not that close to begin with, it was a blow out to begin with... we started bad and gave 17 pt lead in the first quarter... very hard to climb back up to win a game against a team who is highly motivated to beat us...
Nah man. Not Dwight. We haven't been getting killed in the paint right? It's everybody else on the perimeter I thought. I didn't catch the first quarter, but they hit a ton of 3s right? Wide open ones I would imagine since that's the way it looked the rest of the game. We have young players. Full of energy and everybody is healthy. We should be playing like we have something to prove. This crap we've been rolling out on defense is unexcusable. I'm not singling out any one player or anything cause it's happening to just about every player. They're not even closing out on shooters. Not even attempting half the time. They're just sitting there freaking watching them shoot.
That's what I'm saying. I don't know what I'm more upset about. If we would've taken care of business to begin with then the game wouldn't have come down to a wide open 3 by Blake.
Most of that lead was due to running TT out of the gate. TT is great against a team that's heavily dependent on driving to the rim or inside post game (like Memphis), but is sorely lacking in defending perimeter players. 78% from 3 point land in the first half. That alone says a lot. The Morey speaks truth.
In addition to that they have Steve Nash and Paul Gasol on the team we have the lead by 7 we stay with the hack a Howard in the game. It's time to start coaching better including the line up. Bottom line
I'm not overly worried about poor starts. that can be fixed with time or with a change in rotations What I'm worried about is the poor coaching. McHale continues to be outcoached by most coaches around the league. Lack of set plays off timeouts, going ISO heavy etc
im happy we lose so long as this twin towers experiment keeps going and teams keep killing is from 3. Dont even wanna imagine what the warriors are going to do to us
Starting Bev is the biggest mistake if you are going to start Asik. Actually I think Lin should start no matter. He runs the offense better and is a better shooter. Bev is a spark and at times we need a spark. Jeremy is consistent. Lin made mistakes last night but Harden Parsons and dwight made more. Harden stupid ISO for 18 seconds, Dwight can't make a free throw and Parsons throws him the ball and why doesn't McHale sub him out for the last 30 secs before the 2 minute mark. Stupid play all around and we did deserve to lose as the OP stated but really Jeremy and Casspi made less boneheaded plays than anyone else. Lin plays better than Bev right now and it's not that close. If this team is about winning a championship than they need to look at each other. Howard plays D yes but it's not so much greater than Asik. Harden shows up drunk or hungover or something is wrong with him. Parsons shot is worse now than the end of last year and he is afraid to shoot. His defense has dropped off a notch. You can't play Bev and Asik together. Not to start. It's no offense and the defense isn't that much better. The Asik Dwight project has failed and I do not need to see anymore to know that. I would rather see Dwight and Asik play together in spots but not starting off the game. Lin should start no matter what the circumstance. He is just better and runs the offense better. He attacks and when not open gets it to Howard or Harden. He creates more open shots for others than any other player. Harden is a superstar scorer no doubt but ISO'ing is still a problem. Howard has no consistent move that works and his smiling is just a lie. The man is not happy unless he can win big and it's on him. Meaning he gets all the glory. The problem is his play is not superstar level. Can all of this be fixed. Yes it's early in the season but Howard is pretty much what he is and his offensive game is not going to change much. The alley oop passes will improve but Howard needs to learn to pass out of double teams better and not turn the ball over so much. One of the benefits of having a big that can score down low is that he opens up the court for others to score. We have only seen that happen for moments so far.
If our perimeter defense was better then they prolly wouldnt have hit that many. I saw at least 3 wide open 3s and the clutch dagger from Blake was well released before Howard had a chance to contest it.
They were hitting uncontested 3s for the most part. Morey is just sugar coating it. Anytime we got a hand in their face or rotated properly, they missed or got blocked.
This, I agree 100%. What worries me though is Hardens lack of accountability, and McHale's lack of discipline Harden often dribbles down the clock and passes in the last seconds to teammates expecting a miracle to happen. We need to move the ball set screens for him why does Harden likes that dribble dribble shoot last second shot at end of games is behind me. Garden was getting burned by Blake left and right I just don't see his commitment on the defensive end he's not a superstar, at this point he's a very good offensive all star SG. People are right in placing Wade, George above him
It's not entirely his fault although agree he is an average coach at best. But It's not his fault that Harden ISO's late in the game with no plan or that Parsons makes a boneheaded decision to pass to Howard or Howard can't hit a free throw when it matters. Plus Harden isn't going to listen if he doesn't want. McHale isn't afraid to yell at Harden and even benched him when he thinks he needs to. So I can't fault him for that. My problem isn't McHale trying to manage his players it's his decision making at crucial times. We were up 6 points late in the game. Bring Asik for a minute until the 2 minute mark. At a minimum Howard should have been benched at the 2:06 mark. Also I think Lin, Harden Parsons Casspi Howard is a better team right now than Bev for Casspi. If Bev gets his shot down again than maybe but right now Casspi on the floor is better than Bev. Asik starting is not working and Howard down the stretch will be hack a howard in Big games because he chokes under pressure.
Howard & Harden are still feeling each other out. They're both a bit hesitant and out of their comfort zone. That is to be expected. We saw the exact same thing happen with Tracy & Yao. James & Wade. It'll take some time. McHale isn't great at defining roles, creating an identity, or putting players in sets that allow them to flourish. He lets the players figure it out on their own. So it will take even longer. JVG & Spoelstra had the same problem with Yao/Mcgrady & James/Wade. It'll work itself out. And we're still not sure if this lineup will remain intact as-is for very long. Howard cant focus on dominating on offense right now, on taking it to the Lakers - he's to busy trying to figure out where he belongs on offense. And how he can mesh with Harden.
