Audio/Video of last huddle. McHale called for no switching. "Stay with your guys"

Not the problem.

As you can hear, there was no instruction that they should position themselves between the ball and their assigned man. No reminder on what TJones should do. He didn't contest Batum's pass. Heck, they should have practised this over and over. They should know their coverages. Do they ever practise?

They should be reminded 0.9 sec means what kind of shot is available. etc etc They usually switch everything in plays such as this; why the change in call?

McHale probably thought 0.9 was too short a time to get off a shot. No sense of urgency.

Major fail.

 

It just keeps getting worse. I can't even listen to that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it says exactly what you reported.

MCFAIL MACFAILE MCFALE

 

I think it says something when Harden of all people knows better how to defend that situation than our coach.

 

Doesn't really make any sense not to switch on a screen with less than one second left. Think about it.

 

lol has mchale ever gave any instructions that detailed. i thought he was confined to "guys, lets knock down some shots" "lets pass the ball" "lets get a stop." team has no direction..

as it happened i thought lillard was much further behind the arc, like brandon roy territory. but rewatching it, he wa sonly a step behind the line.. this was a failure..

 

There was no screen. The switching came before the ball was even inbounded.

So, what would




have done in this situation?

 

Thanks for sharing. Unbelievable!!

 

Not sure Harden calling for the switch helped. Or the fact that he stood there and didn't rotate when Parsons got picked.

As many have mentioned (including myself) McHale should have used Jones to sag off the inbounder and help defend the perimeter - there no way the inbounder would have gotten a pass back with 0.9 seconds left.

I, as well as probably everyone watching, thought Lillard was likely getting the ball. They should have instructed Jones and Harden to help out.

 

what did harden say? put dmo on the ball? terry (tjones?)?

 

He wanted to be on the inbounder zoning the receiver rather than guarding the passer

 

man watching the replay of the shot is so painful. it was an incredible shot, but the rockets did not play good defense at all. i guess you never really spend much time all season preparing a defense for a 0.9 second possession, but when you're up 2, the last thing you can do is give up a 3. why is tjones sagging towards lamarcus, who at best would get a catch and shoot 2? why are all our players shading inside their man instead of fronting, and on the wrong side of the 3 point line no less?

i mean i didnt expect lillard would be able to get a good shot off, so maybe everyone underestimated how quick of a release he really has and just werent expecting such a quick 3.

 

the worst part of all this is that the spot that lillard catches and shoots from is actually the easiest possible pass for batum to make - a straight line pass, easy angle, minimal distance to travel....and the rockets gave it to him with no resistance. sigh...what could've been.

 

So they did ignore what McHale said and let Harden run the defense?? I'm sure it was not instructed that Parsons go on Lilliard, cause Beverley was on him and Harden said switch.

 

Doesn't matter, they should have had a guy between Lilliard and the ball anyways, not behind him!

 

the defense was so bad, any blazer who took that shot could have knocked it down..

 

then Harden gave the correct defensive strategy on the inbounder

can you imagine the recriminations inside the locker room? I, for one, can imagine Harden complaining about the coaches in their exit interview

 

Mo Williams set a pick for Lillard, Lillard ran past it, Parsons fell behind, Lillard got the ball with space and sunk the shot.

The End.

 

Okay so I only saw the shot once last night in live action. It happened and the TV and laptop immediately both went off.

After watching it again a few times just now after I've calmed down just enough not to smash any of my possessions there are a few things of note here. Parsons was run off of a double screen. Had they actually did in game switching, they would have taken Lillard out of the play. It makes absolutely zero sense to allow a team their first option on an inbound play during this situation when the play was not even cleverly disguised from the beginning.

Whether or not Parsons or Bev was supposed to be on Lillard is another question. McHale said he was and maybe Harden was the only one of the three who paid attention to that detail during the timeout. If Beverley would have played it the same way and stayed on the wrong side of Lillard it wouldn't have made a bit of difference either. Parsons should have been between him and the ball in the first place especially after seeing that they were going to try to run him off of screens. It was just a complete fail and they paid the ultimate price with a heartbreaking and gut wrenching loss.

 

Harden has actually proven himself to be pretty smart with X's and O's. I always see him recognizing where players are supposed to be during the few plays they run, and he knows what he is technically supposed to do on defense.

Its just an effort issue, something he clearly showcased tonight when he actually played defense...