He checked him late in games this season already, so I expected this. Lots of dribble, dribble, dribble by Harden which didn't always lead to good results. Hope the Rockets have a counter ready for that.
I hope the Rockets aren't going into this series like some cocky Rockets fans are these days. Howard said it best "We're not gonna let anybody end our season..."
Your right, the rockets should just have no confidence. Would you really want harden walking in there thinking "we might lose" or do you want him thinking "get ready to suck my dick b****"
Last years playoff lost to Blazers will have this team ready to compete from the start of the game tomorrow. They will be focused and not take the Mavs likely. I can't wait to see how the team plays D tomorrow, seeing how the D has improved and will improved through the playoffs will be key on how far the team goes in the playoffs. Go Rockets!!
You know, I've about ****ing had it with people talking about how much better a coach Carlisle is than McHale. Forgetting the fact that McHale had a **** team in Minnesota, his record with the Rockets for the past 4 years is better than Carlisle's. Now, you can look at Carlisle's championship, his work with Detroit and Indiana (an extremely talented team, BTW), and say he has the edge, and I could see that. But if you read the Mavericks forum, and more embarrassingly this forum, you'd think that McHale is a complete scrub of a coach and Carlisle is the greatest coach in the history of the NBA. It's ridiculous the amount of hyperbole involved. McHale's been with the Rockets for 4 years, and in the 3 years so far, they missed the playoffs once and lost in the first round twice. Carlisle? In the last 3 years, his teams have missed the playoffs once and lost in the first round twice. Sounds like the same to me. That's the only fair comparison you can make. Record-wise over the past 4 years? Even. And part of me hopes we destroy them just to shut their yaps up about all this. McHale 34-32 45-37 54-28 56-26 Carlisle 36-30 41-41 49-33 50-32
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...in-mchale-will-be-1st-coach-fired-this-season Here are the latest odds from Bovada on who will be the first head coach to be fired in the 2014-2015 season, headlined by Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale: Kevin McHale (HOU) 7/4 Flip Saunders (MIN) 2/1 Monty Williams (NO) 4/1 Jason Kidd (MIL) 7/1 Scott Brooks (OKC) 8/1 Byron Scott (LAL) 10/1 Randy Wittman (WAS) 10/1 Dave Joerger (MEM) 10/1 That's a bit of a strange list, and I'd stay away from most of them. It seems shocking to me that Flip Saunders is up there, considering he is also the president of the Minnesota Timberwolves, but what do I know? I'd say there's a good chance zero coaches are fired during the year, though McHale and Monty Williams wouldn't be shocking. The McHale case is interesting -- here's a front office with high expectations -- general manager Daryl Morey has said that he thinks the team will be in a better position come playoff time than it was last year -- and a questionable mix of players. Without Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, it is going to be tough for the Rockets to build on the first year of the Dwight Howard era. They're still solid, but are they definitively better than the Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors? I'd say no. If Houston's defense doesn't improve and it finds itself at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff race, McHale could be in trouble.
I knew Rondo would primarily guard Harden. He hasn't always played good defense this year but he has the length, strength and intelligence to do so better than the other options. He also did a good job on Harden at points during the season. He could effect Harden's efficiency this series. Also the Mavericks need Ellis and Parsons to worry about offense. Which leads me to wonder who is guarding Ellis? He is too quick for Prigs and requires too much effort for Harden. That leaves Ariza and Brewer to take that challenge and keep him from the paint. We want to force Ellis to shoot from the outside. That leaves Harden on Parsons. Would love to leave Harden on Rondo, so he could spend more enery on offense, but there is no way Prigs can guard Parsons. This is where not having Beverley hurts. We would have put Patrick on Ellis and Ariza on Parsons. Having Howard helps some on the penetration by Ellis and Parsons and will keep Chandler off the boards. From the Navericks perspective, if Dirk can exploit his match up and hit shots, that can force Ariza on him and spread the court spacing and really give Ellis room to operate and he can neutralize Harden by dropping 30-40 points. The Blazers were a better match up for the Rockets, not sure why everyone wanted Dallas. The Rockets should be favored but it isn't a guarantee. The Rockets point differential is similar to Dallas and the Rockets expected WL was only 50-32.
^ great points... I was all for playing Portland, but having homecourt up until WCF is huge also. I'm hopeful now because of how we came out in the Utah game and I feel with the vets and own sense of urgency, our guys respond and are mentally locked in. We haven't lost more than two games in a row this year. These guys seem like a group that truly is zoned in and wants it. Mentally, I think we are way more ready than that Dallas team, but crazier things have happened.
This is from before the season started when people were picking the Rockets to finish 8th or miss the playoffs.
Rick is overrated. Kevin is underrated. And I like it. Stay under the radar. Rick took a stacked team with major mid-season re-tooling upgrades and coached this team to barely make the playoffs. McHale took a team with a bunch of new characters, that lost its starting PF within a few days into the reg season, took a "the jury's out" cancer in Josh Smith and made him a force, dealt with a team decimated with injuries losing their max contract elite 2-way player for half the season, and coached this team to the 2 seed. We were 2nd only to one of the top 5 most winning teams in NBA history...a Dubs team that enjoyed a comfy roll-out of their familiar rotation with 0 tweaks and who were fortunate with hardly any significant injury hardships throughout the season.
It was a great interview. Looks like Carlisle said everything but get the paper towels afterwards lol......
