It revealed the recipe for success for this team ... Harden, Brewer and Ariza as the closing perimeter players. I would go with the, plus Dmo and Smith, as that unit is built to run and is versatile on defense. 1. Ariza, brewer and Harden is an elite defensive perimeter and we are at our best when the defense is suffocating and generates transition offense. Teams will continue to tilt the defense to take wpaway harden, and we will run him into the ground if we keep relying on him to individually provide offense. It's like running the ball against an 8 or 9 man front. In the long term, it won't work and Harden will have no legs come playoff time. 2. We are lost when Harden sits. This team must play like Lebrons Heat, and generate offense with blitzing defense. Beverly, Caanan and Johnson need to play all out on defense when they are on the floor. If not, they should be pulled. 3. If absolutely needed, we can extend Hardens minutes occasionally by playing him as a facilitating PG, where he can rest, distribute the ball, but be there to space the floor and bail us out late in the clock. On defense, brewer and Ariza can take the best perimeter players, and we can switch all PNRs. This team must commit to this style of play. It someone doesn't give the effort, sit em. There is only one way.
Interesting lineup. I think we'll definitely need to close with Josh as long as Dwight is out for defense and rebounding. Once Dwight comes back we'll go with Dwight-DMo. Replace with Bev with Brewer would be interesting. I'd also like to see Ariza on the opponents best perimeter defender, whether it's PG, SG, or SF.
Sounds reasonable. We should try it. Only caveat is if we have someone quick enough to cover a very quick point guard with that lineup. Nick Johnson is useful as a defensive player in your scheme.
What's missing in this thread is a statement that McHale's comeback lineup is what inspired the OP close-out lineup. But instead, absolutely zero recognition for Coach by name...OP seems to be claiming all credit. my take? there is no silver bullet for lineups to close out games and/or to launch comebacks. Coach is a Player's Coach and this is one of his strengths; in game decisions on 2nd half player management. Don't we have the best record in the NBA for close games/OTs? OP...so really, you aren't going to mention Coach by name. McHale has; it's called the Detroit game (see the OP title), and several before this game.
You haven't been watching 4th quarter match-ups that the OP is referring to. Coach does not stick with the same lineups in the late 3rd and 4th. He sticks with what is working that day. and btw: what is the same old stuff. Rockets had the most lineup changes in the NBA in December. And we spent most of January working in Brewer and Josh to new lineups.
As long as if I don't see Beverley play, I'm good. Beverkey is really starting to piss me off with his broken jumper, terrible court vision, and his sudden free fall on defense.
Why wait till we are losing to make a line up change? He needs to go more than 7-8 deep before we are getting blown out. I have rarely seen this happen. A guy like Papa deserves to see the court before were down 20. Everytime I see him play good things happen. Bev needs to see easy less minutes as well.
You didn't answer my question: What do you mean by we stick with the "Same old stuff." What is the same old stuff vs what most NBA coaches do? You can't just say we never change things up (which isn't true to begin with) and not address that very few Playoff teams "change things up" a lot throughout the regular season. Stable chemistry has a much bigger success rate to frequent lineup changes. You talk like you're rooting for a lottery team.
Pretty much agree with the Op except on #2. Canaan just isn't a piece of the puzzle. He played absolutely terrible defense in his appearance in the Detroit game....not to mention missing everything he shot. I'd be very surprised if McHale trusts him again anytime soon if the game is anything but garbage. Nick Johnson can give short periods of excellent defense...but his offense still needs some time to mature. Bev is a good back-up, not a starter, on a team with championship aspirations. Bev and Canaan packaged along with the NO pick, would be my vote to use as assets to upgrade the team before the trade deadline.
Yeah you are right. He should fiddle with the lineup when we are winning..... Dont we have the 4th best record in the NBA despite not having a PG? And having faced more injury adversity to starters than any team ahead of us. Ok, so the Warriors own us, that aside, we should be rejoicing over this season so far. And, to the OP, McHale has used the Harden Brewer Ariza lineup plenty of times this season. He tends to go with whichever lineup is working best. Given that many experts had the Rockets struggling to make the 8, it seems hard to criticise the coach who has used lineups that have worked to gain us a lot of wins.....
What does that mean? I hear people complain about "effort". Do you really think players aren't trying or don't want to succeed? These guys at the NBA level are insanely competitive.
HeyP gets it. McHale has been doing this for some time now, yet people don't recognize it. They criticize as if we've endured long losing streaks all season.
But McHale sucks.... Anyone that plays Bev for that long while Augustine is torching him deserves zero credit.
I agree, it was winnable. With how much Harden and Howard make, it's super duper remarkable we got players like Brewer, Smith, Dmo, Ariza, Pap and even Pat Bev... McHale failed to call the proper timeouts. He coasted like when the Rox were down by 9 with nearly 3 mins left in the Golden State game...
Who is going to spread the floor for Harden? Ariza 3 point shot has gone, Brewer has never been a good consistent 3 ball guy, Smith don't even ask and DMo is best utilized down low. Also what if they go hack a Josh?
